I have a friend whose sister downsized to a Sun City and LOVES it. Everything about it.
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Even with the news above, the local RE market seems to have a âdisconnectâ with the wider RE market at this time. Iâm still seeing homes selling for well above listed selling price and selling prices have escalated, even just in the past 2-3 months.
Iâm assuming that march upwards will soon end here too.
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@sushiritto - We are seeing the same thing here in Southern California. Like you I am assuming things will cool here too, but we havenât seen it happen yet.
My Hâs grandparents lived in Sun City when it was brand new.
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natty1988 and Youdon_tsay - wondered what your friends like about Arizona? Iâve heard that it gets so very hot in the summer that it limits outdoor activities (going from airconditioned house, to car, to store/work, etc.). Iâd like to be outdoors as much as possible so curious how that impacts things?
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Oh, my friendâs sister is at Sun City Georgetown, north of Austin.
Itâs like the toilet paper buying frenzy. Some are buying out of need; many are buying out of fear. Stores are raising prices to capitalize on the profits, and some desperate crazy person is out there tossing $50 bills per pack to make sure he doesnât run out 
My kingdom for a roll of toilet paper. Geez Iâll never forget that time period. I woke up early Tuesday mornings to be one of the first in line for the new TP shipment. Ahh, yes, remember thee well, âToilet Paper Tuesdays.â 
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Wow. These guys really downsizedâŠ
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/seattle-accountant-retires-on-cruise-ships-to-save-money/
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If we Californians want to downsize, we almost have to move out of state. Weâre in a conundrum here. Do we keep the big house and embrace multi generational living? Because our kids sure canât afford to live around here. Wait until our kids all move out of state and follow one of them? Ah, having us spread to the wind breaks my mama heart. My husband and I bought our first house in 1999 for 200k. We made 60k in income at the time, had two babies, and were in our 20s. That 1970s entry level tract house we owned is now worth over 800k and my 20 something college grad kids will be lucky to make 60k a year any time soon.
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Cruises are great as long as you can avoid the Norovirus and Covid outbreaks, on-board fires, claustrophobia, food poisoning and the Captain getting drunk some evening and then slaloming through various channels.
Never been on a cruise, never want to be on cruise.
ETA: I do really enjoy ferry rides like between the San Juan Islands.
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What happens when their health begins to fail?
Seems to me it would be pretty boring. And you certainly donât make new friends, other than ones youâll only know for a week or so. I certainly like to be rooted in my home.
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For that method to work, you definitely have to give up your home. Iâve read about people that do continuous cruises instead of independent living (but of course you could not have any major health issues). For me it would not be too boring if shore excursions were possible, but they are pricey.
On one cruise, we read about a couple having their 1700th night cruising. But perhaps they still had a base camp house and lots of money.
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Not a cruise, but we recently met a couple that sold off their primary home and is now spending a couple of months each in different locations. They had been to Alaska for a couple of months, in Amsterdam for a few and then were planning to go to South Africa and then South America. Making trips back to the US for weddings, graduations and the like.
I could see us doing something like that, but I think we will still want a home base. We were away for six weeks and it is so nice to be back âhomeâ. Luckily for us, we âright sizedâ as my husband called it - so our house isnât too big or too small. Only problem is that we donât have a bedroom or a full bath on the first floor.
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i have wondered this too. H and I recently retired to a city which is notorious for cold winters and we are ribbed about it all of the time. But I look at the weather where our good friends live (Florida) and already in May it is too hot for H or me (itâs great here). We also love having 4 seasons.
H and I grew up in northern Illinois so cold winter weather does not faze us - to a point. We actually prefer cooler weather (60âs and 70âs) to anything warmer than that. Iâm a runner and my ideal running temps are 30-45 degrees (although I am ok with running in temps down to 20).
We are both retired and are lucky enough to have the financial resources and good health to travel. The plan is to stay here through the holidays and do a few warm weather trips January - March. Already scheduled for a cruise âdown underâ at that time and also plan to visit S in SoCal. Possible short trips to see Florida friends and Texas relatives.
If we lived in a hot climate (Florida, Texas, ArizonaâŠ) we would have to escape and travel several months of the year so there would be no benefit to us to live there.
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I think we settle where we are most comfortable. The heat doesnât bother me. I wouldnât like the gray and cold.
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I agree. The friends who moved to Florida donât like to walk if itâs cooler than 70 degrees.
No right/wrong just different preferences. I do seem to get more negative comments from people about our choice.
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Our neighbors are originally from South Dakota and at the beginning of the pandemic they bought a second home there. They stay at their place here in Southern California from after Thanksgiving until mid to late April then spend the rest of the time in South Dakota. They are now renting their place in Southern California for 3 months to a visiting professor at UCSD. This is the first time they have rented it out while they are gone. They told us before they left they were going to give it a try to help offset some of the costs.
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Ds1 is worried about us relocating near them (MN) as he thinks we wonât like the winters. He may be correct. The working plan right now is when there are grandbabies we reverse snowbird and spend summers with them.
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