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Reading the newspaper - almost all now have online versions - particularly if you are several hours away from "the location", is the best way to get at the heart and sould of a potential new home. Politics, municipal/county budgeting, changes, character, on and on. This has been an invaluable tool in taking the bloom off of the rose, to expose the thorns in several locations. Heck of a lot cheaper than repeated trips, that tend to be 'romanticized image' focused.
Public MLS sites combined with public tax records can teach one about real real estate values too. That research can be tedious, but worth it.
Nothing beats eyeballing things, but the above two are good unbiased reserach tools to get one back to reality.
Regarding the above suggestion--I totally agree. The only problem is it may be a little time consuming to create. In somewhat of the same vein (but easier) I volunteer to create a master list with links tor 10-20 especially helpful threads.The first step would be to start a tentative list for discussion, since you guys would probably have even better suggestions for additional links. After we discuss it for a week or two I think we'd come up with a really helpful master list, which I would then be happy to make.
Would you guys like me to do this? If so, it's something I could tackle next week when we get back from this trip. Maybe we could even get it stickied. I would be willing to put the announcement of where the medicare threads are if that would free up one of the stickies.
Caladium - That would be wonderful - but - a lot of work for you.
Here is an example of such an index that Mikefrombackeast did for the CO forum:
You will always have a few "diss" any place, but when it about 10-1 against, why waste the time and money checking it out ?
I don't know. Anyone who lives where I do would probably be down on the town for its non-food shopping opportunities, no public transportation and lack of a central downtown. My town also has nukes and a national lab and a lot of businesses that contract with the Dept of Energy. Our museum is a science museum. And the town is pure sprawl over 85 square miles of land.
That makes it not appealing to most retiring CD posters but appealing to me.
I happen to hate shopping and do just about all of it online. I think no central downtown is the reason why we don't have homeless plus, I haven't parallel parked since my road test about 40 years ago. I like parking lots, driving, no begging, no urine smelling streets, nobody yelling things at me. Because of all of all of the scientists and engineers who work here, in addition to typical classes we get a lot of interesting retiree class offerings that you would never find in other retiree programs like these 3 offered this summer semester in our Science and Technology Section - Mercury Transformation in the Environment, History of Transuranic Waste, High Performance Mass Spectrometry for Characterizing the Human Microbiome and these 2 that will be offered in the Fall - Quantum Information and Quantum Computing, Neutrons in Biology. Right before I arrived they were teaching retirees how to find, gather and record turtle data.
I know this is not the retirement for everyone but it's why the place appealed to me over a place like Asheville, NC, for example.
Great post Laura. I think about the only thing you forgot is people have to remember that if you stay in most places long enough - they'll change - and you'll change. So try to anticipate what those changes will be. Although it's often impossible to do so. For example - the average age of the head of household in our large HOA (1000+ houses) used to be in the low 50's (many residents were early retirees) when we first moved here in 1995. Today - it is basically a suburban community for young professionals with children (the area has grown and we have a good school system that attracts families with children). Average age of head of household is in the late 30's-early 40's. We - in our mid-60's - are now the oldest people on our block of 30 houses. Doesn't bother us - because we're not extremely "social" people. But - if we were - we wouldn't have much in common in terms of socializing with these younger people (not that *they* have time to socialize that much - in many households - both spouses work - and spend their free time being "soccer moms" and "baseball dads" - etc.).
I think perhaps the only really erroneous statement you made (at least in terms of where we live) is this:
If you like to garden, visit the local nursery and look around.
I'd never do that here. We live in a hard climate for gardening. We get lots of Florida heat in the summer. With a handful of hard freezes during otherwise mild winters (cold by south Florida standards - warm by the standards of most places to the north). Also - we've gone from 2 years of drought conditions (not great for growing anything - especially since we have watering restrictions) to a wetter than normal summer this year (thunderstorms with copious amounts of rain just about every afternoon - also not great for growing many things - except weeds). Our local nurseries carry lots of tropicals that will die during even a minor freeze. And lots of more northern plant material that will die in our summer heat - or that won't get enough "chill hours" in the winter to flower/fruit properly. And things like roses (anyone who tries to grow roses here is a total masochist IMO - or someone who doesn't mind constant contact with lots and lots of plant chemical stuff). I would just look at the yards of people who seem normal (not OCD) - and what they're growing that seems to look ok. Keeping in mind that many areas - including ours - have various "micro-climates". BTW - I'm kind of an avid gardener - and I know many people like to garden when they retire (it's a very popular pastime). Have found it hard to maintain my passion here. But am not upset because it's not my primary hobby - and - the older I get - the less I like to work outside in July/August when it's so darn hot. Also - my main planting garden is a butterfly garden. And now - in August - I have tons of butterflies laying eggs - and all the caterpillars are eating up all the butterfly plants - leaf by leaf - just like they do every year. The plants look crummy - but the butterflies are beautiful .
