Retiring to a College Town

[harllee]

I retired to a college town and I really like it. I went to UNC-Chapel Hill and then taught a few courses there over the years and when we retired we moved to Chapel Hill about 10 years ago. We live about a block from campus and walk or bike to campus almost every day. There are so many fun and interesting things to do on campus and around town (thing are opening back up now from the Covid shut down). This week UNC is having a summer jazz festival, with free concerts every night. Last night I went to an outdoor jazz concert and it was great. Many people retire to this area so there are many events geared to seniors. There is a Medical School here and one at Duke 8 miles down the road so there is excellent medical care.

For those of you looking for a place to retire, I suggest you look at college towns.

 

[friar1610]

Have not actually lived in a college town. But for 8 years we lived in VT approximately midway between Burlington (U of VT) and Middlebury (Middlebury College). We certainly didn’t have the advantage of walking to a campus but attended many cultural and athletic events at both schools. I strongly second your suggestion.

 

[MichaelB]

For those of you looking for a place to retire, I suggest you look at college towns.

I agree. So many cultural options, lots of performing arts. College towns also have lots of good restaurants with a wide variety of ethic options.

 

[finnski1]

Just make sure you don't actually live near fraternities, sororities or off campus student housing. Otherwise I can see the benefits.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I don't live in a college town but we live in an urban area with multiple colleges not too far away. We also find them to be amazing sources of activities for seniors. I sign up for some of their theater, dance, music and astronomy department Facebook pages. U.C. Berkeley in our area has two really nice public gardens with scenic bay views open to the general public. Berkeley also has an astronomy night once a month open to the public, plus both Berkeley and Stanford are good sources of interesting speakers for the local, community astronomy clubs. Our local community college has surprisingly good play productions.

 

[KingOfTheCheapos]

I retired to a college town and I really like it. I went to UNC-Chapel Hill and then taught a few courses there over the years and when we retired we moved to Chapel Hill about 10 years ago. We live about a block from campus and walk or bike to campus almost every day. There are so many fun and interesting things to do on campus and around town (thing are opening back up now from the Covid shut down). This week UNC is having a summer jazz festival, with free concerts every night. Last night I went to an outdoor jazz concert and it was great. Many people retire to this area so there are many events geared to seniors. There is a Medical School here and one at Duke 8 miles down the road so there is excellent medical care.

For those of you looking for a place to retire, I suggest you look at college towns.

That's a great suggestions. One that gets mentioned a lot but forgotten often.

 

[KingOfTheCheapos]

Is the Cost of Real Estate in College Towns Going Up or Down?

I'm curious whether this getting cheaper or more expensive? In the past I'd think it would be getting more expensive but with COVID and lots of colleges moving to on-line for 2020 and many keeping some online I see prices going down?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We retired to a college town and like it.

 

[harllee]

Just make sure you don't actually live near fraternities, sororities or off campus student housing. Otherwise I can see the benefits.

Actually I have 3 sorority houses on my block. The sororities rarely make a lot of noise late at night. Sometimes I hear some cheering, singing and laughter during rush week but it is over pretty early. On the other hand the fraternities can be loud--they sometimes have loud bands outside. Our town has a pretty good noise ordinance that starts at 10 pm and that helps.

I like being around young people, I think it is fun to watch and remember my own youth.

One other thing I like about being in a college town is the diversity. I hear many foreign languages while I walk around town (or I did before Covid). The town also seems more tolerant of different life styles than other towns on my state.

 

[Koolau]

There are several colleges and universities in Hawaii. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't see as much influence as I would expect for having so many schools and students. I suspect the tourist population washes out a lot of the influence. I do always know when U of H is out of session - traffic is bearable.

 

[Bamaman]

Like has been said, college towns are great places to retire to. They usually have decent restaurants, and cultural opportunities abound including sports, music programs and active theatre groups.

My university had a fraternity row where the houses looked nice from the street. Go inside and you quickly realize you've stepped into "Animal House." When that movie came out, I knew every person in it--including John Belusi's character. They were the brothers.

Many of the college towns now have condos developed by alumni for use on football weekends.

 

[Nick12]

Duke and UNC are bitter rivals especially in basketball, rarely you see anyone in Chapel Hill wearing a Duke shirt but Chapel Hill is a nice town. Down the road is Durham which has its sketchy parts near Duke.

 

[harllee]

Duke and UNC are bitter rivals especially in basketball, rarely you see anyone in Chapel Hill wearing a Duke shirt but Chapel Hill is a nice town. Down the road is Durham which has its sketchy parts near Duke.

Duke and UNC are bitter rivals in everything. When newcomers come to town they have to choose which side to be on, no middle ground. I am a UNC Tar Heel all the way but DH just had his knee replaced at Duke and they did a very good job. I use to think Durham had a lot of sketchy areas but more recently they have really cleaned up their act and now most of the city, including downtown and around the University are nicer and have good restaurants and nice cultural events.

