Where to relocate ???

[F4mandolin]

Doesn't Moses Lake or some place in eastern Washington get something like 300 sunny days a year?

If I had to move back to WA, it wouldn't be Moses Lake. When I retired we spent 4 years NWest of Spokane which wasn't bad. I grew up in SW WA in the rain. College in E-burg (too damn windy, but a nice town). The Olympic P area would get my attention now, or even Walla Walla. The Tri-cities would get a decent amount of sun and wouldn't be as cold as a lot of Eastern WA. I am permanently in the UK now......what a crappy wet year since early Sept. I like the UK.....but golf has been horrible the last 6 months.

 

[levindb]

I like a site called Top Retirements

https://www.topretirements.com/

They have a tool called Retirement Ranger to help you think about the priorities that others here have mentioned. While it may not help you find THE place to live, it can be helpful to organize your thinking.

Also, as others have said, vacationing in a place and LIVING in a place can be very different. Many times, vacation spending may be different than retirement spending. You may eat out a lot on vacations, for example. You don't visit Home Depot on vacations, but you may become a frequent flyer to hardware stores to maintain your castle...or you may learn how much contractors charge to fix that faulty light switch.

 

[COcheesehead]

I like a site called Top Retirements

https://www.topretirements.com/

They have a tool called Retirement Ranger to help you think about the priorities that others here have mentioned. While it may not help you find THE place to live, it can be helpful to organize your thinking.

Also, as others have said, vacationing in a place and LIVING in a place can be very different. Many times, vacation spending may be different than retirement spending. You may eat out a lot on vacations, for example. You don't visit Home Depot on vacations, but you may become a frequent flyer to hardware stores to maintain your castle...or you may learn how much contractors charge to fix that faulty light switch.

So true. I live in a state with a lot of resort towns. People we know from out of state say why don’t you retire to Vail or Telluride, etc.
Start looking at access to medical, every day retail (like a hardware store), airport, transient or seasonal neighbors, etc and you will quickly find that not all vacation spots are good places to retire. Vacation, yes. We need places to go to in retirement as well. Save some of those for later.

 

[Markola]

Great discussion and my takeaway is, I appreciate the small, high quality city in the upper Midwest where we’ve been for 30 years and the social roots we’ve sunk here. I think we’d be happiest to be here 8 months of the year and in warmer places Jan-April. Snowbird it is!

 

[Fermion]

If I had to move back to WA, it wouldn't be Moses Lake. When I retired we spent 4 years NWest of Spokane which wasn't bad. I grew up in SW WA in the rain. College in E-burg (too damn windy, but a nice town). The Olympic P area would get my attention now, or even Walla Walla. The Tri-cities would get a decent amount of sun and wouldn't be as cold as a lot of Eastern WA. I am permanently in the UK now......what a crappy wet year since early Sept. I like the UK.....but golf has been horrible the last 6 months.

Moses lake is a desert, I agree. We are also NW of Spokane right now (probably the same area you lived in) and the weather here has been most excellent the past few weeks. It is chilly, about 42 degrees high, but bright sunshine every day, just a blue bird day.

I would take 42 degrees and sunshine over Seattle's 55 degrees and drizzle every single time.

It also is nice that a 1bd apartment here is $500 while the same on the west side is over $1000.

 

[Lewis Clark]

I put zero credibility in the walk scores. We lived just blocks from a friend and they had a much higher score, just based on having more retail near them. Not quality retail, just more of it.
Our walk score for our neighborhood is low, though we can walk to nice restaurants/bars, coffee houses, have dozens of parks/trailheads near us within a mile and have access to a pool/pickleball court. To me that is good walkability.

Driving directions on websites such as MapQuest or Google Maps can't always keep up with new construction and in my personal experience have been more than a year behind changes to the roadways even in areas where major construction has occurred.

As with everything else we find on the Internet, a walkscore report should be taken with a grain of salt. I have punched in various addresses where I have lived, and where friends have lived, and the resulting score has always been a reasonable representation of how walkable a particular address is.

I have no idea what algorithm they used to come up with their walkscore numbers. Of course, the distances that people are willing and/or able to walk can vary greatly.

Of course, your individual mileage will vary.

