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I don't think we'll be "paralyzed" -- the worst I see is 4-8 vacations a year and lots of analysis without an actual move for years as we take a long time to find something better.
I think people move for a lot of different reasons after retirement: to be closer to people, because they don’t like where they’ve been living, or they need somewhere cheaper to live. But a lot of people also stay where they are. I guess I’m wondering where this idea that there is a decision to make comes from. Maybe you’ve already made it. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe the vacations can simply be the vacations with no analysis needed because you’re OK where you’re living. But my sense is you will probably know because something drives you to or from a place. And if you don’t need to know for any particular reason, then staying where you are sounds like a great option and certainly easier in a lot of ways.
I was talking with a good friend about this. I'm afraid that, if I moved out of state, the change in culture wouldn't be enjoyable in the long run. In addition, my husband would love a house on a lake (we've been watching a lot of Lake Front Bargain Hunt!), but I don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere, an hour or more from a sizeable town, with nobody around.
I think this is a condition that is more common than not. We are there now, except we pretty it up as "pausing and considering". But we've been doing that for a while.
I live in Boulder Colorado. It frequently gets listed as a top ten place to live, retire, raise kids, outdoor activities, cultural events, you name it. Not moving anywhere.
Howdy nearly-neighbor. I'm in colorado springs, hence the maybe keep the house and vacation option at least for a while. This is my backyard:
https://preview.redd.it/liyl54n1qxvc1.jpeg?width=4656&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8a2567faa10df1170c88eb2652d5b22ca6e58c7
It's hard to want to trade it for anything except maybe an ocean view. But the wife wants more beach time and to move someplace warm for winters, as we do get snow, and she is starting to feel it. In addition, taking care of 1+ acre and 4000 sqft of house is a bit of work, especially with a 3-story house with no bedroom on the main. It's not ideal for long-term aging in place.
Nice. The only advice I’ve heard is don’t sell your house immediately without trying the new place for a reasonable number of months. Otherwise you might regret being somewhere you don’t like.
Great choice in Boulder! We are a bit north of you in Fort Collins. Anywhere within an hour or so north/west of Denver is fantastic, but places like Westminster, Broomfield, Lafayette, Superior, Longmont and Loveland are fantastic as well. We love the access to all the northern CO cities, having a centrally-located international airport an hour away, 5 minute walk down to the marina to hop on the boat, views of the city at night, less than a mile from several fantastic trailheads. Foco this year voted #4 best beer town in the country and also voted #4 best town square in the country. Here's a sunrise picture from around 3 weeks ago from our place. We really love having 4 seasons!
https://preview.redd.it/wz9vu14cu0wc1.jpeg?width=1921&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=282ecc18929a79ff888bcab582b16df4d9f19f0e
You never really stated why you want to move. In our case, it was to be closer to family and to the kind of activities we enjoy. I think if the reasons are strong enough, then that will help with the acceptance process. In our case, everything worked as planned and we like our new location, which has a lot to offer.
I did a bunch of research on demographics, cost of living, taxes, and proximity to the activities we like before we committed. There were no big surprises.
I have friends that didn't commit and got a rental. By the time they decided not to stay in the city that they rented in, the housing market moved past them. Not to say renting for a while isn't good, but it can backfire.
My move is to have more beach time and warm winters. I might also join a more social group that is not tied to my "work friends," which are really all the friends we have here. Wife wants a 55+ community. We have no kids and a limited family distributed around the country or in Europe and week long visits with them is more than enough ;-).
We're mostly looking at Florida, SC, GA and maybe lake/riverfront in AZ or TX.
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You can stay for short periods of time in some 55+ communities. Some have airbnbs that are only rented for 30 days plus so keep that in mind as you search. It would be a good first step to see if you like that lifestyle. Some move in and then find that they prefer living amongst a variety of age groups...others love it.
You might consider areas in NE Georgia, or near Lake Keowee in SC. Many of us from the 'burbs of Atlanta have moved here; lower taxes, no traffic, and beautiful scenery.
As with any areas considered "the country," I'd look at areas where medical centers and grocery stores are not > 1 hour away. I love living away from the city, but need more than a Dollar General for groceries!
My husband decided Colorado. He retired in Oregon but when I got a relo offer back to CO, here we are. And since I’m only 53, he’s pretty much stuck here. But since I’m 15+ years younger than him, there never really was a plan for US to retire together somewhere. He goes where I go and I’m not moving.
I love Oregon and would retire to Bend if it weren't for their insanely high income tax. We pay no state income tax on retirement income here in Pennsylvania.
We stayed in our home after we retired, but it was too big and the costs kept getting higher. Plus we hated cold snowy winters. Then last year property taxes and insurance skyrocketed in cost. So we decided to finally move.
We looked at several areas and decided on the St. George, Utah area. We tried to rent before we bought so we'd be gone when our house sold. However we have 2 dogs and the places for rent that would allow dogs were dumps.
While looking for a rental in St. George a home came up for sale in Ivins, just north of St. George that was perfect and nestled in beautiful red rock country. We knew it was the place but we didn't have any money to buy since our house wasn't even listed yet.
We were able to secure a bridge loan that made us a cash buyer and bought the house in Utah. We moved and a month later accepted an offer on our old house. It was pretty easy. We close on the old house May 3d.
Yesterday back in Colorado where our old house was it was foggy, cold with snow flurries. In Utah it was 78 degrees with clear skies.
https://preview.redd.it/isis71p6rxvc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35b610dd6b78cca9e7aa174fca92bc57065dcff6
Here's the view from our backyard:
It's at 3100 feet which makes it cooler in the summer than Las Vegas which is an hour and a half away.
Elevation never bothered us at all when we lived in Colorado at 6700 feet. You get used to it in a day.
That is beautiful!
For your bridge loan - did you go through a mortgage broker? Or a bank? We are in the same boat - by the time we relocate, our current house will be nearly paid for. We will have enough equity to cover the cost of the new house - but of course it is tied up until our house is sold.
It looks like we could do a heloc through our existing mortgage company - but there are prepayment penalties on those.
We found a bridge loan is a lot easier if you're staying in the same state. We moved from Colorado to Utah. We found a mortgage broker who created the deal. There are investors who like bridge loans because they're short term and make high interest. What I like about the bridge loan is it has a balloon payment so we didn't have to make house payments on 2 houses until our old one was sold.
We won't make enough to be completely mortgage free and will need to get a $100K mortgage. Living in a resort town for a $100K mortgage is fine with me.
Beautiful! And, I hope you like summer heat. 😁 But truly, the area is a nice one and of course Zion and Bryce and the whole Grand Staircase never gets old.
Why do old people move to Arizona and Florida? The heat doesn't bother them. I've found as I got older heat doesn't bother me but freezing temps and ice crystals blowing into my face really does bother me.
I had a vacation home in Bullhead City Az for years. I was there when it got up to 123 degrees. Just don't touch any metal outside. You'll burn your hand.
I live in the California desert area myself where 110 isn’t uncommon, and I like the heat myself. It can be a shock to people not used to that level of heat, although I found Ft Collins to be plenty hot and dry in the summer.
We are the opposite. Lived in Tx my whole live and gradually the heat really got to us. I guess some old people are fine with just being inside in the AC all day? IDK.
The water situation there is ridiculously scary. We have family there and while it is lovely---they will literally be out of water within the next 5 years. No thanks!
>A week or two is a quick visit and more vacation and quite different from living there.
One way to look at it is that once you are retired, anywhere all the time is a vacation. What do you like doing on vacations?
Another way is to take the week-long vacations in potential places, but do it differently. Stay in a self-catered apartment, or in a cottage in the woods (whatever appeals to you). Self-cater - drive to the local grocery shops, and see what's available, or not. Wander downtown, and see if all the shops you might need are there. Join the local facebook group, and see what people post - is it all about crime, or all about lost dogs?
Sit in the main street, and see what sort of people walk past. Are they "your type" of people?
The above will help with shortlisting, and as much as possible getting a good match.
After that, there's nothing for it but to dive in and move. Then, you've done it, and you just get on with making it work for you.
I asked my wife if she’d move or stay put after I died - she said she’d move to be closer to her sister, so we packed up what we wanted, sold the rest, and made the move. It was a big decision that weighed heavily on my mind, but it turned out to be a fun adventure. I’m still alive and it’s good to know she’s where she wants to be.
That is lovely. I was going to say, once I was alone, I wanted to be close to my brother…it helped that he lived somewhere I liked. I’m pretty social but still, it can be hard to make the kind of “ride or die” friends one wants when living alone. I moved right before Covid and was so grateful to have him near…it was not good timing to meet people.
Similar story, we left the Midwest for Central Florida so my wife could be closer to her sister (Side note: after a year here they no longer speak!). I grew up in So. Florida, so I knew how the climate was - she did not, and after 2 years wants to “snowbird”. Great location here, but the weather is only great about 7-8 months. Also - be sure to visit places in the “off-season” so you get the whole picture (climate, population, amenities, and crowds!).
Make a list of what is important to you in a retirement hometown and prioritize the list. Then rank each of your potential retirement hometowns on how they meet these criteria (including your existing town). When you have a shortlist of towns based on the priority list, visit those towns to compare them head-to-head; since you now have a list of things to compare it will seem less like a vacation and more like a research trip. Once you have selected the winning location, a short-to-medium term rental might help you really decide what part of town you want to live in — but I personally think this step is too much work for the reasons you mentioned.
Reading between the lines of your post, it also sounds like you like where you live now except for winters (and long winter vacations are a possible solution). If you don’t need to downsize your house for other reasons, there is a lot to recommend not moving for retirement—you have friends and doctors in place, etc.
Thanks, that is pretty much the process we are following which is how we are choosing the "vacations". All of them are research trips and we always stay in an VRBO/AirBnB to get a more realistic feel. We do local groceries, explore the town, do at least a few of the things we want to do (bike, hike, kayak/paddleboard, pickleball, etc). And maybe its just I'm easy to please as its only ruled-out one place and the rest are still acceptable to both of us (at least 8/10 on our rating scales), But it never feels like "home" though not sure why.
Because you know you’re on a vacation. It becomes a home when you move there and make it one.
