I enjoy helping people make a decision to move. It is usually a tough decision.
It is easy to get comfortable in a place. Folks often know when they are too comfortable and need to move.
Most people are pretty realistic about going to a new location.
They realize that things will be different, and that there never has been a perfect place.
Then there are the other people. Those who want to move to the south so they do not have to face cold winters but refuse to accept the fact that a place without cold winters is likely to have hot summers.
Having lived in places with very cold winters, very warm summers, and everything in between, I have reconciled myself to taking without complaint whatever the weather is going to hand me.
There will be hot days in North Carolina and Virginia, they are part of the south. There will also be some very pleasant days. In fact it is almost a sure bet that there will be more of those very pleasant days than there will be of those very hot days.
Some of the people who are not willing to accept the trade-off on a hot summer for a warm winter also want to live in place with no bugs, snakes, or mosquitoes.
On top of that they would like to be close to a beach which has nice water for swimming. I just told someone that I know of a beach area where there are no snakes. It's Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The only trouble is that you turn blue when you jump into the water.
I want to say that people should understand what acceptable risk is. I have been in places on Hatteras Island in the summer when you could hardly breath for the mosquitoes. Yet I live on a salty gut of the White Oak River and hardly ever see a mosquito. All I know to tell people is to check with the neighbors before you buy a property. Mosquitoes seem to inhabit much of North America. They might find your property.
I have probably seen about a dozen live snakes on or near our properties over my sixty years. I remember seeing one when I was growing up in Lewisville, NC. We regularly saw the same blacksnake in Roanoke, Va. I saw a number of copperheads sunning themselves on roads near us in Roanoke. Since moving to Carteret County, we have seen three snakes. One blacksnake and two water snakes. I do not know anyone who has ever been bitten by a snake, but I guess that could happen. The odds, however, are against it.
Given my experience with snakes, I find it an acceptable risk to live in a state with snakes. I would rather have some snakes around than live in Canada where there are no snakes and the winters have no end.
I might be hot once in a while, occasionally see a snake, and maybe get a bug bite every now and then, but all that comes with living in the south which is well worth the risk.
After all, you also run the risk of having a perfect beach day or losing yourself by spending a day on the sound.
