Did you move after FIRE and find the grass greener?

[CaliKid]

I have some thought of moving upon fire. Maybe new city or even new state but likely in the US. I have a ton of acquaintances here, in my home city of 30'ish years, but few really close friends. In fact, almost nobody except for neighbors we see very often. Also, I have a fantasy of sort of leaving w*rk life behind. I constantly bump into clients, employees, and other work related people and I don't want to. I want to forget about the old j*b and move on. I sort of like the idea of starting over, meeting new people, making a new life, etc... upon Fire. We will be early 50's at that time which is a few years off. Curious if you moved upon fire and if it was as green as you had hoped or if not green at all and you moved back to your previous home!? Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[W2R]

We originally wanted to move to Missouri ASAP after we retired in 2009. However, we changed our minds after we retired. It turned out to be a good decision for us to stay. We are happier here than we thought we would be.

I only ran into someone from work once, in seven years. I think the reason I don't run into people is that, being retired, the hours I keep are very different from the hours that working people keep.

My suggestion would be to get used to retired life for maybe a year first, and then move if you still want to. Two big changes all at once like that might be tough.

[Hermit]

Retired the end of June in 2013 Virginia and unloaded my belongings into a storage unit over the July 4th weekend in Colorado. I'm still in Colorado (and my stuff is still in that storage unit), but I was born and raised here. I don't live anywhere near where I had previously in Colorado. I will be happiest if I can spend the rest of my life in this fairly remote area of the mountains. When you live in a remote area you get to know all your neighbors pretty well. I think it is as much for survival as for interaction.

[RE2Boys]

Sort of.

Retired in Feb 2000 (at age 50) and moved back to my home town in Jun 2004 after an absence of 35 years. But the primary reason was to care for an elderly parent. Having young boys at the time, between schools, cub scouts, and their involvement in soccer, we quickly became acquainted with the family's "new town" and made a new life here in PA.

Now that the boys are heading to college, my wife and I have been talking about spending a few month each winter living in our previous town in Alabama to escape the lake effect snows of the Great Lakes.

[Souschef]

Absolutely! Everything is greener here. I moved from LA's San Fernando Valley with 2.9 million people to a small town in Ventura County with 29,000 people. In that way I moved away from the LA City/County BS!
Tremendous amount of agriculture as opposed to the "concrete canyons". The topsoil here is 20 feet deep and anything that falls on it grows, as opposed the the SFV adobe.
Life is slower, but I am a half mile from the airport I fly from, 10 minutes from a tourist railroad I volunteer on, and 15 minutes from the beach. Life is good!

[razztazz]

I moved but I already knew I didn't like Ogden Ut and that I was leaving as soon as I was able. Do I like where I decided to move to? Yes.

[sheldon cornped]

Yes and yes. I retired just as I turned 61 in 01/2015. Sold the house and moved temporarily to Athens, Ga to help our daughter and SIL care for 1 year old. Plan was always to stay for one year and then move to Oregon. We loaded up and moved into a townhouse in Eugene, OR. Been here a month and really like it alot. Air is cleaner, more things to do, great wine, craft brews, fantastic food and produce, mountains, coast, hiking. Over the next year we will house hunt, leaving our options open, but we are really liking the area so far. Now if the record heat would return to the normal 80's. Nights still open window 50's, great sleeping. We put MIL in memory care nearby and have several relatives within driving distance.

[fishndad42]

Absolutely needed to get out of the big city. 3 years ago we bought a lake house near our old cottage with the intent on retiring there. We found it s great way to test drive the plan. Would we really be happy in a town of 1200? What about shopping? With many extended weekends and vacations there, we're ready. DW is already living there full time, I'm still w*rking part time and spending as much time as possible there. Now if we could just figure out what to do with the stuff we moved from the family house that won't quite fit in a house 1/2 the size...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishndad42 Absolutely needed to get out of the big city. 3 years ago we bought a lake house near our old cottage with the intent on retiring there. We found it s great way to test drive the plan. Would we really be happy in a town of 1200? What about shopping? With many extended weekends and vacations there, we're ready. DW is already living there full time, I'm still w*rking part time and spending as much time as possible there. Now if we could just figure out what to do with the stuff we moved from the family house that won't quite fit in a house 1/2 the size... Sent from my SM-G900V using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

Lots of info on down sizing on the forums. In my experience, I would suggest you don't put it in a storage unit. That is where my stuff is and has been for three years. In the mean time, the rental on the unit has gone from $190 to $240.

