Did you relocate after FIRE?

[DeborahB]

I finally got moved from Kansas City Missouri back to Rhode Island, where I’m from. I left an ex behind. The cost-of-living is higher where I am now, and I bought a house so I have a mortgage again, but it’s worth it. I’m so happy here. There’s lots of ocean and a lot of beaches. Granted it’s a short summer, but it’s still lovely to be near the ocean. I don’t recommend it if you’re trying to conserve funds. Weve got obscene property and income tax. But there are wonderful restaurants, and a lot of great music at reasonable prices. $15-$20 for really good blues. I’m having a good time!

I moved about seven years after I retired. I always intended to move back here, and my ex knew it. Our relationship was breaking down. Being alone together that much didn’t help.

 

[meleana]

It's all great if you can afford to buy another home before you sell your current home. But in our situation we need to sell our home first and we have to move 6 hours out of state and not sure how the heck we will do it since we need the money from the sale of our house first. Not to mention the real estate market where we live is not great and our 2 bedroom saltbox home- built in 1987-- which is very nice and totally updated with lots of amenities-on 10.5 acres- has barely appreciated in the 31 years we have lived here.


Not to mention- in New Hampshire where we want to move the 55+ housing communities and other condos that are updated are expensive. But our only child lives in New Hampshire.



But we have to get out because we have high school and property taxes and no property frontage with a 700 foot driveway- secluded in a rural area in the woods. And no friends or family nearby.Not a good situation to age in.


Not sure what the hell we are going to do- especially since there is a chance the house won't sell.

 

[indiajust]

yes, twice now. I sold the house in NC and moved as trailing sig to vermont. 2 years and a relationship later, I'm in NH.


I like the snow and mountains, but if I had to commute I'm betting my opinion might change.


At 55 with 20+ moves in my past, not likely I'm dying here. Though deer and ice may dispute that.

 

[meleana]

yes, twice now. I sold the house in NC and moved as trailing sig to vermont. 2 years and a relationship later, I'm in NH.


I like the snow and mountains, but if I had to commute I'm betting my opinion might change.


At 55 with 20+ moves in my past, not likely I'm dying here. Though deer and ice may dispute that.

I love Vermont-vacation there every year- but financially makes more sense to move to NH- plus our son is there.


What do you mean by "moved as trailing sig to vermont"?



Where in New Hampshire do you live?

 

[indiajust]

I love Vermont-vacation there every year- but financially makes more sense to move to NH- plus our son is there.


What do you mean by "moved as trailing sig to vermont"?



Where in New Hampshire do you live?

Significant Other, not sure if that has a well recognized abbreviation...


I had a choice between Franklin and Claremont. Chose claremont, they called first!

 

[W2R]

It's all great if you can afford to buy another home before you sell your current home. But in our situation we need to sell our home first and we have to move 6 hours out of state and not sure how the heck we will do it since we need the money from the sale of our house first. Not to mention the real estate market where we live is not great and our 2 bedroom saltbox home- built in 1987-- which is very nice and totally updated with lots of amenities-on 10.5 acres- has barely appreciated in the 31 years we have lived here.

Not to mention- in New Hampshire where we want to move the 55+ housing communities and other condos that are updated are expensive. But our only child lives in New Hampshire.

But we have to get out because we have high school and property taxes and no property frontage with a 700 foot driveway- secluded in a rural area in the woods. And no friends or family nearby.Not a good situation to age in.

Not sure what the hell we are going to do- especially since there is a chance the house won't sell.

In that case, I think you are smart to sell the house first. You might have to rent for a little while once you get to New Hampshire, so that you have time to look for a new home there. Nobody wants to move twice, but sometimes it's hard to avoid. Either way, I'd be doing some serious decluttering right now so that you don't have as much to move, and I hope everything goes well for you up there!

 

[MRG]

It's all great if you can afford to buy another home before you sell your current home. But in our situation we need to sell our home first and we have to move 6 hours out of state and not sure how the heck we will do it since we need the money from the sale of our house first. Not to mention the real estate market where we live is not great and our 2 bedroom saltbox home- built in 1987-- which is very nice and totally updated with lots of amenities-on 10.5 acres- has barely appreciated in the 31 years we have lived here.


Not to mention- in New Hampshire where we want to move the 55+ housing communities and other condos that are updated are expensive. But our only child lives in New Hampshire.



But we have to get out because we have high school and property taxes and no property frontage with a 700 foot driveway- secluded in a rural area in the woods. And no friends or family nearby.Not a good situation to age in.


Not sure what the hell we are going to do- especially since there is a chance the house won't sell.

We pulled that off by getting a HELOC on our primary house. Moved using money from the HELOC to buy our new home. Sold our old home sold 3 months later. I would have been better if we had the HELOC approved when I had income but it still worked.

The three months seemed long but it was more about giving up control. We were 800 miles away.