 

[Nick12]

Duke and UNC are bitter rivals in everything. When newcomers come to town they have to choose which side to be on, no middle ground. I am a UNC Tar Heel all the way but DH just had his knee replaced at Duke and they did a very good job. I use to think Durham had a lot of sketchy areas but more recently they have really cleaned up their act and now most of the city, including downtown and around the University are nicer and have good restaurants and nice cultural events.

Most of Durham? Don't agree. Durham which is just a few miles from Chapel Hill still has high crime rates especially Lakewood which is adjacent to some of the expensive areas of Durham. Main street has continued to be cleaned up which is a good thing but Durham has a long way to go. When my relative went for his Duke MBA ( Fuqua ) we never ventured to Chapel Hill since like you said Duke and UNC are bitter rivals. That is so true.

 

[molly312]

We retired to Columbia, MO. City has wonderful parks, Katy Trail with spurs throughout the city, great health care and lots of activities. Not too crowded. University of Missouri, Stephens College, and Columbia College. We can hop on a trail and walk into town - never crossing a busy street (tunnels). Affordable housing, though prices are rising. However, plenty of land to expand.

 

[Jerry1]

We retired to Columbia, MO. City has wonderful parks, Katy Trail with spurs throughout the city, great health care and lots of activities. Not too crowded. University of Missouri, Stephens College, and Columbia College. We can hop on a trail and walk into town - never crossing a busy street (tunnels). Affordable housing, though prices are rising. However, plenty of land to expand.

My dad retired to Columbia about 30 years ago. He had a house there where a couple of his wife’s kids based themselves for college and then later, he renovated it and moved there. He has been very happy there.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

I'm curious whether this getting cheaper or more expensive? In the past I'd think it would be getting more expensive but with COVID and lots of colleges moving to on-line for 2020 and many keeping some online I see prices going down?

With real estate skyrocketing in general it's hard to say. In my area Virginia Tech is rapidly expanding and there's an exceptional demand for housing in Blacksburg, not just for students but for all the other people who support the university as well as the local economy. I read that single-family housing is especially in short supply.

 

[harllee]

Housing prices in Chapel Hill have definitely been going up recently and will probably continue. Chapel Hill is one of the more expensive places to live in NC but still it is low cost of living compared to many places in the U.S.

 

[audreyh1]

Once upon a time Austin was a somewhat sleepy university town, and the Texas legislature only met every two years for 140 days so didn’t have much impact. Not small or sleepy anymore, as high tech industry dwarfs everything else and many very wealthy technologists live there now.

 

[Montecfo]

Once upon a time Austin was a somewhat sleepy university town, and the Texas legislature only met every two years for 140 days so didn’t have much impact. Not small or sleepy anymore, as high tech industry dwarfs everything else and many very wealthy technologists live there now.

Yes. People I know from there do not recognize it anymore. I would not think of it as a college town, but a large city with a huge university.

Having said that some nearby areas can be attractive, such as Georgetown.

That Austin-San Antonio corridor sure is getting busy and developed.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Regarding Austin: Yeah, it is hard to know how to categorize some cities that are both the capital AND host a large college. And some of these are large or largish cities, to boot:

(And I am sure I missed a few...)
Talahassee, FL
Austin, TX
Raleigh, NC
Madison, WI
St. Paul, MN
Columbus, OH
Phoenix, AZ
Baton Rouge, LA
Richmond, VA
Lincoln, NE
Columbia, SC
Boston, MA

Oh, @Time2's post below reminded me!:
Lansing, MI

 

[audreyh1]

Austin was way smaller in the 70s. And even though there was some high tech industry, it didn't really explode until the 90s, and then just kept on exploding.

 

[harllee]

Austin was way smaller in the 70s. And even though there was some high tech industry, it didn't really explode until the 90s, and then just kept on exploding.

I hope that does not happen to my town of Chapel Hill. Right now it is a small town with a large university, However, it is near Research Triangle Park and it was just announced that Apple is going to build a large office at RTP and employ thousands of people.

 

[Starsky]

Grew up in a smaller College town. Loved it, and a lot of people from there, have decided to stay there in retirement and are extremely happy. If you're looking for a nice area in the heart of Southern California i would take a look at Claremont. It's a sleeper.

 

[RunningBum]

With real estate skyrocketing in general it's hard to say. In my area Virginia Tech is rapidly expanding and there's an exceptional demand for housing in Blacksburg, not just for students but for all the other people who support the university as well as the local economy. I read that single-family housing is especially in short supply.

I'm following this area closely, since my son is looking to buy in Blacksburg or Christiansburg. He got outbid on his first offer last weekend. He's not in a hurry, yet. His realtor thinks things will get less competitive at the end of summer since families want to get moved in before school starts. But that would also imply less supply. We'll see.