Why aren't more retiring in Houston?

[Orchidflower]

Houston has two of the top hospitals for cancer and heart, 6th best restaurant city from studies and lots of cultural activities; so, why aren't more retirees moving there? Seems as if everyone heads to Austin--where I read that only 45% of the physicians will take Medicare now there. Anyone have an answer as to why Houston wouldn't attract more retirees or do I just not have the latest on the Houston retirement scene?

 

[Rustic23]

125% Humidity 105 deg temp. from June to Sept!
Houston is a big city. How many people say 'give me 75 front feet on a nice slab of concrete' Now that's retirement!

Now if you want to talk outside of Houston, say 30 min to and hour, there is the Woodlands, Lake Conroe, Lake Houston, Lake Livingston, and lots of communities where you can get anywhere from 1 to 5 acres of woods at a reasonable price.

 

[Westernskies]

Houston has two of the top hospitals for cancer and heart, 6th best restaurant city from studies and lots of cultural activities; so, why aren't more retirees moving there? Seems as if everyone heads to Austin--where I read that only 45% of the physicians will take Medicare now there. Anyone have an answer as to why Houston wouldn't attract more retirees or do I just not have the latest on the Houston retirement scene?

Have you ever been to Houston in the Summer? There is more to picking a retirement location than statistics.

 

[Marquette]

I was asked if I wanted a job in Houston. I laughed. Fat, hairy men do not belong in Houston.

 

[Westernskies]

125% Humidity 105 deg temp. from June to Sept!
Houston is a big city. How many people say 'give me 75 front feet on a nice slab of concrete' Now that's retirement!

Now if you want to talk outside of Houston, say 30 min to and hour, there is the Woodlands, Lake Conroe, Lake Houston, Lake Livingston, and lots of communities where you can get anywhere from 1 to 5 acres of woods at a reasonable price.

If I had to retire in Houston, I would look at Brenham- just west of Houston off 290. My first choice in TX would be one of the lakes north of San Antonio-around New Braunfels.

 

[Westernskies]

Fat, hairy men do not belong in Houston.

Houston becomes a rendering plant for fat, hairy guys in the summer.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

I like the Houston area. Heat doesn't bother me. Its the cold I don't like. I like to be able to sit in front of my computer naked all year round..

 

[Jake46]

Houston has two of the top hospitals for cancer and heart, 6th best restaurant city from studies and lots of cultural activities; so, why aren't more retirees moving there? Seems as if everyone heads to Austin--where I read that only 45% of the physicians will take Medicare now there. Anyone have an answer as to why Houston wouldn't attract more retirees or do I just not have the latest on the Houston retirement scene?

You are kidding, right? I lived there ten years. Perpetual summer with high humidity, bad air quality, heavy traffic, hurricanes, fire ants, West Nile Virus. Maybe you should consider Calcutta.

 

[unclemick]

You are kidding, right? I lived there ten years. Perpetual summer with high humidity, bad air quality, heavy traffic, hurricanes, fire ants, West Nile Virus. Maybe you should consider Calcutta.

Yeah you right! After hell holes like greater Portland OR, Seattle and Denver - thirty years in paradise(New Orleans) should have acclimated me for someplace nice like Houston.

But I think greater Kansas City deserves a chance - three years this September.

Tornado's and ice storms are ok - but not the same thing.

heh heh heh - speaking tongue in cheek wise - natch. Roughing it with care packages - you do realize white shrimp season is open and the soft shell crabs are pretty good. .

 

[ls99]

....... high humidity, bad air quality, heavy traffic, hurricanes, fire ants, West Nile Virus. Maybe you should consider Calcutta.

That is good season in November/December. And they speak in Texan.

 

[friar1610]

One of the experts on FIRE, John Greaney (screen name: intercst), founder of the Retire Early Home Page, lives in Houston (although I believe he leaves during the really hot weather to stay with family in CT.

 

[W2R]

Why I am not planning to retire in Houston:

1. weather - - hurricanes?
2. property taxes
3. horrible traffic
4. crime (though they at least have Texas Justice)
5. prefer a walkable neighborhood in a smaller town

On the other hand, Houston is really not such a bad place. It just didn't win the "gold medal" in the competition to be my #1 choice.

Today, Frank and I traveled to Huntsville, Alabama again, for a long weekend and we will give it a second look. It is still our #2, but I do not know exactly why!! It is a nice town. So, we shall see.

 

[Ronstar]

I worked in Houston for a few weeks during the summer. It felt like the hottest place on earth - too hot for year round retirement.

 

[aworkingrachel]

Because Austin is supposed to be cool (and Democrat). No other Texas city has the PR that Austin has.

 

[unclemick]

Why I am not planning to retire in Houston:

1. weather - - hurricanes?
2. property taxes
3. horrible traffic
4. crime (though they at least have Texas Justice)
5. prefer a walkable neighborhood in a smaller town

On the other hand, Houston is really not such a bad place. It just didn't win the "gold medal" in the competition to be my #1 choice.

