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I don't know whether this has been posted elsewhere, but I just found this site. Just for fun, I checked on the cost comparison between Portland, Oregon and Jackson, Wyoming. My income would have to increase by 357% in order to live there...LOL My idea of "must have mountains and snow" just went out the window...
I did find this site interesting, and it might go a long way in refining the areas to look at for retirement!
[URL Mod cut]
Last edited by Waterlily; 07-04-2008 at 10:48 PM..
Reason: Competing site and wrong link
I don't know whether this has been posted elsewhere, but I just found this site. Just for fun, I checked on the cost comparison between Portland, Oregon and Jackson, Wyoming. My income would have to increase by 357% in order to live there...LOL My idea of "must have mountains and snow" just went out the window...
I did find this site interesting, and it might go a long way in refining the areas to look at for retirement!
www.bestlaces.net/col/ (broken link)
I looked up this site, but can't figure out how you calculated the cost comparison between two cities. I did click on "Best Places to Visit in the US" and one site came up listed: "Beautiful Russian Girls.....1000's of girls..". Are you trying to get me killed before I retire?
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,705 posts, read 58,042,598 times
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While WYO is a great retirement state, it is currently having an energy boom, which is inflating other areas too. It is very cyclical and at some point in the future will be affordable again.. I would say Jackson will never be affordable to 99% of us. Powell is nice, but not in mountains (but close). Sheridan too. I was in Encampment, WY last week , very cheap, nice, but quite remote from services, Laramie is 1.5 hrs away. MT and Idaho will be the cheapest western mountain land in remote areas. The trendy spots in the west got snatched pre-2000 when the capital gains fled Calif. Big problem tho is beetle kill. Some of these Rocky Mtn places have 80% "brown" mountains, and it will take decades to change that. + they will have to burn first. Even Canada is now suffering from huge beetle kill in forests. It was just getting to Colorado when I left 28 yrs ago, now places like Vail and Grand Lake are just ugly, or at least very scary. A fire will move fast once started.
"Best Places" didn't have enough 'detail' for me to make moving decision. I made a 'relocation' spreadsheet with such factors as commute, medical costs, real estate appreciation / depreciation, energy costs... It told me to stay where I was if my property values were increasing at a rate to pay my $1000/month taxes, or to find a cheap place near services. Not sure my value will sustain taxes, but they are not making more land, especially buildable view property in National Scenic areas, only 20 min from international airport... now to find a way to fund those taxes (without a reverse mortgage). In the meantime I'm still looking. WY, TN, Colorado. I will keep my permanent addy, income properties, and LLC's in tax free WA. SD is a 'retirement friendly state that has minimal 'residence' requirements. There are nice mountain spots near Custer.
Lots of us have similar desires, we need to make a comprehensive database and network of places to visit to get a "taste" of living there. A Co-housing network with various locations (climates + rural vs. city) would be nice.
MT and Idaho will be the cheapest western mountain land in remote areas. The trendy spots in the west got snatched pre-2000 when the capital gains fled Calif. Big problem tho is beetle kill. Some of these Rocky Mtn places have 80% "brown" mountains, and it will take decades to change that. + they will have to burn first. Even Canada is now suffering from huge beetle kill in forests. It was just getting to Colorado when I left 28 yrs ago, now places like Vail and Grand Lake are just ugly, or at least very scary. A fire will move fast once started.
"Best Places" didn't have enough 'detail' for me to make moving decision. I made a 'relocation' spreadsheet with such factors as commute, medical costs, real estate appreciation / depreciation, energy costs... It told me to stay where I was if my property values were increasing at a rate to pay my $1000/month taxes, or to find a cheap place near services. Not sure my value will sustain taxes, but they are not making more land, especially buildable view property in National Scenic areas, only 20 min from international airport... now to find a way to fund those taxes (without a reverse mortgage). In the meantime I'm still looking. WY, TN, Colorado. I will keep my permanent addy, income properties, and LLC's in tax free WA. SD is a 'retirement friendly state that has minimal 'residence' requirements. There are nice mountain spots near Custer.
Lots of us have similar desires, we need to make a comprehensive database and network of places to visit to get a "taste" of living there. A Co-housing network with various locations (climates + rural vs. city) would be nice.
Thanks very much for the info, especially on the beetle infestations. I like your idea of a comprehensive database, and I've been working on it, with my own sort of database. I've been to Wyoming, and my folks used to live in Jackson, before it became the hideous resort it is today. And I've been checking into Custer, but have never been there (yet). SD is definitely on my list.
Just thought the site was interesting. Sure don't think anybody's going to make a life-altering decision based solely upon an internet site - or at least I hope not!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tesaje
Try picking a place that isn't a mega tourist town.
find your spot has more questions to give you a bunch of potential places.
I had another one that did a more comprehensive cost of living comparison but I can't find it anymore. Thought I had it saved, but...not.
Thanks, I've checked find your spot before. Even though I put in that cost of living was one of my main priorties it came up with some resort town in Colorado, maybe because I put in that I like mountains. But it also consistently showed me Sheridan Wyoming and Palmer AK. (?). Well, guess we can all wish.....
It says that the move from our previous home, to our current 'retirement' home saved us 37%.
From our budget, it would seem that it saved us even more. But I am not going to do the math to prove it.
In each area there will be cheap options and there will be expensive options. Those stats are based on the average, and appear to be pretty good.
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