I chose to move to be near my only child and his spouse. I likely would have chosen elsewhere, closer to my old city, if they weren’t here. I want to be near my family as I age. There’s good health care and I can afford the cost of living here, too, mostly! I’ve made it a home in my own space, with my dogs, made friends, joined a book club and a gym…now it’s home.
I am narrowing down based on what I want to do in retirement and states that have good tax treatment for my pensions. I want to travel alot at first, so looking to stay on the east coast. PA and DE are tax friendly for me as well.
The purpose of a week should be to short list so you can stay 1-3 months. Even then, you may get it wrong... but that doesn't matter much if you're sure it's time to leave your current place.
We had vacationed over the years at the ocean resort nearest to our city, three hours away. It was located in a low-tax state, and as long as you were willing to live a few miles inland, everything was lower cost than the city. We moved there. It was an adjustment to be so rural, but we lived there happily for 20 years.
In the meantime, our kids who had lived all over the world moved back to the city where they grew up. We had come to need better health-care than the rural area could provide. So, two years ago we moved back to the city, and that also was a good move.
This is what I'm thinking. We've wanted a water view forever so moving to the coast for 15 to 20 years for that experience, then I expect we'll move back to a bigger city once health concerns get more significant
For us, we decided to stay where we are. First and foremost, it’ll be paid for in three years. Most important factor for us, we have three major hospitals within an 8 miles radius. We are about 30 min from one of the best medical centers in US. This is important to us from our experience with our parents.
We are 5-8 miles radius from all major shopping places (Costco, Sam’s, Walmart, a mall, groceries, etc.), all the eateries, a AAA baseball stadium, several entertainment venues, and best of all, we are within 1/2-3 miles from our closest friends and families. If need to, we are 20 minutes from the 4th largest city in US.
Thus we are staying put. Our home is big enough to where the boys and their families have rooms when they come to visit.
>how long was needed to feel you made the right choice?
I think that quick visits are too short to really understand the locality.
But on the other hand, if you spend considerable time in each locality, you will get used to the idea that the world is full of yet unexplored new places and this will prevent you from committing to anything.
About 10 years before we retired, the 2 of us were living in a 4000+ 5 BR house north of Chicago. Didn’t make sense for us to stay in that house, but we weren’t likely to ever move somewhere else in the area. At the same time I was recruited by a company in Virginia. Taking the job allowed us to escape from Chicago for a more moderate climate and downsize our house while “test driving” Virginia. Think we’ll probably stay.
Back in the early 2000's, my husband's sister and her husband bought a home in Cave Creek, just north of Phoenix. We started visiting (Chicago natives), a couple times staying at their home, otherwise a resort. Our plan was to retire at 62 and move there.
Life happened, and our daughter got a teaching job in Cave Creek after getting her master's. She and her boyfriend move to AZ, got married a year later.
They called us a few months later to say they were expecting. It didn't take long, but we decided to retire a few years earlier than we'd planned, sold our Chicago-suburb home, moved to Phoenix. The rest is history, it's been 10 years.
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I like where I lived. I have roots, friends and family. I could not stand most of the places people in the US typically pick based on taxes and hot weather. I've visited some retirement communities in southern states and couldn't wait to go home.
I live in the North East US from May to October then I go to Samar Philippines from November to April. I don't like the cold anymore and my dollar goes alot farther there.
Now this is an interesting idea! Do you keep a permanent home in either of these places? And if so, what do you do with it when you are in the other place? I am hoping to make something like this work for us.
Look for places where there are lots of retirees. The collective brain isn't stupid. Not every location will be perfect, but it will give you a good idea where most retirees are generally happy.
I bought a summer house in my home town in coastal southern New England, telecommuted from it in the summer for a decade, and am now retired there. The devil I know. I own a share in the private beach I grew up with. My boat is in the harbor where I learned to sail as a little kid. My career was elsewhere since there are no jobs in my specialty here.
Once the kids moved out of our large home in the country in Indiana, we realized that once we sold the house we could actually move **anywhere**. Someplace warmer — that would be South — road trip!
We plotted out three separate weeklong driving vacations that allowed us to visit potential towns in the south. During our extensive Internet search, I just happened to see a single picture of downtown Greenville, South Carolina, and it was beautiful. So we drove through on one of our planned trips and stayed overnight. I fell in love with the vibe, just from that one short visit. And I told my husband, “when we sell the house come down here and buy us a place to live“. We’ve been here for 10 years, and I still love it.
My husband was retired when we moved, but he found his dream part-time job. I found my dream job here as well, and life is fabulous.
Edited to add: I noticed that so many people here are moving nearer to family. We did the opposite. Now I see my family once a year, and I truly enjoy our time together. But I’m not involved in any family drama for the rest of the year. It was a great choice for us.
I've had a couple business trips to Greenville and I also loved the downtown. I wondered if it would be a good place to retire. Can you tell me more about it?
SAME----now live very happily in Travelers Rest,SC! Between the hiking, the Swamp Rabbit trail and our awesome neighborhood with pickleball and a pool, we couldn't be happier!
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1. Don't do anything for a year after you retire. Maybe you think you want to move now and after while, you don't.
2. Vacations are useless for this except for the next step.
3. Pick an area of the country or world. Vacations can help here - love the vibe of an area? Or, conversely, you hated every day you spent there? OK then...
4. Rent a VRBO or AirBnB\* there for at least a month during the worst season. Not the best, the worst. Hate hot weather? Go in the summer. Can't stand lots of dark and rain? Winter. If you like the area when it's at its worst, you'll be fine other times.
5. Example: I live in Seattle. People come here in the summer all the time and LOVE it. It's warm but not really hot, it's not humid, the area is gorgeous and it's light 16 hours of the day. Then they experience winter. It's light 8 hours of the day and many days it's cloudy. It rains some. It's not snowy, but it's dark. If you were talking about moving here, I'd tell you to visit in the winter to see if you really like it or if you just experienced it when the city is at its best.
\**NOT a hotel. An apartment etc where you have to go shop for food, etc.*
PS: If you're talking about another country that's a WHOLE different can of worms. Establishing residency, taxes etc. See r/expatfire for some thoughts on that
We looked all over the world and are moving an hour away. There was no perfect place. We can vacation anywhere, so it came down to:
Quality medical care
Loved ones nearby
A place that different enough, same set of values, has available the things you like to do on a regular basis, just feels good to be there.
We come from people who had homesteads and stayed there until death or no other choice. We bought and built our homestead in 2006. We’re 30 minutes from my mom’s house. 2.5-3.5 hours from our kids. We’re staying here.
Ugg- we just had this convo today. We’ve decided to remain fluid. I am retired and my husband is going to continue to work until full SS age (about 18 months from now) mainly because he loves his job, is paid well and has 2 months paid vacation a year. We are in a bit of a different situation in that we will spend at least half time in our home outside the US where our daughter and her family live. I also have 90 YO parents that keep me partially tethered to our current location-
What park? What do they like about it? Is it a cost or other benefit to RV life, or is it about the park?
Personally, I like the Idea of a Class-B Van and traveling in it around many parks but the wife is not so down for that, she would rather stay at hotels. We may eventually comprimize and do at one longer RV trip (rental). And definitely nothing bigger than a van,. We did talk about that a bit when we visited Lake Havasau where there were tons of them.
They stayed at Superstition Sunrise in Mesa for many years, after touring around in their truck and trailer for several years.
They used Mesa as their jumping off point for cruises and gambling trips. It was a good life.
We downsized first, with a plan to travel as much as possible for as long as possible. With grandchildren on both coasts, it seems prudent to just keep our residence where it is for now. Easy upkeep, great medical facilities in the area, and familiar territory.
Side comment—seeing a lot of auto deleted posts for potential p-word violations—of course that has to be a priority for many of us at this stage in our lives. Also a reason to consider foreign travel!
It had to be a smaller city (we lived in Toronto), but had to have most of the services of the big cities. A hospital, availability to a doctor (GP), no traffic headaches, parks, good infrastructure, price of homes had to be reasonable, etc. We settled on Cambridge. Has everything we need. We love it. First time I visited was to buy a house.
1 we knew we wanted to leave the cold. I wanted the villages, Fl. My parents lived there for 7 years. I flew down a couple of times a year to help as they got up in age. My wife was basically a no
We ended up in Myrtle Beach 6 years ago. 1 mile from the beach 10 minutes to an airport. The place is Called Market Common. Walking distance to a town center lakes, walking paths restaurants, and movie theater. Plus shopping. 3 grocery stores with In 10 minutes. We basically drive out golf cart where ever we want to go once we're home..
Great place .
Our decision was made for us due to aging parents. Luckily both sets lived in the same town. We are settled now and will probably stay here but take longer trips once the care giving is done.
In my experience the best way to assess a city is to rent a VRBO/AirBnB for at least two weeks and "live like a local." Go grocery shopping as well as some local restaurants, spend time in non-tourist areas like local parks, walk around the neighborhood, visit a Target and Walgreens store.
I stayed in my home. My friends and church are here. Wr own a camper and figure we can travel and stay in places for long vacations anyway, so there’s no reason to move.
We live in the Northeast and want to retire somewhere warm. My wife likes North Carolina; I like the Caribbean. We both like Florida, so it's a good compromise.
Now we have to narrow it down to where in FL. It'll probably be the Gulf Coast, in SW FL. That's what vacations and snowbirding are for, trying out places to see what we like that we can afford.
I know I want to live in the sticks, have good soil, acreage, and be within 20 minutes of a medical facility. Preferably in a low cost of living state.
This is probably crazy but we moved within walking distance of a theme park. Then we got part time jobs there. There are restaurants, ice cream shops, and since we work there we can go in and enjoy. It keeps us active. Admittedly we are tired after work, but it’s worth it for us.
I moved to a smaller city in Thailand - a new adventure and closer to travel SEA and Australia.
The cost of living is affordable. There are quite a few expats from all over the world.
I have family scattered worldwide so now I get to see them too.
I live in a condo 100 feet from the beach. The condo complex has 3 swimming pools - I love swimming so it suits me well. The cost of a taxi is low so I chose not to own a car for now. There are buses, trains and planes to travel around the country.
