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We bought the house when my husband was 25 and I was 20. It is small, but on about 4 acres and we raised our 2 girls here while we also had our own careers. Our kids have moved out and it is our house once again; we are retired about 10 years, I cannot think of any reason to want to downsize ( we never upsized), to live in a senior community (our friends still all live on this road), to go where it is warm ( why get hot and sweaty? ).This place has 4 seasons, is nice even most of the summer and only cold a month or two (and getting a guy to plow is easy).... to pack it all up ( you want to see a guy with 40 years of tools pack? I shudder). Why would I want to? Plus, it costs us ( taxes, insurance, gas, elec., water ) under $550/month to live here --- add the cable, internet and phone and you add another $150 which we could cut down....$700/month to live on 4 acres in a house we know all the faults of in a town where we know everyone? You cannot beat that. I can always rent a place to vacation. I cannot just move and recreate a 40 year home.
How do you pay so little property taxes, etc. in the state of NY??? Maybe you are not in Buffalo, as your name says??
We bought the house when my husband was 25 and I was 20. It is small, but on about 4 acres and we raised our 2 girls here while we also had our own careers. Our kids have moved out and it is our house once again; we are retired about 10 years, I cannot think of any reason to want to downsize ( we never upsized), to live in a senior community (our friends still all live on this road), to go where it is warm ( why get hot and sweaty? ).This place has 4 seasons, is nice even most of the summer and only cold a month or two (and getting a guy to plow is easy).... to pack it all up ( you want to see a guy with 40 years of tools pack? I shudder). Why would I want to? Plus, it costs us ( taxes, insurance, gas, elec., water ) under $550/month to live here --- add the cable, internet and phone and you add another $150 which we could cut down....$700/month to live on 4 acres in a house we know all the faults of in a town where we know everyone? You cannot beat that. I can always rent a place to vacation. I cannot just move and recreate a 40 year home.
Your post appears to be the antithesis of the question asked.
Better to move TO something than away FROM something. We moved after retirement to a place we both love(d) and couldn't be happier. Coincidentally, we had ceased to enjoy where we were while we worked. On this, the retirement board, my questions would be, "If you're somewhere you don't want to be, why?" and, "If there's somewhere else you'd rather be but aren't, why?"
Of course, I know that there are often financial reasons but one of the biggest factors I've seen people cite is friends and family. Friends can be made in a new location and in this era of fast travel and electronic communications, family can easily stay in touch. Our children and grandchildren are in three different states and none of them are where we live. The closest is 700 miles away, the next batch 850 miles and the bulk 2,000 miles. Remember, all those forms of electronic communications as well as cars, trains and planes travel in both directions.
I'm also in the DC area and can't stand the congestion, weather, frantic pace and transient perspective on relationships. I will definitely be moving as soon as I am able. If I could locate a job of interest in the northeast I'd leave tomorrow. Since that is unlikely I will wait until I retire in a couple of years and make the move then. Will give me time to work on downsizing and organizing. New England is home, I love the four seasons and that is where I want to spend my twilight years. I just have to find the perfect little corner of NE for me.
I just moved, two towns over from the suburbs/semi-rural to an in-town environment that is an ivy league (i think) college community. Everything I need is here, and I'm very close to family, within 20 min–half hour. It is not the loveliest place in the whole world, and it is definitely 4-season New England climate. I think I suffered through cold winters mostly because of isolation in my former house. Now, in this picturesque New England town with everything at my fingertips, I know that I will be able to take winters much more easily. I only have to drive a mile or two to movie theater, major bookstore, the fantastic parklike campus, its weekly (sometimes nightly) events including concerts and theater, etc. I am really looking forward to the winter now, as I'm close in to civilization. The colder weather is actually better for my health condition than super hot/sunny. Maybe I'll experience snow like I once did as a romantic young girl!
That said, I have incurable wanderlust that I didn't know I had till I made this move. I can't seem to stop looking at the possibilities--intrigued by locations I am probably only dreaming about (these are places that also happen to have much lower property taxes, too). I'm restless and would like to try new locations but as you said, it is very expensive to keep roaming around the country visiting places. Not only do you have to visit a place several times, it is best to actually live there for a while before settling down permanently.
So, realistically, I will stay here, unless the taxes get so out of control that I decide to sell, get a much cheaper place elsewhere, and in my fantasy, make a profit. I do know that my creative restless spirit is playing into this seemingly endless internet quest!
I will probably remain here....
i too have a desire to try other places and ,of course, at this time of my life, i feel i'm running out of time to make major changes. i've lived in a lot of different houses- primarily different neighborhoods, not major location changes- and i think you can get used to the sense, probably illusory, of
endless possibilities that are tempting to pursue. i find it difficult to imagine staying in a place for 25-30 years, although many people live and desire that life.
i do feel that my conception of places that would be a good fit has changed somewhat and has probably become more practical. also, if there is a change in life partner the vision might change. when my husband was living we planned and dreamed of retiremnet in the southeast- not florida- but since his death and my relationship with the significant other began, this geographic area would not be one that he would choose.
