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As I continue my quest for our ideal retirement location, I feel like there's an important question that I can't seem to solidly answer. Do we want to live remotely or around others. It seems like a simple question, but there's so many factors and I can see pros and cons with both.
So the first part of it is, I know we for sure want to get away from traffic, but we like to have a nice variety of stores and restaurants. I could see living within a half hour of a small to mid size city or even in a town with a population around 20-50 thousand.
The second part is, do we want to live in a 55+ type community where we have the potential to have friends nearby. I also thought because we don't have kids that might be a good living situation where everyone looks out for each other in a good way. The con of that is I'm worried that as people age, many of them seem to find entertainment in policing the neighbors and getting in everyone's business causing drama. That makes me think we need to have at least a couple acres and some privacy, so we're not annoyed by busy-body neighbors. Then on the other hand as we age, is living remotely really the best thing for loneliness, safety, convenience, etc.
That brings me to thinking that living in a town where there's a mix of different people and things are within close walking and driving distance would be the best living situation for seniors. We're a ways out from becoming seniors, but definitely thinking ahead to position ourselves in the best situation possible when the time comes.
What thoughts do you have or what experiences have you had with this?
Those are very understandable questions. We have somewhat similar preferences. For us, we have enough interest in culinary and cultural offerings that a city or town of a certain size is important.
One consideration worth bearing in mind is that the driving skills decline with age and sometimes driving even 20-30 miles, if busy or curvy or or high-speed traffic, particularly at night can be challenging. We visited someone in Tucson who was happy with her 55+ place not too far outside the city but could simply not drive to/from there at night.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Age, / season of retirement?
Things change, including desires and needs.
I've always lived rural, and today there is no home within view of my house, but neighbors are within a few minutes. Full service Town 6 minutes, international airport/ major medical, + metro 300k + population within 20 minutes. No stop lights in county+++. Major hiking, pics, fishing, hunting 5 minutes.
Noises= coyotes, cows, distant train and tug boats (5+ miles away)
Last edited by StealthRabbit; 02-10-2024 at 10:00 PM..
Continuing Care Communities, I think of. One couple living on the Olympic Peninsula, moved to such a community in Salem?, Oregon instead of one near Seattle; another couple moved to a continuing care community in Arizona.
Live in a 64 modular home community, 55+, people, friendly, stay to themselves. Move to such a community if driving becomes an issue.
Our plans were to retire to the mountains of North Carolina. We even bought two acres near a small town about 55 miles from Ashville. But for us, as retirement got closer the rural life looked less appealing.
We wound up here in Tennessee in a town of about 4,000 on the edge of a city of about 35,000. Instead of 2 acres we have 1/3 of an acre which we find is fine for us. The backyard has about 25 trees so we have lots of birds and squirrels around. Room for a big flowerbed in the front and another in back to indulge my love of plants. We are on a small loop at the back of a quiet subdivision so there is almost no traffic by our house.
The city we are on the outskirts of is a regional center for shopping and medical for the Upper Cumberland part of Tennessee so we have all the grocery and any other shopping shopping that we need as well as the regional hospital and many specialists. And we can be at any store or medical we need as well as the university in about 10 minutes. Being a university city we have a nice selection of restaurants. As well as the usual chains and Chinese, Mexican, etc. we can have Cajun, Thai, Indian, Filipino, Cuban, and Vietnamese. A bonus is attending music and basketball at the university
The older we get the more we appreciate being so close to everything. For us we could not be happier with our retirement decision.
At 65 I was planning on building a remote house and be sort of a pioneer in the New Mexico high desert. I bought land and had house plans but the cost kept rising (well, septic, etc.). I pulled out of that plan. It costs a lot to be a pioneer. I still own the land.
Plan B was a 20 year old home on 1+ acre, with one adjacent neighbor. I had a few other neighbors at some distance. It was about seven miles to shopping. Doctor was about the same. The city center, Albuquerque, was about 45 minutes away, airport about an hour away. Santa Fe is about an hour away. I can be in the pine forest in about 30 minutes and the river forest in about 10 minutes. I have coyotes in the yard, quail, doves, roadrunners, jackrabbits, and a fishpond. I live alone @75 and this was the best choice for me once I got settled in.
The con of that is I'm worried that as people age, many of them seem to find entertainment in policing the neighbors and getting in everyone's business causing drama.
That can happen anywhere at any age.
I would take that out of the equation.
As I continue my quest for our ideal retirement location, I feel like there's an important question that I can't seem to solidly answer. Do we want to live remotely or around others. It seems like a simple question, but there's so many factors and I can see pros and cons with both.
So the first part of it is, I know we for sure want to get away from traffic, but we like to have a nice variety of stores and restaurants. I could see living within a half hour of a small to mid size city or even in a town with a population around 20-50 thousand.
The second part is, do we want to live in a 55+ type community where we have the potential to have friends nearby. I also thought because we don't have kids that might be a good living situation where everyone looks out for each other in a good way. The con of that is I'm worried that as people age, many of them seem to find entertainment in policing the neighbors and getting in everyone's business causing drama. That makes me think we need to have at least a couple acres and some privacy, so we're not annoyed by busy-body neighbors. Then on the other hand as we age, is living remotely really the best thing for loneliness, safety, convenience, etc.
That brings me to thinking that living in a town where there's a mix of different people and things are within close walking and driving distance would be the best living situation for seniors. We're a ways out from becoming seniors, but definitely thinking ahead to position ourselves in the best situation possible when the time comes.
What thoughts do you have or what experiences have you had with this?
Best option for me was to live in a super,safe suburb. I am close to anything I need or want. I don’t find water views as anything but boring and Mountain View’s become boring very quickly so I do not need them close.
My town has terrible jams during rush hour but I plan life to never get out in rush hour traffic. It was an easy decision to be near others since I can avoid the crowds and traffic issues.
Even if you live in a major metro, you will probably stay mostly in the area that you live.
Everything I need and mostly want is within 5 miles, a lot within 2. But if I want to do something out of the ordinary in less than an hour I can be at arenas, stadiums, casinos, museums, 185 golf courses, and just about anything anyone would want to do.
People aging has nothing to do with causing drama. I'm sure they caused it wherever they lived in the past.
I like having people around me, but I don't necessarily feel the need to become friendly with them. I live in a 300 unit apartment complex, and speak to maybe a dozen people. A handful of others are limited to a friendly nod or a "Hello".
As far as people knowing my business, it is limited to what I tell them. If they happen to inquire about something that they observed, my reply is usually something that is sure to make them uncomfortable/embarrassed about watching me.
I like the suburban area that I'm in. Groceries/gas/restaurants are across the street, and all of the other shopping and entertainment that I could ever need is within 10 minutes, with the exception of the hockey arena and baseball stadium which are 25-30 minutes away.
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