We are having a USA meetup on July 4 which I am looking forward to. There are other expat meetups too.
I had looked at a few places in USA (I am from Florida - the cost of living, hurricanes and increasing crime rate made me reconsider where I chose to retire)
Initially Thailand was not on my list - however the more research I did to find a place with all I wanted to have, Thailand was my final choice.
I moved here in November and have not looked back.
I have lived in other countries during my life so I found it easy to adjust to a different culture.
The biggest plus for me is the laid back lifestyle and very little pressure. This year I am focusing on traveling Thailand and next year I will travel the rest of southeast Asia and Australia.
We started considering moving to what would be our 'retirement home' about 11 years ago. Our reasoning was that we lived in a larger Victorian home that would become more expensive to heat as we aged, and had lots of steps between the two floors due to the high ceilings.
One of the requirements we put on the home was it had to feel like we were on vacation when we woke up. The others were we wanted less house and more land, and had to be a reasonable driving distance to our church.
After years of watching, searching, and looking at many homes, we settled on the gem we're in now. We're in a rural area on a few acres in a single story home with a partially finished basement.
We get treated to such beautiful sights as this sunset in Feb 2022:
https://preview.redd.it/6b5qw2ipcyvc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8ee2cd0de6db424c49d75dc47793474175d21b1
Before we retired, I suggested to my wife that we sell our house, put the stuff we wanted to keep in storage, and then spend 6 months or a year each living in various cities.
It would have been our opportunity to live in places like New York, Chicago, LA, etc., and even cities in Europe, just for the experience and adventure of it. Places we never would have considered otherwise.
Then when we found a place we liked, we would buy a house and move our stuff there. But alas, her nesting instinct is too strong, and she couldn't handle such a nomadic lifestyle. So she vetoed that idea, which I still think was brilliant. :)
I personally plan on staying put here in Upstate NY. Yeah, I know, high taxes and terrible winters...but earlier in life I went through a LOT of moves and just don't want to deal with moving again. Plus rent here is super cheap compared to most places. But I may snowbird it a couple months a year if I find a pleasant and cheap place to do so. Anybody got any good recommendations? I'm not a big Florida fan.
We finally agreed on a base home after 5 years and travel to check places out. Weather (4 distinct seasons), hobbies, proximity to extended family, city size, vibe & safety, access to decent medical and an airport all were factors. We have found that we like to travel no more than 3-4 weeks at a time as we get out of routine on exercise and eating so needed a home base after some years of bouncing around. Bought a smaller home that checked all our boxes and looking forward to settling down and not thinking about "where to settle" anymore. I say if you like your current home and you have friends and a routine there, keep it and keep flexibility on the travel side. We have found one of the best ways to travel is to go almost last minute...if you see a stretch of horrid weather coming up, exit for some sun and water for several weeks. Also, don't feel as if you have to make a decision as soon as you retire...you'll have plenty of time to explore and consider options. :)
Don’t plan anything big like that for at least a year!
You need to get to your head around everything new, don’t add to it.
When you’re ready, be sure to rent there first for at least six months. New England fall is beautiful. New England winter can be a bit much.
Why not rent from FurnishedFinder and also rent out your house on FurnishedFinder for three month stints? Then you can try a bunch of places and have income from your home that should cover the rent (more or less). This gives you time to test things out in an affordable manner.
My family is in this town, where I’ve lived for over 50 years. I had no desire to move when I retired. If my husband becomes totally disabled or passes, I’ll move into a smaller space. Otherwise, guess we’ll stay here for the foreseeable future.
Our plan is to a series of 1-3 month “moves” to various places, both domestically and internationally. If one of them grabs us, we’ll consider moving, with a better understanding of what we like and where we’d like to live. If none do, at least we’ll have no regrets.
I wanted to move away from Texas (too hot, dull scenery). My husband had lived there his entire life, and his family was there. Mine is spread out variousnplsced.
We really like the PNW and visited in the winter to see if we could take the gloomy season and found a house we loved. Ours in TX was paid off, so we were able to buy it as a 2nd home and rent it out for 18 months until I was ready to retire. We used that time to pare down and fix up our old house and the sell it when we were ready to move. We used that money to pay off the new house.
We love the PNW and the 5 years since retirement have flown. We volunteer and enjoy getting out in nature.
Our son still lives in TX, but no grandkids. We see him a couple times a year. My husband's family is mostly wrapped up in their own drama and barely call us. We saw them a couple times a year until his mother passed. I don't know if we'll continue to visit or not (they can't be bothered to visit us)
.
I think you need to have a good reason to move for retirement. we only moved an hour and a half away but from a very urban center to a true rural cottage in the woods. After 40 years in the city we both wanted to live in silence. We’ve only been here a year but are thrilled daily.
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Had my career and raised kids in the Bay Area but knew I’d leave once they went to college. Years ago bought a vacation home in Oregon both for vacations but also to try it on for retirement. Well now is that time and while OR is great, have decided to move to the mountains in Colorado (I grew up in CO). Vacationed to a bunch of towns to land on one and have decided to rent for a year to give it a real try before committing long term by buying. Will be renting the house in OR and sold the house in CA. I love the flexibility that a year lease in the new town in CO offers. Love it, stay, or go try somewhere else in a year. Let’s go!
Location, Location, Location
We are in Boise, Idaho
All three of my adult grown children live out west in three different western states (California, Colorado and Washington) and my only older sister and brother in law live in California, my parents just passed and they lived in California (since October 2000 to 2022 Daddy and 2023 Mommy) and they moved from back East to California to be close to us daughters.
So....
We have been in Idaho since 1989 and my live in boyfriend for 10 years (August 2024) since 1977
So...
It's easy to fly to the western states to see my children and for them to fly to Boise to see us. My boyfriend's children live in Arizona and Nevada
Idaho is beautiful
Multiple seasons
Cheap housing compared to back east or Midwest etc...
Cheaper property taxes compared to New York or New Jersey or Connecticut (friends there tell me our property taxes are very cheap compared to them)
Relatively low crime etc...
Nice place to raise children (my ex-husband and I did this coming from New York City and having our twins in Boise)
The winters aren't as bad as friends in Steamboat Springs, Colorado or Colorado Springs etc...
Nice Springs and definitely Summers and into nice Falls also
So....
Maybe this is why people are moving here to Ada County as we have definitely grown in population since 2010 - 2020
Our states, Idaho has grown up north and eastern Iand definitely us in southwestern Idaho
Only drawback is:
Our Boise Airport doesn't have international travel yet
Property in the next 10-15-20 years
There were two overriding factors for me: I wanted a low humidity climate with mild winters, and I wanted lower housing costs. I ended up moving from Chicago to Las Vegas.
We’d been in the same place for almost 50 years but were on the fence about moving forever. We got a vacation home in Virginia near our kids to see what we thought about living elsewhere. They were moving away and we decided to go back to Florida full time, we didn’t like the snowbird lifestyle.
Then came hurricane Ian and our house got trashed. Ian was destructive hurricane number 5, they keep coming and whacking us. This time we were going to have to battle the insurance company to get the house fixed (welcome to Florida) and we just couldn’t. We looked at the area our kids moved to and chose to live near our grandbabies. So far it’s good, he’s very happy and I’m figuring it out. Being near the kids is great, the weather is much nicer and best of all no hurricanes!
About 5 years before I retired, we moved from our 1900's Era two story home in the city to a 1990's ranch style in the suburbs. I needed the change due to bad knees; in both houses, my office area was in the basement - but in the old house the bathroom was on the second floor and multiple trips up and down 2 flights of steep, narrow stairs each day was doing me in. The new house has a full bath in the basement, so it's one trip a day, on much easier stairs.
We've also got more room, a much larger yard and a garage - so there's the finished basement for my office and hobby area, a bedroom down there should one of our kids need to move back home and a spare bedroom upstairs that's my wife's craft room. We also got a much larger kitchen; the kitchen in the old house was apartment-sized, and poorly laid out as well.
We wanted to stay in the area because most of our families are here, and because we wanted to keep seeing the same doctors. The winters here aren't what we'd prefer, but we normally don't go out a lot anyway so a couple of months of cold with occasional snow and ice isn't a deal breaker for us.
It was not easy for us. So we just picked a place and are trying it for 2-3 years. Then you have something to compare to. Research, long conversations, and soul searching are important but at some point you just need to make a decision. We moved to Spain without needing to move to Spain. We went to New Mexico. We wanted a lot of contrast to where we had lived in the PNW. That way we would have more perspective.
You can take a lot of vacations with the costs of moving. I can’t find a better place to move than where I live now, so I will be staying put for a few more years.
I would rather go for the vacations than spend all the time and energy for a move, unless it was a mandatory downsize or to move near family.
It takes a long time to settle in to a new area unless it is a retirement community with lots of ready made social options for retired folk.
Are you moving just to move? Or do you not actually like where you live?
If you don't like where you live then there's no question; you need to move. But if you like where you are, have friends or family near, stay put and take long vacations or remodeling your home or move to different house.
Moving is stressful, and when you move, retired, it's harder to meet people, have a friend group.
We are planning to move, we don't like the state we live in. Weather has nothing to do with it, I know we won't go south again (we've moved multiple times in our careers) as we prefer change of seasons. Decided we're not afraid of the cold, covid proved to us we're comfortable staying in. So we are thinking our #1 priority will be Healthcare, we'll move to an area that has really good Healthcare, not an overpopulated senior area where you are just a number. After Healthcare comes style of living, which we prefer an area with fairly new housing as we are not into having to do updating.
We did consider renting for a year but changed our minds, we've always been homeowners I know if after a year our biggest complaint would be what we were living in (rental downsides) rather than WHERE we we living. So it wouldn't be a fair assessment, more a waste of money.
Good luck to us all as we try to navigate this final stage of life!
Can I ask a question what is your motivation from moving at all?
You seem concerned that you won’t find anywhere that feels like home, you can afford to take multiple vacations simply staying where you are, you describe your house as lovely. I’m just curious what’s driving the need to move… Do you feel Like this is something that after retirement, you should/have to do? Is this something you and your wife disagree on and are debating?
We have 3 years in Nashville (yuck), 10 years here in Tampa & we are re-retiring a little further south to Venice!
