I don’t think we will move while my mother-in-law is still living. My parents and his dad have already died. My husband is the most responsible kid. The others will help out and his sister does a lot, but she has a special needs daughter and she and her mom annoy each other sometimes. His brother is not a big help, but not a bad guy. Just has his own issues, so it’s really going to come down to my husband to do a lot of it. We are about 2.5 hrs away right now. His siblings live in the same city as mom.
Our kids are still finding their ways (one in college).
We talk about moving to another country, but I don’t know if we’d really do it. Certainly not while his mom is still with us.
We have great health care where we are and good friends. Might move to a different house, but this one is pretty much paid off so there’s not a lot of incentive to do that.
This question has been on my mind in recent months . I live in a very high cost of living area and am considering retirement. Even the most basic condo in my area is over $1M. Homes with small yards typically are over $2M. Similar homes cost a small fraction of this price in most areas of the US, so I initially thought it made financial sense to retire in a lower cost of living area.
However, the more I looked into the details, the less desirable moving in retirement became. I am in to outdoor activities and would like to continue to spend a good portion of my time outside in retirement. These outdoor activities include going on long walks with my dog nearly every day and long hikes each week, sometimes full day hikes. My current climate works well with this interest. Typical daytime highs range from low 60s in the winter to low 70s in the summer. There is no snow and average <1 inch rain per month. With the little rain, there are few bugs/mosquitos. A search for mild climates (not necessarily this mild, but able to be comfortable outside for the vast majority of year) in US with low/medium cost of real estate came up empty. Moving back and forth between 2 areas in summer/winter is a possibility, but seems awkward and negates a good portion of the financial benefits.
Further negating financial benefits is capital gains tax. The high cost of real estate results in the bulk of equity exceeding capital gains exemption. When combining capital gains tax, realtor fees, and other costs; I expect to lose >25% of value in the sell/buy replacement process.
There are other quality of life factors beyond financial benefits and climate. For example, I like the idea of living in a less crowded and less developed area; and that would be a nice benefit over my current location. However, the vast majority of other quality of life factors favor my current area. Less crowded/developed often also corresponds to poorer access to medical care or traveling further on average to supermarket/Walmart/Costco/restaurants/dog park/…
There is also a lot of work, effort, and uncertainty involved in the transition. It took a lot of effort to update my home to have the features I like. This include things like building a one-of-kind automation system and theater, or moving gym equipment heavy enough to require a forklift. Moving to a new place might take months or even years to customize to how I want things. I also know my current neighborhood has positives like low crime and having neighbors who make an effort to assist and be friendly with each other Maybe that would happen in the new location. Or maybe there would be unexpected issues that decrease quality of life. The uncertainty makes the move less desirable.
Overall I don’t see enough benefits to justify retiring elsewhere. I plan to stay where I am, unless something changes.
The plan all along was to move to a location that is cheaper mainly in terms of cost of house and property taxes. When we retire will will downsize by about half. Meaning our future home/townhome will be half the size of our current place.
Now the million dollar question is where?
We have 9-10 years before making this decision.
We have two girls. Oldest most likely won’t come back to the area. Youngest it is too early to tell. Neither look like they will get married any time soon. So grandkids won’t play a huge factor at least at this point.
Some of my no’s: FL & CA. FL don’t like the weather. CA will probably be too expensive.
I would probably prefer a little less winter, but I don’t want to live where I need a pool.
I don’t need to be in a huge city. Probably not the NE or the PNW.
I have a feeling it will end up being 200-400 miles south of current location, but staying in the Midwest.
I will stay where I am as long as my husband is here.
Quite a few of our neighbors have passed away in the last few years and their widows have had choices to make.
All have sold their homes once the husband was gone.
2 have gone where their children are (I’m not fond of where my children currently live) and 3 have stayed in the area moving to condos or assisted living.
I don’t see myself here but I don’t see myself near my kids either. I don’t think my kids want me to live where they are either. My dil, her mom is a recent widow and I don’t think she wants her mom to move to their town, where she would only know them.
Our home is great for us. But it’s a big yard and we get lots of snow that has to be cleared. Also the winter is long and lonely. If I could live somewhere that was social, that would be great.
