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Our final choice: Homer, Alaska!!!
Bottom Line: We found a place that met 90% of all of our criteria

Location Criteria	% met	Description	Comments
Climate	100	Not too hot - under 85° degrees in summer	Avg. summer temps. 60°F-75°F
	0	Not too cold - over 32° degrees in winter	Avg. winter temps. 20°F to -20°F
Locality	80	Near small or mid-size city	Homer is a very small, but incredibly diverse town
	100	Significant community involvement regarding the environment, conservation and politics	Incredible commitment to the environment
	100	Abundance of natural beauty	One of the most beautiful places we have visited
	100	Near to water and/or mountains	Magnificent mountains, glaciers and Kachemak Bay off of the Pacific Ocean
	50	Possible for wind and/or solar power	There are studies going on currently to determine feasibility of both in the area.
	100	Loads of outdoor activities	Sailing, Kayaking, hiking, cross-country skiing, dog-sledding, bicycling, fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing
	100	Airport close by	Homer has it's own airport and floatplane lake
Culture	80	Access to theater, cinema, art galleries and artistic activities such as festivals	Many cultural activities, small cinema with several film festivals
Access to Reputable Health Facilities	30	Would like to be within 100 miles of a major cancer center	Small hospital, but no cancer center. Anchorage is the closest one about 220 miles away
Avg. % of Location Criteria Met	76.36%

Essential House Characteristics	% met	Description	Comments
Interior design	100	Open plan design or can be remodeled to open-plan
Size	100	1500-200 sq. ft.	2000 sq. ft.
Bedroom	100	3 or more bedrooms or 2 bedrooms and 1 off/den	2 bedrooms and small apt.
Bathrooms	100	1 1/2 or 2 bathrooms or more
Lot size	100	1/4 -1/2 acre lot with mature trees (if larger, most should be wooded and unimproved)	2 acres with about 1 acre cleared
Surroundings	100	Natural privacy	Lots of lovely spruce trees, a small creek and incredibly beautiful fireweed flowers
Cost	80	Low cost but able to add value	Wanted to spend under $300K. Slightly exceeded cost, but all furniture and appliances were included
Services	100	Cellular phone service
	100	High speed internet service available	DSL available with phone service
Exterior design	100	Contemporary design
Optional (but highly desirable)	100	Wood siding
	100	High pitch roof
	100	Cathedral ceiling
	100	South Facing lot and house	Faces southeast to southwest
	100	Gas heating
	100	Garage
	100	Mountain and/or water view	Both mountain and water and also 2 glaciers
	100	Sunny Lot
	60	Within 1/2 to 3/4 hour to city	Short drive, but Homer is not really a city. It is 200 miles to Anchorage
	60	Within 1/2 hour to university	Small college here
	100	Close to small store for items such as bread, milk, newspapers	2 miles away - can easily bike
	80	Flat area for walking and bicycling	mostly flat with some small hills
	100	Bike trails	Several bike trails in town with one scheduled to be extended out to our location
	100	Near to park	Several small parks in town, beach
Avg. % of House Criteria Met	93.2%

Undesirable Characteristics	100	Low Violent Crime Rate	Some petty crime and thefts
	100	No High traffic flow and noise	With a population of about 5,000, and most living in city, virtually no traffic
	100	Houses not close together	There is some congestion of houses in the city limits, but most lots are about 1-2 acres
	100	Abundance of mature trees	Loads of trees
	100	Not a new House	This house was built in 1987
Avg. % of Criteria Met	100%