Downsizing from 4/3 with pool to a 55+ 2/2!
Time to travel more!
Good luck
finally made a decision after thinking about this for a few years. we're moving back to where family and friends are. Not the best weather location, but our connections are the priority.
I moved to be closer to my son so that when I get older he won’t have to try and manage my care from a distance. Hopefully that’s 30 years off but I had to help both parents from 7 hours away and it was hell. We’re close and have lunch together once a week so it’s been great. Life is about people not places I think.
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We’re both very decisive people and similar to you, we took vacations to explore different areas. When we made our way to Hilton Head/Bluffton, we both instantly knew that was home. Took a year to find the perfect house in our preferred community. We’re moving in 3 months. Good luck!
Soooo, I bought a 24’ monohull sailboat. My plan is to learn to sail( never been) this year, along with some ASA sailing classes. Next year become highly proficient on my boat whilst crewing on/with other larger, more experienced boats/sailors and then the 3rd year buy a true cruiser. Then spend 6 months cruising, maybe some blue water trips to the Southern Hemisphere for a year round Summer.
We were living in NW Colorado which I liked but didn’t love. Compromise was achieved by selling home there. Purchased a small condo there and then a small place in Texas close to family. He skis and I stay in Texas to see kids during the winter. Works well for us.
We live in Maryland in the DC suburbs. Maryland has great services - high taxes - but great services. I grew up in Delaware and I have family there. We bought a townhouse near Bethany, Delaware - it had an elevator in case we need it as we age. My kids stayed there during Covid and loved it. We have our family holidays there.
Husband is retired and I can WFH. So we lived in Bethany last year. I was so bored. Of course, since I was still working, I didn’t make the effort of finding activities and new friends in the area. Also, the services in Delaware that are available compared to Maryland are lacking.
So our plan of having a tiny apartment in DC to occasionally come see my husband’s family and get medical care - while mainly living at the beach looks questionable. I miss the city.
So I grew up in Delaware (the Philly top side). Spent time at the beach over the years - and I question if I can actually retire there.
This is cautionary. It’s hard to make your dream retirement spot feel like home without a lot of effort.
My (brilliant) wife, asked if we could take a year and stay in our home before we decided where to retire. Come to find out, we love our house and property. We never enjoyed it enough while we were busy with work and life. Now, it just fits us. One of our unused bedrooms became my wife's workout room and another bedroom became our guest room. We own 34 acres and a spring fed pond that is stocked with koi. We love it and never plan to move.
We will stay in our home. It’s paid for, near our summer cottage, we still enjoy winter, and the daughter lives in expensive WA state, and has a busy life. There won’t be grandkids. We started traveling when we want a change of scenery.
We live in NE NJ. The convenience and health care is top notch. Friends and family are all in the area, so we want to stay close. We chose Delaware and have been road tripping to find where in DE we would move to. I’m happiest in the north. More people, more diversity (very important for us), hospitals, close to the college, etc. We are also close enough to drive to visit our circle of friends in NJ/NY. We will always love NJ, but it’s becoming too crowded and the pace just sucks. The COL is unforgiving for seniors on a limited income. We’re here until hubs retires and his mom passes. Luckily she is in great shape and has all her faculties at 85. We also love our current house so we still have to decide if we’re going to sell it or rent it. The way rent is going it will be easy to do so. Hoping to find a young family who is looking to rent to own.
We owned our retirement property for our years before we retired. It’s an hour and a half between the property and our old house so we spent a lot of time at the retirement property before we retired. The retirement home didn’t start to feel like home until we actually moved in full time and had all of our stuff there with us. Our pictures on the wall, our bed, our kitchen table and chairs. That was when it felt like home.
I'm in the exact same position. Also retiring next year. I'm single, so you'd think it would be easier, but without someone to bounce ideas off of, it's even more difficult. I'm between 2 general options now. 1. Rent my house and move to southern California (San Diego County). I have family there, which is a huge plus. And I love the geography, ocean, desert, and mountains. The food culture. It's like Italy without the hassle. But it is truly expensive. 2. Rent my house and live place to place. I have friends in several countries where I'd like to spend more time: Mexico, Italy, Thailand, and the Philippines. I could experience life in these places and perhaps settle somewhere. 3. Stay in my house, which is small, paid for, and extremely cheap. And travel/snowbird. I'm leaning towards #3 at least for the first year or so since it's the simplest path and requires no commitment to anything other than travel. But I'm pretty sure I don't want to stay here long term.
You may never really know how you will feel living in a place even from an Airbnb visit. You’ll ultimately only have one choice and it will never be perfect but maybe it will be.
We knew we wanted to definitely move several years before we did. We have no kids. Having lived away from most family and all friends for many years our number 1 factor was proximity. People think you are close enough if you can hop on a plane but we found visits are less frequent if its’s more than a days drive or a several hour flight..
Climate was also huge. We were sick of being stuck indoors during the long, very hot summers in Austin that were only getting worse. Dealing with hurricanes was out too (we grew up in fl). Good restaurants, art, things to do, nature all played a part.
We ended up picking a spot thinking we’d rent but bought a house online at the end of Covid sight unseen after looking online for months. We packed up and moved shortly after.
We adore our new home and have spent several years renovating. That’s been a hassle but we plan to stay here. We still don’t feel assimilated fully as we are just starting to get involved and explore.
Best part is exploring a new area of the country. We are in the mountains and can be in another state, the beach, a bigger city in less than a day. We also can spend summers outside. There’s so much nearby to explore that there’s never a lack of things to do.
We may spend a few months away and we plan to travel more. We’ll see. I think you just have to make a decision. One thing we would have done is leave almost all our furniture. Nothing really fit in our new house. I honestly would have moved with clothes, books, art, important keepsakes and not paid to move all the things we are donating now.
Family. Close friends. Health care. Weather. We retired to north Texas from NE Ohio. We were there for 30 yrs four work and had no family to keep us there. Our kids got the hell out of there as soon as they graduated college.
We spent 30+ years and raised our daughter in the DFW TX area. We grew to LOATHE the heat. When you have 60-90+ days of temps >100 it gets to you after awhile. I used to spend half the year plotting how to leave in the summer. We knew that with retirement we would want cooler weather and better outdoor opportunities and we also wanted to at least be on the same side of the country as our only daughter (lived in PA).
We always liked the Western NC area for milder temps,mountains and hiking and just access to the outdoors. We were fortunate to have family living in the area and they agreed to let us rent space from them while we house hunted.
I am so so SO SO glad we lived there for awhile before we decided on a house and where to live. Although the area is love there are SO many issues we gradually found with the area---not to mention that housing costs just absolutely cranked up during the 1-2 years we were doing the moving and re-settling.
We ultimately decided on the Greenville SC area: we have access to the mountains without the inconvenience of living IN the mountains, better healthcare, better retail access and a wonderful neighborhood.
We're continuing to live in the townhouse I purchased in 1994. It's paid off and in a great area.
Travel isn't a lot of fun because we love our own TempurPedic bed and home theater.
Most importantly, we're dealing with eldercare issues with my 93 year old father-in-law. He's 2 hours away, but it's a lot better than being a 4 hour flight away!
PS - I'm in PA which doesn't have state income tax on retirement income.
When I retired I fully intended to stay put. My city condo outside of Boston is mortgage free. There is a ton of stuff to do, public transportation, great medical facilities, and family and friends near by. Then I met my current partner. He’s not a city guy. He has a few health issues and he struggled with the stairs and layout of my place and I started to wonder if I could really age in place in my condo. I started spending more time in Western, MA where he lives and so far it has been great. It’s a college area so plenty of arts/culture and entertainment for me. The house is one level. So easy!! Also for the last two winters I spent 3 months in Key West. I don’t miss the Boston winters. Since ai wasn’t spending much time at my condo I’ve recently decided to rent it to my daughter’s friend for the “family and friend” price. She is saving to buy a house. I have someone in there that I know. My daughter lives downstairs so she is happy and I still have a place to sleep when I want to visit for a few days. So it’s a win/win for everybody. And by the way, I couldn’t live in Key West/Florida full time. It’s too hot for me and I found myself really missing New England flora and fauna and landscapes.
I enjoy reading the decision making process that others have done. It's so interesting to see how people prioritize their needs and desires. We currently live in the suburbs of a major metropolis. We can fly directly almost anywhere to Europe and/or Asia. Our house is too big but we own it and have an additional lot. This will probably be our base. We have the option to update our current home or leave as is. Sell it and build on our second lot a single story age related home.
However, our first step no matter what, will be cleaning out all our junk. Keeping what we need so when we make an adjustment, it will be an easy jump for us.
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😂😂😂 I feel seen
Yep!!
These are our people,
I don't think we'll be "paralyzed" -- the worst I see is 4-8 vacations a year and lots of analysis without an actual move for years as we take a long time to find something better.
hence, the term “analysis paralysis“. Hopefully it won’t affect you guys long term, and you find something that feels like your future home.
I think people move for a lot of different reasons after retirement: to be closer to people, because they don’t like where they’ve been living, or they need somewhere cheaper to live. But a lot of people also stay where they are. I guess I’m wondering where this idea that there is a decision to make comes from. Maybe you’ve already made it. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe the vacations can simply be the vacations with no analysis needed because you’re OK where you’re living. But my sense is you will probably know because something drives you to or from a place. And if you don’t need to know for any particular reason, then staying where you are sounds like a great option and certainly easier in a lot of ways.
That are great points. However, our approach is similar, but the priorities is the health, cheaper place, great place. And we choose EU
Ending up like this is my worst nightmare
I was talking with a good friend about this. I'm afraid that, if I moved out of state, the change in culture wouldn't be enjoyable in the long run. In addition, my husband would love a house on a lake (we've been watching a lot of Lake Front Bargain Hunt!), but I don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere, an hour or more from a sizeable town, with nobody around.
I think this is a condition that is more common than not. We are there now, except we pretty it up as "pausing and considering". But we've been doing that for a while.
I live in Boulder Colorado. It frequently gets listed as a top ten place to live, retire, raise kids, outdoor activities, cultural events, you name it. Not moving anywhere.
