When I lived in San Diego (1977-1984), everyone that I happened to know there vehemently insisted that food was the same price there as everywhere else.
When we moved to College Station, Texas, in 1984, our food bill went down to about half or two thirds what it was in California, despite no sales shopping, buying the same stuff, and about the same level of grocery store in both places. I don't know why, but anyway that was really nice, whatever the cause.
Yes the views are spectacular. There are more but the video was too big. There is an Indian burial ground behind the building and the homes on Sentinel Hill behind are at eye level so we get lots of birds for the feeders.
Yes but I like the option of dinner in the hotel. Or close by. Airport hotels sometimes have restaurants that are a long walk.
We did. But after a few years and experience doing home swaps, we decided to hire REMAX to rent it for us. Our offer is below market because we insist on the tenants meeting our conditions (mature senior couple with no pets or kids). It has worked well and we have met some interesting people. The most common tenant is a rich couple with a nice 3-level home that wants one floor to recuperate from hip/knee surgery for few months. We leave many things for their use (e.g. my workshop and computer/printer) but have an owner lockoff.
The upside of Illinois is they don't tax retirement income (pension, IRA, 401k).I have to agree. A lot of it depends where one lives. I pay 16k in property taxes and about 14k in medical. We have enough but 100k will not allow a luxury life. We clean our own house, mow our own lawn, fix most of everything that breaks in our old house.
I have to agree. A lot of it depends where one lives. I pay 16k in property taxes and about 14k in medical. We have enough but 100k will not allow a luxury life. We clean our own house, mow our own lawn, fix most of everything that breaks in our old house.
Yes it is. However the price point eliminates many problem tenants. We had one couple from Shanghai with a 13 yo son. He caused a bit of damage but it was more than covered by the damage deposit.
Exactly. This is truth.
Sounds great!
The place we like in Monterey with the balcony on the bay so close you can spit in the water not to mention enjoy the constant slosh of the waves on the rocks and watch marine life for hours is $350 / night and worth every penny.
But it's not like we go there often, maybe once a year. But when we go I know where we'll be staying -
Yup. Plus we love Vancouver in the summer. But it is an ongoing topic of conversation. We could move inland in Mexico to the cool mountain towns in the summer and make a couple of trips north. Local medical insurance would be cheaper but I would give up medical/dental/pharma coverage from megacorp. Our out-of-pocket medical expenses is $14500/yr for two of us after all the above contributions.
We tried to do a home swap into Pacific Grove and nothing was available for 2 years. We are at the stage of not buying green bananas, so that was out of the question. But it sounded just like Robbie is describing. We have stayed in Pacifica (Rockaway) though. Not rocks but sand.
