re: Tell me about Biloxi and Ocean Springs...

Wow. Thats a lot of good information. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite me in the arse or get me doxxed on the OT but here are more details...

My daughters are 7 and 9. They are exceptionally smart and in the top 3 of each of their respective grades at an affluent school in the East Bay (of SF). I find that impressive because they are caucasian and many at their school are asian or indian and as a family we dont push them. Public schools are the only option as my husband was an educator and feels strongly in this regard. My needs from the school in order or importancel: safety, sports, academics, other activities, facilities.

We are looking to spend no more than 400K and may rent initially to make sure we know the area well enough to make a good choice. However, we will need to rent in the school district we purchase in to cut down on instability for our girls. Things I would like from our community in order of importance: safety, kindness, sports, convenience.

For a neighborhood, we need a yard. Being in California for 13 years has made me miss grass. I would like at least a 1/3 acre lot and would like even larger. We also want to be no further north than Ocean Springs border. It would be ideal to avoid flood insurance but I know I am getting far too limiting so will have to compromise on one of those. We dont need a fancy house and likely would prefer it not be a McMansion. 1600 sqft is perfect for us but could live in as little as 1200 or as much as 2500. I just dont want to heat and cool 3200 sq ft and I dont want to have to scrub 4 toilets a week A neighborhood that has sidewalks would be cool but maybe not necessary there as I imagine the traffic is considerably less.

We are a married couple in our mid 40s. Obviously we are left leaning but I give no shits about politics. Kind people are cool by me no matter what they vote or believe. You change people by being a good person not by brow beating others. Trump voters would be welcome at my table anytime. I am fully sleeved and probably wont look like a lot of the moms but I like to volunteer at the school as much as they allow and I coach softball in the community and my husband coaches basketball and soccer. Our girls play them all and do swim team. Both are also in dance and the youngest is staring violin and my oldest plays upright bass. We dont party or go out much because our kids have never been with a sitter and we have had no family around. We would likely gamble on sports because we love it. Our favorite family activities are camping, hiking, library etc. We are super boring.

Any insight you have is appreciated. Even if it is brutal honesty. We would love to hear more about this free ride to college. We began investing in their college accounts the day they got the SS# but free would be amazing and Georgia calls to us for that reason. Are scholarships that easy to get or is there a public university program that allows for free attendance with great grades?

Edit: I would love to be in a krewe but never have been. That culture is a large part of the draw to the area. I doubt they would do the debutante thing. My family didn't have that money growing up so I didn't. They are pretty athletic and it's hard to get them to even do their hair. But I would support them if they wanted to explore it.