Pick My Retirement City!!!

[Turn_the_Page]

+1 on north of Houston. You'd get a mansion on acreage for that price. Can you handle heat, humidity and mosquitoes? TX wine country maybe 3 hours away. Galveston beaches maybe 90 minutes away.

Can you handle traffic? Look at Sugarland and points just West of Houston. Puts you closer to the wine country. You'd have a hell of a traffic mess to get to sports, but that's part of it. You'd be closer to the less populated beaches southwest of Houston (Surfside, Matagorda).

 

[imoldernu]

The Villages
except for half acre... If it's not there, you don't need it. Built in.. enough culture to last three lifetimes, active sports, Polo?...
Save money on the house, and eliminate the Part-Time.
East, West coast ocean, Chain of lakes 15 minutes.
Try it and fall in love...
... but not for me.
Lie about your age.

 

[seraphim]

Haven't been there for a while, but we used a site, I think it was www.city-data.com

Extremely helpful with data and forums with helpful residents from each city.


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[seraphim]

The site I posted allows you to choose a major city, and will list nearby cities as well, since that's part of your criteria. It gives median housing,,income and cost of living info as well. Very extensive.


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[kgtest]

Central Cali, Santa Barbara, San Louis Obispo, or anywhere 50miles from there. It my opinion god spent some extra time on that part of the country.

Unless you want sports EVERY weekend...then go cloer to LA...perhaps Ventura.

I've lived in Great Lakes of Minnesota (Brrr, outdoorsman fun), Maui (Beautifully simple, uneventful), Lompoc (gods country), Gulfport/Bilouxi (Slower way of life with dirty gulf coast and humid), San Antonio, TX (hotter then heck)

 

[THINKER]

McMinnville, Oregon! Check it out! Middle of wine country. More conservative than other Willamette Valley areas, relatively speaking. Portland (foodie paradise!) not too far away.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

I really like Mac, and while my mom was still alive up in Camas, WA, we actually offered on a house there in Mac and looked at several others.

I can't handle quite that much overcast so we decided on SoCal instead, but I do love and miss the people -- and greenery!! -- of that area.

 

[THINKER]

Yes, the requirements in the original post seem to all be met by the area around McMinnville, Oregon. Close to a major city, and a great one, at that! Love PDX! Not as rainy as some places in the PNW. Forests abound! Not a political hot bed as some surrounding towns. Pacific Ocean not too far away. Cute - check. Quaint - check. McMinnville's downtown and main street is award winning! Google it! A sophisticated rural area...smack dab in the middle of beautiful Oregon wine country.

 

[Bamaman]

The northern Atlanta suburbs would fit the bill. Some place like Big Canoe is very popular. And housing is absurdly cheap in the Atlanta burbs. Lake Lanier and the North Georgia mountains are close by, and they're incredibly beautiful.

Another great retirement place is in NW South Carolina, outside of Greenville. The area has a bunch of incredible golf communities in the foothills of the Smokies. Gary Player was designing a golf course there, and loved the area so much that he moved his family and all business operations there.

My family has a house in Banner-Elk, NC in an equestrian/golf community. And a 4500 ft. neighborhood landing strip has a bunch of King Airs. Beech Mountain and Sugar Mountain is there with the highest ski resorts east of the Mississippi River.

 

[unno2002]

Cost of living comparison.

Relocation Essentials

In essence, it purports to be able to compare the cost to maintain the "same" lifestyle between two cities in the US. As an example, I ran a comparison between Yuma, AZ and Tucson, AZ. It indicates that there is would be a 3% "increase" in lifestyle in Tucson, vs Yuma, based on costs for similar living expenses.

 

[jpjr]

Greenville, SC

Based upon your original criteria, I would strongly suggest looking at the upstate area of South Carolina. Greenville is a fantastic town, with great restaurants, entertainment, and nature (mountains and lakes) just outside the city limits. You can go thirty miles away and find a home on Lake Keowee. You are almost mid-way between Charlotte and Atlanta. Clemson University, as well as several other colleges dot the area. You get four seasons, and the cost of living is lower than most areas. It took us about seven years of research and travel before we virtually stumbled across this region. Check it out.