in reading many of the posts, it seems that quite a few people are not especially satisfied where they are living, perhaps had planned to retire somewhere else, but will probably remain in their present location due perhaps to the real estate market, economic climate, proximity to family, etc. i'm wondering, if your decision is to stay, what are the reasons that are keeping you in an area that is not satisfying to you, and how do you adjust to an area that is really not a good fit for you? for example how do you live in maine if you really hate winters? how do you manage to live in the southwest when you would rather be in an area of more green, trees, and four seasons? also i wonder if someone is really living in an area that is the opposite of their basic nature, do they ever totally give up the dream of something else?
i ask these questions beause i'm living, and will probably remain, in an area i would never have chosen to be in, except for major life changes which i never could have predicted ten years ago. i've grown to be more accepting of my location and am able to acknowledge many of its advantages, but i still think of some of the places that, i think, would be a much better fit for me.
so, i'm interested in where you are, why, and do you still long for something else.
catsy girl
Many people move here when they retire but if you live and work here, the place gets old. Sure 333 days of sunshine seem nice but it gets boring too. But I will probably stay because my home is paid off and the grandkids and all. But I thought about California.
How do you pay so little property taxes, etc. in the state of NY??? Maybe you are not in Buffalo, as your name says??
We are in very rural Erie County. 3/4 of our land is taxed at agriculture rates (very low). Our house sits in what FEMA has recently declared a flood plain ( it isn't; some nitwit in a cubicle decided to draw the line to enclose us)... in 40 years, never a flood, just a wet floor when a sump pump died. No one in the entire area has ever had one either... Result? Taxes plummeted on my road. Love that nitwit in his cubicle!. My town has builders building subdivisions of expensive homes land these people are basically paying the taxes... if some fool wants to build an expensive home on a 60X120 ft. lot, they can pay the high taxes. I am delighted to have a little ranch under 900 sq. feet which backs up to a corn field and where 3 acres are considered farm.
Hey, one town in the south of where I live is full of windmills. They charge NO TAXES (Sheldon).
I don't know anyone who "likes" to move, but to be honest I think moving after retirement is a bit of an adventure. It's a big event that kicks off your new life. Living and working in one location, any location really, can become, well, same old, same old. Whether it's hot, cold, too much sunshine, not enough sunshine, whatever. Having spent years in one place, my wife and I were anxious to get on with retirement and that included getting the heck out of CA and Silicon Valley. It's been 3 years now and we're loving it.
But I have so many friends who tell me they're going to stay put because they can't afford to move, want to stay near family, their Dr. / Dentist is there, yada, yada. Ok, the family thing I get, especially if there are grandchildren involved. But the rest I see as just another excuse. Those who tell me they can't afford it haven't even investigated the expenses of any other area. They're comfortable where they are, and they want to stay comfortable. Good for them, they don't need to make any excuses, just say they like it and decided to stay!
I'm not staying here longer than necessary. I always said I was "making my million and moving on." I just retired and put a bid on a house in the midwest~near family. As a child growing up, I did not live near any relatives (my Dad was transferred to several different areas). When my parents retired they moved back home, after having been away for 33 years, leaving my brother and me to our own resources (he was newly married, I was in a well established career). I feel the draw to get back to my "roots" for retirement living and to move to where family is and has never left.
In 1987 I married, and in 1989 we moved to PA. We have terrific friends, live in a very supportive, friendly, safe neighborhood, and have an active social life with people of varying interests. I just retired from teaching, and my husband is currently in a contracted position that could be terminated or extended by him or the company. We have no children, and my brother (2 hours away) is enveloped by his in-laws and his wife's family, the cousins (their children) all attend the same schools and churches. I have no desire to move into that network although I know we would be welcomed and included, it's just too intense.
I agree, the adventure of starting something at this point in life is exciting!
My childhood home is the house where I was raised, it's not home. The house I live in now is home for the time being, but the midwest and where my extended family lives is calling us for retirement.
in reading many of the posts, it seems that quite a few people are not especially satisfied where they are living, perhaps had planned to retire somewhere else, but will probably remain in their present location due perhaps to the real estate market, economic climate, proximity to family, etc. i'm wondering, if your decision is to stay, what are the reasons that are keeping you in an area that is not satisfying to you, and how do you adjust to an area that is really not a good fit for you? for example how do you live in maine if you really hate winters? how do you manage to live in the southwest when you would rather be in an area of more green, trees, and four seasons? also i wonder if someone is really living in an area that is the opposite of their basic nature, do they ever totally give up the dream of something else?
i ask these questions beause i'm living, and will probably remain, in an area i would never have chosen to be in, except for major life changes which i never could have predicted ten years ago. i've grown to be more accepting of my location and am able to acknowledge many of its advantages, but i still think of some of the places that, i think, would be a much better fit for me.
so, i'm interested in where you are, why, and do you still long for something else.
catsy girl
I'm pretty happy with where I live. The Southwest has a lot more green, trees, rivers and lakes than most people imagine. I've lived in the desert and I've lived in the mountains but I live where I do mostly for family. I've lived here, off and on, since I was born and my family has been here for over 80 years. So it's, basically, "home" for all of us. I could probably be happy wherever my family lived but then I've always been pretty happy no matter where I lived. Right now my mom is my biggest reason for living here and I hope she lives a lot longer! When she's gone...if I'm not too 'old, tired and lazy'...I wouldn't mind moving back to the mountains.
I have lived in many places across the country and AZ ALWAYS pulls me back so I figure I'm here for the duration. I really can't imagine any place I'd rather live.
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