So for those who made a move, I am wondering how you chose where you moved to and how you made the move--did you ease your way in or jump in head first? And what advice would you give us?
We eased in, and then jumped back out.
After Hurricane Katrina (in 2005) we found ourselves [-]living[/-] surviving in the middle of an ongoing, seemingly never-ending catastrophe, and decided to leave as soon as we could retire (2009-2010). We set some criteria and scoured the internet for a town that met these criteria. Living near relatives was not one of them; I have a daughter but she lives in a higher cost-of-living area and he has no kids. Cost of living was high on the list of criteria for us.
We visited the top 3 towns on our list and a few more, and it was crystal clear to us that we both much preferred the town at the top of our list, Springfield, Missouri, to the rest. We used all of our vacation time for four years visiting Springfield, and did an intensive internet search to find out as much as we could about it between trips. We read their newspaper website regularly, too.
By 2010 we had both retired and we renovated and staged our houses and put them on the market. We sold, threw our, or donated over 80% of our stuff, including almost all of our furniture, in preparation for the move. We priced rental trucks and bought boxes and packed virtually everything up for the move. After four months of having buyers tramping through our homes with only one offer, my companion F. decided he wanted to stay here, for now. I was feeling ambivalent so that made up my mind for me, as well. Part of the reason why we found ourselves backing away from our plans, was that finally New Orleans was starting to recover from the hurricanes to a greater extent.
We are still planning to reconsider moving in another five years or so.
My advice would be to proceed with caution, to remember that the heart is heavily involved in this type of decision, and also to remember that nothing is a "done deal". If you don't like it in your new location, or if you get cold feet like we did, you can always change your mind.
2moreyears said:
Also, I would appreciate any sources on the net or books/reading materials you found helpful.
I used everything I could find on the internet, although I didn't read any books on the topic. I found
www.census.gov to be especially helpful in comparing various locations in terms of statistics like median income, median home prices, population, and median age of residents there.