 

[F4mandolin]

Moses lake is a desert, I agree. We are also NW of Spokane right now (probably the same area you lived in) and the weather here has been most excellent the past few weeks. It is chilly, about 42 degrees high, but bright sunshine every day, just a blue bird day.

I would take 42 degrees and sunshine over Seattle's 55 degrees and drizzle every single time.

It also is nice that a 1bd apartment here is $500 while the same on the west side is over $1000.

I quite like the desert....Moses Lake is just toooo flat. My wife (Brit) liked winters in E Washington. Well below freezing with no wind beats cold/windy/wet weather most of the time.

Lived in Nine Mile/Suncrest with a nice view over the river/lake. Now I look at our neighbour. No golf for at least 4 months though......

 

[austin944]

I would love to relocate, but my wife and are shy extroverts. We don’t enjoy life on our own but have difficulty making friends. Over the years most of our friends were faculty I met via teaching. But now that that’s over, it’s proven much harder to connect.

My local University has free seminars and talks open to the public. There are question and answer periods, and after the talks you can go up to the speaker and ask them additional questions. Of course you can sit and listen, so you can adjust your interaction according to your intro/extrovert level.

They also offer free classes for people 65 years and older. I have not yet hit that age, but getting another degree would keep my mind active, and allow me to make new friends as well. Maybe your school has something similar?

 

[Earlygirl]

I do want to relocate, and have a few places in mind. DW says no way to all of them. I’d like to be someplace somewhat remote out west in the mountain states.

DW has to be close to lots of amenities. The only amenity that I need is a big box home improvement store.

I’ve taken tests that suggest where to live. Boulder, Ft. Collins, Flagstaff, and Logan and St. George Utah. I could live in any of these, but would prefer somewhere less populated. And warmer. Tough to find a place that meets all my criteria.

Well, I have lived in both Logan Utah and St. George Utah so I will give you my perspectives on both.
Logan is a beautiful area with lots of friendly people and a state University. However it is not warm in the winter; there can also be inversions that keep stagnant air in the valley, because it's not a windy place. It is gorgeous in the summer and has a beautiful fall. But if you don't like cold winters and snow it is out.

I currently live in St. George Utah and love it. So don't come here; it's full. Haha. Lots of sunny days and blue sky, red rocks and the desert. Hot in the summer but cools down at night. It is a dry heat of course. You have to like the desert to live in St George. Winter's can have some chilly temps but it snows only every few years and melts off quickly. Lots of outdoor activities and a smaller state University here as well. As an example of the difference between St. George and Logan temps is that it was 62 degrees yesterday in St. George but the high in Logan was 26. Brrr! If I were relocating though, I would honestly consider Mesquite Nevada. It used be a nondescript little town but now developers have planted a lot of Palm trees and really dressed it up. Only 40 minutes from St. George but has no state income tax! I'd consider moving there myself but have family here in town and rental property to take care of. St. George is only an hour and a half from Las Vegas and Mesquite is about an hour. There is a shuttle service that goes to the Las Vegas airport, and when you fly you can get good flights out of Las Vegas.
As others have said, if I were going to relocate I would rent a year first. It might be a pain but could save you from selling again in a short time.

 

[eroscott]

My research collection

Taxes by State: Alabama to Iowa
http://www.retirementliving.com/taxes-alabama-iowa#ILLINOIS
Taxes by State
http://www.retirementliving.com/taxes-by-state
State-by-State Guide to Taxes on Retirees-Kiplinger
http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/retirement/T055-S001-state-by-state-guide-to-taxes-on-retirees/

10 Ways to Find Out About a Neighborhood Without Being There
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com
https://www.walkscore.com/
https://www.mylocalcrime.com/
https://www.topozone.com/
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography.html
https://nextdoor.com/neighborhood/connesteefalls--brevard--nc/

Retirement communities
https://activeadultliving.com
https://www.epconcommunities.com/communities/
North Carolina : Southeast Discovery
https://www.privatecommunities.com/private-communities.htm
https://privatemountaincommunities.com/communities/
https://www.ideal-living.com/master-planned-communities/
https://billyharrisnc.com/communities/connestee-falls-real-estate-brevard-nc/ (communities drop down list)
https://livability.com

Compare cities
Chicago vs New York - Advanced U.S. city comparison tool
https://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/

Compare weather graphically
https://weatherspark.com/ Pick one city then on the top there is a 'compare' option to pick another city.

