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Mosquitoes want to live everywhere. They like our blood.
Yes, they are just like the politicians who keep raising our property taxes. I would like to find somewhere where they aren't. The politicians I mean, I can live with the mosquitos.
Thinking outside the box, how about the Algarve region of Portugal? Beautiful weather. Beaches. Golf. A crashed property market so housing is reasonable. Good infrastructure and health care. They don't tax retirement income. Tons of Brits vacation and retire there so English works fine. No place in Europe is truly cheap but that's the best you're going to do. You could live pretty well on $50K.
The crashed property market in the Algarve makes property there in the same price range as Florida (outside of the SE Gold Coast/Miami) and the Carolinas. If I am going to own property, I would rather own it in Florida or the Carolinas, or anywhere else in the US or Canada. The EU has a long way to go to catch up to the first world in property rights, and the last thing I need is to lose a property at that stage in life.
For any person wanting to live on the East Coast, not far from bigger cities with great cultural amenities (Richmond, Washington, Philadelphia) ... places with mild winters and not much snow would include Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA; Ocean City, MD; Dover, DE and Rehoboth Beach, DE. This is still an area with four distinct seasons, but the summers are very warm and humid (but NOT 100!) and being not too far from the ocean there will be breezes.
If you're living in a $70,000 house in the rust belt that would be $300,000 somewhere else, who cares what the property tax rate is?
The Ohio state sales tax rate isn't awful. 5.75% and they don't tax food. It's Cuyahoga County with a huge local sales tax piled on top that jacks it to 8% that are brutal. There are 4 counties with a 6.5% sales tax rate. That isn't out of line with most places in the country.
I don't live in Cuyahoga, but you are spot on about home prices and taxes.
The tax on my house is $1500 per year. Compare that to the NYC burbs where the taxes were approaching 20K per year.
The comparison in home prices is nearly exact. However, our house would be $500 in suburban NY, many parts of Cali, and other high priced areas.
But more in Pittsburgh than Albuquerque, right? Not that the people in Pittsburgh have more blood, nor thinner skin. Just something about the climate that makes it more hospitable to mosquitoes. I think. But is it really true? Does Albuquerque really have fewer mosquitoes than Pittsburgh?
I think so. That is the downside of being on the Eastern side of the Continental Divide. We on the Eastern side have more water. Most insects cannot live in the arid climes of the Western side. One of the reasons that San Diego (for example) is reputed to have perfect outdoors environment: no mosquitos because not enough ambient moisture to support insect life.
The crashed property market in the Algarve makes property there in the same price range as Florida (outside of the SE Gold Coast/Miami) and the Carolinas. If I am going to own property, I would rather own it in Florida or the Carolinas, or anywhere else in the US or Canada. The EU has a long way to go to catch up to the first world in property rights, and the last thing I need is to lose a property at that stage in life.
One of the other C-D posters, kevxu (??sp??) lives in that region of Portugal. He rents instead of owns, and says that is the way to go. No issues with property rights. He also speaks highly about this retirement locale. OTOH, he was somewhat fluent with the language before he relocated.
I don't live in Cuyahoga, but you are spot on about home prices and taxes.
The tax on my house is $1500 per year. Compare that to the NYC burbs where the taxes were approaching 20K per year.
The comparison in home prices is nearly exact. However, our house would be $500 in suburban NY, many parts of Cali, and other high priced areas.
Boy oh boy did you ever cash out! Now I wish I'd bought something so that I'd have bragging rights too, lol!
WAIT WHILE I PINCH MYSELF. I take that back. Zero lot line cr*pshacks in DC Metro with wishing prices of $600K and up??!!! In a transient region, who the h*ck is ever going to pay that off!!?? enough to have equity to put down on the next one?
We have not yet seen the first shoe drop from this market decline. The effect of next fiscal year's sequestration is yet to be felt. There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. People who didn't learn their lessons - about bubbly real estate and overextended budgets - the first time around will, unfortunately, have to learn them again.
Warren, I salute your prudence and good timing but on second thought I am glad I do not have a $600K millstone to carry around on my back, lol!
Quote:
Originally Posted by james777 View Post
The crashed property market in the Algarve makes property there in the same price range as Florida (outside of the SE Gold Coast/Miami) and the Carolinas. If I am going to own property, I would rather own it in Florida or the Carolinas, or anywhere else in the US or Canada. The EU has a long way to go to catch up to the first world in property rights, and the last thing I need is to lose a property at that stage in life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jane_sm1th73
One of the other C-D posters, kevxu (??sp??) lives in that region of Portugal. He rents instead of owns, and says that is the way to go. No issues with property rights. He also speaks highly about this retirement locale. OTOH, he was somewhat fluent with the language before he relocated.
I have heard the same from others about that retirement locale. However, the OP wants to garden, and I believe that the great majority of gardeners want to own, not rent. I'm also a gardener, and for that reason I would never want to rent, no matter how old I get.
Warren, I salute your prudence and good timing but on second thought I am glad I do not have a $600K millstone to carry around on my back, lol!
It depends. If your net worth is $2 million, $600K in paid-for real estate when you retire is an appropriate mix. ...or if you're pulling in $200k in household income, you'd have no issue with 25% of your gross going to mortgage, taxes, and insurance. After a couple decades of that, you have a paid-for $600K house and a big pile of 401(k) portfolio. You could then sell it, move to Ohio or somewhere else cheap, pay cash for a $60K house, and live like a prince.
If you live your life in Ohio, you toil away for much lower compensation and have a $60K house and a bit of retirement savings to show for it.
I think so. That is the downside of being on the Eastern side of the Continental Divide. We on the Eastern side have more water. Most insects cannot live in the arid climes of the Western side. One of the reasons that San Diego (for example) is reputed to have perfect outdoors environment: no mosquitos because not enough ambient moisture to support insect life.
So those two skeeters that bit me tonite while walking the dogs were just lost? I live in one of the most arid states ever and we've got em here and they are BIG.
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