The OP's list is great and so are the many helpful additions. My husband and I are currently considering several locations for our upcoming retirement, and we've been traveling around scoping out communities. Things we've found helpful:
1. Though we plan to rent for the first few months after our relocation, we've established several long-distance relationships with local realtors, and they send us daily housing updates (tailored to our criteria) via their portals. We also keep a watch on fluctuating prices and various regional property taxes.
2. When we make our 1-2 week visit, we spend several hours with the realtor touring homes. In addition to getting familiar with the local market, she provides us with a great overview of the community at large. We always treat her to lunch as a 'thank you'.
3. As others have suggested, we never visit our potential new communities as tourists. We shop for food, check out the department stores, visit the library, hike/walk in local parks and trails, attend a spiritual service, tour the local YMCA, pick up university schedules for low-cost senior ed classes. And, most importantly, we try to strike up conversations with locals we meet along the way. This, not only answers some of our basic questions about the community, but gives us an excellent idea of the overall 'vibe' of the place. We've met some great, welcoming people who have been more than happy to share what they love about their city.
4. I have done quite a bit of research on cost of living comparisons, and honestly, most web calculators are grossly inaccurate. You really have to visit a region to determine what your personal living costs will look like. We currently live in a very expensive area of the country and we were surprised to learn that the basic COL is similar in the so-called lower cost states we've been considering. Food, clothing, and most other day-to-day items are the same, if not more. Gas prices may be lower, but utility costs are higher, lower income tax often means higher property taxes. It evens out more than one might imagine.
Now if we could only figure out where the heck we want to move!!
We are strong believers in "live there". We spent three weeks in Las Vegas earlier this year, and will spend at least that long in a couple of places next year. Once (or perhaps if) we decide on a possible location we will rent in the area for a longer period of time.
While we were in LV we went to the libraries, local stores, saw a show at the Smith Center, etc. That is a very good idea IMHO.
Last edited by Tek_Freek; 09-13-2012 at 10:33 AM..
................4. I have done quite a bit of research on cost of living comparisons, and honestly, most web calculators are grossly inaccurate. You really have to visit a region to determine what your personal living costs will look like. We currently live in a very expensive area of the country and we were surprised to learn that the basic COL is similar in the so-called lower cost states we've been considering. Food, clothing, and most other day-to-day items are the same, if not more. Gas prices may be lower, but utility costs are higher, lower income tax often means higher property taxes. It evens out more than one might imagine.
What an excellent post. I was especially glad to read your paragraph number 4 (quoted above) because that's what I've been saying in various threads for a long time. It's not that significant differences in cost of living don't exist, but that they are not as great as many people assume. Housing is the main difference. The other stuff is about the same or more or less averages out. But there's still no way to get around that housing thing. You didn't mention housing in your paragraph 4 above, but you have wisely looked at homes for sale in the areas you are considering. There is nothing quite like the "boots on the ground" view of things, especially to get the feel of a neighborhood.
I don't know. Anyone who lives where I do would probably be down on the town for its non-food shopping opportunities, no public transportation and lack of a central downtown. My town also has nukes and a national lab and a lot of businesses that contract with the Dept of Energy. Our museum is a science museum. And the town is pure sprawl over 85 square miles of land.
That makes it not appealing to most retiring CD posters but appealing to me.
I happen to hate shopping and do just about all of it online. I think no central downtown is the reason why we don't have homeless plus, I haven't parallel parked since my road test about 40 years ago. I like parking lots, driving, no begging, no urine smelling streets, nobody yelling things at me. Because of all of all of the scientists and engineers who work here, in addition to typical classes we get a lot of interesting retiree class offerings that you would never find in other retiree programs like these 3 offered this summer semester in our Science and Technology Section - Mercury Transformation in the Environment, History of Transuranic Waste, High Performance Mass Spectrometry for Characterizing the Human Microbiome and these 2 that will be offered in the Fall - Quantum Information and Quantum Computing, Neutrons in Biology. Right before I arrived they were teaching retirees how to find, gather and record turtle data.
I know this is not the retirement for everyone but it's why the place appealed to me over a place like Asheville, NC, for example.
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Colorado Springs links
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