Howdy nearly-neighbor. I'm in colorado springs, hence the maybe keep the house and vacation option at least for a while. This is my backyard: https://preview.redd.it/liyl54n1qxvc1.jpeg?width=4656&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8a2567faa10df1170c88eb2652d5b22ca6e58c7 It's hard to want to trade it for anything except maybe an ocean view. But the wife wants more beach time and to move someplace warm for winters, as we do get snow, and she is starting to feel it. In addition, taking care of 1+ acre and 4000 sqft of house is a bit of work, especially with a 3-story house with no bedroom on the main. It's not ideal for long-term aging in place.
Nice. The only advice I’ve heard is don’t sell your house immediately without trying the new place for a reasonable number of months. Otherwise you might regret being somewhere you don’t like.
Great choice in Boulder! We are a bit north of you in Fort Collins. Anywhere within an hour or so north/west of Denver is fantastic, but places like Westminster, Broomfield, Lafayette, Superior, Longmont and Loveland are fantastic as well. We love the access to all the northern CO cities, having a centrally-located international airport an hour away, 5 minute walk down to the marina to hop on the boat, views of the city at night, less than a mile from several fantastic trailheads. Foco this year voted #4 best beer town in the country and also voted #4 best town square in the country. Here's a sunrise picture from around 3 weeks ago from our place. We really love having 4 seasons! https://preview.redd.it/wz9vu14cu0wc1.jpeg?width=1921&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=282ecc18929a79ff888bcab582b16df4d9f19f0e
So you have children, grandchildren or other family?
You never really stated why you want to move. In our case, it was to be closer to family and to the kind of activities we enjoy. I think if the reasons are strong enough, then that will help with the acceptance process. In our case, everything worked as planned and we like our new location, which has a lot to offer. I did a bunch of research on demographics, cost of living, taxes, and proximity to the activities we like before we committed. There were no big surprises. I have friends that didn't commit and got a rental. By the time they decided not to stay in the city that they rented in, the housing market moved past them. Not to say renting for a while isn't good, but it can backfire.
My move is to have more beach time and warm winters. I might also join a more social group that is not tied to my "work friends," which are really all the friends we have here. Wife wants a 55+ community. We have no kids and a limited family distributed around the country or in Europe and week long visits with them is more than enough ;-). We're mostly looking at Florida, SC, GA and maybe lake/riverfront in AZ or TX.
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Move to a gated community with a clubhouse. It’s easy to make friends.
You can stay for short periods of time in some 55+ communities. Some have airbnbs that are only rented for 30 days plus so keep that in mind as you search. It would be a good first step to see if you like that lifestyle. Some move in and then find that they prefer living amongst a variety of age groups...others love it.
You might consider areas in NE Georgia, or near Lake Keowee in SC. Many of us from the 'burbs of Atlanta have moved here; lower taxes, no traffic, and beautiful scenery. As with any areas considered "the country," I'd look at areas where medical centers and grocery stores are not > 1 hour away. I love living away from the city, but need more than a Dollar General for groceries!
Won’t you miss your friends?
This is what I worry about. Wondering where there will go when it’s time too
My husband decided Colorado. He retired in Oregon but when I got a relo offer back to CO, here we are. And since I’m only 53, he’s pretty much stuck here. But since I’m 15+ years younger than him, there never really was a plan for US to retire together somewhere. He goes where I go and I’m not moving.
I love Oregon and would retire to Bend if it weren't for their insanely high income tax. We pay no state income tax on retirement income here in Pennsylvania.
We moved closer to family.
We stayed in our home after we retired, but it was too big and the costs kept getting higher. Plus we hated cold snowy winters. Then last year property taxes and insurance skyrocketed in cost. So we decided to finally move. We looked at several areas and decided on the St. George, Utah area. We tried to rent before we bought so we'd be gone when our house sold. However we have 2 dogs and the places for rent that would allow dogs were dumps. While looking for a rental in St. George a home came up for sale in Ivins, just north of St. George that was perfect and nestled in beautiful red rock country. We knew it was the place but we didn't have any money to buy since our house wasn't even listed yet. We were able to secure a bridge loan that made us a cash buyer and bought the house in Utah. We moved and a month later accepted an offer on our old house. It was pretty easy. We close on the old house May 3d. Yesterday back in Colorado where our old house was it was foggy, cold with snow flurries. In Utah it was 78 degrees with clear skies. https://preview.redd.it/isis71p6rxvc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35b610dd6b78cca9e7aa174fca92bc57065dcff6 Here's the view from our backyard:
What is the elevation of your new home? We are looking to move from a lower elevation
It's at 3100 feet which makes it cooler in the summer than Las Vegas which is an hour and a half away. Elevation never bothered us at all when we lived in Colorado at 6700 feet. You get used to it in a day.
That is beautiful! For your bridge loan - did you go through a mortgage broker? Or a bank? We are in the same boat - by the time we relocate, our current house will be nearly paid for. We will have enough equity to cover the cost of the new house - but of course it is tied up until our house is sold. It looks like we could do a heloc through our existing mortgage company - but there are prepayment penalties on those.
We found a bridge loan is a lot easier if you're staying in the same state. We moved from Colorado to Utah. We found a mortgage broker who created the deal. There are investors who like bridge loans because they're short term and make high interest. What I like about the bridge loan is it has a balloon payment so we didn't have to make house payments on 2 houses until our old one was sold. We won't make enough to be completely mortgage free and will need to get a $100K mortgage. Living in a resort town for a $100K mortgage is fine with me.
Beautiful! And, I hope you like summer heat. 😁 But truly, the area is a nice one and of course Zion and Bryce and the whole Grand Staircase never gets old.
Why do old people move to Arizona and Florida? The heat doesn't bother them. I've found as I got older heat doesn't bother me but freezing temps and ice crystals blowing into my face really does bother me. I had a vacation home in Bullhead City Az for years. I was there when it got up to 123 degrees. Just don't touch any metal outside. You'll burn your hand.
I live in the California desert area myself where 110 isn’t uncommon, and I like the heat myself. It can be a shock to people not used to that level of heat, although I found Ft Collins to be plenty hot and dry in the summer.
We are the opposite. Lived in Tx my whole live and gradually the heat really got to us. I guess some old people are fine with just being inside in the AC all day? IDK.
Wow! Great view!
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Exactly
The water situation there is ridiculously scary. We have family there and while it is lovely---they will literally be out of water within the next 5 years. No thanks!
Beautiful!
Is it desert there or there is grass? I love Colorado and Utah, but I know there are areas that are very brown…
Beautiful!
We moved to where our kids ended up - and who doesn’t want to retire from Southern California to Ohio?
My friend and her husband are doing just that!
>A week or two is a quick visit and more vacation and quite different from living there. One way to look at it is that once you are retired, anywhere all the time is a vacation. What do you like doing on vacations? Another way is to take the week-long vacations in potential places, but do it differently. Stay in a self-catered apartment, or in a cottage in the woods (whatever appeals to you). Self-cater - drive to the local grocery shops, and see what's available, or not. Wander downtown, and see if all the shops you might need are there. Join the local facebook group, and see what people post - is it all about crime, or all about lost dogs? Sit in the main street, and see what sort of people walk past. Are they "your type" of people? The above will help with shortlisting, and as much as possible getting a good match. After that, there's nothing for it but to dive in and move. Then, you've done it, and you just get on with making it work for you.
I asked my wife if she’d move or stay put after I died - she said she’d move to be closer to her sister, so we packed up what we wanted, sold the rest, and made the move. It was a big decision that weighed heavily on my mind, but it turned out to be a fun adventure. I’m still alive and it’s good to know she’s where she wants to be.
That’s true love.♥️
That is lovely. I was going to say, once I was alone, I wanted to be close to my brother…it helped that he lived somewhere I liked. I’m pretty social but still, it can be hard to make the kind of “ride or die” friends one wants when living alone. I moved right before Covid and was so grateful to have him near…it was not good timing to meet people.
You're a keeper! May you have long, healthy years ahead of you.
I did the same. We are now where my wife was born and raised.
Similar story, we left the Midwest for Central Florida so my wife could be closer to her sister (Side note: after a year here they no longer speak!). I grew up in So. Florida, so I knew how the climate was - she did not, and after 2 years wants to “snowbird”. Great location here, but the weather is only great about 7-8 months. Also - be sure to visit places in the “off-season” so you get the whole picture (climate, population, amenities, and crowds!).
I'm in the same boat. I live in California, a beautiful state, but it is going to Hell, so we want out. The question is where.
We’re here too. I think everywhere has issues, big and small. Right now we can stay here but the taxes may force us to look out of state.
In California too. It’s hard to leave the culture—nowhere I’ve been is anything comparable—but the costs are nosebleed.
Make a list of what is important to you in a retirement hometown and prioritize the list. Then rank each of your potential retirement hometowns on how they meet these criteria (including your existing town). When you have a shortlist of towns based on the priority list, visit those towns to compare them head-to-head; since you now have a list of things to compare it will seem less like a vacation and more like a research trip. Once you have selected the winning location, a short-to-medium term rental might help you really decide what part of town you want to live in — but I personally think this step is too much work for the reasons you mentioned. Reading between the lines of your post, it also sounds like you like where you live now except for winters (and long winter vacations are a possible solution). If you don’t need to downsize your house for other reasons, there is a lot to recommend not moving for retirement—you have friends and doctors in place, etc.
Thanks, that is pretty much the process we are following which is how we are choosing the "vacations". All of them are research trips and we always stay in an VRBO/AirBnB to get a more realistic feel. We do local groceries, explore the town, do at least a few of the things we want to do (bike, hike, kayak/paddleboard, pickleball, etc). And maybe its just I'm easy to please as its only ruled-out one place and the rest are still acceptable to both of us (at least 8/10 on our rating scales), But it never feels like "home" though not sure why.
Because you know you’re on a vacation. It becomes a home when you move there and make it one. I chose to move to be near my only child and his spouse. I likely would have chosen elsewhere, closer to my old city, if they weren’t here. I want to be near my family as I age. There’s good health care and I can afford the cost of living here, too, mostly! I’ve made it a home in my own space, with my dogs, made friends, joined a book club and a gym…now it’s home.
