Has anyone considered retiring to the town you grew up in?

[sengsational]

So the bottom line for most people is that their hometown was, or became something they'd rather avoid, or if not that, then it became too expensive to live in. Seems like there are not many stories about moving back and getting anything like what you left.

 

[aaronc879]

So the bottom line for most people is that their hometown was, or became something they'd rather avoid, or if not that, then it became too expensive to live in. Seems like there are not many stories about moving back and getting anything like what you left.

I just got an accepted offer to buy a home 1/2 miles from my parents house where I grew up. They still live there.

 

[RobbieB]

I left Detroit in 1979, sort of the end of the "glory days", auto plants were running 24/7, as much overtime as you wanted, guys used to pull 70 hour weeks and buy cars for cash. Over the decades it slowed way down, lots of plants closed and were lucky to be working 2 shifts. Parking lots (once packed) were half full at best.

None of the auto plants were in Detroit (suburbs instead) but lots of people who worked in the plants lived in Detroit. As you all know Detroit filed bankruptcy. It was sad to return for my parental visits and see the decline of my home town. A case study of what happens when you remove money from an area. Not pretty.

 

[W2R]

I just got an accepted offer to buy a home 1/2 miles from my parents house where I grew up. They still live there.

Congratulations, Aaron! So glad your offer was accepted.

 

[highlow65]

Congrats, what was your decision on where to get the down payment?

 

[aja8888]

We left Williamsport, nice place to be From!

My family is from Pittston (Scranton - Wilkes Berre area). That's also a nice place to be from, very far from!

 

[nubill]

A celebrity a few miles away (Gene Pitney) from where I grew up described it best when he recorded “A Town Without A Pity”. Another description would be the TV show Peyton Place without the beautiful cast. I was a safe place to grow up in the 1960’s. Nobody locked their doors to their houses or cars. I go back there for family events but have no desire to live there either as a full time resident or during summer months.

A co-worker and friend from a similar sized small town in Texas had a similar childhood to mine. He went to school with Larry McMurtry’s siblings. He told me that in “The Last Picture Show” which Larry wrote, the only fiction were the names of the characters. He visits his town for the same reasons I do.

 

[rodi]

So the bottom line for most people is that their hometown was, or became something they'd rather avoid, or if not that, then it became too expensive to live in. Seems like there are not many stories about moving back and getting anything like what you left.

I left San Diego in the 80's... and came back in the 2000's... Bought the house I grew up in from my father after my mom passed and my dad was ready to downsize.

Yes - it was super expensive to buy in San Diego. Fortunately my husband and I had built equity in our homes (separately, before marrying) so we had a big enough down payment to make the mortgage manageable.

You can return home. The house and neighborhood are exactly like what I remember growing. Perhaps because I'm not the only 2nd generation household on our block - there are several others... Kids I grew up with who purchased or inherited the house from their parents.

 

[braumeister]

You can return home. The house and neighborhood are exactly like what I remember growing. Perhaps because I'm not the only 2nd generation household on our block - there are several others... Kids I grew up with who purchased or inherited the house from their parents.

Interesting that you had that experience. I've done some online "research" and discovered that of the 12 houses on the block where I grew up in Brooklyn, three of them are owned by the kids I played with as a child (inherited from their parents). Kind of amazing when I think about it.

 

[mh]

Interesting that you had that experience. I've done some online "research" and discovered that of the 12 houses on the block where I grew up in Brooklyn, three of them are owned by the kids I played with as a child (inherited from their parents). Kind of amazing when I think about it.

My situation is similar to rodis other than I lived on and off between my home town ( in Ventura county ) DC and Silicon Valley - i bought an eichler house near my mom when they were uncool 15 years ago so I lucked out on the housing front. There are a few people in the neighborhood that own their parents houses now that I see in the local brewpub or on dog walks frequently


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[rodi]

Interesting that you had that experience. I've done some online "research" and discovered that of the 12 houses on the block where I grew up in Brooklyn, three of them are owned by the kids I played with as a child (inherited from their parents). Kind of amazing when I think about it.