[FIREmenow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit Lots of info on down sizing on the forums. In my experience, I would suggest you don't put it in a storage unit. That is where my stuff is and has been for three years. In the mean time, the rental on the unit has gone from $190 to $240.

I costed out our stuff out thinking about this same decision a few years ago.

We LBYM (a lot), so, going through our entire house of "things" greater than $100-200 - furniture, beds, etc. to replace, I could only come up with about $7000-8000 to completely replace EVERYTHING.

For a temporary 4-5 year "away" time, it didn't make any sense at all - both from actual cost and the moving hassle - to not just buy new stuff when we wanted it back. We were just not attached to any of our "stuff". We just sold everything with the house. VERY glad I did.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit Lots of info on down sizing on the forums. In my experience, I would suggest you don't put it in a storage unit. That is where my stuff is and has been for three years. In the mean time, the rental on the unit has gone from $190 to $240.

I'm glad you said it, because I was going to say it.

So just sell the crap, is it really going up in value $3,000 per year , if it was 2 tons of gold, YES, otherwise probably not.

Sell it now.
Or throw it away and save spending 3K / yr

I tell you this as my sister kept old stuff from parents and grandparents, always talking about the value of it, then when suddenly had to move, the auctioneers basically got about 10 cents on the dollar my sister thought it was worth....

I saw the same thing with my Aunt, she had 5 households worth of "valuables", ended up it all goes for incredibly cheap.

The exception to this is if you sell it NOW. then you can wait 5 months for the right person (sucker) to come along and pay a good price.

[CaliKid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset I'm glad you said it, because I was going to say it. So just sell the crap, is it really going up in value $3,000 per year , if it was 2 tons of gold, YES, otherwise probably not. Sell it now. Or throw it away and save spending 3K / yr I tell you this as my sister kept old stuff from parents and grandparents, always talking about the value of it, then when suddenly had to move, the auctioneers basically got about 10 cents on the dollar my sister thought it was worth.... I saw the same thing with my Aunt, she had 5 households worth of "valuables", ended up it all goes for incredibly cheap. The exception to this is if you sell it NOW. then you can wait 5 months for the right person (sucker) to come along and pay a good price.

You are so right. I see it all the time at w*rk. People think their stuff has great value because either: 1) they paid a lot for it, 2) they saw an episode of that PBS show and one "very similar" was said to be worth thousands, 3) a price guide says it has value, 4) it's offered for sale somewhere with a very high ASKING price. I always explain that the difference is if you want cash now most stuff (with some notable exceptions like gold/silver) will sell for significantly less than it's "worth." If you own an antique store or an Ebay store and can leave it sitting there in inventory maybe it will eventually sell for a higher price... maybe. The internet has made it so all stuff is easily attainable and thus has really regulated prices in my opinion. There are very few hidden treasures anymore. Just about everything is for sale right now on the internet and can be delivered by Friday.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R My suggestion would be to get used to retired life for maybe a year first, and then move if you still want to. Two big changes all at once like that might be tough.

What she said.

We did make the move immediately after I retired, from near Washington, D.C. with it's notorious traffic and crowding to West Virginia, which was only about 75 miles but a world of difference in lifestyle. It worked for us, and in some ways we got lucky in spite of our ignorance, but if I had it to do over I'd also wait a year and then make the move.

DW's only criteria was that it had to be within an hour of family and the WV location worked out even better than where we had been. The drive was easier and shorter, and on the back country roads so no rush hour even at 5:00 PM Friday instead of having to plan around traffic. Later on her closest sister moved 15 minutes away instead of being two hours away. They moved for the same reasons we did.

