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I would rather live in a cheaper place that gets occasional tornadoes than a place that might be subject to hurricanes. The hurricanes tend to hit a large swath of land but tornadoes just hit a few places.
Visit Sun City AZ. You can get a nice 1300 sq ft 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo for anywhere from $75,000 to $125 K. There's no school taxes so your property tax will be around $400 to $500 a year. Rec fees will run you $472 with access then to 8 rec centers and 130 clubs. There's shopping centers in the heart of the community as well as a first class hospital. Golf cars are a preferred mode of transportation and makes life way simpler.
The summers are hot, but otherwise the temps are delightful. I don't know of a more enjoyable way to live for seniors for so little money. Check it out, you won't regret it.
I completely agree. I have not been there but I have friends that are there. I also think that the OP is being very narrow minded. As I said no place is going to be Nirvana. But every place has a lot to offer. The worries for hurricanes for example is only a coastal situation. Tornados are very localized and every place can get hit by one or not. Lightning strikes are very common and people and homes get struck by them all the time but does that mean we need to pack up and leave for greener pastures?
I think the OP needs to think about moving to something rather than moving away from something. Less than 50% of seniors move in retirement. I think it is less than 30% that actually move more than to just a few miles away from where they lived entering retirement. Most of those two or three times to smaller foot prints and eventually to something just big enough to call home.
So OP you asked for options. Please do not discount the options others have given you. Many of your ideas of what are troubling in areas are exaggerated. That is not to say that there are no scorpions in Nevada or Arizona. Or that the coastline of North Carolina and South Carolina don't get hurricanes because they do. But if you live in downtown Las Vegas you will not see scorpions. If you live in Greenville SC or Charlotte NC you might get a lot of rain when a storm comes in off the coast. But does that destroy homes and lives? I guess maybe on a rare occasion but you are more likely to be hit by a drunk driver than be targeted by a twister. I am just saying.
JMHO
Last edited by oldsoldier1976; 07-08-2016 at 06:31 PM..
I wouldn't necessarily rule out an area due to tornadoes. They make big news when one hits a town, but really, the odds that one will hit your house are pretty low. And really, tornadoes can happen anywhere, so there aren't any guarantees. I was in two tornadoes in mid-state New York- one when I was a kid and the second one about 20 years ago- no damage to our house either time. I was also living in Iowa City when a tornado ripped right through town and passed literally within 100 feet of my house. I didn't have any damage at all to my house.
I guess what I am trying to say is that tornadoes don't read the rule book that they are only supposed to happen in tornado alley, and you might be ruling out some great places based on what a preconceived notion of the relative danger of living in an area that has tornadoes.
I live in a medium-sized city in the upper midwest now; we get tornadoes in our state, but for the most part, even though the news makes a big whoop about it, they touch down in a field somewhere and don't cause any damage. It is freaky when the sirens go off, but I really don't worry about tornadoes.
JMHO.
Even though the odds that a tornado would hit my specific house or even my street are not "likely," I just don't have to worry about the tornado warnings or have to run and evacuate whenever tornadoes are in the general vicinity. Same with hurricanes that may or may not bypass the city when they come through. Sometimes hurricanes are overhyped and don't do as much damage as expected and sometimes they do more damage than expected. You won't know until it's over.
I'd also like to be on high enough ground away for rivers and overflowing creeks so I never need to evacuate for flooding when the next "storm of the century" happens.
So far, Tuscon and Rio Rancho are sounding like viable options and I'll have to compare them all to options in the Las Vegas suburbs. I'll see if I can find some relatively walkable affordable neighborhoods with small, low maintenance homes available in those towns.
I'll need to take a road trip to see the cities in person after I do more research online.
I moved to the Cleveland area first on the east side in Cleveland Heights and then to a senior building last month (lowest age allowed is 62) in Lakewood Ohio. Lakewood is great. The COL in Ohio in general is low and every thing I want and need is here.
I've got nothing against Cleveland, but the OP said "no snow."
Tucson and Las Vegas have similar weather but Las Vegas is more urban. LV is a 24-hour city; Tucson's streets roll up at 8 pm. Single-family homes can still be a better bargain in some areas of Tucson where most real estate has yet to recover from the crash. But there aren't nearly as many condos as in LV, so supply and demand make condos less expensive in LV. Also, forget living near the university in Tucson on your budget. You'd need to look in the suburbs, which are less walkable. Bus service is available, but it's mostly designed for common work schedules. HOA fees can vary wildly. I only pay $40 a month in Tucson's NW suburb. There's a nice 2/2 SFH for sale in my subdivision, asking price $157,000. Because I'm a caregiver I can rarely venture far from my home but I have to say I don't need to. I have big hospital/shopping mall/grocery stores/movies/restaurants/2 libraries/nice parks/community college within a five-mile radius of my house.
