@FallGirl I’m with you. I grew up/live in the mid-Atlantic. I cannot stand the heat and humidity. Fortunately, it’s only intolerable maybe two months of the year. No desire to move anywhere south of where we are. If we do move in the future after retirement/kids all out of house, I would move north to colder winters before I’d move south. However, H is from CA and his entire family is there, as well as one of our daughters, so depending on many things, it is possible we’ll head there. Ideally we would love to keep a place where we live now and another in CA. We both agree that anywhere south of MD where we are now is a no go.
(Though my running has fallen by the wayside the last few years, my ideal temp for running is 40-50 degrees, but I would run even when temps were in the teens. I’d much prefer running in below freezing temps than when it is hot/humid - I cannot breathe when it’s humid here).
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H and I have definitely talked about moving, but it is difficult when we live in San Diego near the ocean and have both of our daughters here. We take advantage of all that is offered living in our city and love the mostly mild weather. No air conditioning in our house as it is only needed a couple of weeks a year.
If D1 ends up moving closer to the mountains in a state here in the west we would consider getting a small place somewhere near her especially if skiing was not too far away. We don’t have a problem with the cold if we are not going to work and if we are able to ski.
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Including the small company I work for. It makes me uncomfortable that we are keeping about $300K that we didn’t need!
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Our San Diego home zestimate has dropped slightly since last month but still absurdly high. I was curious about our old highly desirable upscale west suburban Chicago neighborhood. We sold to a developer in 2015; the house he built sold for $2.1 million in 2017. Then it resold last spring for about $2.25. Now it’s estimated at $1.9. I doubt interest in that suburb is waning so was a bit surprised at that decrease.
I know a couple that I play bridge has 2 residences, one in Connecticut from April to Thanksgivings, then they stay in our area for the rest of the time. Their kids are all on the west coast.
Six years ago I did an extreme “downsize,” got rid of all furniture, kitchen stuff, books, toys, most sentimental things, and have been doing winter rentals (actually the same one, a block from the ocean) and going somewhere in the summer. In recent years I am a little tied down due to my elderly mother so I just signed a lease for one year. Now I have to get furniture! I felt really anxious about accumulating and someone suggested starting with a bed, and plastic forks!!!
To those in San Diego, my adult daughter is leaving after PhD and coming East. If it weren’t for my mother I would take her apartment. My health is so much better in that steady, dry climate and I love the area. I have spent most of my time downtown/Little Italy, Coronado with a trip each time to Hillcrest/North Park/University Heights, Pacific Beach and of course La Jolla.
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I don’t think H would ever consider leaving the town we are in. I would be open to going elsewhere but girls not settled in one place. I am happy to stay here, especially with Mom still alive and close by. I still want to downsize here. Until I can get H on board the best I can do is to start paring down
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@compmom - your D doesn’t want to look for a job in San Diego? It sounds like you have been able to visit many areas of San Diego.
On cruises…you don’t have to do the pricey shore excursions through the cruise line. You can go on land and walk around…or if in a new place hire a taxi for the day. Or take public transport if there is some…to museums or other sites.
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That’s a good point. But it does depend on location. For our Western Med tour, some of the ports were 1+ hours away from destination (Pompei, Rome, Florence). Getting back in time would have been stressful. But if I were a full time traveler, perhaps it would be easy peasy to plan.
We’ve always done our own excursions on the cruises. Does take a little bit of time to research and plan - but very very doable. We’ve done our own exploring in Naples (Pompeii, the Amalfi coast), Rome (take the train into Rome from Civitavacchia) and Pisa/Tuscany countryside from Livorno.
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Interesting about the weather preferences. It really does seem individualistic! I don’t like being cold but I could see living in two different places to take that into account, eventually (somewhere in the US + Mexico?).
Regarding the ‘travel all the time’ version of retirement - I started following a Facebook group started by a couple who retired early and travel everywhere (I think I may have mentioned this prior). Folks in the group are nomads who are generally FIRE (financial independence retire early). GoWithLess
It’s been fascinating hearing about their adventures - but after some travel in the past few weeks, I feel like I would like at least one (or two?) home bases to establish community. Would like that support, ability to work for common goals, engage with different community groups, develop more extended friendships. The nomad lifestyle was momentarily appealing - but don’t think it’s for me. 
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I’m planning to nomad it for 10-15 years. Sell the house, invest the proceeds, and travel internationally for 9-11 months a year and Airbnb it for the little time I spend in the states. I met an older couple recently that was doing the same. I loved hearing about their adventures. That’s after I Fat FIRE.
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Interesting, itsgettingreal21. Do you mind if I ask - just generally - how much you need per year for your fat Fire? Maybe that’s too personal; disregard if so.
As I said, I have been moving around and caution folks that airbnb’s in some areas fill up well over a year in advance.
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Thanks for sharing, compmom. We used to do Air BnBs a lot. Since COVID - almost all add an extremely high cleaning fee (not sure why, presumably they cleaned well before?). In almost all cases, now, the AIrBnB is significantly higher than a nearby hotel (sometimes double the cost). And the hotel provides pool, (sometimes) breakfast, sheets washed in super hot, sterilizing water, etc.
Maybe Air BnBs are still a good deal for monthly or longer stays? (assuming you can snag one!).
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The housing crisis in my area has meant that short term rentals like airbnb are used for longer term housing in many cases. There are very few open right now.
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We’ve never been able to find an AirBnB/VRBO that was less expensive than a hotel. It seems to me that those work when multiple people split the cost, but I’ve never been able to find one anywhere for a single couple that wasn’t two to three times the price of a hotel. Ever. Maybe I don’t know how to look/search?
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I must have much lower standards than you. I def can find less expensive Airbnbs.
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When it is just H and I and we are not staying for multiple nights we normally do hotels. When our Ds join us or my parents we do AirBnB’s as it is normally less when we have more people.
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