One thing has changed from when I was growing up. When we first moved here (when I was age 4) this was the FAR edge of San Diego. Now it's considered one of the more central locations - because farmland has become suburbs around us and traffic has exploded.

But the factors that made it a great neighborhood growing up are still there - the development was put in place to house faculty and staff from the brand new UCSD.... there is still a lot of UCSD faculty in the neighborhood.... the place is lousy with PhDs who either work on campus, are doing postdocs, or work for the high tech job centers nearby like Qualcomm, or the growing biotech in the immediate area. Having such an educated population in my immediate neighborhood makes for some great schools... which holds up the values of these 50 year old homes.

 

[rodi]

My situation is similar to rodis other than I lived on and off between my home town ( in Ventura county ) DC and Silicon Valley - i bought an eichler house near my mom when they were uncool 15 years ago so I lucked out on the housing front. There are a few people in the neighborhood that own their parents houses now that I see in the local brewpub or on dog walks frequently


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

I love Eichler houses.... Friends who moved to Palo Alto purchased one - and it's really cool. Smaller than they originally wanted - but the space really works for them.

 

[Huston55]

We will be moving back soon to the city where my wife grew up (southeastern US). We both like the area and have a good social network there. But my wife feels like there is a stigma associated with "going home" - as in it is a sign that one has failed in life.

I have so such qualm. Would I move back to my own hometown? Absolutely. It is located in a beautiful part of the world (the Alps) and my family has lived there for generations. It will always be my one true home, the one place where I belong no questions asked. I own a condo and spend several weeks per year in my hometown and I never tire of it. We might even make it our primary residence in the future.

FIREd-sorry to hear you're leaving the Bay Area. Hope you like the southeast. Where in the SE are you going?


You may be whatever you resolve to be.

 

[MRG]

My family is from Pittston (Scranton - Wilkes Berre area). That's also a nice place to be from, very far from!

My parents grew up in that area. Place where the earth burned from minefires. I'm the youngest, all my siblings had memories of being raised there. I never lived there but went to visit GP's.

About age 6 I thought my parents were taking me to h€ll when we went there to visit. Every week the preacher talked about fires and burning brimstone, I swore that's where we were going.

http://www.fire-police-ems.com/books/bw2665.jpg

Yes, it's a good place to be from!

 

[427Vette]

A few days ago I responded to the OP about how St. Cloud isn't the small innocent town that he left anymore. A prime example happened yesterday. One of the new Americans that I referred to went crazy in the local mall and stabbed nine people before being shot and killed by an off duty police officer. It is being called a potential act of terrorism. Terrorism in central MN. What's next?

 

[aaronc879]

Congrats, what was your decision on where to get the down payment?

Haven't decided yet. Probably won't until well into this upcoming week.

 

[aja8888]

My parents grew up in that area. Place where the earth burned from minefires. I'm the youngest, all my siblings had memories of being raised there. I never lived there but went to visit GP's.

About age 6 I thought my parents were taking me to h€ll when we went there to visit. Every week the preacher talked about fires and burning brimstone, I swore that's where we were going.

http://www.fire-police-ems.com/books/bw2665.jpg

Yes, it's a good place to be from!

Yep, that's it. My grandfathers and father were coal miners. I lived as a toddler in a coal company house with Mom and my Grandmother until Dad got out of the war. We moved to Connecticut as the mines were closed. The area is still very depressed. I have a few second cousins living somewhere in that area.

 

[ABQ2015]

My family moved a lot when I was a child so the closest thing I have to a hometown is a small mining town in southwestern New Mexico where I went to high school. It used to be a booming area and is now depressed but is still a beautiful place next to a national forest. There is a small college, a small arts movement, and a western town atmosphere - a little like Bisbee, AZ. But rather isolated and not much shopping or good medical services. However if I had family there, I would consider going back - but I don't. Many of my high school friends' families had been there a few generations - often some of the original mining and ranching families from the late 1800's.