WANTED: Great Retirement Location

[mb]

Novaman,

We lived in Maryland for 5 years before returning to N CA. Maryland was great in many respects. Great town, great neighborhood, great place to raise kids. But I hated the weather. Winter was just cold enough that it inhibited many outdoor activities and I despised the humidity in the summers.

MB

[novaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mb Novaman, We lived in Maryland for 5 years before returning to N CA. Maryland was great in many respects. Great town, great neighborhood, great place to raise kids. But I hated the weather. Winter was just cold enough that it inhibited many outdoor activities and I despised the humidity in the summers. MB

MB- You know what I mean then by the weather....So where in MD did you live? And where in NorCal do you now live? I have relatives/friends in Saratoga, San Ramon, San Jose, and Danville. What spot do you recommend for a conservative east coaster to raise a family?

[Brat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by unclemick Natchitoches, Louisiana! However - if I was sentenced to my old stomping grounds in the Pac NW where I was born and raised until the tender age of 26 - Portland Oregon would be my first choice over say Seattle. More memories, wilder women, lower cost of living. Of course - in my old age there is Astoria, Rainer, Kalama, Battleground, Hoquim, Winlock, etc. Actually know/knew people who lived in those places. None in Portland at this time. heh heh heh -

If all goes as planned there will be one more wild woman (& husband) in Portland next year.

I do not recommend living in Clark County WA if you intend to go into Portland. The I-5 bridge is a nightmare.

[mb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by novaman MB- You know what I mean then by the weather....So where in MD did you live? And where in NorCal do you now live? I have relatives/friends in Saratoga, San Ramon, San Jose, and Danville. What spot do you recommend for a conservative east coaster to raise a family?

Oh yeh, I remember going outside to get the mail and coming back in and taking a shower.

Post-Maryland I have lived in San Jose. Pre-Maryland (& pre-kids) I lived in the East Bay (Berkeley) and Marin county.

Umm, conservative Bay Area location to raise a family. You have already mentioned some of the them. If you can control where you want to live and don't have to commmute then I would look at the Pleasanton, San Ramon, Danville & Walnut Creek areas in the East Bay. In the South Bay I would look at some specific areas in San Jose (e.g. Almaden). Saratoga and the other towns on the east side of the Santa Cruz mountains are great (Los Gatos, Los Altos, etc.) if you can afford them. Prices go down as you go south toward Gilroy and Hollister.

The real estate section of the SJ Mercury News lists the average sale price in Saratoga as $1.58M compared to $793 for Santa Clara country and $640k for Alameda county.

The real estate slump does not seem to have had much affect on Bay Area prices yet. Prices are up 5% from last year in Santa Clara county although I understand that a lot of that is because higher end houses have continued to sell well whereas sales of lower end houses has declined.

MB

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Brat said:

Quote:

I do not recommend living in Clark County WA if you intend to go into Portland. The I-5 bridge is a nightmare.

Only at rush hour. Remember, you are retired!

The lack of income tax in WA is still an attractive point.

SO! You are thinking of leaving The Island? How about them ferry lines? Bridges don't go on strike.

[unclemick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy Brat said: Only at rush hour. Remember, you are retired! The lack of income tax in WA is still an attractive point. SO! You are thinking of leaving The Island? How about them ferry lines? Bridges don't go on strike.

Hmmm - 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's or even last years high school reunion(outside of Portland) or my sister's(south of Seattle) I- 5 always seemed to have a traffic jam with my name on it.

The Pac NW seems too crowded.

heh heh heh - of course I don't 'do' Kansas City during the rush hour.

[nwsteve]

[quote=Ed_The_Gypsy;536192]Brat said:

The lack of income tax in WA is still an attractive point.
quote]
Amen, and there are plenty of great locations in WA without the flippen traffic. We escaped the Seattle metro last year and went to Eastern WA (Pullman). Spend as much time going 75 miles (Spokane) as we use to take to do 25 miles So Seattle to Tacoma with a lot less stress and better views.
The relo also cut our monthly housing and related costs by at least a quarter.
nwsteve

[Brat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy Brat said: Only at rush hour. Remember, you are retired! The lack of income tax in WA is still an attractive point. SO! You are thinking of leaving The Island? How about them ferry lines? Bridges don't go on strike.