 

[Scuba]

It's all great if you can afford to buy another home before you sell your current home. But in our situation we need to sell our home first and we have to move 6 hours out of state and not sure how the heck we will do it since we need the money from the sale of our house first. Not to mention the real estate market where we live is not great and our 2 bedroom saltbox home- built in 1987-- which is very nice and totally updated with lots of amenities-on 10.5 acres- has barely appreciated in the 31 years we have lived here.


Not to mention- in New Hampshire where we want to move the 55+ housing communities and other condos that are updated are expensive. But our only child lives in New Hampshire.



But we have to get out because we have high school and property taxes and no property frontage with a 700 foot driveway- secluded in a rural area in the woods. And no friends or family nearby.Not a good situation to age in.


Not sure what the hell we are going to do- especially since there is a chance the house won't sell.

Almost any property will sell at the right price.

 

[DrRoy]

For about 10 years, we had plans to relocate and build a new house near a state park that we really liked. We even bought some acreage there. After RE, we decided that the area was too rural for us, and it would be too expensive to build the house that we would really want. We sold the land and have remodeled our family room instead for about 1/10 the budget.

 

[meleana]

Oh- we have de cluttered over the past few years when we did some updating. I am a neat freak anyway and I throw most things out. Of course, we are living in the house so can't get rid of everything.


I am trying to enjoy our home as much as possible because I now when we move we won't be living in anything as nice as what we have.



One issue- is our garage- hubby doesn't like to throw anything out.

 

[meleana]

We pulled that off by getting a HELOC on our primary house. Moved using money from the HELOC to buy our new home. Sold our old home sold 3 months later. I would have been better if we had the HELOC approved when I had income but it still worked.

The three months seemed long but it was more about giving up control. We were 800 miles away.

I feel doing that would be too dangerous. Here- many homes don't sell for years.


A friend of mine's newer- gorgeous, staged home took a year to sell and she lived in a more commuter friendly town. She had to lower the price several times. She sold it and now lives in a rental getting ready for their retirement which is several years away and then will move to North Carolina.



When we were young we bought this home - signing the contract and all- before our previous home was even on the market and boy was that a mistake. Our atty told us NEVER do that again. It took a year and tons of price decreases before it finally sold and in the meantime me- 7 months pregnant- in the winter- . Had to take a loss also on some land we put up for sale as well to make it all work. Took out a blanket mortgage that our bank was so good to lend us to carry both houses.



When all was said and done we ended up with a 13% mortgage rate, which is what was the common rate at the time.



Thank goodness years later we were able to refinance for a 15 year mortgage and eventually paid it off via money left from a market crash and selling a mutual fund.


But to do this now- no. Can never recover from it.


I have thought of selling now and then renting right where we live until my husband retires, but the rents are so darn high for something nice. Like $2000 per month compared to our $850 per month for taxes.



I guess part of me feels why not enjoy our home for the next 1 or 2 years instead of living in some crappy rental.

 

[meleana]

Almost any property will sell at the right price.

Yeah- well the issue will be what will we have left to use to buy something else?


Our home- we put 100's of thousands of dollars into it over the past 31 years. It cost us $208,000 in 1987 and has now only a market value of $266,000 supposedly. Maybe we could get $300,000, but I doubt it- who knows. Out of that has to come realtor and atty fees and all the other stuff. Lord knows what else the buyers or inspector might want us to do. We eve are considering trying to sell it ourselves but it might be too much to take on. Not sure.


10.5 wooded acres with a drive-over bridge and brook that runs through the property. Stone walls throughout the land. House set back 700 feet in- driveway paved (we had it paved twice). Whole house generator and central air we put in. Kitchen and 3 bathrooms remodeled in the past few years. Walk in food pantry or closet. Steam shower we put in master bathroom. Ceiling fans in most of the rooms. 50 year architecture shingle roof put on about 9 years ago. Fireplace and Vermont Castings catalytic porcelain wood stove - which is a replacement for the one we originally put in. All wood floors except the 2 bedrooms. An upstairs bonus room (dormer) with giant skylights. A full length, ground level deck and a screened in side porch. A huge dog pen attached to the back of the garage with a doggy door into the garage. Oil heat and well water. and septic. New hot water tank and water filter put in this week for our 10 year old system 2000 boiler. Very clean and neat home. Lots of windows and views of nature everywhere. (no other homes within view). State forest with trails and hunting down the road. Major fishing kill close by. 6 miles from the highway and 6 miles to town and 2 miles to a small hamlet and 6 miles to a larger hamlet. 15 miles to a city that has everything USA.



That's the gist of it. So what should we sell it for? Not going to give it away- that we know.

 

[Retired Expat]

Relocating made ER possible!

We bought our retirement dream home when DH was transferred by megacorp to what would be his last "assignment". Two years after he retired we decided to leave CA and relocate to NV. I can't believe how big a difference the move has made in our life - not just for the cost savings (our property taxes are MUCH lower and there is no state income tax), but also for the much improved quality of life.

Moved from LA to Uruguay. What I paid just for Property taxes, house insurance, water and electric in LA covers all my costs here in UY except for travel. Admittedly a simpler lifestyle, smaller house, no pool but we love it anyway.

