Retiring to a 4 season state - anyone done it? How? (relocating, spouse)

[jsqueezer]

Originally Posted by Umbria

I'm a 4 season girl - each new season brings a kind of rejuvenation. I fear I would get terribly bored with 1 season, regardless of how nice it was. Right now, fall is here - during the day we are having high 70s/low 80s (perfect) but I love the evenings when I can cuddle up in a blanket and sip hot cocoa. I even love winter, the cold crisp sunny days - until Jan. - then I'm ready for spring again.

Agreed! I could have written this myself. I currently live in lower Michigan and plan to move to Northern Michigan soon.

When i was working full time, my job gave me many opportunities to spend time in the Sun Belt. I commuted back and forth between Florida, Texas and Arizona. The only state I'd even mildly consider is Arizona, but I realized I like water too much.

Sorry, Floridians, but I hated, hated, hated Florida. Bad work experiences certainly colored my perceptions, but I just never appreciated hot and sticky and that slight moldy smell that seems to permeate enclosed spaces (like hotel rooms).

I found parts of Texas were nice, but oh.... the heat!! For weeks and weeks!

I finally came to the realization that I do need the rejuvenation and variety that 4 seasons bring.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by nightbird47

Thing is with mobile home parks (MHP), is they can continue to raise your rent. ....

For MHP, find a well managed resident owned community ROC USA : Home

I have found some gems...
Home values INCREASE rather than decrease (for many reasons...)
Parks are well kept (B'cuz YOU own them) Often these resident owned parks are pristine!
Rents can be LESS (no profit required) One park in TX... the residents (owners) set up 20 LT RV spots near the River (not accessible to MH placement) and from the profit they get from those sites... they pay for staff, and reduce space rents to residents... (their space rent was $120/ mo vs, city average of $370.
LT space rents are in YOUR control (as a group of owners)

it is still 2012... Year of the co-op... go find a nice park, buy it, and convert it to a co-operatively resident owned Community

http://www.nw.org/network/neighborwo...mpshireCLF.pdf
Department of Housing and Community Development - State of California
Home Page
Northcountry Cooperative Foundation

These (Housing co-ops / LLC) CAN have their own set of problems, BUT they can also be VERY nice and supportive communities.

Remember, a USDA study indicated Seniors live 10 yrs longer INDEPENDENTLY in a cooperative housing situation, rather than in their own apartment / home. Caring for each other, and staying engaged in managing the co-op is not a bad quality of life for many.

Senior Cooperative Foundation

[pnwretired]

I have been here in the PNW since 1983. Prior to that born and raised in San Diego, CA except for a few years in NYC after my dad died. Don't mind the rain but the gloom is getting to me. I just hate it and I am ready for a change. Love, love the 4 seasons but hate the gloom - think Denver might be good for that but where else is there no gloom. Think we are going to try Florida just for a change and will only rent. We can travel throughout the EAst coast and south and visit places that we have never been.

Anyone wanting to move here - just remember it isn't the rain that will bother you but the gloom. Beautiful state though. Love the water and the mountains.

[jim9251]

I lived in a four season area, northwest Arkansas. There was summer, fall, winter, spring. I moved to another season state, Colorado, after I retired. There's winter, still winter, more winter, mud season, windy season, dust storm season, spring, tourist season, summer, fall, winter again. I LOVE the cold winters. Don't care much for the dust storms. But LOVE cold weather and am outside all winter.

[gemkeeper]

I was born and raised in the northeast, raised my children in Michigan, so have spent most of my life in four seasons states.


We retired to north GA because DH wanted to go south. We still have four mild seasons with a few snow storms and mild summers.

Sounds perfect, right? What about all that gets left behind?

Where are the children, grandkids, siblings, old school friends? Yep- they are all still up north. See them once a year and soon will be unable to make the long drive every year.

Do not give up loved ones for weather. Nothing replaces those you care about or who care about you. I would go back home in a heartbeat, but would have to go without hubby.
Ihubby!

[accufitgolf]

Originally Posted by gemkeeper

I was born and raised in the northeast, raised my children in Michigan, so have spent most of my life in four seasons states.


We retired to north GA because DH wanted to go south. We still have four mild seasons with a few snow storms and mild summers.

Sounds perfect, right? What about all that gets left behind?

Where are the children, grandkids, siblings, old school friends? Yep- they are all still up north. See them once a year and soon will be unable to make the long drive every year.

Do not give up loved ones for weather. Nothing replaces those you care about or who care about you. I would go back home in a heartbeat, but would have to go without hubby.
Ihubby!

We chose to retire SC for milder winters. You could not get us to go back north. Kids and grandkids are up north. Love for them to visit us but also love when they go back home.

We chose to retire for our enjoyment.

[pnwretired]

Originally Posted by accufitgolf

We chose to retire SC for milder winters. You could not get us to go back north. Kids and grandkids are up north. Love for them to visit us but also love when they go back home.

We chose to retire for our enjoyment.

Totally agree. I am certainly not going to live my life for my children and grandchildren who should be able to survive without me. They certainly would not live their life for me. I know too many people who do this and it does not make for a happy marriage but then I have a friend who has a marriage in name only. She does nothing with her husband and everything with a 40 yr old daughter who is unmarried and a late 30's daughter who lives at home and does not even work or try to work. I wonder what will happen to those daughters when their mother is gone.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by accufitgolf

... We chose to retire for our enjoyment.

We did too.

We were never able to stay in one place more than 4 years, often we got transfer more frequently than that. So when I retired, we did not have any 'roots' anywhere.

[RiverBird]

The challenge in the northern "four-season states" is that the part of winter that is least glamourous and downright cold is January through March. (November and December leading up to the holidays are novel and nice.) If one chooses to live northerly I guarantee you will want to bail for at least a part of these late winter months, unless you're an outdoor buff/skier. You will want to head for FLA or the SW. Is that really experiencing "all four seasons"?

When I lived in the Midwest I found the four seasons somewhat different. The fall lasted forever, the spring was long and lovely, the winter was not so harsh as north (and shorter)....and the summer was, well....I am not a summer person (can't stand hot) but the way summers are going these days, pretty much par for the course = HOT. I would imagine that other states across the middle Midwest to be much the same.

If you hate long cold months especially as you age, strongly consider against moving north unless you have a second home somewhere else. An alternative is to live in a moderate climate and spend a month north in the fall, the glorious time of year here. I have a FLA friend who does just that, she loves New England in the fall and comes up to stay with relatives every year.

One other thought is that the cost of real estate, rentals, and utilities will be higher here.

[pokee]

the dream of finding a retirement community of affordable small cabins keeps coming up "zero" ... where could such a community (which is affordable for a single woman) be found????