Finding a New Place To Live After Retirement (pension, weather, moving)

[normie]

Just wondering how many of us moved or are considering a move as a result of retiring.

Where are you planning to go... and why did you make that choice? If you have moved, are you glad that you did?

Did you move just down the street? Or to a nearby city? Back to your childhood home? Or maybe to something completely new... a different state or country?

And I'm especially curious if you visited a place before moving there. I know that's the standard advice, but is it realistic? And... how many places did you choose to visit before picking a new home?

[Tesaje]

Originally Posted by normie

Just wondering how many of us moved or are considering a move as a result of retiring.

I am. Probably not for another 3 years at least.

Where are you planning to go... and why did you make that choice? If you have moved, are you glad that you did?

I'm planning on moving back west. I grew up in the west and hiking in the mountains is probably what I love best. Most of my family is somewhere in the west so while I don't plan on relocating necessarily in the same place as they live, I'll be closer than where I am now for visits.

Did you move just down the street? Or to a nearby city? Back to your childhood home? Or maybe to something completely new... a different state or country?

It will be across the country and probably a new state. Not fully decided yet.

And I'm especially curious if you visited a place before moving there. I know that's the standard advice, but is it realistic? And... how many places did you choose to visit before picking a new home?

Since I have visited all but 7 states now, my possible candidates are most certainly places I have visited before. The selection criteria are personal and partially financial (I can afford a modestly expensive place but not the really high cost cities.) My top places are based on personal visits and how I envision my post retirement life. I am also considering how potential places will be when my world shrinks as I grow old.

A keystone of my plan is that when I retire, I plan on doing a test live in my top candidate city for about a month during the worst weather period. If it doesn't work out, then I will try other places.

The key is that I can stay where I am now indefinitely as well so if the real estate market is really bad, I can wait it out. My house is paid off, so there's no driver except what I want to do. If I can't decide, I can take my time figuring it out.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by normie

Just wondering how many of us moved or are considering a move as a result of retiring.

I moved

Where are you planning to go... and why did you make that choice? If you have moved, are you glad that you did?

We moved to Maine.

We choose to move here due to the ability to live rurally, the lower taxes and lower cost-of-living.

We are very much glad that we did come here.

Did you move just down the street? Or to a nearby city? Back to your childhood home? Or maybe to something completely new... a different state or country?

Neither of us had ever lived in Maine, before deciding to come here.

And I'm especially curious if you visited a place before moving there. I know that's the standard advice, but is it realistic? And... how many places did you choose to visit before picking a new home?

From everything that we had read, it seemed like the right place for us.

Then I began making one-week shopping trips up to Maine, looking for possible sites.

On my fifth shopping trip, I finally found what I was looking for.

[PNW-type-gal]

Originally Posted by normie

Where are you planning to go... and why did you make that choice? If you have moved, are you glad that you did?

Did you move just down the street? Or to a nearby city? Back to your childhood home? Or maybe to something completely new... a different state or country?

And I'm especially curious if you visited a place before moving there. I know that's the standard advice, but is it realistic? And... how many places did you choose to visit before picking a new home?

We moved about 275 miles from where we had been living, from a large city to a rural area outside a small city. A completely new place, as neither of us had lived here (or really anywhere LIKE here) before.

We definitely visited before buying a lot - we'd looked at places in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona as well. A lot of those were "hey, let's go to Albuquerque and Santa Fe and Taos for a look-see" rather than extended visits, but once we'd narrowed the list down we looked more seriously. Some places you can visit and think "this is just not right."

What we were looking for was a cross between "feel" and weather (there was actually a long list, but that sort of sums it up). I wanted out of damp winters with low clouds, and I've always been a fan of Oregon's High Desert, spending a lot of vacation time out this way.

This probably isn't our "final" home - maybe 25 years down the line, when I'm in my 70s (and the spouse is 80), we'll need to live closer in to a town. By then I will have lost enough of my hearing to live in town again and put up with the lawn mowers and yard blowers and traffic noise.

Cost of living and taxes, while important, weren't crucial in our decision, although the costs of a place like San Luis Obispo certainly knocked it out of the running.

[carlsan]

I plan on moving The Villages in Florida in about 3 years. It's a great place to live.

[LauraC]

After retiring in March 2007 and moving in May 2007 and then suffering through my pro-rated Maryland state income tax return last month (SHOOT ME NOW!) with pension and wages, if I had to do it all over again, I'd move and retire on December 31 ...even if there was 10 feet of snow on the ground.

I moved to a different state. I didn't dislike the place in Maryland I was living in, it just wasn't the right place for me in retirement. I didn't see much to do there in the daytime. I did research up front. Visited another highly touted retirement location in another state in May 2006 that I really didn't like at all but that visit to the wrong place helped crystallize what I really didn't want in my new retirement location. Did some more research. Spent a week here in October 2006. Retired March 2007. Moved mid-May 2007. I didn't know anyone here but that didn't bother me.

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by normie

Just wondering how many of us moved or are considering a move as a result of retiring.

Where are you planning to go... and why did you make that choice? If you have moved, are you glad that you did?

Did you move just down the street? Or to a nearby city? Back to your childhood home? Or maybe to something completely new... a different state or country?

And I'm especially curious if you visited a place before moving there. I know that's the standard advice, but is it realistic? And... how many places did you choose to visit before picking a new home?

- We moved after retirement. From Texas to Washington, primarily for the climate and natural surroundings. Secondarily for a reduction in property taxes, and less population congestion. We are pleased with the change.

- We developed a list of priorities and looked across the country using the internet, publications, and our own and others experiences. After narrowing the list we visited several places in four states.

- We made three trips to the place we finally moved trying to make sure we were comfortable with the compromises we decided to make (no one place was perfect in all respects).

[nancy thereader]

Just wondering how many of us moved or are considering a move as a result of retiring.

Where are you planning to go... and why did you make that choice? If you have moved, are you glad that you did?

I definitely would like to move west. Not really sure where, though. Someplace warm. No winters for me.

Did you move just down the street? Or to a nearby city? Back to your childhood home? Or maybe to something completely new... a different state or country?

I would like to shake myself up a little and go someplace totally different from where I live now (Long Island). I would never be so foolish as to just move to a new place, sight unseen. I would even consider renting for awhile so that I could see....can I cope with Portland's rains? OR Can I live through a New Mexican summer?

[leorah]

We are moving to West Texas when my husband retires next year. He's originally from Texas and wants to go home. We have relatives in East Texas that we can visit with from time to time. I'm from the Midwest. We've visited towns in each Texas region over the years and settled on the area around Alpine as our first choice, followed by Abilene and San Angelo. We read the local newspapers and stay up to date on real estate in each area. Our choice was based on climate, open space and lack of congestion. We also checked out Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee but I guess we just love Texas. We will sell our home here in Massachusetts and purchase a smaller home in our retirement area.

[LordBalfor]

Moving from Seattle to SE Arizona when I retire - hopefully even a bit earlier (already have the land).

Weather is the primary reasons. Tired of cold and wet.

Ken