I have been reading this great site for a while now. Here's a little about myself and a few questions.
I am definitly ready to fully retire. I personally consider myself semi-retired, I work 20 hours a week (I come and go as I please and the schedule is as flexible as I need) and don't plan on going back to full-time. I've been in the corporate treadmill and am not interested in it. I'd rather paint fulltime and not care about selling my work.
My husband is a freelance artist and we have 4 children (11, 12, 12, & 14). We are 44 & 47, have rental income, pay our own health insurance, and could retire now if we sold the house and moved to a less expensive area. The calculations in the FIREcalc show that for what we will need we have 100% chance of success for the next 45 years.
We are in the northeast but luckily bought land and built our home 7 years ago so we can benefit from the appreciation of our home. Unfortunately, our town is reassessing homes to market value and we expect our property taxes to go up to $12,000- 14,000 per year. The only thing keeping us from moving is the school system, all the friends that our children have, and the sense of community for them. At the most we will probably be here for another 7 years.
I am expecting the housing prices in this area to stop rising and eventually go down a bit but in 7 years we should be at the level we are at now or a little higher. Does anyone have comments on what they think the real estate market in the northeast (NY/NJ) will be like in the next few years?
Having worked out different RE scenarios, I am looking at different states/climates, etc., that we may want to move to. One of the places is the gulf coast of Florida, specifically the Port Charlotte/Englewood area. Does anyone have info about living there? Houses don't seem very expensive, taxes are reasonable, being near the water would be nice, and no snow is fine with me. What about humidity, bugs, etc.
Any comments would be appreciated and thanks for a great site.
I am definitly ready to fully retire. I personally consider myself semi-retired, I work 20 hours a week (I come and go as I please and the schedule is as flexible as I need) and don't plan on going back to full-time. I've been in the corporate treadmill and am not interested in it. I'd rather paint fulltime and not care about selling my work.
My husband is a freelance artist and we have 4 children (11, 12, 12, & 14). We are 44 & 47, have rental income, pay our own health insurance, and could retire now if we sold the house and moved to a less expensive area. The calculations in the FIREcalc show that for what we will need we have 100% chance of success for the next 45 years.
We are in the northeast but luckily bought land and built our home 7 years ago so we can benefit from the appreciation of our home. Unfortunately, our town is reassessing homes to market value and we expect our property taxes to go up to $12,000- 14,000 per year. The only thing keeping us from moving is the school system, all the friends that our children have, and the sense of community for them. At the most we will probably be here for another 7 years.
I am expecting the housing prices in this area to stop rising and eventually go down a bit but in 7 years we should be at the level we are at now or a little higher. Does anyone have comments on what they think the real estate market in the northeast (NY/NJ) will be like in the next few years?
Having worked out different RE scenarios, I am looking at different states/climates, etc., that we may want to move to. One of the places is the gulf coast of Florida, specifically the Port Charlotte/Englewood area. Does anyone have info about living there? Houses don't seem very expensive, taxes are reasonable, being near the water would be nice, and no snow is fine with me. What about humidity, bugs, etc.
Any comments would be appreciated and thanks for a great site.