Poll:What is your retirement environment - mountain, sea, city, rural, abroad?

[cyber888]

Now where is that ?

I'm 2 hours from the mountains and 2 from the ocean..that works for me. I don't need to see it every day, but its easy enough to get up in the morning, check the weather forecast and do a day trip. I'm 2 miles a major mall (220+ stores) , 5 from the heart of the city and museums, 3 to the airport and 1 mile from a 5500 acre park w/ 3 lakes, 30 miles of trails, connected to a greenway of another 100 miles of trails. ie the best of big city and country all in one. I can walk to restaurants, movie theater and shopping but still be suburbia.

 

[Donzo]

Love mountain living near lakes, skiing and lots of beautiful roads to ride on. Small/medium town that has a Walmart and other large stores w/o lots of traffic. I really am happy where I live! Having an RV is great as well to enjoy the ocean type of living a couple times a year. Vegas and Reno are as "big city" as I usually visit - very good prices for casino rooms. I do enjoy going to SanFran usually once a year. My daughter lives in Alameda (moved there 4 months ago) so visits to the greater SanFran area will be increasing. This thread reminds me how much I enjoy being retired

 

[brett]

We live in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. We can be in the mountains in one hour. We now rent-partially because it helps to enable our travel schedule and partly because it makes sense financially. We love the mountains.

We spent 5-6 month a year travelling. Came home two weeks ago from a week in Mexico and leave next week for two months in Thailand/Vietnam.

The vast majority of our travels are to Oceanside locations. Last fall it was Greece and Greek Islands. Next fall it will probably be Croatia, Albania, and Greece (again). We love the ocean and we love the mountains. This way we get some of each and we maximize our time in warm climates. We love the ocean.

 

[TallTim]

Ocean/Sea Living is for me...I am just much happier when I am by the sea.

+1 to this.

Grew up going to the Jersey shore and even worked as a beach lifeguard 2 summers in Cape May County. Didn't realize how much I missed the ocean until we had the chance to move to S Cal beach community in 08 after spending 15 years hop-scotching around the US for w*rk ... since then have been seduced by the beach/ocean again ... and DW loves it here. Will make it hard to leave, despite the cost of living where we do - so we budgeted it into ER. My guess is that we will end up spending at least part of the year here or in this area. So I voted for beach.

That said, I think we could also pick large city as we are v close to LA and use its cultural amenities regularly. IMO, we wouldn't want to live in a too small community unless it was a college town and had those kinds of outlets.

Once DD and DS are off to school *Aug 17 can't come soon enough in some ways!* we will spend part-year here at the beach and likely part year back east in a New England college town (which is also a big summer cultural resort) where we've lived before for a number of years and have many friends.

 

[TallTim]

@Karen1972 -- has to be somewhere in N Carolina?

 

[Theseus]

Small/Rural City/Town/Farm - cuz that's the way I roll...

Definitely not the exclusive resort type area, more like if you've got a clue how to enjoy the outdoors, you'll never need to spend money on any type of "membership" to get your exercise or social interaction. And a cheap cost of living is certainly beneficial, although one can spend a bundle trying to make a home out of a cornfield too. DAMHIK

Love to vacation/travel to ocean and mountains though. Best of all worlds.

 

[EastWest Gal]

Retired in place. Suburbs mixed with farms and forest. We're seriously entrenched in the local theater/music community and have no desire to move. We are 5 miles from the Appalachian trail, and our bedroom window faces the local ski resort. 3 hour train ride to Manhattan, 2 hour drive to DC 2.5 hours to Shenandoah national park. But I can walk to the farm market next to our development and I can walk to Wegmans. The local creek is navigable with kayaks. We have mink, fox, bald eagles, great blue herons, egrets and deer. To the north is a ridge that is forested and is part of the state game lands.

DH is not as much a fan of the wild as I am. I would prefer more mountains but don't want to move.


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[unclemick]

Prairie or swamp - I grew up on/near Mt St Helen's in the Pac NW. Cowboy country was Yakima Wa which was back East near the suburbs of New York City.

Needless to say after age 26 I have received quite an education on geography and city/country/suburbs.

Last summer attended the Kansas City Symphony/guest Lyle Lovett in the Flint Hills - that much prairie is mind boggling.

heh heh heh - the burbs so one can go either to the big city or country depending on the mood.

 

[FIREd]

Downtown San Francisco is our primary residence currently - so big city, ocean/sea, some mountains nearby. Next year, our primary residence will be inner suburbia in a medium-sized city - quieter, greener, big river and lakes, our house is on a heavily wooded "mountain", but it's more like a hill really.

Secondary residence is abroad, large metro, urban living, but only a half hour drive to real mountains and two large bodies of fresh water.

 

[imoldernu]

We also live in Peru, but not the Machu Picchu Peru. Love the 4 seasons, and the fact that we have everything a big city has, but all within a 2 mile radius. Five minute walk to Aldi, Walgreens and CVS. (but we drive)

That said, we still have our FL home, and our campground Park Model on the lake, both of which were our only homes (snowbirds) from 1990 to 2004. While we have never lived abroad, we moved 22 times... complete moves... and lived in 8 states, 7 homes waterside or waterview, to include 3 years on the island Martha's Vineyard.

Peru, Il is our retirement home... a regular home in a CCRC, so this is the final resting place. Very little traffic, and country roads in four directions within a mile of our house. We're also about 2 miles from the Central Illinois crossroads of Rte 39 and Rte 80. When we no longer drive, we have an on call Senior Transportation company... $1 anywhere in town.

As a "small" town, the avg. family income in Peru is $47K, a far cry from the Naperville, Il avg family income of $106K... the area where we used to live, 85 miles away. Prices are correspondingly less, and the people here are more laid back, and much friendlier.

 

[Danmar]

Just a matter of time? I have a buddy who I met here in PV. He has a 3200 sq.ft. condo here. Since I have know him, he has bought:
- a large home in West Vancouver
- a 65 foot yacht
- a home in Pender Harbour with a deep water pier
- a 38 foot motor home
- a hefty motorcycle
- one quarter share in a one bedroom watercraft for PV
He is very relaxed here in PV but he is busy all summer!

So I see that they left off live-aboard watercraft from the survey. Mighty short-sighted!

Better chance of a big "boat" than an RV.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

USAA had a survey where you answered various multiple choice questions. It spit out the result that my ideal retirement abode would be in Sarasota, FL. Very different from the Pittsburgh PA suburbs.

 

[NYEXPAT]

wow, what part of Peru is this? did you buy property or renting ?

Just came across this, sorry for the late reply.

I live in Lima ( The City of Kings) in a district called Miraflores. Back in Lima's hey day the wealthy built their summer mansions here as we are on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. As the population grew, and Miraflores became a tourist mecca, they tore down the mansions and built high rise condo's ,hotels and shopping malls.

I both own and rent. My wife has a Oceanfront Penthouse with a 700 sqft private terrace that she rents out on AirBnB. As she is afraid of heights and won't live there, we rent a 3 bedroom apartment ( 2nd floor) two blocks off the ocean. Our rent is less than half of what the rental brings in even if it is only booked 50-60% of the year.

In the past 10 year's RE prices are up 300% due to the rip-roaring economy. Now that our economy has cooled, RE prices are not moving much, but I find it far too expensive for "new retiree's" to buy as Lima's property markets have stagnated for over a decade in the past.

 

[nycboy1950]

Desert only place to be sunshine warm temps and cheap living



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[CabinLifeAt50]

Cabin on a lake in the mountains, most likely pacific northwest! Oh yeah!