invisible

Austin, Seattle, Research Triangle, Bay Area. In that order.

P.S. I am well aware of realities at Bay Area.

MSPeconomist

Those are expensive areas, although I'd probably consider San Francisco the worst, followed by Seattle, Austin, and then NC.

CJKatl

Looking on AirBnB in smaller towns I have been to and know are quiet yet vibrant and walkable, here are three suggestions that have many properties well below $50/night:

• Huntingdon WV - Yep. Great small town with open public spaces, coffee shops, restaurants. But please don't tell anyone or it will be overrun with tourists.
• Rapid City, SD - Quiet but active renovated downtown area, clean air, nice views, near some great site seeing and hiking.
• Bloomington, IN - A college town, which includes some pluses and minuses.

These are three places where I would not mind being holed up for a couple months. Some others I thought would be good choices wound up being much more expensive.

Good luck!

jiejie

Obviously not a random selection--those locations are all tech business-oriented places. I'd tend to avoid the West Coast and focus on Austin or Research Triangle. However, you're likely to need a rental car, so figure that into the mix. I suggest that you move from a general question on this coronavirus forum, and ask specifics about accommodation possibilities in the FT forums for Texas and North Carolina. You're more likely to get local specifics. Not sure what your time frame is, but those are both university areas and you might be able to rent a place from a professor or staff member on break or sabbatical, if you can match up the timing. Another option to the suite/extended hotels, corporate housing, and AirBNB/VRBO.

MSPeconomist

I'm not sure how safe college towns are in terms of COVID-19. OTOH, you could try to sublet a private (not school-owned) apartment from a student in a place where the campus has suddenly been shut down.

Similarly, I would have reservations about Rapid City. It's very close to Sturgis, the town that has a huge motorcycle "event" for about ten days every August. This year's festivities became a COVID-19 hot spot and resulted in a spike of cases. SD rates seem to be rising and the state has no mandatory mask rule (nor does ND).

BTW, what does the OP really want other than cheap and safe from COVID-19? Good health care? Open restaurants? Some cultural activities? Scenery? Climate? Outdoor activities?

My *guess* is that OP might be an expat (USA citizen living overseas, perhaps retired) who must leave (hopefully just temporarily) due to visa and residence permit rules.

Has the OP considered the availability and cost of health insurance?

dbuckho

Looks like Extended Stays can be had at $45/night in both Austin and RTP. Austin also has Woodspring Suites under $50 and even a Candlewood at $53. RTP also has some Stay Americas under $50. My searches were Oct 1 - Nov 10.

Both areas are going to be similar in terms of needing a car to get around, and also for delivery options (I.e. do not think either has Amazon Fresh, but both have Instacart as an example). Both also seem to be similar from a Covid case/trend point of view right now but hard to tell as the NC schools are experiencing some outbreaks, driving up numbers in the RTP area.

NC might be the better bet long-term for Covid related policy, and maybe for medical care options if needed. But then Austin might be the better choice for weather as we head into fall and winter (which in my mind is also a Covid consideration) and overall lower cost of living day to day. I would probably pick Austin.

Adding - looks like TX hotel stays are tax exempt after 30 days, but in NC not until 90 days. Further makes the case for Austin.

freecia

When were you thinking of? Coming from Singapore, I'd check the relative humidity. Indoors or out, it can be pretty miserable for people from more humid environments to deal with cracking skin. I'd also check for Asian grocery and food options if that's what you like to eat. It would make sense from COVID safety to trade a more walkable happening place for a less population dense nicer suburb experience. Going too far out will put you out of range of food delivery options. I think it also bears mentioning that if you're thinking about visiting in the near future, opting for quiet boring areas may help insulate from some of the politics and the gatherings on various ends of the political spectrum.

ETA: Most software companies are work from home until end of 2020 or into 2021. If it is software business, unless you have family you'd like to visit and would welcome you in a socially distanced manner & tested with negative results, it's Zoom/Webex/Slack anyhow. You might have some more location flexibility to meet budget and safety concerns.

evergrn

I don't know about crime, but I did stay in one of those ~15 years ago. First and last time.
I couldn't wait to check out. Worse than Days Inn.
And this was back in the day when I was still young, student, very (very) low standards.

They look nice from outside, but inside's such crap. Are all Extended Stay properties pretty bad?

GUWonder

Not sure this is relevant to any TX or NC hotels, but some hotels in some locations may not want guests to be able to stay 30 days or more at a stretch for some reason or another. And check out the hotel loyalty programs to see what the policy is for getting hotel program benefits/credit/points on longer term stays.

TravelerMSY

If you don’t care about being in the same place the whole time, you could do a succession of Priceline name your own price bids.

stan1162

I thought Priceline did away with the NYOP feature? No?

TravelerMSY

You’re absolutely right. They killed it in favor of “pay x and get one of these three hotels.”