Greetings FIREES:
I turned in my papers and as of COB June 1 will be retired after 32 years with the Federal Government in DC. I’m not exactly retiring early by some people’s standards (I’m 55), but by almost any other comparison I’m extremely fortunate in being able to go at this time. I’ve been reading this board for a year or so and thank you all for the abundant good advice and good cheer you have put forth. I have learned a great deal. Now that the time is here I thought I would begin participating with a question regarding our planned move to North Carolina.
As others have observed, the DC area is an expensive place to live, especially with respect to real estate. My wife and I have owned a home for 27 years and have quite a bit of equity. Part of our retirement plan is to sell the house and move to an area with cheaper real estate. We have settled on the (very) general vicinity of Raleigh, NC, for several reasons: 1) cheaper real estate, 2) some family history, 3) no state tax on some Federal pensions (mine is one); and 4) we just like the area. Our dream is to find a place with a few acres and some trees that is not all the way out in the country. We have seen quite a few such places on the internet over the past couple of years, so we know they are there.
However, something we also have noticed, to our dismay, is that greater Raleigh is growing in leaps and bounds. Some places don’t look much different from Northern Virginia, especially the traffic. Development seems almost chaotic in places, with townhouse developments next to farms and new roads going in all over the area. In our exploratory trips down there we seem to be spiraling further and further out to find some sort of tranquility, but we fear development will overtake us once we are there. Now, I’m sure some will observe that a lot of that is because of people like us, but what can I say?
So, my question is to ask if anyone here who is familiar with the Raleigh area can advise us on our move? Where is development headed and where has it pretty much settled down? We have focused lately on southern and eastern Wake County and northern Johnston County. We also like the Lake Wheeler area and thereabouts, but no area has been ruled out. I expect to have a little more time now
to do more research, but any advice you may offer would be most welcome.
Oh, and neither my wife nor I have ever moved more than 10 miles from where we grew up, so we are complete novices in the relocation department. I can see us moving to a dream home on a flood plain next to a hog farm at the end of a runway, and then finding it behind an interstate sound barrier or a mega mall a couple years down the road. Yikes! Any tips on moving to a new area would also be most welcome!
Cheers
Tom
I turned in my papers and as of COB June 1 will be retired after 32 years with the Federal Government in DC. I’m not exactly retiring early by some people’s standards (I’m 55), but by almost any other comparison I’m extremely fortunate in being able to go at this time. I’ve been reading this board for a year or so and thank you all for the abundant good advice and good cheer you have put forth. I have learned a great deal. Now that the time is here I thought I would begin participating with a question regarding our planned move to North Carolina.
As others have observed, the DC area is an expensive place to live, especially with respect to real estate. My wife and I have owned a home for 27 years and have quite a bit of equity. Part of our retirement plan is to sell the house and move to an area with cheaper real estate. We have settled on the (very) general vicinity of Raleigh, NC, for several reasons: 1) cheaper real estate, 2) some family history, 3) no state tax on some Federal pensions (mine is one); and 4) we just like the area. Our dream is to find a place with a few acres and some trees that is not all the way out in the country. We have seen quite a few such places on the internet over the past couple of years, so we know they are there.
However, something we also have noticed, to our dismay, is that greater Raleigh is growing in leaps and bounds. Some places don’t look much different from Northern Virginia, especially the traffic. Development seems almost chaotic in places, with townhouse developments next to farms and new roads going in all over the area. In our exploratory trips down there we seem to be spiraling further and further out to find some sort of tranquility, but we fear development will overtake us once we are there. Now, I’m sure some will observe that a lot of that is because of people like us, but what can I say?
So, my question is to ask if anyone here who is familiar with the Raleigh area can advise us on our move? Where is development headed and where has it pretty much settled down? We have focused lately on southern and eastern Wake County and northern Johnston County. We also like the Lake Wheeler area and thereabouts, but no area has been ruled out. I expect to have a little more time now
to do more research, but any advice you may offer would be most welcome.Oh, and neither my wife nor I have ever moved more than 10 miles from where we grew up, so we are complete novices in the relocation department. I can see us moving to a dream home on a flood plain next to a hog farm at the end of a runway, and then finding it behind an interstate sound barrier or a mega mall a couple years down the road. Yikes! Any tips on moving to a new area would also be most welcome!
Cheers
Tom