The OP mentioned low-maintenance property. Please don't anyone think that just because Southwest homes don't have grass their landscapes are low maintenance. That's only true if you have nothing but gravel and native cacti. I moved to Arizona from the East and I spend MORE time on my Tucson landscape than I did in areas where it rained all summer. Most people here have landscaping chores done by professions. I can afford someone to do the heavy pruning two times a year with what I save on cheaper utilities. But I have to have a contract with pest management, too, which I didn't need in my former homes. So costs even out.
Property taxes in both Las Vegas and Tucson are lower than most places I've lived. There is modest state income tax in AZ and none in NV. Sales tax in LV is about 2% lower than Tucson, with similar exceptions.
Last edited by Jukesgrrl; 07-08-2016 at 06:32 PM..
Reason: added info
I live an hour west of Colorado Springs and would not consider it. Not to be impolite, but it's a cow town. Think of a small city, say 25,000 population, that has grown 20 times that population with virtually none of the stores, restaurants, theaters, etc., that go with a real city. Want dinner theater, Nordstrom's, Ruth's Chris? Head north an hour to Denver. Housing is overpriced and city taxes are high.
The airport is seldom used. Most flights head for Denver, just maybe 60 air miles away where you may or may not change plances. But the ticket price can be hundreds of dollars higher than you could pay by driving to DIA. The airport itself is very nice. Small, a snap to get through. But Southwest does not serve it, so you can usually expect to pay higher fares with United/American.
The mayor designated $0 for road maintenance, allowed potholes to accumulate to the point he was able to extort over .62% additional sales tax from his subjects if they wanted repairs made. That brings the total to 8.25%, making it the 17th highest taxed U.S. city. So much for a "conservative" city.
Crime is shockingly high for this type of a city. Housing is much cheaper 40 miles south in Pueblo, but I believe that is primarily due to it's even higher crime rate.
The state of Colorado, OTOH, is rated very high as a retirement state by many, if not most, rating groups.
I doubt I would be doing any hiking, but I would like to be able to walk around the neighborhood to a grocery store and other shops/restaurants, library, community center, etc.. Maybe I'd walk to the grocery store every day or two and buy 1 bag of groceries at a time instead of waiting a week or two between shopping and then needing a car to carry everything.
You have just exactly described my Lakewood neighborhood where I can walk to all the things on your list. I don't drive so I need to have good public transportation and the ability to walk to everything. Here in Lakewood I can do that. There are also plenty of apartments at very reasonable rents.
I had forgotten you said "no snow" so maybe this wouldn't be the place for you but we don't get tornadoes or hurricanes either.
Actually, I can deal with some snow if I live in a community where the snow and ice clearlng is handled by an HOA so i don't need to deal with it.
I don't want to live where there are severe winters with heavy snow though. Midwest snow is very likely going to be way too much and happening for too many days per year. Snow is a negative, but not a complete deal breaker like tornadoes, floods and hurricanes.
The OP mentioned low-maintenance property. Please don't anyone think that just because Southwest homes don't have grass their landscapes are low maintenance. That's only true if you have nothing but gravel and native cacti. I moved to Arizona from the East and I spend MORE time on my Tucson landscape than I did in areas where it rained all summer. Most people here have landscaping chores done by professions. I can afford someone to do the heavy pruning two times a year with what I save on cheaper utilities. But I have to have a contract with pest management, too, which I didn't need in my former homes. So costs even out.
Property taxes in both Las Vegas and Tucson are lower than most places I've lived. There is modest state income tax in AZ and none in NV. Sales tax in LV is about 2% lower than Tucson, with similar exceptions.
Landscaping costs vary greatly based on what you are looking for. Our landscaping took approximately $350 to repair and less than $50 per year to maintain. As opposed to the hours we spent mowing grass, raking leaves, and other outdoor activities (not to mention snow removal), we spend less than four hours a year keeping up the landscaping and that is mostly sweeping off the patio.
As for sales taxes in Nevada, the counties with over 85% of the population - Clark (Las Vegas/ Henderson)has a sales tax rate of 8.2% and Washoe (Reno) is up to 7.8% these days. That is very similar to Pima County.
The tax you need to also consider is the cost of car registration which can be substantial in Nevada.
You have just exactly described my Lakewood neighborhood where I can walk to all the things on your list. I don't drive so I need to have good public transportation and the ability to walk to everything. Here in Lakewood I can do that. There are also plenty of apartments at very reasonable rents.
I had forgotten you said "no snow" so maybe this wouldn't be the place for you but we don't get tornadoes or hurricanes either.
As I mentioned probably a year ago, Lakewood is a phenomenal retirement place as long as you are 1) a lower income and 2) not a home owner. Lakewood has great services for senior citizens and some great senior communities, far better than MOST of the communities that have been mentioned.
Having said that, it comes at a price of one of the highest tax rates in the state of Ohio.
I came within hours in 2010 of reacquiring my old home in a foreclosure sale which would have had me retiring in Lakewood. I did not have the winning bid which ended up turning out for the better.
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