Looking for mountains and ocean....

[Want2retire]

Originally Posted by FinanceGeek

I'm shocked nobody seconded (or even responded to) New Hampshire.

Most people are recommending the usual trendy places like Oregon, North Carolina, etc. which just tells me that these places will soon get overrun and lose their attractiveness. Guess I should take my own advice about where to FIRE!

I think it's just great if everyone flocks to the trendy places and leaves the rest of the country wide open for the rest of us.

New Hampshire is beautiful. If my recollection is correct, New Hampshire is not too tax-friendly.

[kcowan]

Originally Posted by Fred333

I would go with Vancouver, BC. I didn't know if you were looking out of the US.

Courtney BC near the ocean. More sunshine and less rain than Vancouver. Snow and skiing at Mt Washington - an hour away. Salmon fishing and sailing at your doorstep. Lots of golf. Inexpensive real estate so far.

(I have vacationed there but live in West Vancouver, 15 minutes from the quad chairs of Cypress Mountain which gets more snow than Whistler.)

[A854321]

Best advice is to always rent for at least a year before buying property.

Personally, my impression was that if one more person retired in Bend, OR, the earth was going to tip over.

[FinanceGeek]

Originally Posted by Want2retire

I think it's just great if everyone flocks to the trendy places and leaves the rest of the country wide open for the rest of us.

New Hampshire is beautiful. If my recollection is correct, New Hampshire is not too tax-friendly.

A rousing AMEN to the first!

New Hampshire has no income or sales tax. But, they gotta make their money somewhere, so property taxes and taxes on vehicle registration are high. From studies I've seen in the past the overall tax burden was fairly low for the average person, at least relative to adjoining states in the the Bos-Wash corridor.

[haha]

I lived in Boston. Great city, good ocean swimming but a little cold, just up the coast at Plum Island, or down the coast (traffic!) on the Cape. As the other poster said, White Mountains/Mt Washington are really fine for mountain sports and not really far.

As far as ocean goes, is one after swimming, surfing, fishing from a boat, fishing from a pier, sailing, kayaking, or just smelling the salt air?

If swimming, forget the Pacific Coast north of Santa Barbara. Likewise all the places like Vancouver where it gets warm enough to swim for a while in summer, but it is not the ocean. It's saltwater sure enough, but enclosed and protected. Excellent for sailing and fishing, just like the bays and estuaries of Washington.

If you really want ocean and mountains close enough not to be a chore to get there, LA is your destination.

If the mountains can be forgotten and you don't mind humidity, Florida is the place.

Ha

[In-control]

I would suggest New Hampshire as well and for several reasons. It has four seasons and the summer is very comfortable. It has great diversity - snow, ocean, highlands, lake district's and cities. The cost of living is resonable and their is no state income tax(besides interest/dividends). It also borders Mass/Maine/VT and Canada - all great outdoor states.

What we are considering doing is to buy a place in NH as our home base from April thu September(or when the leaves fall off the trees), then renting/traveling the rest of the time. Anyone else in NH - where are some good towns - not too crowded and less the 1hr away from an airport.

[CuppaJoe]

A friend just moved from San Francisco to Santa Rosa and said SR is so friendly its scary. Maybe there will be afordable houses to rent there for awhile.

[Rustic23]

We use to live in the bay area. We went skiing at Bear Vally, CA. It was a neat place. There is a small development there, and when we were there they did not plow the roads during the winter. You had to have a snow mobile to get around. There was back country skiing and downhill. In about a half a day you could be in the bay area. Don't know what the cost is like. It is California.

[Oldbabe]

Originally Posted by A854321

Best advice is to always rent for at least a year before buying property.

Personally, my impression was that if one more person retired in Bend, OR, the earth was going to tip over.

Are there a substantial number of single people retiring in Bend? I'll be surprised if anyone says yes. From my superficial research, there doesn't appear to be a whole lot to do there. I may be wrong. Tell me.

[Oldbabe]

Originally Posted by haha

.

If you really want ocean and mountains close enough not to be a chore to get there, LA is your destination.

Ha

Ha, I'd point out that in LA you need to define "chore" very closely. For me, driving in LA traffic is definitely a chore, day or night.

It seems like there's no good solution for this desire. My remedy is to live in Colorado near the Rocky Mountains and fly to the ocean once a year. Denver to LA or Oakland is less than $200 most of the time. Or a flight to Oahu for $397 in off season (although this may have been a fluke last year, I don't know).

[lem1955]

I second the NH vote. It's a beautiful state - with great mountains of it's own and a little seashore too. Then....come spend your money in my state - Vermont. Maybe your kids will come to VT, work here, help keep real estate affordable, and pay taxes -- for services they need, like schools. In such a minimally populated state like ours, the influx of (relatively) wealthy retirees looking for low taxes and willing to pay big city prices for property is a bigger strain than it is to our neighbors.

[FinanceGeek]

Originally Posted by In-control

What we are considering doing is to buy a place in NH as our home base from April thu September(or when the leaves fall off the trees), then renting/traveling the rest of the time. Anyone else in NH - where are some good towns - not too crowded and less the 1hr away from an airport.

Check Manchester and points North...Nashua is already overrun by too many M***holes moving there and going on weekend shopping trips to avoid sales taxes. But further North you're out of Boston commuting range and it gets better.

Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to be at least 5-10 miles away from 93 as that's a major leaf-peeper and ski route for the aforementioned M***holes.

If you want a nice town and a bit closer to ocean, check out Durham or Exeter.