Some of the discussion on another thread prompted me to create this one.
If you have moved recently or are thinking about/planning to move, where are you going from and to, and why? If you want to include where you wouldn’t want to move, and why, that would be interesting too.
We currently live in Maryland, our kids are gone, and we are retired.
We are considering moving to the research triangle area of NC, because in our particular case taxes are cheaper in NC. We want someplace that’s no colder than where we live now, preferably warmer, and that is considered very safe and has excellent medical care.
We considered a couple of places in the SW, but it’s too far from relatives and water issues seem real.
I want to move, but sadly it won’t be very soon. Maybe in 5 years. We live in Missouri now, and I really don’t like it. Depending on where our kids wind up my list is Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Maine, Colorado.
My wife keeps moving the needle on any move. We moved to NJ for work (in NYC) when the kids were just starting school but planned to move back to CA “within 3 years.” It took longer to have the potential of moving back make sense for work but by the time it did, the goal posts had changed because now the kids were settled in school and there wasn’t a belief (from experience) that we could duplicate the community or public schools we had in CA (and the private school experience would be very different). Then the goal moved out to “as soon as the kids were through school.” Gave up a couple amazing job offers in CA, ironically, because now we would’t move.
Now that our youngest is approaching final year of HS the goal posts have moved again to “let’s stay put until we see where all the kids settle post college and make our plans based on that.”
We have tossed around the idea of moving overseas, maybe Scotland, but I think that is a pipe dream Probably stay put in NC. I don’t like snowy cold weather. Don’t like having a fire season or a drought. I can handle some rain but not full on gloom. Not a big city person. I’m more of a medium sized town person. We might move w/in NC or could possibly move to VA. No plans to move anytime soon, though.
Resident here. Great place to live but the cost of living in desirable areas is going through the roof. My suggestion would be to look in the Winston Salem area. Other areas to consider are Hillsborough, Pittsboro, and Wilmington. We are thinking about building in a tiny little coastal town on the water one day. However, moving there full-time might be a stretch for us.
If you can tolerate slightly colder weather, western NC is the place to be.
We haven’t moved in 26 years or so, but keep thinking of buying a vacation place that we rent out when not using it. Current top thoughts are getting a condo in the Caribbean or a camp on Lake Erie/Ontario/St Lawrence River.
My oldest son moved from western NC not far from Charlotte to outside of Cleveland, OH earlier this year. He changed jobs, but so far, he’s enjoying OH.
Also moving back in Jan was our youngest son - from here in PA to rural Puerto Rico. So far he’s enjoying it too. He moved for cheaper land and a year round growing season.
We’re waiting to see where middle son ends up post residency/fellowship. That’s probably 3 years away. Once we know where everyone is (assuming the other two don’t change), then we’ll figure out what we want. We could do it sooner, but I’m not sure we want to.
My husband and I moved last year from Southern California to Northern California. We finished our retirement home early, planned to use it for vacations but my hospital offered an nice early retirement package so I jumped at the chance. My husband got a job transfer to the Sacramento area so we relocated earlier than planned. Both son’s are in California (for now) so we decided to stay in-state. We figured they are young so they can come to us if their living situations change.
My husband wanted to design our retirement home and have some acreage so the Northern California Sierra Foothills gave us that opportunity. He plans to retire at the end of 2023 and we are planning to plant a vineyard on the property. He wants to grow the grapes but not deal with the Winemaking portion.
We are close to Lake Tahoe for fishing, San Francisco for big city life and everything else in-between. Going from LA suburbia to rural Northern California Sierra Foothills has been a nice change. Quiet country life has been appealing so far.
We have considered Asheville, but think we would like the triangle area better. We also considered Wilmington, but it’s too far away from much but the beach, and we don’t want to be in a place with fairly significant hurricane risk.
We moved 8 times inour first 10 years of marriage. when we moved to our current home, I said I would never move again, and I meant it! Although if I inherited a New England 4 season beach home I might reconsider…
Beat you… We moved 13 times in the first 8 years, some of those just changing apartments as dates got extended, etc, but at the time we were “pros” at moving and had pared down a lot. I don’t recall the moves (themselves) all that fondly.
ETA: For states, we’ve lived in NY/NC (each, prior to college), VA, RI, VA (again), FL, and PA together.
