Choosing A Good Place to Retire

[Dawg52]

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Originally Posted by Want2retire Fascinating! It came up with small towns in Missouri (where we plan to ER) and small towns in Pennsylvania, for us. Frank loves Pennsylvania, and it is a state we would consider if Missouri didn't work out for us. This search engine is worth trying! I think it is pretty good.

Yes, a very good site. I just book marked it.

[lightspeed]

I'm hoping to retire before our kids get to college, so I want don't want to be too rigid in my thinking about where to go. We're happy with the spot we are in from the raising kids point of view. We have strong public schools and an excellent family oriented community. Once they leave, we want to be within driving distance of at least one, if not both, of our 2 kids. Hopefully, one will be near big water and the other near big mountains.

[Meadbh]

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Originally Posted by Want2retire Also, I have the opportunity to choose (within limits, anyway), which is something that was seldom available to me before.

Likewise. Been following the j*b opportunities throughout my career. ER will be my chance to choose a location.

[martyb]

7 out of the first 10 locations listed based on my inputs were in the state of Texas! Whaddaya know? I'm not an original Texan, but the wife is. I did live in and around Austin for 15 years, so I guess I'm an adopted Texican!!! 4 years, 11 months and 22 days!!!

[Ronstar]

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Originally Posted by Want2retire Sounds great! When do get a chance to go to Arizona, is it difficult to care for your house in Illinois? I guess that in the winter you could shut off the water and empty the pipes in the house and in the summer you could hire someone to keep the yard mowed. And then in any season, you could shut off utilities and stop the mail, but I have no idea what other issues might arise.

It is definitely tougher being away from our house in Illinois. Like you said - mainly utilities, mail, grass.

1. Turn off the water in winter & summer - I dont empty the pipes totally
2. Unplug water purifier and water softener - they dont work too well when the water is shut off.
3. Turn off the mail
4. Get the grass cut in the summer
5. Had the MIL housesit once for 2 weeks, but now she makes occasional stops.
6. Try not to buy anything that would be delivered by UPS while gone.
7. I havent solved plant/flower watering in the summer

I'm rarely gone more than a week. I dont know how people manage their houses while away for months at a time.

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by Ronstar It is definitely tougher being away from our house in Illinois. Like you said - mainly utilities, mail, grass. 1. Turn off the water in winter & summer - I dont empty the pipes totally 2. Unplug water purifier and water softener - they dont work too well when the water is shut off. 3. Turn off the mail 4. Get the grass cut in the summer 5. Had the MIL housesit once for 2 weeks, but now she makes occasional stops. 6. Try not to buy anything that would be delivered by UPS while gone. 7. I havent solved plant/flower watering in the summer I'm rarely gone more than a week. I dont know how people manage their houses while away for months at a time.

Thanks. I don't know, either. The reason I was so inquisitive is that I plan to ER in Missouri, which has a similar climate to Illinois. That will be in 22 months. I could afford to buy my ER house now, but taking care of it for the next two years presents some challenges so I think I'll wait.

[Goonie]

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Originally Posted by Ronstar I dont know how people manage their houses while away for months at a time.

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Originally Posted by Want2retire Thanks. I don't know, either.

We have a neighbor across the street that goes to her winter cottage in central FL just before Thanksgiving every fall, and returns home in mid-April. Her neighbor (the same one that watches our place when we're gone) watches her house and maintains things. He also gets the added benefit of having her garage to keep his truck and tractor in all winter! He does her lawn maintenance for her when she's home too.

A few years ago we were up in the Canadian Rockies on vacation, and I saw on the internet that out area had been hit by some fairly nasty storms. So I called my neighbor to see how everything was. He said "Did I call you?" I said "No." He said "Then everything's alright.....I'll call you if I need to. Now get off the d*mn phone, relax, and enjoy the rest of your vacation!" Click!

That's one of the nice things about having 'true blue' neighbors watching out for one another!

[mb]

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Originally Posted by mn54 How many here have two homes? It would be the best of both worlds to have a vacation/2nd home somewhere warm in the winter and your primary home in the N.E/midwest with family and friends. Is this difficult to do logistically, having to take care of 2 homes, especially when your not there for extended periods of time?

Have the benefits of mild winters, mild summers, close to DWs family and one day drive to my family with just one house in CA

Of course one house in CA frequently costs more than two houses elsewhere in the country

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by Goonie That's one of the nice things about having 'true blue' neighbors watching out for one another!