 

[Bunker]

Accidental ER out of the middle east, landed in Thailand at 44 y/o. 6 years now, getting a bit stodgy but not having to work, commute, listen to the political arguing - it's fine.

 

[Kristinia]

I was glad to see this thread as we too are consider an after FIRE move. Currently live in a suburb of Dallas where the property taxes are $12k and up a year - which was fine when both working but seems a bit much when we are not. Currently considering Tucson or burbs of Albuquerque. We love to hike and bike and both of those places appear to have what we are looking for. Plus since we are near one of the major airports of Dallas we currently experience flights going overhead that now seems extreme. Anyone else move to Tucson with pros or cons about the location? I know the summer months are extreme but we have those lovely sweltering temps here in Dallas!

 

[ckelly78z]

I am looking at moving the family legacy South after FIRE. Looking at 100 acres in Kentucky to build on. My daughter, and son in law want to follow us, and my inlaws want to visit often in their camper, which, in a few years may become a permanent thing due to health issues for both of them.

My BIL wants to move close by also when he retires with a police union pension.

This will only leave my brother, who I barely talk to (flaming liberal), and my parents that are gone 1/2 the year in their Airstream remaining in Northern Ohio.

 

[Doribe]

I am ambivalent about moving to a new area. I enjoy my life in Chicago with friends and activities. Not to mention my Grandkids are here. I wouldn't mind getting out of town during the winter (-21 deg F right now). I'm thinking of selling the big old house and getting an apartment for Chicago and RVing in Arizona or Florida during the winter months. Does anyone do that?

 

[48Fire]

Yes, we relocated after we retired from the cold, white North to Florida. We never had any discussion about not relocating. The three main places I lived before I retired were the place I was born and the two places where I worked for Megacorp. None of these were a choice really.

There is some downside not living near family, but some upside as well Being retired, we have the flexibility to visit when we want, and they can visit a warm place when winter is too much to handle. We had a stream of visitors recently, and two more sets coming soon.

The only things I looked forward to at my dentist was reading the "Where to Retire" magazines. I also enjoyed Money magazine's annual "Best Places to Retire". Based on these magazines then findyourspot.com, we researched many potential areas over the years before we settled in to Florida.

There are challenges relocating, but we have no regrets

 

[ncbill]

I doubt we'll ever give up our current residence...low-maintenance town-home where the HOA fee takes care of everything outside, including the roof.

Property taxes/HOA fee/insurance/basic utilities are only ~$500/month.

2 hours to the mountains, 4 hours to the beach.

 

[48Fire]

I doubt we'll ever give up our current residence...low-maintenance town-home where the HOA fee takes care of everything outside, including the roof.

Property taxes/HOA fee/insurance/basic utilities are only ~$500/month.

2 hours to the mountains, 4 hours to the beach.

Can't blame you there. Sounds like a place that was on our short list

 

[Camas Lilly]

Planning on moving from Missouri to Idaho. Would much rather have dry heat than humidity. Beautiful country, cost of living about the same, maybe a little higher, but downsizing and moving to a town of less than 1000 people. Sounds like a small town, but they have everything you would ever want and more, well Walmart is 35 miles away, but there IS a dollar store, two grocers and hardware store. We enjoy the outdoors much more and you can't beat the people there.

I know it will be a huge undertaking, but worth it. There is nothing in MO for me. Family is in Washington, Idaho and California.

 

[48Fire]

Sounds like a great move!

 

[MRG]

Planning on moving from Missouri to Idaho. Would much rather have dry heat than humidity. Beautiful country, cost of living about the same, maybe a little higher, but downsizing and moving to a town of less than 1000 people. Sounds like a small town, but they have everything you would ever want and more, well Walmart is 35 miles away, but there IS a dollar store, two grocers and hardware store. We enjoy the outdoors much more and you can't beat the people there.

I know it will be a huge undertaking, but worth it. There is nothing in MO for me. Family is in Washington, Idaho and California.

When we left MO for a dryer, cooler climate a guy promised me I'd miss the humidity. Been three years, still hasn't happened.

I also don't miss paying as much for AC as heat. We have AC, I turn it on at least once a year to make sure it's working.

 

[ychuck46]

Kinda/Sorta

Yes if you talk about the wife; delayed if you talk about me. We moved from a high cost blue state to a low cost red one five years after the wife hit ER, and three years before I did the same. Everything was done to put ourselves into a lower cost situation and it could not have worked out better. Escaped the high taxes and the bitter winters of our former abode for the low taxes,
low COL, and pleasant four seasons of the new. We feel truly blessed to be living the life we are.

 

[CalTex]

We moved from Southern California to semi-rural New Mexico. Although we rented a place for two months before making the decision, we made the classic mistake of just visiting in the nicest time of year. DW is happy as a clam with the big house and acre of land, but it's much too isolated for me. I sorely miss the SoCal climate and the stimulation of our former city lifestyle. The biggest mistake we (I) made was selling our former house instead of renting it. It's hard to go back to California after you've cashed out.