Places to visit
https://livability.com/topics/exper...-destinations-that-you-should-visit-in-summer
https://www.romanticasheville.com/small_towns.htm

3D city map and population changes
https://pudding.cool/2018/10/city_3d/

Where is the best place for me to live?
https://www.bestplaces.net/fybp/
https://www.marketwatch.com/graphics/best-place-to-retire/#division
https://www.best-place-to-retire.com/wizard

 

[papajuan]

You might try the Retirement Ranger. It asks you some basic questions and then gives you some ideas of places that might fit. It comes with a free newsletter on Places to Retire but if you check no you don't have to get it. https://www.topretirements.com/retirementranger.html

 

[2177V]

Is anyone aware a of a survey, test, quiz, etc. that is worthwhile to do to help you decide on where you would be happy relocating to ? After pouring through Where to Retire magazines and websites of retirement & over 55 developments, it gets overwhelming on the choices out there. Most of the ones I’ve seen are skewed by the organization that is supporting it.

"Try before you buy".

I am currently going place to place using Airbnb rentals for 2 to 3 months at a time.

For example, I was thinking about Waikiki in Hawaii so I rented a place for several months and discovered the negatives: Hot and humid compared to California, high cost of living, too many tourists (natives are nice), island too small, etc

You really don't know what your retirement will be like at another location until you actually live there long term...and not during a short 2 week vacation.

Best of all, there is no commitment. Retiring to a new location and then finding out it is not working out can be a disaster. Every time I go to another place, I get energized in discovering what I would be like to retire. You really need 2 months or more of experience to compare the different locations.

 

[COcheesehead]

Well, I have lived in both Logan Utah and St. George Utah so I will give you my perspectives on both.
Logan is a beautiful area with lots of friendly people and a state University. However it is not warm in the winter; there can also be inversions that keep stagnant air in the valley, because it's not a windy place. It is gorgeous in the summer and has a beautiful fall. But if you don't like cold winters and snow it is out.

I currently live in St. George Utah and love it. So don't come here; it's full. Haha. Lots of sunny days and blue sky, red rocks and the desert. Hot in the summer but cools down at night. It is a dry heat of course. You have to like the desert to live in St George. Winter's can have some chilly temps but it snows only every few years and melts off quickly. Lots of outdoor activities and a smaller state University here as well. As an example of the difference between St. George and Logan temps is that it was 62 degrees yesterday in St. George but the high in Logan was 26. Brrr! If I were relocating though, I would honestly consider Mesquite Nevada. It used be a nondescript little town but now developers have planted a lot of Palm trees and really dressed it up. Only 40 minutes from St. George but has no state income tax! I'd consider moving there myself but have family here in town and rental property to take care of. St. George is only an hour and a half from Las Vegas and Mesquite is about an hour. There is a shuttle service that goes to the Las Vegas airport, and when you fly you can get good flights out of Las Vegas.
As others have said, if I were going to relocate I would rent a year first. It might be a pain but could save you from selling again in a short time.

We looked at Mesquite. On the plus side is the winter weather and cheap housing. Negatives, summer weather. No real downtown. Way too many casinos for such a small town. Just didn’t tick many boxes for us.

 

[RetMD21]

If I were relocating though, I would honestly consider Mesquite Nevada. It used be a nondescript little town but now developers have planted a lot of Palm trees and really dressed it up. Only 40 minutes from St. George but has no state income tax!

I thought that the Virgin River Gorge drive was a little twisty for an interstate. Mesquite has the tax advantage but seemed less charming than St George on my whirlwind trip.

 

[RobLJ]

I like the Hill Country, a lot. And Austin is its own state of mind, a Rhode Island in the middle of Texas. Narrator: It does get a bit toasty in the summer (i.e., May to early October).

DW and I had always considered a retirement move from the Silicon Valley area to the central coast of California (San Luis Obispo, Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach) up until about 5 years. On our last few vacation trips there, reality set in.

Sure, there was the nice weather and all along the coast, but we started noticing a lot of retail and restaurant businesses closing, many that had been there for 10+ years. In addition, we observed our options for medical services were quite limited in the local (30 minute) area. Not many choices for chiropractors and dentists, as examples.