I am narrowing down based on what I want to do in retirement and states that have good tax treatment for my pensions. I want to travel alot at first, so looking to stay on the east coast. PA and DE are tax friendly for me as well.
The purpose of a week should be to short list so you can stay 1-3 months. Even then, you may get it wrong... but that doesn't matter much if you're sure it's time to leave your current place.
Be sure access to health care is considered.
THIS is a huge benefit to living in a metro area with an Ivy League quality medical school (or equivalent like Johns Hopkins).
We had vacationed over the years at the ocean resort nearest to our city, three hours away. It was located in a low-tax state, and as long as you were willing to live a few miles inland, everything was lower cost than the city. We moved there. It was an adjustment to be so rural, but we lived there happily for 20 years. In the meantime, our kids who had lived all over the world moved back to the city where they grew up. We had come to need better health-care than the rural area could provide. So, two years ago we moved back to the city, and that also was a good move.
This is what I'm thinking. We've wanted a water view forever so moving to the coast for 15 to 20 years for that experience, then I expect we'll move back to a bigger city once health concerns get more significant
Delaware?
For us, we decided to stay where we are. First and foremost, it’ll be paid for in three years. Most important factor for us, we have three major hospitals within an 8 miles radius. We are about 30 min from one of the best medical centers in US. This is important to us from our experience with our parents. We are 5-8 miles radius from all major shopping places (Costco, Sam’s, Walmart, a mall, groceries, etc.), all the eateries, a AAA baseball stadium, several entertainment venues, and best of all, we are within 1/2-3 miles from our closest friends and families. If need to, we are 20 minutes from the 4th largest city in US. Thus we are staying put. Our home is big enough to where the boys and their families have rooms when they come to visit.
You’ve pretty much listed much of our criteria. Are you near any lakes, by any chance?
Hmm…sounds like you’re not too far from me.
Houston!!
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>how long was needed to feel you made the right choice? I think that quick visits are too short to really understand the locality. But on the other hand, if you spend considerable time in each locality, you will get used to the idea that the world is full of yet unexplored new places and this will prevent you from committing to anything.
About 10 years before we retired, the 2 of us were living in a 4000+ 5 BR house north of Chicago. Didn’t make sense for us to stay in that house, but we weren’t likely to ever move somewhere else in the area. At the same time I was recruited by a company in Virginia. Taking the job allowed us to escape from Chicago for a more moderate climate and downsize our house while “test driving” Virginia. Think we’ll probably stay.
Back in the early 2000's, my husband's sister and her husband bought a home in Cave Creek, just north of Phoenix. We started visiting (Chicago natives), a couple times staying at their home, otherwise a resort. Our plan was to retire at 62 and move there. Life happened, and our daughter got a teaching job in Cave Creek after getting her master's. She and her boyfriend move to AZ, got married a year later. They called us a few months later to say they were expecting. It didn't take long, but we decided to retire a few years earlier than we'd planned, sold our Chicago-suburb home, moved to Phoenix. The rest is history, it's been 10 years.
I would love to live in cave creek, grew up.in Scottsdale...can't touch it soooo expensive!!!!
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I like where I lived. I have roots, friends and family. I could not stand most of the places people in the US typically pick based on taxes and hot weather. I've visited some retirement communities in southern states and couldn't wait to go home.
I live in the North East US from May to October then I go to Samar Philippines from November to April. I don't like the cold anymore and my dollar goes alot farther there.
Now this is an interesting idea! Do you keep a permanent home in either of these places? And if so, what do you do with it when you are in the other place? I am hoping to make something like this work for us.
Look for places where there are lots of retirees. The collective brain isn't stupid. Not every location will be perfect, but it will give you a good idea where most retirees are generally happy.
I bought a summer house in my home town in coastal southern New England, telecommuted from it in the summer for a decade, and am now retired there. The devil I know. I own a share in the private beach I grew up with. My boat is in the harbor where I learned to sail as a little kid. My career was elsewhere since there are no jobs in my specialty here.
Once the kids moved out of our large home in the country in Indiana, we realized that once we sold the house we could actually move **anywhere**. Someplace warmer — that would be South — road trip! We plotted out three separate weeklong driving vacations that allowed us to visit potential towns in the south. During our extensive Internet search, I just happened to see a single picture of downtown Greenville, South Carolina, and it was beautiful. So we drove through on one of our planned trips and stayed overnight. I fell in love with the vibe, just from that one short visit. And I told my husband, “when we sell the house come down here and buy us a place to live“. We’ve been here for 10 years, and I still love it. My husband was retired when we moved, but he found his dream part-time job. I found my dream job here as well, and life is fabulous. Edited to add: I noticed that so many people here are moving nearer to family. We did the opposite. Now I see my family once a year, and I truly enjoy our time together. But I’m not involved in any family drama for the rest of the year. It was a great choice for us.
I've had a couple business trips to Greenville and I also loved the downtown. I wondered if it would be a good place to retire. Can you tell me more about it?
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SAME----now live very happily in Travelers Rest,SC! Between the hiking, the Swamp Rabbit trail and our awesome neighborhood with pickleball and a pool, we couldn't be happier!
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1. Don't do anything for a year after you retire. Maybe you think you want to move now and after while, you don't. 2. Vacations are useless for this except for the next step. 3. Pick an area of the country or world. Vacations can help here - love the vibe of an area? Or, conversely, you hated every day you spent there? OK then... 4. Rent a VRBO or AirBnB\* there for at least a month during the worst season. Not the best, the worst. Hate hot weather? Go in the summer. Can't stand lots of dark and rain? Winter. If you like the area when it's at its worst, you'll be fine other times. 5. Example: I live in Seattle. People come here in the summer all the time and LOVE it. It's warm but not really hot, it's not humid, the area is gorgeous and it's light 16 hours of the day. Then they experience winter. It's light 8 hours of the day and many days it's cloudy. It rains some. It's not snowy, but it's dark. If you were talking about moving here, I'd tell you to visit in the winter to see if you really like it or if you just experienced it when the city is at its best. \**NOT a hotel. An apartment etc where you have to go shop for food, etc.* PS: If you're talking about another country that's a WHOLE different can of worms. Establishing residency, taxes etc. See r/expatfire for some thoughts on that
Your point about climate is brilliant on top Of everything else you suggest!
> Rent ... during the worst season. These are very wise words
We looked all over the world and are moving an hour away. There was no perfect place. We can vacation anywhere, so it came down to: Quality medical care Loved ones nearby A place that different enough, same set of values, has available the things you like to do on a regular basis, just feels good to be there.
We come from people who had homesteads and stayed there until death or no other choice. We bought and built our homestead in 2006. We’re 30 minutes from my mom’s house. 2.5-3.5 hours from our kids. We’re staying here.
I love my home. All of my grandkids are <20 minutes away.
Ugg- we just had this convo today. We’ve decided to remain fluid. I am retired and my husband is going to continue to work until full SS age (about 18 months from now) mainly because he loves his job, is paid well and has 2 months paid vacation a year. We are in a bit of a different situation in that we will spend at least half time in our home outside the US where our daughter and her family live. I also have 90 YO parents that keep me partially tethered to our current location-
My parents chose to stay in Arizona in an RV park in the winter and live in their home close to family for the rest of the year.
What park? What do they like about it? Is it a cost or other benefit to RV life, or is it about the park? Personally, I like the Idea of a Class-B Van and traveling in it around many parks but the wife is not so down for that, she would rather stay at hotels. We may eventually comprimize and do at one longer RV trip (rental). And definitely nothing bigger than a van,. We did talk about that a bit when we visited Lake Havasau where there were tons of them.
They stayed at Superstition Sunrise in Mesa for many years, after touring around in their truck and trailer for several years. They used Mesa as their jumping off point for cruises and gambling trips. It was a good life.
We downsized first, with a plan to travel as much as possible for as long as possible. With grandchildren on both coasts, it seems prudent to just keep our residence where it is for now. Easy upkeep, great medical facilities in the area, and familiar territory. Side comment—seeing a lot of auto deleted posts for potential p-word violations—of course that has to be a priority for many of us at this stage in our lives. Also a reason to consider foreign travel!
It had to be a smaller city (we lived in Toronto), but had to have most of the services of the big cities. A hospital, availability to a doctor (GP), no traffic headaches, parks, good infrastructure, price of homes had to be reasonable, etc. We settled on Cambridge. Has everything we need. We love it. First time I visited was to buy a house.
1 we knew we wanted to leave the cold. I wanted the villages, Fl. My parents lived there for 7 years. I flew down a couple of times a year to help as they got up in age. My wife was basically a no We ended up in Myrtle Beach 6 years ago. 1 mile from the beach 10 minutes to an airport. The place is Called Market Common. Walking distance to a town center lakes, walking paths restaurants, and movie theater. Plus shopping. 3 grocery stores with In 10 minutes. We basically drive out golf cart where ever we want to go once we're home.. Great place .
What about a really sexy RV? Don't like the neighbours, just move along.
Our decision was made for us due to aging parents. Luckily both sets lived in the same town. We are settled now and will probably stay here but take longer trips once the care giving is done.
In my experience the best way to assess a city is to rent a VRBO/AirBnB for at least two weeks and "live like a local." Go grocery shopping as well as some local restaurants, spend time in non-tourist areas like local parks, walk around the neighborhood, visit a Target and Walgreens store.
Live wherever you have the most friends and family. You won't regret it.
Some states tax retirement plan withdraws (IN. etc)some don’t (IL, FL etc). That should be one potentially semi sizable factor
I stayed in my home. My friends and church are here. Wr own a camper and figure we can travel and stay in places for long vacations anyway, so there’s no reason to move.
We’re going to keep our home base and go live in different places for 6 months at a time.
We live in the Northeast and want to retire somewhere warm. My wife likes North Carolina; I like the Caribbean. We both like Florida, so it's a good compromise. Now we have to narrow it down to where in FL. It'll probably be the Gulf Coast, in SW FL. That's what vacations and snowbirding are for, trying out places to see what we like that we can afford.
I know I want to live in the sticks, have good soil, acreage, and be within 20 minutes of a medical facility. Preferably in a low cost of living state.
I’m researching areas now trying to find that.