Today, Frank and I traveled to Huntsville, Alabama again, for a long weekend and we will give it a second look. It is still our #2, but I do not know exactly why!! It is a nice town. So, we shall see.

Be very careful - one guy I retired with(now a jobshopper) and another still working at the old rocket plant are making Huntsville type noises and maybe deserting Slidell. Both having worked there before with the NASA cats.

I liked my time there in 74/75 but am still sticking with Missouri - aka north of KC.

heh heh heh -

 

[Rustic23]

Ok, for near Houston.
We retired on Lake Livingston. We have a 3,000 sf, all brick home with guest quarters on a one acre lot with 170 ft. of lake front, underground utilities, sewer not septic. Cost less than $300,000.

In the summer we can sit on the deck for breakfast and dinner. July and August a little hot for lunch. Elect avg $75 a month Gas about the same. It is about 90 miles to the center of Houston. DW and I are able to live here for half our retirement income. If it really gets hot in the summer, we can take a long trip to a cooler place.

I would never retire in Houston, but there are great places about an hour north. Oh yea, property tax is $7000 a year, but it is frozen.

 

[Razor]

I would never retire in Houston, but there are great places about an hour north. Oh yea, property tax is $7000 a year, but it is frozen.

Someone told me property taxes were really low in Texas because of all the oil revenue.
$7000/year for 300k home is not low. I hope they unfreeze it for you.

 

[REWahoo]

Good grief. Texas is a retirement hell-hole and Houston is the port of entry...

 

[bssc]

Lived in Houston for 7 years. Add to the list
Snakes in the pool
Bugs in the pool
Frogs in the pool
Crayfish in the pool
Giant cockroaches coming out of the AC vents and eating all the spices
Semi-bad traffic (better than Washington, worse than Phoenix)
Brown haze
Hurricanes and flooding
Non-hurricane related flooding
Water pipes breaking when it goes below freezing
No cheap parking in the medical center
Getting run over by suburbans (known locally as Texas Station Wagons).

On the other hand, there were some good restaurants there (Taste of Texas, Pappas chain, Kolache Factory)
and no State Income Tax (they get you on Sales Tax and Property Tax)

 

[W2R]

Be very careful - one guy I retired with(now a jobshopper) and another still working at the old rocket plant are making Huntsville type noises and maybe deserting Slidell. Both having worked there before with the NASA cats.

I liked my time there in 74/75 but am still sticking with Missouri - aka north of KC.

heh heh heh -

All the better for Frank, I suppose - - in case he needs to do a little job shopping once in a while after ER to make ends meet. He wouldn't even have to leave home.

A lot of guys working at that old rocket plant where you used to work are looking around, due to the publicly announced imminent layoffs related to shutting down the shuttle program. Others have already left. Just like the bad old days back in the 1980's, says Frank.

So far, we really prefer Missouri (Springfield, in our case). Just giving Huntsville one more chance.

 

[Westernskies]

.

I liked my time there in 74/75 but am still sticking with Missouri - aka north of KC.

heh heh heh -

I grew up in Parkville, and recently spent quite a bit of time there when my mother was dying of cancer. I hadn't been back for more than a few days at a time in 30 years, and after spending a few months there, interacting with the community, observing housing prices, cost of living, amenities, etc, came to the conclusion that it really would be a great place to live again. But, as they say- you can never go back.

 

[Leonidas]

Houston would not be at the top of my list of places to move to for retirement, but then neither would Chicago, Miami, or Los Angeles. It is a big city, better than others, but still it's more a place for people to go to work in rather than retire.

Living near Houston, as in the case of many other cities, is something different. I did live in the city for a brief period after moving here, but for 25 years I've lived just outside Houston.

Although I think that we will look at other places once the youngest is off to college in a few years, there are a lot of things about the area that I like that would probably be on my "must have" lists for possible relocation spots:

• Great medical facilities. - Houston has some great hospitals with a wide array of specializations, especially cancer. If one of us gets sick I would prefer to find good treatment close to home rather than a strange city.
• Mild winters - When I first started playing golf I would be puzzled by articles that mentioned things like "off-season training". It drove me crazy, "there's a season for golf?", until I realized that not everyone can go play in February. I love to fly to places that have snow and ice so I can ski, sled and ride snowmobiles, but I don't want to live with the nasty white stuff all winter long.
• Low cost of living - The cost of living is a good bit lower here than in many other cities. Housing costs are especially inexpensive. To duplicate my house in any of the other big cities in the country would cost me at least twice as much, and in some places close to 4 times as much.
• Nightlife - Since I don't get paid to hang out in clubs anymore I've found that I don't miss it much at all. However, I do enjoy other aspects of nightlife: theaters, opera, symphony, comedy acts, great restaurants etc.
• And while it might not appeal to others, I do appreciate the open all night amenities one finds in big cities like Houston. When it was slow at work I usual had no responsibility other than "being available", so on slow nights I would leave around 11 PM - midnight and have a late meal at my favorite Mexican, Vietnamese or Greek all-night restaurant. Afterwards I would go bowling, visit the bookstore, see a movie or play pool. I don't do that as much now, but every now and then when my sleep is messed up I'll go out for a game of pool and some spring rolls.
• Friendly people - There are jerks, they come with big populations, but most of the people you come across smile and say things like "hello", "please", "thank you", "pardon me", etc.