Yes, moving this week. Job change, and prefer a college town to a more rural midwestern town (for raising the younger kid). It’s a bit further in miles to college kid but much closer to an airport, so easier with reaching her overall. She’s not thrilled to not have a home near her high school friends but agrees it’s a better situation for her sibling. Long term we always expected to retire to southern CA for family reasons, but the climate issues do concern me.
I lived in KY all of my life and loved the small city where I grew up and raised 2 kids, but retirement meant time to acknowledge kids would never be back and if I wanted to see grandkids more, I would have to make a move. I moved to Nashville at the end of July and am loving it. D and her family live here and I can fly to visit S’s family much more easily. I went from a 3100 sq ft 2 story house to a 1400 sq ft condo and I could hardly be happier (I do wish the tub in my bathroom was a walk-in shower, but maybe a summer project for next year…). I miss my KY friends, but have made some new friends at small condo complex and had lunch with two of them last week. We are so conveniently located that we were able to walk to the small cafe where we ate. So far, so good:)
I’ve been in H’s hometown in southern VA for almost 30 years. We are both ready to move! We hate heat and humidity. (That is an understatement!) I can leave in 5.5 years, but we will still have to work. Current plan is to move to Asheville, so H can work at Biltmore, something he has always wanted to do. Right now, I hope to get a job doing something at the airport.
Once we can really retire, we aren’t too sure. We don’t have married kids with grandkids yet, so where we go may change. Ideally, we’d love to be in the Alps in Austria or Germany, but I don’t think that’s realistic. So, we are looking into Quebec City. As of next year, it looks like the kids will be in the DC & Boston area, so Quebec wouldn’t be too bad.
You aren’t worried about fires in the Sierra Foothills? My wife and I grew up in CA , met there, went to college there and worked there for years before relocating. Most of our relatives are there and we visit regularly. Always planned to retire there (despite the high cost of the state). But between fire risk, potentially prolonged and profound drought/water access consequences and aging power infrastructure, it’s taken the edge off enthusiasm for the idea.
Fires are always an issue in California but we live less than a mile from a fire station and are diligent with brush removal around the property (next door neighbor is a retired fire captain). I lived near the San Gabriel foothills in Southern California for 60 years and remember seeing the foothill’s on fire since I was a kid. Unfortunately a way of life in California.
From the Midwest - in one of the least expensive COL areas. Great place to move TO. Very difficult to move FROM. Originally hoped to move to the PNW on retirement (children live there). Extreme surge in housing prices got in the way.
DH wants a condo. I want a small yard. We thought a townhouse could be a compromise, but very few townhomes available in the PNW and still extremely expensive. Neither of us want a 55+ community (yet). So we rent a very tiny apartment, and “commute” for larger chunks of time. If the housing correction ever reaches the Seattle area we might reconsider.
We also both lean introvert. Love exploring new places, but concerned about establishing an entirely new support system, and all new friends. The Seattle area is primarily a young and interesting population. I really haven’t experienced the “Seattle Freeze”. Most people I’ve met have been very friendly. However, you don’t find many retirees that have moved from elsewhere, wanting to start a new life. On the contrary, most longer term residents already have their friends and family in place, and busy in their own lives.
We live in Tokyo and are planning a move to France early next year. This will coincide with retirement. I’m American and my husband is Japanese. We’ve been living in Japan for about thirty years now and raised our kids here. Tokyo’s a funny place. We live right in the center, but it’s definitely not like, say, midtown Manhattan. We’ve got big trees and wide streets where the kids learned to bicycle when they were small, more like Mayberry RFD. We were lucky enough to be able to send them to some great international schools here, and they have friends from all over. I’m a public school kid from New Jersey and would never have wanted to send my kids to “prep school,” but the schools here never felt like that. So it was a great place to raise our kids and for me to practice law, but I am ready for a change and that was the deal we made a long time ago. We always thought we would go back to the States, but right now doesn’t seem to be the right time for that. In addition to all of the political tension, it would take a couple of years for my husband to get a green card given the current backlog. So, therefore, we’re heading to the south of France at least for a while. We like it there, my only sibling is in the UK and our son will likely be attending graduate school in the UK. If we ever do go back to the US, I think I may surprise myself by going back to New Jersey. After all, you can’t take the Jersey out of a Jersey girl. See, e.g., https://twitter.com/NJGov?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author