We also came to the realization that our vacation spot would work against us living there full time. Tourism is likely the biggest industry in the area, so that means lots of people on vacation, particularly during the good weather months (so, most of the year).

Of course, much of this planning was with idea that our only child would never leave California, having never traveled out of state. Maybe Silicon Valley. Maybe the northern Central Valley. Maybe the San Diego area. So when our only child surprised us by moving to the Austin, TX area 3 1/2 years ago, our retirement move was decided for us. My DW and I are mostly home-bodies, so we could live most anywhere that didn't have a lot of snow (DW hates it).

Our move was more about our kid wanting us to come to Texas than it was us wanting to move there. But then 5 years ago central Texas wasn't even on our retirement radar.

 

[RobLJ]

I was going to guess Grand Junction or maybe east of Colorado Springs.

(Granddad built a cabin west of Carbondale, but it wasn't winterized. We loved our cabin above the Royal Gorge, but it could get cold--7500 feet. Considered retiring there, but too far from the grandkids in Central Valley Cali.)

Redlands Mesa, just to the south of Grand Junction.

 

[COcheesehead]

I was going to guess Grand Junction or maybe east of Colorado Springs.

(Granddad built a cabin west of Carbondale, but it wasn't winterized. We loved our cabin above the Royal Gorge, but it could get cold--7500 feet. Considered retiring there, but too far from the grandkids in Central Valley Cali.)

Good guess. I lived in the Springs for a time. Not our kind of town. It’s becoming Denver junior and we wanted out of Denver which is becoming LA junior. LOL.
We love the Grand Valley. We hiked to petroglyphs today. Saw a few other couples with their dogs on the trail, otherwise 2.5 hours of walking on our own. Had lunch in Palisade at a great little cafe. The owner chatted us up. We got on their schedule for an upcoming wine dinner hosted by a local winery. Sunny all day. Close to 50 degrees in February. No traffic. For us, it’s perfect.

 

[RobLJ]

When the winemaker graduated, I drove him from Cali back over there, and we did a tour of the wineries above Paonia (where granddad used to get his fruit). Fantastic. I like Barberas, and there were several good ones, but an old Swiss winemaker (she apparently was the first woman to graduate from the Swiss school, so she was at least in her late 80's) at the back of the mesa made a late harvest Gewurztraminer that would knock your socks off. It tasted like a Southern French Chablis (dry as a bone; minerally with a strong stone backbone) or a high end dry Riesling (and the alcohol content would be suitable for a Molotov cocktail, but was sufficiently dry and so stoney that you didn't notice the alcohol).

Great area, all the way to McClures Pass on the Divide.

 

[COcheesehead]

When the winemaker graduated, I drove him from Cali back over there, and we did a tour of the wineries above Paonia (where granddad used to get his fruit). Fantastic. I like Barberas, and there were several good ones, but an old Swiss winemaker (she apparently was the first woman to graduate from the Swiss school, so she was at least in her late 80's) at the back of the mesa made a late harvest Gewurztraminer that would knock your socks off. It tasted like a Southern French Chablis (dry as a bone; minerally with a strong stone backbone) or a high end dry Riesling (and the alcohol content would be suitable for a Molotov cocktail, but was sufficiently dry and so stoney that you didn't notice the alcohol).

Great area, all the way to McClures Pass on the Divide.

The Colorado Governor’s Cup wine competition winner this year, Qutori Syrah, came from Paonia which is now known as the West Elk’s wine region. There is also another really good winery there called Storm Cellar making a Rose’ of Pinot Gris and a Rose’ of Pinot Noir. They also make great Rieslings.
The Barbara’s are atypical in that they are very peppery, but also very satisfying. Colorado wines are slowly making a name for themselves.

 

[l2ridehd]

Where to retire

We did extensive research on where we should retire. I liked to golf, my wife hated it. So the place had to have diverse activities. We did agree we wanted a 55 plus community, good weather, lots to do, favorable total cost of living, someplace the grandkids would want to visit, and access to a major airport for travel.

We researched about 135 retirement communities using the internet, their published information, blogs and other ways to assess how we might like them. From this we narrowed our potential places down to 12 places. We decided to visit all of them for a week or so and check them out. We got to number 7 on our list and never left. We did rent there for a few months before we bought a home there. We have been here for 8 years now and it was a great decision. Not the best place for everyone, but for us it was the right choice.