That's really nice. If someone is there who is willing to take care of everything for you while you are gone, whether neighbor, spouse, or other relatives, then basically there is no problem. However, I would not feel right about asking future neighbors to take care of a house for two years if I have never lived there. Oh well!

You can tell I was drooling over houses in SW Missouri online again, today. I will just have to be patient, since there will still be great houses there in a couple of years.

[Goonie]

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Originally Posted by Want2retire However, I would not feel right about asking future neighbors to take care of a house for two years if I have never lived there. Oh well!

Very true! It would probably help if you and your neighbors knew each other!

[RunningBum]

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Originally Posted by Want2retire That's really nice. If someone is there who is willing to take care of everything for you while you are gone, whether neighbor, spouse, or other relatives, then basically there is no problem. However, I would not feel right about asking future neighbors to take care of a house for two years if I have never lived there. Oh well! You can tell I was drooling over houses in SW Missouri online again, today. I will just have to be patient, since there will still be great houses there in a couple of years.

If you found a place you like, would you be willing to rent it out until you are going to move? So instead of paying someone to keep an eye on the place, you'd have someone paying you to do it!

[Htown Harry]

I found a research study that totals up the number of senior "migrant" retirees by state.

To view the rankings of the number of retirees attracted by each state in the nation and the associated income transferred, go to National Active Retirement Association (NARA) and click on “rankings.”

Two nuggets: For the single year 2005, no state had more than 6% new arrivals in the studied age groups. (Nevada and Arizona were at the top on a percentage basis, around 5% in 55-59 and 60-64, 4% in 65+.) For each of the age groups, Florida had more than twice the number of new retirement-aged residents as compared to the second-ranked state.

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by RunningBum If you found a place you like, would you be willing to rent it out until you are going to move? So instead of paying someone to keep an eye on the place, you'd have someone paying you to do it!

That does sound great! But I am a little reluctant to become a landlord for the first time. With my luck, they'd trash the place and stiff me on the rent.

Besides, part of the reason for buying it early would be so that I could move an SUV full of stuff up there each time we vacation there (2-3 times a year, for a week at a time, during the next two years before ER). We could save money by staying there when we are there on vacation. Also once my house sold down here I would only have to move once. I think I haven't thoroughly thought this half-baked idea through so I'll just try to stop asking people about their vacant houses.

[RunningBum]

You could always rent storage to start moving stuff up there (whether you buy now or not). Or if you do buy now, put up a storage building (temp or otherwise) on your land that you could lock and use for yourself.

[W2R]

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Originally Posted by RunningBum You could always rent storage to start moving stuff up there (whether you buy now or not). Or if you do buy now, put up a storage building (temp or otherwise) on your land that you could lock and use for yourself.

I guess I'll probably rent storage or an apartment in Missouri and move everything there as soon as I can sell the house here in 2009-2010, or maybe before so that the house doesn't look so full of stuff and could sell more easily. Then I could buy the house in Missouri and move everything into it. I was just hoping to avoid two moves. The storage building idea is a good one. Hmm..

Maybe as soon as my house is in escrow, I could run up there and purchase another house, and rent it until escrow up there is closed, and move my stuff up there. On the other hand, that sounds awfully hectic for ER.

[haha]

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Originally Posted by Htown Harry I found a research study that totals up the number of senior "migrant" retirees by state. To view the rankings of the number of retirees attracted by each state in the nation and the associated income transferred, go to National Active Retirement Association (NARA) and click on “rankings.”

Interesting site. I didn't read enough to see how they got the data, or what controls they used. But the listing of 65+ per capita and per household income is certainly instructive. First of all, a lot of oldsters live alone. There are roughly 3 people for every two households overall. As I recall Hawaai has the highest density, DC the lowest. DC also has the richest 65+ folks, at least in terms of per capita income. No surprise there. WV has the lowest, barely more than half of DC's figure.

Ha

[Moemg]

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Originally Posted by Htown Harry I found a research study that totals up the number of senior "migrant" retirees by state. To view the rankings of the number of retirees attracted by each state in the nation and the associated income transferred, go to National Active Retirement Association (NARA) and click on “rankings.” Two nuggets: For the single year 2005, no state had more than 6% new arrivals in the studied age groups. (Nevada and Arizona were at the top on a percentage basis, around 5% in 55-59 and 60-64, 4% in 65+.) For each of the age groups, Florida had more than twice the number of new retirement-aged residents as compared to the second-ranked state.

It would be interesting to see the breakdown inside the states .Some areas of Florida attract wealthy retirees and some attract a lesser desirable element .