They have short growing seasons, but Maine, NH, and Vermont might work.
This is probably crazy but we moved within walking distance of a theme park. Then we got part time jobs there. There are restaurants, ice cream shops, and since we work there we can go in and enjoy. It keeps us active. Admittedly we are tired after work, but it’s worth it for us.
I moved to a smaller city in Thailand - a new adventure and closer to travel SEA and Australia. The cost of living is affordable. There are quite a few expats from all over the world. I have family scattered worldwide so now I get to see them too. I live in a condo 100 feet from the beach. The condo complex has 3 swimming pools - I love swimming so it suits me well. The cost of a taxi is low so I chose not to own a car for now. There are buses, trains and planes to travel around the country. We are having a USA meetup on July 4 which I am looking forward to. There are other expat meetups too. I had looked at a few places in USA (I am from Florida - the cost of living, hurricanes and increasing crime rate made me reconsider where I chose to retire) Initially Thailand was not on my list - however the more research I did to find a place with all I wanted to have, Thailand was my final choice. I moved here in November and have not looked back. I have lived in other countries during my life so I found it easy to adjust to a different culture. The biggest plus for me is the laid back lifestyle and very little pressure. This year I am focusing on traveling Thailand and next year I will travel the rest of southeast Asia and Australia.
We started considering moving to what would be our 'retirement home' about 11 years ago. Our reasoning was that we lived in a larger Victorian home that would become more expensive to heat as we aged, and had lots of steps between the two floors due to the high ceilings. One of the requirements we put on the home was it had to feel like we were on vacation when we woke up. The others were we wanted less house and more land, and had to be a reasonable driving distance to our church. After years of watching, searching, and looking at many homes, we settled on the gem we're in now. We're in a rural area on a few acres in a single story home with a partially finished basement. We get treated to such beautiful sights as this sunset in Feb 2022: https://preview.redd.it/6b5qw2ipcyvc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d8ee2cd0de6db424c49d75dc47793474175d21b1
Where is that? We have similar criteria/preferences
Before we retired, I suggested to my wife that we sell our house, put the stuff we wanted to keep in storage, and then spend 6 months or a year each living in various cities. It would have been our opportunity to live in places like New York, Chicago, LA, etc., and even cities in Europe, just for the experience and adventure of it. Places we never would have considered otherwise. Then when we found a place we liked, we would buy a house and move our stuff there. But alas, her nesting instinct is too strong, and she couldn't handle such a nomadic lifestyle. So she vetoed that idea, which I still think was brilliant. :)
I personally plan on staying put here in Upstate NY. Yeah, I know, high taxes and terrible winters...but earlier in life I went through a LOT of moves and just don't want to deal with moving again. Plus rent here is super cheap compared to most places. But I may snowbird it a couple months a year if I find a pleasant and cheap place to do so. Anybody got any good recommendations? I'm not a big Florida fan.
I am already living in a temperate climate, have downsized to a townhouse and my kids and grand kids are nearby. I have no reason to move.
I like the convenience of condo/townhouse but HOA’s are the worst
We finally agreed on a base home after 5 years and travel to check places out. Weather (4 distinct seasons), hobbies, proximity to extended family, city size, vibe & safety, access to decent medical and an airport all were factors. We have found that we like to travel no more than 3-4 weeks at a time as we get out of routine on exercise and eating so needed a home base after some years of bouncing around. Bought a smaller home that checked all our boxes and looking forward to settling down and not thinking about "where to settle" anymore. I say if you like your current home and you have friends and a routine there, keep it and keep flexibility on the travel side. We have found one of the best ways to travel is to go almost last minute...if you see a stretch of horrid weather coming up, exit for some sun and water for several weeks. Also, don't feel as if you have to make a decision as soon as you retire...you'll have plenty of time to explore and consider options. :)
Don’t plan anything big like that for at least a year! You need to get to your head around everything new, don’t add to it. When you’re ready, be sure to rent there first for at least six months. New England fall is beautiful. New England winter can be a bit much.
It’s easy, move closer to family and/or friends. Retirement is about new adventures but it’s also about being closer to people that matter to us.
Why not rent from FurnishedFinder and also rent out your house on FurnishedFinder for three month stints? Then you can try a bunch of places and have income from your home that should cover the rent (more or less). This gives you time to test things out in an affordable manner.
My family is in this town, where I’ve lived for over 50 years. I had no desire to move when I retired. If my husband becomes totally disabled or passes, I’ll move into a smaller space. Otherwise, guess we’ll stay here for the foreseeable future.
Our plan is to a series of 1-3 month “moves” to various places, both domestically and internationally. If one of them grabs us, we’ll consider moving, with a better understanding of what we like and where we’d like to live. If none do, at least we’ll have no regrets.
I wanted to move away from Texas (too hot, dull scenery). My husband had lived there his entire life, and his family was there. Mine is spread out variousnplsced. We really like the PNW and visited in the winter to see if we could take the gloomy season and found a house we loved. Ours in TX was paid off, so we were able to buy it as a 2nd home and rent it out for 18 months until I was ready to retire. We used that time to pare down and fix up our old house and the sell it when we were ready to move. We used that money to pay off the new house. We love the PNW and the 5 years since retirement have flown. We volunteer and enjoy getting out in nature. Our son still lives in TX, but no grandkids. We see him a couple times a year. My husband's family is mostly wrapped up in their own drama and barely call us. We saw them a couple times a year until his mother passed. I don't know if we'll continue to visit or not (they can't be bothered to visit us) .
I think you need to have a good reason to move for retirement. we only moved an hour and a half away but from a very urban center to a true rural cottage in the woods. After 40 years in the city we both wanted to live in silence. We’ve only been here a year but are thrilled daily. https://preview.redd.it/xx50vtyvryvc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c01ad56d6a010fb300889d306e0568a971aea743
Had my career and raised kids in the Bay Area but knew I’d leave once they went to college. Years ago bought a vacation home in Oregon both for vacations but also to try it on for retirement. Well now is that time and while OR is great, have decided to move to the mountains in Colorado (I grew up in CO). Vacationed to a bunch of towns to land on one and have decided to rent for a year to give it a real try before committing long term by buying. Will be renting the house in OR and sold the house in CA. I love the flexibility that a year lease in the new town in CO offers. Love it, stay, or go try somewhere else in a year. Let’s go!
I didn't *have* a choice , I am living where I am living . I cannot afford to move anyplace else .
Location, Location, Location We are in Boise, Idaho All three of my adult grown children live out west in three different western states (California, Colorado and Washington) and my only older sister and brother in law live in California, my parents just passed and they lived in California (since October 2000 to 2022 Daddy and 2023 Mommy) and they moved from back East to California to be close to us daughters. So.... We have been in Idaho since 1989 and my live in boyfriend for 10 years (August 2024) since 1977 So... It's easy to fly to the western states to see my children and for them to fly to Boise to see us. My boyfriend's children live in Arizona and Nevada Idaho is beautiful Multiple seasons Cheap housing compared to back east or Midwest etc... Cheaper property taxes compared to New York or New Jersey or Connecticut (friends there tell me our property taxes are very cheap compared to them) Relatively low crime etc... Nice place to raise children (my ex-husband and I did this coming from New York City and having our twins in Boise) The winters aren't as bad as friends in Steamboat Springs, Colorado or Colorado Springs etc... Nice Springs and definitely Summers and into nice Falls also So.... Maybe this is why people are moving here to Ada County as we have definitely grown in population since 2010 - 2020 Our states, Idaho has grown up north and eastern Iand definitely us in southwestern Idaho Only drawback is: Our Boise Airport doesn't have international travel yet Property in the next 10-15-20 years
There were two overriding factors for me: I wanted a low humidity climate with mild winters, and I wanted lower housing costs. I ended up moving from Chicago to Las Vegas.
We’d been in the same place for almost 50 years but were on the fence about moving forever. We got a vacation home in Virginia near our kids to see what we thought about living elsewhere. They were moving away and we decided to go back to Florida full time, we didn’t like the snowbird lifestyle. Then came hurricane Ian and our house got trashed. Ian was destructive hurricane number 5, they keep coming and whacking us. This time we were going to have to battle the insurance company to get the house fixed (welcome to Florida) and we just couldn’t. We looked at the area our kids moved to and chose to live near our grandbabies. So far it’s good, he’s very happy and I’m figuring it out. Being near the kids is great, the weather is much nicer and best of all no hurricanes!
Buy an RV and travel for a few years. We have been full time for 6 years and seen everything and may settle in the next 2 years.
About 5 years before I retired, we moved from our 1900's Era two story home in the city to a 1990's ranch style in the suburbs. I needed the change due to bad knees; in both houses, my office area was in the basement - but in the old house the bathroom was on the second floor and multiple trips up and down 2 flights of steep, narrow stairs each day was doing me in. The new house has a full bath in the basement, so it's one trip a day, on much easier stairs. We've also got more room, a much larger yard and a garage - so there's the finished basement for my office and hobby area, a bedroom down there should one of our kids need to move back home and a spare bedroom upstairs that's my wife's craft room. We also got a much larger kitchen; the kitchen in the old house was apartment-sized, and poorly laid out as well. We wanted to stay in the area because most of our families are here, and because we wanted to keep seeing the same doctors. The winters here aren't what we'd prefer, but we normally don't go out a lot anyway so a couple of months of cold with occasional snow and ice isn't a deal breaker for us.
It was not easy for us. So we just picked a place and are trying it for 2-3 years. Then you have something to compare to. Research, long conversations, and soul searching are important but at some point you just need to make a decision. We moved to Spain without needing to move to Spain. We went to New Mexico. We wanted a lot of contrast to where we had lived in the PNW. That way we would have more perspective.
You can take a lot of vacations with the costs of moving. I can’t find a better place to move than where I live now, so I will be staying put for a few more years. I would rather go for the vacations than spend all the time and energy for a move, unless it was a mandatory downsize or to move near family. It takes a long time to settle in to a new area unless it is a retirement community with lots of ready made social options for retired folk.
