Did anyone retirement locale become a mistake (state, years, drug)

[OREGONRAIN]

I meant to type Lumber Mill in that sentence, sorry

[tasmtairy]

I lived in Lincoln City and Salem, OR. I would pick Salem over Portland any day because of the crime and all the other problems of the city. I moved to NC in 1999 to be near my folks. I miss the Oregon Coast greatly, there is nothing like it. I love the mountains there also. It was the best state I ever lived in. Hang in there!!

[Roma]

Originally Posted by OREGONRAIN

Has anyone moved to a retirement locale that they did research on and visited, but found evenually it was not for them.

Yes us!
We retired 2.5 years ago and moved to Texas from Calif. Texas is not our cup of tea and we are planning on moving back to Calif as soon as our home here in Texas is sold.
No matter how much research or visits a person does on any given location, living there is completely different. But we are lucky that we can move. Some people are not so lucky.
I saw a write up on this very thing. It said living in a place and visiting a place is 2 different things. You could have a summer home for 20 years and visit it every summer then plan to retire there and come to find out, living there full time is not to your liking. This is very common.

[MarJ]

My husband and I lived inland in Southern California and loved camping at the beach. We were familiar with San Clemente from our camping and always wanted to live here but home prices were always beyond our means.(Right now the median price of a home in San Clemente is $1 million). When we retired we found, by luck, a mobile home community in San Clemente that is abour a mile and a half from the beach and has a golf course weaving through it. The best thing about this park is that it's resident owned so no rent increases. In 2003 we were able to buy a triple wide (over 1600sq.ft.) with the land for $300K. Our climate is great; we are close to the best in the way of doctors and hospitals; we have cultural attractions, colleges, restaurants, malls, fishing, boating and numerous other activities. Our association fees are low and, because of our temperate climate, we have low heat bills and no A/C. Everyone that lives here says "we live in the best place in the U.S. Moderator cut: website

MarJ

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by OREGONRAIN

Has anyone moved to a retirement locale that they did research on and visitied, but found evenually it was not for them.

I'll let you know, same time next year.

I hope I am remembering this correctly. In one book I read on retirement, a retiree moved from a Pennsylvania city to an Alabama or Arkansas (highly touted for retirement) non-city. He thought he'd take up fishing. He didn't like fishing, couldn't get the hang of it. In Pa (think it was Philly) he liked to meet his friends at the local tavern to socialize and shoot the breeze. If he decided to go out at night, places were always open and he could walk to them. He found out that not only was his new town dry but the whole town shut down by 6PM (or thereabouts). He was bored silly. He moved back but I wonder if he would have been happier if had he chosen a city in Alabama/Arkansas, instead of a highly touted retirement community in the suburbs.

I think if you are retiring and relocating without school aged children, rent for a year before you commit to a new location and buy a house. It's a lot easier to pick up and leave if the location doesn't suit you.

[OREGONRAIN]

Exactly, that is why I did not buy in Portland, so I did one thing right. I also learned not to beat myself up over making a mistake either. I found it is very common for retirees to relocate and then find it is not to their liking, so I made a mistake I will fix it, and learn by it.

[Miss Blue]

The more I think about "where to move to for retirement" the more I realize that theres no place like home..Husband has been retired for two years..Our home and autos are paid for..Our children and grandchildren are here..We are comfortable and can afford to vacation now and then and enjoy the things around us that we couldn't before retirement. Maybe we are just lucky also to live in a rural area, with lots of what we enjoy within three or four hours..

[Keeper]

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I moved from Tampa, FL to N. AL over a year ago and I love it here. Small town but the people are all friendly. I don't have to have an alarm on my house anymore. The weather is different but I actually enjoy the change in seasons. Of course, there are things that some wouldn't like about living here such as there are no malls or movie theaters in this town but you can drive 25 miles to get to one in 30 minutes. Maybe it is because I lived in Panama CZ for 5 years and I either had to like it or be miserable for the whole time I was there.

[Waterlily]

I was reading something that had an interesting idea. It said they believe some retired people will locate to a spot for 2 years. They'll buy a house and fix it up then sell it. They'd stay the 2 years so there is no taxes to be paid on the profit.

I wouldn't mind doing that except you could get stuck in a location if housing prices go down. You might not like the town very well but could not sell. That is kind of what happened to me the last place I lived. I had no intension of staying there for 10 years but prices were down. Well we finially got out of there, thank goodness.

Now that I am at the coast of Oregon I'm not in a real hurry to move. We've been here 4 years and it's okay. I just think when my husband retires we'd like more sun.

[jchoeffler]

Originally Posted by OREGONRAIN

Hi, I completly agree with you. I moved here to Portland, even though I researched the place, and visited, visiting and living somewhere are totally different. I have lived here almost 2 years now, I never felt the feel of high crime and drug useage around me homelessness and the amount of illegal immigrants as I feel here. Its a nice city, with beautiful mountain view, but I do not understand the social problems here are of a city that would be much larger. Im finding one has to be careful where they move, if you start noticing things are much more severe than where you moved from, myself was a small town about 45 miniutes south of boston, then the place will not work for you. I read all the research and like I said I visited, but was not prepared at how fast Portland had changed, and its a small big city. It is cheaper to live here, and the weather though rainy is much less severe weather than Massachusetts, but I don't think the trade off was worth it.

Hello Former Ma resident!
Your post was helpful to us. We live in Duxbury, MA and often look at places to move in the coming years. We have looked at Portland and almost moved there 10 years ago, before MA.We looked at it again last year. Your imput is helpful about Portland. Where were you in MA??