And there is no way we'd ever consider moving back there. The quality of life in WV is far and away so much better than the D.C. area. COL is lower, mostly because of lower housing costs, pace of life is slower, a "road rage" incident is very rare and usually imported from elsewhere, people take turns at a one-lane bridge, that sort of thing. Groceries and fuel are a little cheaper but not enough to justify a move.

All in all, the grass is still much greener in WV.

[Souschef]

I agree with the fact that storing stuff is not worth it! When I moved I sold all our collectables on eBay, pool table and some furniture to people at work.
Everything else went for free on Craig's list. After all how much is a 30 year old bedroom set worth?

[misshathaway]

+1 on storing old stuff. Biggest lesson I learned from a year of trying to unload vintage / antique everything is that nobody wants it, or dealers want it for $5 so they can resell it. Most of it does not appreciate. More likely it goes out of fashion even as kitsch.

[Dawg52]

I'm 9 years into retirement and still live in the same old small town. I couldn't leave immediately after retiring as I needed/wanted to look after my aging mother. She's gone now so nothing keeping me here other than old friends. I did buy a coastal condo which gives me a nice getaway a few days a month. I'm satisfied.

[Options]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Souschef Absolutely! Everything is greener here. I moved from LA's San Fernando Valley with 2.9 million people to a small town in Ventura County with 29,000 people. In that way I moved away from the LA City/County BS! Tremendous amount of agriculture as opposed to the "concrete canyons". The topsoil here is 20 feet deep and anything that falls on it grows, as opposed the the SFV adobe. Life is slower, but I am a half mile from the airport I fly from, 10 minutes from a tourist railroad I volunteer on, and 15 minutes from the beach. Life is good!

Souschef, how soon after retiring did you move, and why did you choose Ventura?

Ventura is one place I've considered relocating to (from LA). It's so many worlds apart (in many good ways) from anything south of it (to include San Diego) that I don't even consider it part of SoCal (even though technically it is). It's what the rest of the SoCal coast was 50, maybe 75 years ago.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREmenow I costed out our stuff out thinking about this same decision a few years ago. We LBYM (a lot), so, going through our entire house of "things" greater than $100-200 - furniture, beds, etc. to replace, I could only come up with about $7000-8000 to completely replace EVERYTHING. For a temporary 4-5 year "away" time, it didn't make any sense at all - both from actual cost and the moving hassle - to not just buy new stuff when we wanted it back. We were just not attached to any of our "stuff". We just sold everything with the house. VERY glad I did.

DD's boyfriend had move out of an apt and in with his parent's and put the apt stuff in a storage unit costing $85/mo. He and DD get together two years later and about a year after that they move into together and decide to clear out the storage unit in combining their things... so he paid $3k over the 3 years stuff was in storage.... DD swears that the stuff he had in the storage unit was worth $1-2k at most.

But I can see it easy to happen as you put stuff in storage thinking it won't be long and priorities change and time flys by.

[aja8888]

We moved into a smaller house after retirement in the same town. What's interesting is how are circle of close friends has expanded now that we have the time to spend not working.

DW has made a lot of new friends by attending her church group meetings (weekly) and exercise classes and I have made a dozen or so new friends by being able to meet with my ROMEO group and by playing daytime golf on occasion during the week.

So we may have downsized, but we didn't move too far away (5 miles), but because of having more time during the day to meet new people, we have expanded our social life considerably.

[Souschef]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options Souschef, how soon after retiring did you move, and why did you choose Ventura? Ventura is one place I've considered relocating to (from LA). It's so many worlds apart (in many good ways) from anything south of it (to include San Diego) that I don't even consider it part of SoCal (even though technically it is). It's what the rest of the SoCal coast was 50, maybe 75 years ago.

Ventura is the best kept secret in Southern Calif. People are so busy driving from LA to Santa Barbara, they just whiz by Ventura.
Some time after my wife passed away, I met a widow who was in the same grief recovery group I was in. She lived in Ventura, and had bought a manufactured home in a +55 park there.
We were married in late 2007, and I split my time between the SFV which was closer to my office, and our home in Ventura.
I w*rked until January 2009, to get my profit sharing, retired, and never looked back.
Every morning I stand on our front porch, look out at South Mountain, and say,"another crappy day in paradise"