San Antonio, dream retirement town

[Orchidflower]

1. Mexican food: people only mention it because it is good...and often very cheap to buy. Again, it's good is the main thing. Reeeallly good!!!!
2. Big negative about San Antonio is that when it does flood like in 2001, the water--and I kid you not--was up to the ROOF of 2 story houses. We are talking some bad flooding is possible there. Very bad. Buy a good flood insurance policy for your auto and home.

[mickeyd]

Originally Posted by Orchidflower

2. Big negative about San Antonio is that when it does flood like in 2001, the water--and I kid you not--was up to the ROOF of 2 story houses. .

I was living in SA in 2001 and had no flooding at all though some folks in low lying areas did get flooded, but that is because they resided in flood-prone areas.

[Orchidflower]

Then the tv stations must have shown those homes in the flood-prone areas on tv in 2001 as we saw video of it over and over and over again from San Antonio. Downright scary! Sad...

[oma]

Originally Posted by Enuf

I'm visiting for a few days and loving it here. River Walk, Alamo, Market Square, what a nice town to retire in.

Keep the secret. A local said that the last rattlesnake left here in the 70's and scorpions are completely docile. People keep em for pets.

I loved the Alamo and the park. Alamo

Meals all over downtown for $3.99 lunch, Chinese, Mexican, deli, nice. Hospital is super modern and great air con.

River Walk has a duck gaggle to rival On Golden Pond.

Great town to move to.

Lots of military, golf courses - Spurs basketball - good minor league baseball, restaurants, and weather isn't bad for most of the year. I've lived there several times as an Army nurse, and wouldn't mind living there forever, either.

[REWahoo]

Another victim of Chamber of Commerce brainwashing...

[oma]

Who me?
Lived in San Antonio - medical district area for several years - enjoyed San Antonio. Don't mind the heat - or the gully washers.

[REWahoo]

oma, please... You keep telling people fabricated stories about San Antonio and poor misguided souls will think about moving there. The next thing you know traffic will be so bad it will look like Houston.

[oma]

0kay, now I get you. I do remember the floods in 2001, I think. People in San Antonio enjoy trying to drive through flooded roadways - always makes for interesting newscasts.

[ziggy29]

In all seriousness, if one likes long, hot summers and doesn't buy a large and expensive house, San Antonio isn't a bad place to retire at all. Anyone who doesn't like 4-5 months of weather in the mid-90s and higher should look elsewhere, as should those who want low property tax rates.

I live about 100 miles north of San Antonio in a small, cheap house. We have no state income tax, we tend to live below our means so we don't pay too much in sales taxes and because we bought far less home than the consumerist brainwashing tells us we could buy we can afford, property taxes are only about $1100 a year. Strictly in terms of taxes and cost of living, it's actually a pretty feasible place for those with reasonably high incomes (not taxed), who tend to live simply and frugally and want a small, inexpensive home.

Those who want a large, expensive home and buy a lot of taxable merchandise will find that the property and sales taxes likely more than offsets the lack of a state income tax.

[REWahoo]

Originally Posted by ziggy29

In all seriousness, if one likes long, hot summers and doesn't buy a large and expensive house, San Antonio isn't a bad place to retire at all.

Before anyone succumbs to this clever deception, check out this guy's other posts...especially the one about his used gum collection.

[Finance Dave]

Originally Posted by Orchidflower

Then the tv stations must have shown those homes in the flood-prone areas on tv in 2001 as we saw video of it over and over and over again from San Antonio. Downright scary! Sad...

The media always looks for worst case scenario and reports it as if the entire town had that same situation. We had flooding in my Indiana town this summer, and that was certainly the case on all news/newspapers. Don't always believe what the media reports, sensationalism is the word that comes to mind.

[Goonie]

Originally Posted by Finance Dave

The media always looks for worst case scenario and reports it as if the entire town had that same situation. We had flooding in my Indiana town this summer, and that was certainly the case on all news/newspapers. Don't always believe what the media reports, sensationalism is the word that comes to mind.

Yeah, like years ago when one of my siblings lived in southern Australia, and the media were reporting on the massive wild fires that were going to inundate whole towns and cities, and there was nothing that could be done. They reported that the city my sib lived in was a sure thing to go up in smoke in a matter of hours! We called her to find out what was happening, and she said that "yes, there are wild fires" but they were no where even close to her town, and that they were dying out anyway. Besides all of the structures in her area were masonry....brick & mortar....cinderblock...poured concrete....etc. Wood and combustible materials had been banned for many years from building construction.

Sorta like the recent flooding here. Yep! The rivers came up and reached new records! The only building here that took any water was one of the elementary schools that is located right beside one of the rivers.......they had less than an inch of water in parts of the school.....NO damage!

[harley]

Speaking of the river, the first time I visited San Antonio I was very disappointed to see the famed River Walk river was about the same size as a number of storm drains I lived near when I was growing up around Norfolk/ VA Beach . Although I was even more disappointed to see the mighty Rio Grande I read about in all those Louis L'amour stories. I thought everything in Texas was supposed to be bigger.

[Goonie]

Originally Posted by harley

Speaking of the river, the first time I visited San Antonio I was very disappointed to see the famed River Walk river was about the same size as a number of storm drains I lived near when I was growing up around Norfolk/ VA Beach . Although I was even more disappointed to see the mighty Rio Grande I read about in all those Louis L'amour stories. I thought everything in Texas was supposed to be bigger.

I know what you mean...our neighborhood creek is about the same size! Our small river is about 200' wide, and our big river (commercially navigable) is about a quarter mile wide. Of course, when they show pictures of either of these 2 rivers in visitor propaganda, they're such a beautiful shade of blue....instead of the true slime/muck greenish-brown that actually are!