How did you go about finding your perfect retirement home ? (community, inheritance)
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I was worried about the same thing when I retire in a couple of years, and we sell this house, and need to find one in Arizona, where we're planning to relocate. I don't want to have to rush into a house that I don't love. So our solution is buying an RV that year. Sell the house here, jump into our RV, and head to Arizona. We can live in it as long as we need, until we find our dream retirement home. Relieved a lot of stress for me, both in the timing leaving here, and where to stay when we get 'there.'
You would probably be better off renting for a year. An RV will depreciate very quickly, it takes a lot of fuel to run one, RV parks can get expensive and you'll be in tight quarters and most likely with only one bathroom. We have a retirement home in Arizona and we had already homed in on a particular neighborhood by the time we bought there. We lived in a rental for only two months. $900 a month for two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two car garage.
Never seen a perfect home ... I think that it is a fictional construct developed by HGTV to sell granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, and the like.
I always look for a house that is well constructed in a good neighborhood. You cannot fix a bad neighborhood and it is extremely expensive to fix poor construction.
When I retired, I looked for a place that would meet our needs until we become incapacitated. Our home has NO steps and you can get around the entire house with a wheelchair.
The enemy of good is perfect. No house has ever had everything that I wanted.
I like the idea of finding the property and putting up a barn/shop/garage that includes a small office and efficiency apartment. Then one of you can stay in the house in NJ to get it sold and the other one can stay in the apartment and supervise the building project. Then when you are done, you have a house and a guest house. Perfect!
I cannot relate to calling anything 'perfect'. The whole concept of anything being perfect seems full of holes and fallacies. The idea of a perfect couple, for example, or perfect house or perfect town in which to live makes no sense to me.
Do people really believe their is a perfect retirement home? Or a perfect anything?
One can find happiness in all realms of things that need not be perfect or even anywhere close to perfect for the happiness to exist.
I like the idea of finding the property and putting up a barn/shop/garage that includes a small office and efficiency apartment. Then one of you can stay in the house in NJ to get it sold and the other one can stay in the apartment and supervise the building project. Then when you are done, you have a house and a guest house. Perfect!
Bingo- that's a great plan! So OK, to address the idea of perfection, nothing is perfect, but some things are just plain ol' practical, and border on great. Our Pole Barn with shop will also have a small apartment for us to stay while we finish the final house. Meeting with the builder tomorrow. Great beats normal everyday
I cannot relate to calling anything 'perfect'. The whole concept of anything being perfect seems full of holes and fallacies. The idea of a perfect couple, for example, or perfect house or perfect town in which to live makes no sense to me.
Do people really believe their is a perfect retirement home? Or a perfect anything?
One can find happiness in all realms of things that need not be perfect or even anywhere close to perfect for the happiness to exist.
Our home and 44yr marriage are perfect. We have never been happier. We have had much physical pain, stress and emotional loss (deaths of loved ones), over the years. Our lives have leveled out, we often tell each other how fortunate we feel to still be together. One never knows when a health emergency could happen. But now we choose to be happy, and revel in our window of time when ours lives seem perfect to us.
I agree Fun...if you get 100%,on a test you get a 'perfect' score. What's perfect for me may not be perfect for anyone else...yes...I believe in 'perfect .
I cannot relate to calling anything 'perfect'. The whole concept of anything being perfect seems full of holes and fallacies.
......
Do people really believe their is a perfect retirement home? Or a perfect anything?
.....
One can find happiness in all realms of things that need not be perfect or even anywhere close to perfect for the happiness to exist.
Here is the dictionary definition of perfect
Quote:
having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be
So based on the definition, I think and feel that MY LIFE are filled with quite a few PERFECT things.
It's too bad that you can not relate to the perfect concept but why the cynical attitude of deeming it full of holes and fallacies? This statement has the connotation of accusing others who think differently of being either a simpleton or a dishonest person.
Yes, I TRULY TRULY believe that one can find something perfect i.e. 'as good as it is possible to be'. I think the key word is 'possible'. This means being realistic, HAPPILY accepting life limitations and tradeoffs.
I agree that one can find happiness in accepting 'imperfect' things or situations. However, if one thinks that this is as good as it is possible to be, counts his/her blessings, be happy and contented then one has a perfect and not just good enough life.
P.S.
Back to the original topic of a 'perfect' retirement home, even though we had abandoned the idea of relocating to the Olympic Peninsula due mainly to the horrible traffic to get to Seattle, we still think that the uniquely beautiful Japanese style home outside of Port Townsend which we missed out would have been a perfect retirement home for us.
We are fully aware that there is not a single home in a location which will meet EVERY SINGLE item of our wish list. This is why we set priorities. I have a spreadsheet listing all the features, items in important order (for both of us) with ranking scores. What we found in that Japanese style home WAS not on the list: Its aesthetic and functional design, simplicity, the blending of outdoor and indoor environment blew us away. One can not assign a high enough score for something which one loves or enthralled! The location on 16 acres of land with a view of the water but only less than 30 minutes to the town, an airport and a rowing club was perfect for us. We made a backup offer on the house on the spot. This was before I even knew when I would be retired!
I have been searching extensively but have not found a single home like that in our price range. If that house was up for sale again even at a higher price, we would definitely consider it. If we ever come across another similar house even in locations with some compromises (weather, taxes, distance to my daughter's location), we would definitely check it out and if we get it, it will be a PERFECT retirement home.
Why not jump on the first paragraph of post #11 too, which said exactly the same thing that I said - and call that person cynical too?
You contradict your undue name-calling and the concept of perfection by then stating: "This means being realistic, HAPPILY accepting life limitations and tradeoffs."
But the concept of 'perfect' and 'perfection' is not something I want to get into a tangle about especially when after silly criticism, you give qualifiers that contradict the concept.
happiness to those who feel they have a perfect marriage and/or perfect town.
Last edited by matisse12; 03-03-2017 at 03:03 PM..
I was going to build a house 1000 miles away. I bought land (1/2 acre high desert lot) and had a good trustworthy and quality custom home builder and preliminary house plans. I was going to rent a small apartment close by while the new house was built but I couldn't sell my house -- took 3 years so everything was on hold. Material prices went up. Start-up costs were going up...I needed a well, septic and finally "engineered dirt" just to get started. That last one did it...I pulled the plug before I sunk any more money in construction and went house hunting. I found a great house on 1.3 acres -- just the right size and location and about $100k cheaper than building. It isn't perfect and I'd like to change a few things but I really like the place. I still have the other lot and the house plans but probably won't build.
Also...a little later the developer who subdivided the land went bankrupt and gave unsold lots back to the bank. That put a lot more into question regarding any covenants and promises of things to come in the future. Another reason to be cautious if you are not right there during construction.
Last edited by SunGrins; 03-03-2017 at 03:32 PM..
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