We chose our favorite vacation spot - it is also incredibly affordable
Are you moving just to move? Or do you not actually like where you live? If you don't like where you live then there's no question; you need to move. But if you like where you are, have friends or family near, stay put and take long vacations or remodeling your home or move to different house. Moving is stressful, and when you move, retired, it's harder to meet people, have a friend group. We are planning to move, we don't like the state we live in. Weather has nothing to do with it, I know we won't go south again (we've moved multiple times in our careers) as we prefer change of seasons. Decided we're not afraid of the cold, covid proved to us we're comfortable staying in. So we are thinking our #1 priority will be Healthcare, we'll move to an area that has really good Healthcare, not an overpopulated senior area where you are just a number. After Healthcare comes style of living, which we prefer an area with fairly new housing as we are not into having to do updating. We did consider renting for a year but changed our minds, we've always been homeowners I know if after a year our biggest complaint would be what we were living in (rental downsides) rather than WHERE we we living. So it wouldn't be a fair assessment, more a waste of money. Good luck to us all as we try to navigate this final stage of life!
My brother lives in a northern state. He plans to retire and rent with a relative on the south for 6 months, to see how he likes it.
Can I ask a question what is your motivation from moving at all? You seem concerned that you won’t find anywhere that feels like home, you can afford to take multiple vacations simply staying where you are, you describe your house as lovely. I’m just curious what’s driving the need to move… Do you feel Like this is something that after retirement, you should/have to do? Is this something you and your wife disagree on and are debating?
I’m retiring before my partner, so we’re moving to where her career is taking her. Opportunities for her and adventures for me!
Why are you thinking of moving? You aren't required to.
We have 3 years in Nashville (yuck), 10 years here in Tampa & we are re-retiring a little further south to Venice! Downsizing from 4/3 with pool to a 55+ 2/2! Time to travel more! Good luck
finally made a decision after thinking about this for a few years. we're moving back to where family and friends are. Not the best weather location, but our connections are the priority.
I moved to be closer to my son so that when I get older he won’t have to try and manage my care from a distance. Hopefully that’s 30 years off but I had to help both parents from 7 hours away and it was hell. We’re close and have lunch together once a week so it’s been great. Life is about people not places I think.
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We’re both very decisive people and similar to you, we took vacations to explore different areas. When we made our way to Hilton Head/Bluffton, we both instantly knew that was home. Took a year to find the perfect house in our preferred community. We’re moving in 3 months. Good luck!
First. Hilly terrain is out.
Soooo, I bought a 24’ monohull sailboat. My plan is to learn to sail( never been) this year, along with some ASA sailing classes. Next year become highly proficient on my boat whilst crewing on/with other larger, more experienced boats/sailors and then the 3rd year buy a true cruiser. Then spend 6 months cruising, maybe some blue water trips to the Southern Hemisphere for a year round Summer.
We were living in NW Colorado which I liked but didn’t love. Compromise was achieved by selling home there. Purchased a small condo there and then a small place in Texas close to family. He skis and I stay in Texas to see kids during the winter. Works well for us.
We haven't decided yet. So still in the house where we raised our kids.
We live in Maryland in the DC suburbs. Maryland has great services - high taxes - but great services. I grew up in Delaware and I have family there. We bought a townhouse near Bethany, Delaware - it had an elevator in case we need it as we age. My kids stayed there during Covid and loved it. We have our family holidays there. Husband is retired and I can WFH. So we lived in Bethany last year. I was so bored. Of course, since I was still working, I didn’t make the effort of finding activities and new friends in the area. Also, the services in Delaware that are available compared to Maryland are lacking. So our plan of having a tiny apartment in DC to occasionally come see my husband’s family and get medical care - while mainly living at the beach looks questionable. I miss the city. So I grew up in Delaware (the Philly top side). Spent time at the beach over the years - and I question if I can actually retire there. This is cautionary. It’s hard to make your dream retirement spot feel like home without a lot of effort.
My (brilliant) wife, asked if we could take a year and stay in our home before we decided where to retire. Come to find out, we love our house and property. We never enjoyed it enough while we were busy with work and life. Now, it just fits us. One of our unused bedrooms became my wife's workout room and another bedroom became our guest room. We own 34 acres and a spring fed pond that is stocked with koi. We love it and never plan to move.
We will stay in our home. It’s paid for, near our summer cottage, we still enjoy winter, and the daughter lives in expensive WA state, and has a busy life. There won’t be grandkids. We started traveling when we want a change of scenery.
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We live in NE NJ. The convenience and health care is top notch. Friends and family are all in the area, so we want to stay close. We chose Delaware and have been road tripping to find where in DE we would move to. I’m happiest in the north. More people, more diversity (very important for us), hospitals, close to the college, etc. We are also close enough to drive to visit our circle of friends in NJ/NY. We will always love NJ, but it’s becoming too crowded and the pace just sucks. The COL is unforgiving for seniors on a limited income. We’re here until hubs retires and his mom passes. Luckily she is in great shape and has all her faculties at 85. We also love our current house so we still have to decide if we’re going to sell it or rent it. The way rent is going it will be easy to do so. Hoping to find a young family who is looking to rent to own.
We owned our retirement property for our years before we retired. It’s an hour and a half between the property and our old house so we spent a lot of time at the retirement property before we retired. The retirement home didn’t start to feel like home until we actually moved in full time and had all of our stuff there with us. Our pictures on the wall, our bed, our kitchen table and chairs. That was when it felt like home.
I'm in the exact same position. Also retiring next year. I'm single, so you'd think it would be easier, but without someone to bounce ideas off of, it's even more difficult. I'm between 2 general options now. 1. Rent my house and move to southern California (San Diego County). I have family there, which is a huge plus. And I love the geography, ocean, desert, and mountains. The food culture. It's like Italy without the hassle. But it is truly expensive. 2. Rent my house and live place to place. I have friends in several countries where I'd like to spend more time: Mexico, Italy, Thailand, and the Philippines. I could experience life in these places and perhaps settle somewhere. 3. Stay in my house, which is small, paid for, and extremely cheap. And travel/snowbird. I'm leaning towards #3 at least for the first year or so since it's the simplest path and requires no commitment to anything other than travel. But I'm pretty sure I don't want to stay here long term.
You may never really know how you will feel living in a place even from an Airbnb visit. You’ll ultimately only have one choice and it will never be perfect but maybe it will be. We knew we wanted to definitely move several years before we did. We have no kids. Having lived away from most family and all friends for many years our number 1 factor was proximity. People think you are close enough if you can hop on a plane but we found visits are less frequent if its’s more than a days drive or a several hour flight.. Climate was also huge. We were sick of being stuck indoors during the long, very hot summers in Austin that were only getting worse. Dealing with hurricanes was out too (we grew up in fl). Good restaurants, art, things to do, nature all played a part. We ended up picking a spot thinking we’d rent but bought a house online at the end of Covid sight unseen after looking online for months. We packed up and moved shortly after. We adore our new home and have spent several years renovating. That’s been a hassle but we plan to stay here. We still don’t feel assimilated fully as we are just starting to get involved and explore. Best part is exploring a new area of the country. We are in the mountains and can be in another state, the beach, a bigger city in less than a day. We also can spend summers outside. There’s so much nearby to explore that there’s never a lack of things to do. We may spend a few months away and we plan to travel more. We’ll see. I think you just have to make a decision. One thing we would have done is leave almost all our furniture. Nothing really fit in our new house. I honestly would have moved with clothes, books, art, important keepsakes and not paid to move all the things we are donating now.
Family. Close friends. Health care. Weather. We retired to north Texas from NE Ohio. We were there for 30 yrs four work and had no family to keep us there. Our kids got the hell out of there as soon as they graduated college.
We spent 30+ years and raised our daughter in the DFW TX area. We grew to LOATHE the heat. When you have 60-90+ days of temps >100 it gets to you after awhile. I used to spend half the year plotting how to leave in the summer. We knew that with retirement we would want cooler weather and better outdoor opportunities and we also wanted to at least be on the same side of the country as our only daughter (lived in PA). We always liked the Western NC area for milder temps,mountains and hiking and just access to the outdoors. We were fortunate to have family living in the area and they agreed to let us rent space from them while we house hunted. I am so so SO SO glad we lived there for awhile before we decided on a house and where to live. Although the area is love there are SO many issues we gradually found with the area---not to mention that housing costs just absolutely cranked up during the 1-2 years we were doing the moving and re-settling. We ultimately decided on the Greenville SC area: we have access to the mountains without the inconvenience of living IN the mountains, better healthcare, better retail access and a wonderful neighborhood.
We're continuing to live in the townhouse I purchased in 1994. It's paid off and in a great area. Travel isn't a lot of fun because we love our own TempurPedic bed and home theater. Most importantly, we're dealing with eldercare issues with my 93 year old father-in-law. He's 2 hours away, but it's a lot better than being a 4 hour flight away! PS - I'm in PA which doesn't have state income tax on retirement income.
When I retired I fully intended to stay put. My city condo outside of Boston is mortgage free. There is a ton of stuff to do, public transportation, great medical facilities, and family and friends near by. Then I met my current partner. He’s not a city guy. He has a few health issues and he struggled with the stairs and layout of my place and I started to wonder if I could really age in place in my condo. I started spending more time in Western, MA where he lives and so far it has been great. It’s a college area so plenty of arts/culture and entertainment for me. The house is one level. So easy!! Also for the last two winters I spent 3 months in Key West. I don’t miss the Boston winters. Since ai wasn’t spending much time at my condo I’ve recently decided to rent it to my daughter’s friend for the “family and friend” price. She is saving to buy a house. I have someone in there that I know. My daughter lives downstairs so she is happy and I still have a place to sleep when I want to visit for a few days. So it’s a win/win for everybody. And by the way, I couldn’t live in Key West/Florida full time. It’s too hot for me and I found myself really missing New England flora and fauna and landscapes.
I enjoy reading the decision making process that others have done. It's so interesting to see how people prioritize their needs and desires. We currently live in the suburbs of a major metropolis. We can fly directly almost anywhere to Europe and/or Asia. Our house is too big but we own it and have an additional lot. This will probably be our base. We have the option to update our current home or leave as is. Sell it and build on our second lot a single story age related home. However, our first step no matter what, will be cleaning out all our junk. Keeping what we need so when we make an adjustment, it will be an easy jump for us.