Not moving for 10 years, but I just have no clue. I have thought about it all except FL. Wife and I both agree no FL. I have thought about small town WI. AZ. Back home to Oklahoma. TN. Las Vegas. TX. Lastly buy an RV stay where it is 75 degrees. Coming from Chicagoland area so as long as we stay off the coasts we should find a place that is cheaper.
I used to want a town of 25-40K in population, but man I just don’t know. People be crazy at times these days.
Sounds like it was timed out for deer hunting. Fun! Hope he gets his deer!
I wasn’t aware how big deer season was until I moved.
Gun deer hunting season in Wisconsin is always the Saturday before thanksgiving until the Sunday after. No bow hunting for that week, but bow season is before and after (just stops for a week) It is the heaviest that first weekend because some people go home once they get their buck (and one doe permit per 4 hunting licenses).
Yes, if you are planning to do anything wild like take a walk, make sure you are wearing red or orange. We had a red/tan dog we’d put bandanas on in case he got into the woods that week.
When I lived in Minnesota it was for the Halloween Storm and again a few years later another early storm. Five feet of snow on Oct 31, but that was really no big deal because it wasn’t really cold and blowing. It started on a Friday and we didn’t even miss work as it was a weekend. Now, we were still looking at that snow in April, but that wasn’t a bad storm. For me the hardest part of living in Minnesota was Feb and March when it was just too cold to go out at all for weeks at a time. I love being outside and don’t mind ‘regular’ cold, but there it is COLD. I grew up in Wisconsin where there are trees, so not so cold (wind is broken up) but Minneapolis was a lot colder.
Yeah, we are Texans so ds1 grew up hunting and shooting with my dad. I’m excited he married into an outdoorsy family as dh isn’t big on that stuff.
We’ve also said no to Florida, and have considered lots of other places. But at the end of the day we realized there aren’t many places we think we’d like better than where we are now, and our kids are relatively close by, we have established friend and doctor relationships, and other family isn’t too far, and we are close to 3 decent airports. We are more than likely staying fairly close. We like most everything but the taxes/HCOL. We live in Maryland. The other place we still talk about some is the Research Triangle area of NC.
Most (all?) schools around us have the first day of rifle deer season off. Lately PA has moved that day to a Saturday from a Monday, but we still give that Monday off. If we didn’t, too many students/teachers would be gone. From what I hear city schools don’t have it as a holiday, but if other rural areas are like us, they do.
Our stallion is a buckskin (color). No outsiders are supposed to be hunting around us, but I keep him closer to the barn - just in case. I prefer safe to sorry.
@1214mom we are in MD also and tho we sometimes talk about moving post-retirement, we actually really like it here for all the same reasons you mention. And tho yes, taxes and HCOL, we also realize that places that have lower taxes/COL are not places we really want to live anyway!
Yep, DH and I went to high school in PA many decades ago. My school was always off for the first day of deer season; I was in a poor district that was split half city/half farming. DH was on the other side of the county in a wealthy district; they didn’t have off. Of course, I went to high school during the time when kids came to school with rifles hanging in the back window.
@4kids4us and @1214mom - we lived in DC suburbs/NoVA and other than the HCOL we loved it. We would not have moved except neither of our kids live there (they are FAR from there) and have no interest in moving back. Had either one of them lived there or planned to we would not have relocated, just downsized.
No place is perfect. If the HCOL is doable it is worth staying (IMHO).
@FallGirl the one place we’d love to move to is CA b/c H’s entire family is there, as well as our oldest daughter. But the high COL, esp the cost of housing, makes it unlikely we would move there. The only thing I dislike here is the humidity in summer (we will never move south!). I’m a “fall girl” too 
I grew up in the area where we currently live, but have very little family here, esp once my parents are gone. We have four kids, and doubtful they will all end up in same place once they settle down. Rather than uproot ourselves to be near one of them, we will most likely stay here and just travel to them. But my kids are years from that point (three of the four are still in school), so plans could easily change! I do hope that at least one of our kids will settle down near us. Who knows, we could end up moving to be near our kids, but at the moment, we can easily see ourselves retiring here.
I too have relatives in CA (SF area), and we considered San Diego area at some point. It’s lovely there, but very expensive. We talked about justifying by saying we didn’t need as many vacations bc we would be living in such a nice area. But it’s really too far from kids.
We actually (mostly jokingly) have considered HA, because of their tax rules (maybe then don’t tax pensions for us or something like that), but that’s way too far from family, and I think I’d get tired of HA after awhile.
People in my mahjong club go to Hawaii 2-3 times a year, some own a place there. I used to go there often because they are cheap from my coast, not anymore.
Just a thought on taxes…a lot of people like to go where there is no state income tax, but typically the property and/or sales taxes there are high. And services tend to be poor (according to my sister who lives in a no income tax state). Be aware that rural areas can be deceptive. A few years ago my H was talking with his sister who lives in a small town in a rural area of the midwest. Her house was comparable in size/amenities to our home in NoVA suburbs but because of location was valued at half as much. However her property taxes were double what ours were! We had a good school district, great parks and library, etc. The school system there was lousy, parks and library adequate. On top of that, you have to drive to everything in a rural area and depending on what you want/need that can be a long drive.
There are a lot of small/medium towns in NC. Weather is decent all year!
right there with you. I called my husband (he was travelling) with the “we have to sell tomorrow!” speech and he almost had me committed.
We live in Philadelphia (in the city;) and are at least 8 years from retirement. While neither of us are from Philadelphia, we love the city. All of our good friends are still here. My sister also bought a house and has my mom with her.
I grew up in Florida and still have family there. I would never live there again. My husband is from upstate NY and that is gorgeous.
I was just diagnosed with MS and I think that may play into our long term plans. I probably won’t retire in our very tall, 3 story rowhome. My dream is to move into an industrial, wide open loft (that can possibly accommodate a wheelchair if that is necessary) and then have a 6 month property in Maine. If that doesn’t happen, then maybe a 6 month property in a beach town in Delaware.
I realized with diagnosis that I cannot live far away from topnotch medical care and I have that in Philly. I also hate the heat (and humidity) and will not move south of Delaware/area. I also realized that I want and may need easy access, such as public transportation, cabs and/or carshare.
I do think about long term climate issues like heat and water. My youngest is studying engineering and we have a lot conversations about places to live and what areas of the country will be problematic with climate issues and with political issues.
Very interesting conversation.
It is technically, and of course this is subjective, but it doens’t feel like it’s in the Pioneer Valley. All the driving we did through those places, when we got to Springfield we felt like we’d left the area and were on our way elsewhere.
We love the Pioneer Valley, but it always felt like the kind of area that perhaps charmed us on our many visits, but also a place we might well tire of if we actually pulled the trigger to move to it. It always struck me as a candidate for us; but I expect if we ever seriously consider making a move the PV would take a lot of mulling over.
Great advice. And do your research, because of course states tax different things differently. For example, while many people assume Washington state, which is pretty blue, is highly taxed, it has no state income tax. If you make a lot of $$, that’s a big deal. Property taxes are below the national average, but there is a sales tax. Of those three, I’d rather deal with a sales tax.
It’s especially important to really figure this all out if you plan on living in two places and playing the “I’m not a [state] resident” game.
Definitely not hurricane-proof, but probably muted effects compared to other places.
St Pete and Tampa haven’t actually been hit bad in decades. One can either say they’re in a good spot or due…