 

[cantlogin]

OP - We have the same problem, too many choices, after all the entire world is available.
I have found some of those articles basically lie to paint a nice picture.

"the entire world is available"

Is that actually true?

From the reading I've been doing it seems like most of the world won't allow a retired U.S. citizen permanent residency.
I'd really like to know that I could live abroad, but can't see how it's possible.

 

[Gumby]

"the entire world is available"

Is that actually true?

From the reading I've been doing it seems like most of the world won't allow a retired U.S. citizen permanent residency.
I'd really like to know that I could live abroad, but can't see how it's possible.

With enough money, all things are possible. There are several places that will let you in if you invest in the country.

 

[RVplusDog]

When I joined this board, my DW, and I fully planned on finding a large acreage lot (25-100 acres) in Kentucky, or Tennessee, and building our dream homestead away from the bustle of a big city.

We ended up deciding to make the 10 acre farm where we have been for 25 years better, and turn it into our dream homestead. We already have horses, chickens, lots of equipment in two large barns (including an indoor riding arena). All of this would have been a monumental undertaking to set up infrastructure, and move 400 miles South from Northern Ohio.

Another vote for N Ohio, call us N Central . DH & I fully intended to relocate after retirement. After RVing for 15+ years, we sold our house and moved into a large RV. We had a tentative plan of being full-time RVers for 5-10 years. We had filled in many retirement surveys and found many areas of the country that we liked. We were experienced RVers with the funds to travel as we pleased.

I have had serious health issues since 2012 & DH also ended up with a rare & life-threatening condition in 2015. We became less pleased with full-time RVing after a few plane/hotel trips and forced RV relocations for medical care.

It turned out that almost all the areas we love to visit do not have the world-class medical facilities we need within our limit of an hour’s driving distance. If they did (Portland, for example), we would be spending WAY too much time in traffic, and/or spending way too much $$$ for housing/taxes.

So we looked at the reality of how we are spending our retirement, and our day-to-day activities. For example, it turns out that we become annoyed with aggressive/crazy traffic between us and the nearest grocery store. And that gorgeous hiking trails (outside SLC and Denver, for example) lose almost all of their appeal when they are overcrowded and covered with litter.

Gradually, the vacation areas we love lost their appeal as home bases. I started comparing each place with what we knew of Ohio - traffic, amenities, costs, etc. We decided to take another look at northern Ohio as a home base. We found that we could get affordable housing, low taxes, low crime, easy driving, hundreds of parks & trails, friendly people, and world-class medical care within 1/2 hour of our new base.

We now use the RV to temporarily move to any area in which we are interested. If we fell in love with any one of these places, we still might consider purchasing a home or RV spot. So far, though, there have always been one or two “deal breakers” that pop up after weeks or months in an area. We haven’t even found a perfect spot to spend winters, so we will continue to explore until we don’t feel like doing it any longer.

 

[NotYourAverageJones]

We haven't decided 100% on exactly where we will live when we retire in a couple years, but about 90% sure it will be around Apex/Cary, NC area. Husband is from southern Virginia/NC area and all his family is still there. I was born and raised in central coast of CA. I moved to San Diego in 1990 and DH transferred there in 1999. In 2015, after our only son graduated college, we sold our main house there and I moved overseas full-time to be with my DH, who took a FT international position there in 2012. Just got too tough on us with all the flying back and forth.

Anyone from Apex/Cary/Raleigh NC that could give us some insight into the area? We have spent some time there and it's just beautiful. We though we might like living down in Charlotte, but Raleigh was way more our speed. Lake Norman is awesome, but that entire area is just so crowded now. The seasons are something we both really miss and since we are basically "homeless" now back in the US, we can pretty much go wherever we want. Plus, it's close but not too close to all his family and will make it a lot easier on him having an elderly mom who will soon need more help. We are thinking maybe just getting place close to Jordan Lake area and hubby can join Freedom Boat club to get his boating fix.

 

[braumeister]

With enough money, all things are possible. There are several places that will let you in if you invest in the country.

That's certainly true. We started a long (and still active) thread about this a few years ago:

List of countries offering retirement visas?