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Ithaca NY is an amazing city. Cornell and Ithaca college dominate the city, so if you don't like college age people it may not be the place for you to live. I considered moving there from Ulster County but decided to move to Sarasota Fl. I need more sunshine and different atmosphere.
thnik AFFORDABLE is the key word i that list.So it maybe ten affordable places not what most see as affordable and likeable.
I do have to wonder if some of these people who are sneering have actually retired yet. It's surprising how many of us start off thinking we would never consider certain places, and then become more open to new ideas once the reality of retirement expenses starts to sink in.
Also, how quick many of us are to write off places we've never visited. Some places turn out to be nicer than you might think.
I suspect that these places have paid some marketing firm to get on lists. I like playing with "Find my Spot" but wondering about the towns that show up over and over despite what you change your selections too.
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I'm one of those people that seem to be looking for the impossible. An inexpensive small town setting with great nature, not too conservative, friendly, where I can have a little house with lots of bird watching in the backyard and nearby. Sunny, cool, lots of lakes, rivers, mountains. But near good medical facilities and other amenities that will take me to 'the end'.
Don't need a lot of city activities.
Seems hard to find those cheap little places right next to everything
I suspect that these places have paid some marketing firm to get on lists.
Yup, that's how it works. I think the first few lists may have been legit, but for the past few years a place on one of these lists has been something you buy. I think they try to keep the lists realistic, but the "winners" always seem to buy lots of advertising.
I took a look at Ithaca back in the late 80s. I liked the town itself and the surrounding area until I spoke to some long time residents about the winter. Hearing their response scared me off, and that was when I just turned 40 and still had a tolerance for winter. Can't imagine spending a winter in Ithaca....now in my early 60s. But the rest of the year might be rather nice.
I am still thinking in the northern tier somewhere with a couple of months of the worst winter in an RV or sublet somewhere. Of course, at some point, sooner if you develop medical problems of some sort, becomes hard. But all that is such a crap shoot.
Retire where you want, then when your really old or medically crapped out, move to a little apt as close to a hospital as you can get!
How do you like Sarasota...I checked out a few places online there and it seemed quite expensive for Florida, although I know it is quite an upscale area.
I hold no particular brief for Texas. I have never lived there, although I've spent some time visiting in various places, but never in Midland. Texas is a very big state which cannot be the same everywhere. So I am wondering why you have generalized your dislike of Midland (which I am sure is amply justified) to the whole rest of the state. It would be like saying that Los Angeles has bad traffic, so California sucks. Or San Francisco has been taken over by gays, so California sucks. California too is a big place with lots of variety.
Much of the state is very similar to Midland. There are some areas of diversity but even that diversity is not to my liking (i.e., the heat and humidity of East Texas, the "middle of nowhere" feeling of El Paso and the Davis Mountains, the many problems of the border towns, etc.). If you ever get stuck in a situation that requires driving through Texas, you will understand the miles and miles of similarity you will find. I've been in Texas nearly 20 years and have found that I've become less tolerant of heat every year. And the heat is getting worse as my tolerance is decreasing. So for me (and my significant other), this state is not on the list for retiring.
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Sarasota Fl