To be honest and give full disclosure, there is a list of things I would not miss about Houston, but have learned to live with:

• Traffic - If you're retired you should be able to miss most of this. But if you have an early morning or late afternoon appointment somewhere, you can run into the traffic from hell. It's not the freeways that are so bad anymore, but some of the surface roads that are heavily travelled still get overburdened. But the freeways still have their own special fun. There are a lot of people who drive way too fast as they dodge around the recent immigrants who drive way too slow. It might be nice to drive with people who knew how to drive and occasionally actually obeyed a traffic law.
• Summer lasts forever - I would really love to have a longer spring and fall. It would be interesting to live someplace where you can turn off the AC and open the windows more than a couple of days each year. The best way to describe the Summers here is to say we get many immigrants from East Asia because our climate is so similar to their homeland - It's New, New Delhi baby!
• Property Taxes - We don't have a state income tax, but the real estate taxes will hit you hard and make you wince in pain.

 

[audreyh1]

LOL! Many of the retirees we run across in the Texas Hill Country came from Houston! LOL!

I lived and worked in the Houston metro area for a year in the late 70s. I certainly understand why people don't retire there! First is definitely the humidity - it's oppressive. Second is probably the "boom town" environment - fast wild city growth, traffic congestion, everyone in a hurry. It is definitely NOT a laid back environment. Austin, in spite of the years of city growth and now dominant high-tech yuppie culture still has managed to retain some semblance of its original laid back nature. Barely - but it's still there. Austin is so darn affluent now, it's shocking. I'm sure Janis Joplin would look around today and sing - WHAAAAaaaaat happened?!?!

But we, who attended college, lived and worked in Austin for 30 years, couldn't wait to escape Austin as soon as we retired. It was a great place to go to school and work. But it's just not that fun to live in a busy city when you are retired IMO. We couldn't wait to get out of the suburbs and out of the crowds of people.

Not many of the retirees I talk to consider medical care high on their list. Perhaps that's more an issue for much older retirees?

Frankly, I don't understand why retirees head for a major metropolitan area anyway. Seems better to choose a community 25 to 50 miles or more away where you are out of the commuter suburbs and "fast life". Larger cities are so impersonal - no one bothers to say hello. Small towns - people expect to see you more than once so they bother to make contact. What a difference.

I'm sure to each his own....

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

Lived in Houston for 7 years. Add to the list
Snakes in the pool
Bugs in the pool
Frogs in the pool
Crayfish in the pool
Giant cockroaches coming out of the AC vents and eating all the spices
Semi-bad traffic (better than Washington, worse than Phoenix)
Brown haze
Hurricanes and flooding
Non-hurricane related flooding
Water pipes breaking when it goes below freezing
No cheap parking in the medical center
Getting run over by suburbans (known locally as Texas Station Wagons).

On the other hand, there were some good restaurants there (Taste of Texas, Pappas chain, Kolache Factory)
and no State Income Tax (they get you on Sales Tax and Property Tax)

You mean no gators in the pool?

Second on the Pappas chains of restaurants! We go out of our way to visit them. Fortunately they are spread out over Texas and some even occur out of state. For folks that don't know them: Pappadeaux - a really terrific seafood restaurant with a cajun/creole flair; Pappasitas - pretty decent Mexican with disgustingly huge portions; a barbeque chain which I haven't tried. The flagship Pappas Seafood House in southeast Houston is really terrific.

Audrey

 

[socca]

Today, Frank and I traveled to Huntsville, Alabama again, for a long weekend and we will give it a second look. It is still our #2, but I do not know exactly why!!

I lived in Huntsville in 2006. Huntsville (or Hunfsville, as the natives call it) is dominated by the twin patriarchal, hierarchical power structures of the Christian Church and the U.S. Military. If you are comfortable in that kind of environment (and many people are), you'll love it. I was delighted to get the heck out of there ASAP. Of course, I had moved there from Denver, so there was really no comparison in terms of the kinds of things I like to do. Even Sarasota - where I am now - represents an immense improvement over Huntsville.

However, to each their own. Good luck!


P.S. If you do move to Alabama, any bigotries or prejudices you've been keeping under wraps for the sake of political correctness can be brought out into the open and displayed with pride.