Our home values aren’t what they are in other parts of the country. Downsizing in another area of the country wouldn’t save any money. Probably cost more. Right now I’d rather spend money on travel instead of moving.
I will also not move while my mother-in-law is still living. I live in a very attractive part of a large Southern city–there are restaurants galore, and the politics match us (at least within the city perimeter). However, abortion laws are not good, and the gun/murder situation is more terrifying than for any of my friends in other locations (I’ve polled them to ask).
I have a fantasy about moving to Providence RI in retirement. Despite the fact that I’ve never been there, I see it as a more affordable version of Boston. I also think I might be happy in almost any part of the northeast, although I’m afraid of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine (cold!). Please comment if you have an opinion on how Providence would be for retirees. I also think I’d like living in the woods in the northeast, within striking distance of a town.
I live in the woods within striking distance of town in the northeast . Our little charming downtown is all of a 7 minute drive with no traffic. I can go to two different retail areas…about a 10 minute drive…no traffic. It’s very peaceful and quiet, and we also have a gorgeous beach on a gorgeous lake.
We are 40 minutes from the airport. The big hospitals are about 35 minutes away…doctors aplenty in all the suburbs heading in that direction. Lots of museums and arts things to do within a 40 minute drive.
But I don’t see me staying here alone…or when we can’t manage the care of this too big house and lot…or when we can’t easily drive.
We moved from the Boston area to Scottsdale, AZ in ‘99 and raised our son there. When he was a HS senior, we moved about an hour SE of that house to a golf/resort community and right-sized to a house with a floorplan and lifestyle that better suited our retired two-person living needs. We thought we were done, just planning to get out of the desert heat in the summer by renting in various places, but we ended up buying a cabin in Maine a few years ago that satisfied my longing to be back in New England as well as our shared desire to get out of the heat. We spend seven months in AZ, five months in ME. You have to match any location to your interests which I described in the Downsizing thread. Our only child is in the Army, so it doesn’t make any sense to plan around him. Having a home on each side of the country means that, no matter where he is, we’ll be closer to him at least part of the year, but that was never a driver.
What’s great is that there are so many different options in the US! There’s something out there for all of us! AND if one changes their mind, there’s a lot of other choices to pick from!
Where in the PNW do you recommend for retirement? Preferably on or near a body of water (ocean, sound, river, lake), hiking nearby, within maybe an hour of a major airport, and decent medical facilities nearby.
I live just east of Vancouver, WA. We’re about 15 miles from the Portland airport. I can see the Columbia from my back deck Loads of hiking nearby, Vancouver is a nice small city, you could go a little farther away to Hood River, OR as well, although access in the winter to PDX is trickier.
That said, Washington and Oregon both have different issues financially with retirement. Washington has a high estate tax, gas tax, and sales tax, and Oregon a high income tax.
I think that I could be pretty content retiring in New Mexico. Cheap land. Preferably within an hour of the ABQ airport (plus an hour to the UNM medical center). Build my tiny house village with friends and relatives. Tiptoe through the tulips in my homegrown community garden while wearing a Fleetwood Mac-style hippy skirt and Birkenstocks. Solar power. Water harvesting. Donate extra garden-grown food. Close to Native American culture and good hiking.
We are basically retired and haven’t moved yet. We are awaiting to see whether we
get any grandchildren and seeing where the kids finally settle.
Would you move you another country?
DIL would love to work at The Hague. If they settled there, I’d consider it but might have to go without dh!
Somewhere warmer?
We are broiling here. I don’t think there is a place that’s warmer.
Closer to your kids?
Yes, we want to be near at least one of our kids once we are much older. Ds2 has hopes of coming back home. We’d likely stay here if he does as we love our house and our 'hood. But ds1 is married so on the faster track to have kids and settle down. We like his current area and wouldn’t be opposed to relocating there. Best-case scenario is splitting our time between here and there.
What are your requirements for a place you’d move to?
AND if one changes their mind, there’s a lot of other choices to pick from!
Loads of hiking nearby, Vancouver is a nice small city, you could go a little farther away to Hood River, OR as well, although access in the winter to PDX is trickier.