Ideal Retirement State (75+, Canada, communities, retiree)
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New Hampshire is near the top of my list for retirement. I will either buy a smaller property on acreage or something similar near the mountains. You really have to choose the right rural towns as the state has no sales or income tax (except interest and dividend derived income from investments). Property tax rates vary quite widely depending on whether or not the town has lakes (second home property tax revenue to the town), or a dilapidated mill town with a high equalized tax rate and little in the way of a commercial tax base. Proximity to healthcare is critical. In most of the Lakes Region- hospitals and other amenities are a maximum of 30-35 minutes away in any geographical direction, and that strongly correlates with home values as well. In the more remote areas of the North Country population density is much less, services are further away, and property values are substantially less for good reason.
Last edited by GraniteStater; 04-28-2019 at 12:32 PM..
The problem with the Southern states is that you have one or two metros and their suburbs that are "nice," a few more pockets of "nice" to "OK" here and there, with a hell of a lot of bad in between.
This is exactly what we found (to our surprise) when we began to actually look around to see if relocating would be a desirable option.
In my younger decades I had only visited a few Southern metro areas for short vacations and had no need to explore or go farther afield at that time.
The first time we went to North Carolina we flew to Raleigh, rented a car, and drove from there to Pinehurst (an area touted by a friend as being "just like Long Island, only much less expensive.") As we made the approximately 1.5-hour trip I was appalled at many of the areas we drove through.
I'm another one in the "None of the Above" camp. No interest in the desert, the Ozarks, the former Confederate States of America or anything lining the Pacific ring of fire.
Just going to stay put in The People's Republic of NY.
But if you are retired in any of the state's on the list and love it, I'm very happy for you. We all have different needs and tastes.
Same here ,everything we want is close by us here in queens in nyc .. everything from the top museums to theater and dance to an extensive mass transit system ..medical facilities are some of the best available....we can head east to Long Island and we have fabulous beaches and fishing.
I get to work as little or as much as I want and earn a terrific days pay ...
You can literally eat each one of your meals in a different restaurant , assuming 3 meals a day for 23 years and never repeat
Last edited by mathjak107; 04-27-2019 at 02:16 PM..
I am glad that other people have found a retirement locale that suits (or will suit) them, though.
Do I wish our property taxes were lower? For sure; we get absolutely hammered. But for me that's the only fly in the ointment. And who knows, maybe someday we'll even get our SALT deduction back, LOL
The problem with the Southern states is that you have one or two metros and their suburbs that are "nice," a few more pockets of "nice" to "OK" here and there, with a hell of a lot of bad in between.
Obviously you prefer city, which is fine, my kids are 'city' kids too, but do realize that not everyone has that preference. Myself, if I never ever live in or near a 'nice' metro again I'll be perfectly content. I abhor too many of the things that come with 'citified' living in a larger metro area, visiting from time to time adequately suffices. Your hell is my heaven.
Obviously you prefer city, which is fine, my kids are 'city' kids too, but do realize that not everyone has that preference. Myself, if I never ever live in or near a 'nice' metro again I'll be perfectly content. I abhor too many of the things that come with 'citified' living in a larger metro area, visiting from time to time adequately suffices. Your hell is my heaven.
While taste is of course subjective, let me suggest another criterion, which perhaps squeamishness enjoins us to disregard: the affluence of a place.
Country-life among well-kept estates, with good roads, quiet and polite neighbors, is very different from country-life mired in poverty, and the demographics thereof. Likewise for small towns - and big ones. Likewise for suburbs. And cities.
When we say, "I detest urban bustle, noise, foul odors, irritating noises, congestion and cheek-to-jowl crowding", we mean - at least in part - urban grit and poverty. When we say, "I can't abide the lack of resources in the small town", what we really mean is a jurisdiction that's too poor to support elegant business or well-staffed public facilities, or persons whose poverty limits their imagination and taste.
It is much easier to park in the city, when one has a personal spot at one's workplace, another spot at a private club, and of course private parking at one's residence. It's much harder if one's relegated to jostling for a curbside public spot. It's much easier to live in the countryside, when despite every house being situated on considerable acreage, there is nevertheless a natural-gas line buried underground, and good cell-phone coverage. It is more pleasant to live in bucolic circumstances next to a mountain, or natural forest, or coastline... than adjacent to a coal-mine, or being surrounded by soybean and corn-fields.
The point, then, is that persons disaffected by city-life perhaps really mean that they're irritated with the effects of poorly-funded municipalities and impecunious neighbors. They seek relief in low-density places, where neighbors' problems are many hundreds of yards away. And vice versa, for country-life.
I've learned that hard way, that it's expensive to live in an impoverished area.
You make some good points, but... many of the things I dislike are simply the result of too many people in too small a space, all vying for the same things, regardless of income. For me, I don't want to deal with heavy traffic, road rage incidents, lines at the grocery, the pharmacy, the DMV, insane wait times at a casual restaurant, drs appointments that need to be made six months out, etc.
I wound up going to an urgent care facility recently, they had me back and seen by the doctor within 15 minutes, that's not the sort of experience typical of any time I lived in a larger city. I absolutely love going to the DMV and walking out with my tags in under five minutes, I also love that the DMV is less than ten minutes from home, rather than twenty minutes across town if traffic is good.
Money might make a difference in some respects, but it's not really about that for me. For me it's ...breathing room and the convenience offered by living in a much smaller city.
I voted for Arizona but retired to Colorado. I prefer Colorado but am aware of the medical access issues where I am and the cost of housing. I actually don't think the combination of possibilities exists in an ideal form.
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