We thought hard about moving the Marin County. I did some grad school in the Bay Area and loved it. Both kids were living there. ShawSon got two grad degrees there and is a co-founder of a venture-backed Silicon Valley startup and his community is there. His now-wife has a great job at one of the big tech firms. ShawD was also out there. We rented a houseboat in Sausalito for three winters and I tried to convince ShawWife to move, but did not succeed. Just before the Pandemic, we bought a house on an extraordinary property in the exurb where we raised our kids. We are now renovating the house to match the property (on a river, surrounded by conservation land). ShawD broke up with her BF of several years and she decided to move back to be near us in Massachusetts for when she has kids and for when we get old. It is not clear where ShawSon will end up. If his startup has a good exit, he will be able to call his own shots. Both of our kids have said they would like to raise their children in the town where they grew up and where we live. So, I think we are not moving from here.
I would like to have a place to go in the winter that is warm. Weāve been going to Florida for a few weeks each winter and if we were to move there for 6 months, our state tax reduction could make a purchase very easy. A couple of years ago, I seriously looked at buying. But, ShawWife and I are pretty uncomfortable with the vitriolic culture war politics going on there at the moment. For a couple of reasons, we actually might look at spending a couple of months this winter in Puerto Rico.
@ClassicMom98, I donāt know Quebec City as well, but the quality of life in Montreal seems pretty high. Good food. Lots of lakes nearby in the Laurentians. Good skiing by East Coast standards. Taxation is probably pretty high, even by Canadian standards, but basic health care is covered. We have thought about living in Canada ā ShawWife is Canadian and now a dual citizen ā and we share a house in the Laurentians so have spent a lot of time there. My preference would be for Western Canada.
You are right, I watched my husband struggle coming back to Japan after just ten years in the US. Better to go to a completely new place, I am thinking. We will probably bit a bit inland, between Cannes and Antibes. Thereās a big technology center and a university in the area, so itās pretty international.
We moved from MN to NM 2 months ago, and have enjoyed the change in scenery. We only lived in MN for 2 years though, so no real attachment there. In about 18 months we will likely be moving back home, to PA. My husband has a job lined up there for after retiring from the military. I never planned to go back home, tbh, but all the moving over the years has taught me I can adapt well to living anywhere.
We moved from suburban NoVA to Minneapolis. So far other than missing friends we love it. Will be traveling part of the winter. We donāt like hot weather and if we had moved south we would have to travel several more months to get away from the heat. Also D, SIL and GD are here.
PNW has been our home for more than three decades now. No plans to move, although when Mr. retires, we might consider living in Hawaii for a couple of winter months. Which will likely be not very soon unless he is forced to retire.
We moved from NoVa to the twin cities and found MN to be absolutely beautiful. NoVa was probably my least favorite place weāve lived, just traffic and more traffic everywhere we went.
We live in Marin County, and will be here for another 8 years or so, until our youngest is through college. We will see where the kids land and how we feel then, but I have a dream to open an independent bookstore in a small mountain town, so I keep an eye out for good mountain towns. So far my favorite is Whitefish, MT. But leaving the perfect climate and accessibility of Marin might be too much
We have four kids, only one out of college, but they are unlikely to all end up in same area. Rather than base our decision totally on where they are, the plan is to live where we want to live, which is hopefully a desirable place for them to occasionally visit. However, more than likely it will be us traveling to visit them as it will be easier for us. Itās still early days so perhaps if one of our kids moves/settles in a place desirable to us, weād consider moving there. H now works permanently from home, so we could actually move sooner rather than later, since our youngest only has one year left of h.s. For now, we just talk about it. Plus, my parents are both in their 80s and while healthy and living in the house I grew up in, at some point I might end up providing some care.
We live in MD and really like where we are by the Chesapeake Bay. I grew up nearby, but only my parents and brother are in the area, none of my extended family is here. Even my sister lives elsewhere. I would actually stay/retire in our location but would prefer to move to a different house if we stay local (would even stay in my neighborhood for the right house). I like the weather here most of the time. As Iāve gotten older, I actually prefer colder weather than heat and humidity so no desire to move further south, and if anything would move to a colder climate rather than a hotter one. Wherever we decide to be, being close to an airport and good medical care is important, as well as reasonably close to an urban area. We have those things now but far enough from DC/Baltimore that we donāt regularly deal with awful traffic.
The only other option we throw around is CA. I know, I know, people are moving away from there. However DH grew up there and his whole family is there. Despite somewhat converting him to being an East Coaster, I know it would mean a lot to be closer to his siblings again. But with the COL the way it is there, not sure that will be a serious contender. Our oldest actually lives in San Diego, but have no idea if she will stay there. I actually love San Diego and think I would be happy living there if we can afford it when the time comes.
Ideally, we would love to have smart sized homes in both CA and MD and live part year in both.
The whole idea of moving away from where we are is totally foreign to my H. He would never entertain the idea of picking up and moving somewhere else unless all 3 kids moved there. Heck, we are looking at moving locally and I canāt even get him to open eyes outside of our neighborhood!
I on the other hand would love to not move far but to a new town with some perks. Within a few hours drive of our kids. Like Michigan, Lake Michigan side of the state. It wonāt ever happen!
We are tied to our area for a while yet, as our younger D is still in HS and weāve both got elderly parents nearby. Wouldnāt entertain leaving until they are no longer around to need us.
I really like our area in NJ (Monmouth County), but the shine is starting to wear off. It has become so popular and overcrowded in the 17 years we have been here. It used to be something we just suffered through in the summers in exchange for a quiet nine months (we are at the shore, lots of NYers have summer homes here), but since March 2020 it seems many people have decided to stay all year round. Proximity to the city used to be a draw but we donāt go in more than a couple times a year anymore, so I canāt say Iād miss it if we moved away.
The problem? I have no idea where to go. We are very attached to the ocean and need to be within driving (but ideally biking) distance. Florida is out for a number of reasons, California seems unsustainable and unaffordable. We lived in Oregon years ago and while I loved a lot about it, I cannot take months and months of rain and gloom and I also need a swimmable ocean. Maybe the Carolinas? I often entertain the idea of moving abroad, but become overwhelmed with the possibilities. Maybe Portugal?
I suffer from analysis paralysis and as such, will probably be here forever.
There was a popular article making the news the other day - about a happy couple with a teen daughter who moved to Portugal and are living the life of their dreamsā¦ they gave up their decently paying US jobs and retired. All sounded great until the article mentioned that these folks make $152,000 a year in dividends from their investments. Lol. One can live comfortably in plenty of places in the US on such nice retirement income.
The grass always appears greenerā¦ with a caveat.
We will leave CT as soon as DH retires or can go fully remote. If I get my way (unlikely) weāll move out of the country, maybe Portugal. If I donāt, weāll be moving to NH or ME.
We probably will leave CT also @taverngirl . Cost of living is just too high. Iād love to go to Columbus OH or Pittsburgh. But DH is not on board with living in flyover country!
I think thatās the first time Iāve heard Pitt considered flyover country. Iāve always heard it with areas like Kansas and surrounding states in mind - nothing east of Chicago.
As many of you know, we moved from Chicagoland to San Diego over seven years ago. We both grew up in the north and had lived city and suburbs of Chicago for 40 years. I just got tired of winter. So it took 10 years to decide on and make the move, but here we are, and I havenāt looked back once. Son was actually back living with us then so I kicked the birdie out of the nest for the second time (he took an apartment). But now heās in Seattle so same time zone and not too bad of a flight.
When we lived in Chicago and used to visit east coast friends and relatives, we lived āout westā. People here now think weāre from āback eastā. Having driven all over the country (incidentally including Chicago/Pittsburgh many times), I can definitely say thereās a lot more empty space west of Chicago than east!
