Ten Best Early Retirement Towns

[meleana]

I spent the last 6 years before retirement searching the country for a place to retire. I looked at every website and magazine that had articles and suggestions as well as programs where you input your preferences for a search. I also went to the chamber of commerce websites for the various towns. I have also traveled the country on numerous long vacations as well as for work. My prioritized list of criteria was very long. After years of searching I finally began to realize that I was already there and didn't need to move. Nothing came even close to "ticking off the boxes" as where I have been.

In my case the grass was already green here.


Cheers!

Where?

 

[Dtail]

Where?

IIRC it is FLA, which you stated "ugh". lol

 

[finnski1]

I was forced out of my job at age 62. I am now 63. My husband is retiring in another week and a half at age 65 1/2. We are moving to NH from NY (Hudson Valley area). We also considered VT, Delaware, Tennessee (never been), Fla.(ugh), Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, the Carolinas (never been), Maine, Alabama (never been), PA, South Dakota (never been), Colorado.

We don't like big cities. We are moving just outside a very small city to a lakes region. It is not a 55+ community but it is very much like one. Touristy area, but not far from local theater and a college town also. Shopping close by as well.


Having an 1100 square foot house built. We sold our home of 32 years back on Sept. 30th. Currently living in a rental house in NY until the new house is done.


We decided not to throw all these darts on a map and get back to familiarity and where our only child lives.

Second choice would have been VT- if not that it taxes SS and all retirement income.

Welcome to NH. We have been here for 31 years now(both from MA) and love it. 9 acres in rural SWNH area. Lots of hiking, lakes, mountains etc

 

[meleana]

IIRC it is FLA, which you stated "ugh". lol

Oh- ha! Ha! Well- Florida is so very popular for a good reason I guess. Just not for us.

 

[meleana]

Welcome to NH. We have been here for 31 years now(both from MA) and love it. 9 acres in rural SWNH area. Lots of hiking, lakes, mountains etc

Thanks. Tons of Mass transplants in the state as you know.

We have vacationed there for years and our son went to college there and never came home. We had 10 1/2 wooded acres at our former home and now the new house- which is really a one level cottage- will be on a postage stamp sized lot. Lol! Walking distance to the big lake.

Beautiful state. Hoping the house gets finished soon as I am not getting any younger and our first move to the rental just 25 minutes from our former home almost killed us.

 

[finnski1]

Thanks. Tons of Mass transplants in the state as you know.

We have vacationed there for years and our son went to college there and never came home. We had 10 1/2 wooded acres at our former home and now the new house- which is really a one level cottage- will be on a postage stamp sized lot. Lol! Walking distance to the big lake.

Beautiful state. Hoping the house gets finished soon as I am not getting any younger and our first move to the rental just 25 minutes from our former home almost killed us.

Good luck on the house. We don't like Florida either. Too flat. too hot, too crowded etc.

We are big hikers and have plenty of opportunities in the Northeast.

 

[imnontrad]

My daughter and family just moved from Lake Havasu last week and there are some downsides coming.
Many people go to the dog park at 4:30-5:30 in the morning because it's the only time they can let their dogs run outside before the heat becomes too much.
Most homes are 2-3 bedroom and built for weekend only living. And there is a max number of homes that can be built based on the water capacity of the area - and they are almost at that limit. When that is reached, house prices will rise. But that means that the people who work in the area will not be able to afford places to live. The part-time residents want low property taxes. So the infrastructure and school system suffers. Since this is a weekend/spring break party time with the majority are second homes, traffic can be bad sometimes. and if there is a recession and people want to sell these homes, the housing market there may crash.

 

[Chuckanut]

My daughter and family just moved from Lake Havasu last week and there are some downsides coming.
Many people go to the dog park at 4:30-5:30 in the morning because it's the only time they can let their dogs run outside before the heat becomes too much.

This is a good reminder to visit a potential new area in the worst weather time of the year.