The traffic jams in the I-5 interstate bridge going north start at 2:30 pm and last until about 7:30 pm. Because it is usually early afternoon when we arrive I haven't paid much attention to the south-bound jams.

Oh, we have a bridge and use it all the time when needing to go south. Unless there is a drop-dead absolute need for car in Seattle I walk on the ferry. I have never had to wait as a walk-on. Our buses co-ordinate with the ferry schedule and once in Seattle the core area bus service is free. The public transit cost for seniors is very reasonable.

My desire to move is to be closer to family, not for life style (which is hard to beat). We have a stunning view (what you see is what I see off my study), the library is wonderful, and I am active in the community.

I have run the tax consequences through T-tax and find that for us Oregon income tax is minimal.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Hmmm. May re-evaluate position on Oregon.

[haydee]

Surprised no one mentioned Vancouver, WA. I was considering, seems like you would get the double whammy of no income tax and no sale tax since its almost part of Portland. Also you are still pretty close to Seattle and the real estate is a lot cheaper than here in Bellevue. We could get a house (new construction) for much less than the equity we have in our house.

I have been trying to talk my husband into this one.

[Brat]

Try before you buy, aka rent first.

One of the reasons why real estate is cheaper in Vancouver is that the commute to Portland is as bad as Seattle Metro and those who work in Portland must still pay Oregon income tax. Vancouver didn't choose to link to Portland's Max so there is no alternate mode of transportation. Of course, if you plan to go to Portland rarely that is not an issue.

Vancouver is now having to put in place urban services: sewer, water, roads. All this costs $.

Don't overlook the total cost of living.

[CyclingInvestor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brat One of the reasons why real estate is cheaper in Vancouver is that the commute to Portland is as bad as Seattle Metro and those who work in Portland must still pay Oregon income tax. Vancouver didn't choose to link to Portland's Max so there is no alternate mode of transportation. Of course, if you plan to go to Portland rarely that is not an issue.

The I-205 bike path is not crowded, even at rush hour.

[Orchidflower]

Someone mentioned taking the Sperling's Best Places test. I have taken it probably 10 times by now, and, for my wants and wishes, Little Rock, Arkansas, always comes up as my #1 place. I was born 1/2 hr. from there. I know the area, and, apologies if this offends anyone, wouldn't move there for all the tea in China. So much for the Best Places test for me.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyclingInvestor The I-205 bike path is not crowded, even at rush hour.

Should be fun is December and January! Not to mention about 8 other months of the year.

Ha

[Webzter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Should be fun is December and January! Not to mention about 8 other months of the year. Ha

If you're retired I see no reason why you can't get away with driving your car on the bike path when it's not crowded. After all, you can blame it on age! (even if you FIRE young; just get a forged AARP card in that case)

[CyclingInvestor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Should be fun is December and January! Not to mention about 8 other months of the year. Ha

9 years of paper routes while growing up in Oregon made me not even notice the rain
while I am riding, especially in low traffic situations.

[Brat]

I-205? In the winter it won't be the rain, but the wind whistling down the Gorge, that chills to the bone.

OK, once you are over the bridge what then? Humm.. the airport, Ikea, Costco, maybe spin over to the Max Station that runs to the airport. Now that I think of it the latter is the perfect solution.

Actually the I-205 bridge is not usually a major traffic problem, I-84 getting to 205 from the city center can be troublesome.

[Nords]

This thread reminds me of Philip Greenspun's criteria:

Early Retirement: Where to Live?

[2B]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords This thread reminds me of Philip Greenspun's criteria: Early Retirement: Where to Live?

Great article. It had some interesting insights and definite prejudices about certain areas -- but don't we all.

[volga]

There may be some value in ignoring Austin (its too weird) and taking a look at Corpus Christi...it has a very low cost of living, decent climate and the fishing and boating are great.
Corpus Christi, Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia