My daughter is at Amherst right now, and I love the Northampton downtown area especially but really all of it.
I didn’t have it on my list I posted earlier, but I do really like a college town. I live in one now, and there’s just more going on than there would be otherwise. And I think you get a slightly more intelligent vibe overall which I like. Where I am now has nowhere near the level of Amherst/Smith type students, but it still had a more intellectual vibe than the surrounding area.
Not a fan of Nashua or Brattleboro. I grew up in Walpole (also a contender but pricey) and spent a lot of time in Brattleboro. Love Hanover but also expensive. Plan on checking out the Sunapee area soon.
For those interested in Vermont, it’s not a tax friendly state, and that’s especially true for retirees.
There are smaller towns in NH. Check out Jaffrey. Peterborough might work. What about Keene?
Per tax friendliness of a state, much can depend upon the particular community/hous real estate taxes (unless you are a renter). But to get a general intro to the topic, here is a link
One example map:
Of course taxation is only one factor in decision-making. I’ve known about retirees moving away for better tax situation with trade-off of leaving behind not only friends but kids/grandkids (and extra expense to fly back to see them). If we were in that kind of situation, I’d probably lean toward cheaper housing options (if available) rather than a move.
PS - Here is the reasoning on the 10 most tax friendly states for retirees … 10 Most Tax-Friendly States for Retirees | Kiplinger
Personally the state inheritance tax factor is a non-issue to me. Perhaps you’ll say that’s because a state where there is none. But even in our prior state of NY there’s a $6millon dollar exemption.
Played around a bit on Realtor.com, and it looks like Springfield,MA is a lot cheaper than Amherst/Northampton, but still in the pioneer valley, at least on the edge.
Other than quickly driving through a couple times I have no info or opinion about Springfield, good or bad. I must be missing something, can someone enlighten me?
Not a nice area at all. Maybe best to take a drive through and check out crime stats. There are some suburbs of Springfield which are very nice though. And Amherst and Northampton are college towns and have a very different vibe (the Berkshire) v. city.
Agree. Parts of East Longmeadow are nice.
That’s exactly the town I was thinking about. You read my mind@tavengirl.
I figured that was the case. I saw a couple definitely “too good to be true” houses.
I think that both crime and school quality are problems in Springfield.
Earlier in the thread, people were asking about moving to new communities where they didn’t know people. People to make friends at transitional junctures – start college, start of graduate school, first job, first child, first child goes to preschool, first child goes to elementary school, etc. We have friends from all of those points. We noticed that we made many fewer friends when our second child was born, started preschool, started school etc. because those weren’t the same kind of points of transition and we probably weren’t as open to new friends at that point.
More recently, ShawWife was clothes shopping – an activity she rarely does – and struck up a conversation with a very interesting woman who had just moved to our area for a pretty interesting and high-powered job. She wanted to become ShawWife’s friend and suggested getting together. ShawWife just said her life was too full (I’m sure in a gracious way). When she got back, she described this to me and I said it would have been nice (and generous, which is ShawWife’s hallmark) to invite her over and introduce her to other folks. ShawWife said, “Yeah. I should have done that. But I didn’t take her contact information so I have no way of getting in touch with her now.”)
A couple of other stories. One of our financial advisors moved to San Diego with her husband a number of years ago. She’s charming and intelligent. They love San Diego but they had not succeeded in making a new community of friends. [This was before the Pandemic]. They said everyone they met was pleasant on the surface but somehow it didn’t go any deeper.
I don’t know if there are regional differences in how one deals with strangers and how one makes friends. My sense is that in New England and NY/NJ, people are gruffer on the surface, but when you penetrate the surface, there is the potential for depth. My limited experience in Texas was that people were alway friendly and you couldn’t tell anything from their behavior (did they like you, hate you, etc.), especially women. Male friendships seemed to get formed around activities (fishing, hunting, football). In the Bay Area, there was superficiality but it was relatively easy to go a little deeper. Not sure about Southern California or if my experiences generalize in any way.
My in-laws bought a house on Sanibel Island with the intention of retiring there. They were conscious about cultivating a community so that when they made the move (5 or 6 months a year), they would have friends. They joined the local synagogue and made friends there and were actively socialized with neighbors etc. Over the years, they made a very nice community and even now when it is only my MIL (who is much less gregarious than her husband, who has been deceased for 20 years), neighbors and others are always looking out for her.
More generally, a wise friend said that for mental health, most people need 1) community, 2) meaning and 3) structure. Moving to a new place, it is probably worth investing energy in all three.
She should look her up on LinkedIn. 
If this woman is a high-powered professional, chances are she has a profile on LinkedIn.
@BunsenBurner, good thought. A lot of time has gone by so it may be awkward, but I will suggest to ShawWife.
I have met a lot of nice new-to-the-area older couples at church (where almost everybody is, alas, older than me). Some have moved here to be near family, some for other reasons. I have not become close friends, but it is interesting to talk to them after church and on committee work.
I’ve notice that many of them also volunteer at a biweekly food bank delivery done out of another local church. It’s been interesting for me to see new faces there, a variety of ages.
Before we moved, I saw an active Meetup for Boomers so we joined after we got here. It was the basis for all of our social life (extending beyond Meetup events), and we have made many friends. Just today I was walking on the beach and ran into someone I hadn’t seen in at least a year - neither of us live by that beach but she used to attend the Meetup Beach Days we would host.
More generally, a wise friend said that for mental health, most people need 1) community, 2) meaning and 3) structure. Moving to a new place, it is probably worth investing energy in all three.
@Colorado_mom, doing volunteer work at a biweekly food bank would provide all three of community, meaning and structure per my post above. They may make friends, get a sense of meaning, and have a regular time in their schedule. So, probably a very good choice on their part.
In addition, if I’m right about people being more open to friendships in times of transition (start of college, start of grad school, first job, first kid, first kid in school, etc.), people who move to a new place may find that the people they can form new friendships with most easily are those in the same position.
When we first moved to our current town, there was a “Newcomers Club” that my wife went to for about a year. TBH it was a hot mess, and mostly a bunch of older ladies who thought they were providing a great service to the new people who needed to all jump through their hoops and stroke their egos to belong. It didn’t last long for her, but she met a few other couples who also had moved here around the same time. One couple is still our best “couple friends” locally, even though our kids are different ages, with different activities, and attend different schools, we still have remained good friends. We don’t have many friends in common, which always surprises me given the size of our town (not that big).
The Newcomers clubs can vary. A few decades ago my FIL was transferred for work on a temporary assignment. Though they kept their house in MIL’s hometown, they were in the new city during the week. MIL was not employed and an empty nester who had only ever lived in her tiny hometown except a brief stint as an Air Force wife. She found very close friends who did lots of weekday activities in the city’s newcomer club.
A few years ago we had a thread here about meeting people. It was specifically focused on those whose children were grown. I can’t seem to find it.
