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All your points are great! I am confused by one thing only: did you decide on KF for now, or are you still looking for a new location?
We did settle on KFalls, but that was the process we went through. If I could have lived in any city without regard to cost, I'd probably have picked San Luis Obispo, CA or Santa Barbara, CA - but then we'd both have had to work at a 40-hour regular job. This way I can afford to live, make a moderate (okay, miniscule) amount of money as an editor and work on my own books and my husband can afford to continue as a part-time engineering consultant (something he's been doing, in addition to his regular "day" engineering job, for about a year). And we can afford to travel, which would have been cut out of the budget in California (pretty much ANYWHERE in California).
Thanks. Just wanted to clear up my confusion because I nearly suggested an alternative but thought better of it.
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Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal
We did settle on KFalls, but that was the process we went through. If I could have lived in any city without regard to cost, I'd probably have picked San Luis Obispo, CA or Santa Barbara, CA - but then we'd both have had to work at a 40-hour regular job. This way I can afford to live, make a moderate (okay, miniscule) amount of money as an editor and work on my own books and my husband can afford to continue as a part-time engineering consultant (something he's been doing, in addition to his regular "day" engineering job, for about a year). And we can afford to travel, which would have been cut out of the budget in California (pretty much ANYWHERE in California).
Blue State-Red State is a Myth for Retirement Places!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OREGONRAIN
Yes I would also like to live in parts of the south, but I think I might last a few hours and then be looking at this website for a new locale to move to. It would be based on not being of a personality for that area, which is why, and I will admit it, the politics of so much of the country is making many of us have to cross places off our list, that we may have settled in, I think that is not saying much for the personality of the USA.
So many people are moving and will move across our country that in virtually every town and city across the U.S. there will be people that one can identify with. There are already places that have seen a significant demographic shift in the past 20 years based on who is moving into the area. How much more so in the next 20, particularly as communities "recruit" residents from colder, more congested, higher taxed, and/or wealthier areas!
I have clients who said, "I can't see living in ______ ." yet within certain states or regions there are communities, towns, or cities that fit what they are looking for- even from a political perspective- based on the presence of certain organizations and industries and the size of the community.
You simply cannot say, "Oh, you're from _____; you think this way." Give me an example of that and in 10 minutes I could find 10 people who live in that area who think otherwise. I'm not saying that there aren't certain places that would generally speaking make one more or less comfortable, but I am saying that one shouldn't cross them off a list so readily.
PNW-type-gal, tell me something about Klamath Falls, first of all, where exactly is it? My husband and I are about 2.5 years out from our retirement and had pretty much settled on the Raleigh, NC area. We currently live in Houston and have had our fill of the traffic and weather here. We are coming up to OR next month, meeting my sister in Portland and then driving up to the Walla Walla area for several days of wine-ing. Then my sister has to get back to Corvallis to work and my husband and I will have several days on our own. We had some thoughts about maybe looking around the areas south of Portland just to see what is there (with maybe a side trip to a winery or two). Like several other posters here, we too want the amenities of a sizeable city, no climate extremes, a reasonable living cost and don't want anything that resmembles a "retirement community."
PNW-type-gal, tell me something about Klamath Falls, first of all, where exactly is it? My husband and I are about 2.5 years out from our retirement and had pretty much settled on the Raleigh, NC area. We currently live in Houston and have had our fill of the traffic and weather here. We are coming up to OR next month, meeting my sister in Portland and then driving up to the Walla Walla area for several days of wine-ing. Then my sister has to get back to Corvallis to work and my husband and I will have several days on our own. We had some thoughts about maybe looking around the areas south of Portland just to see what is there (with maybe a side trip to a winery or two). Like several other posters here, we too want the amenities of a sizeable city, no climate extremes, a reasonable living cost and don't want anything that resmembles a "retirement community."
KFalls is a good 5-6 hours south of Portland, on the east side of the Cascades (the wet/dry divide in Oregon). I'm not sure KFalls meets "sizeable city" - the overall area is about 40,000 (according to the Chamber of Commerce), but the city population is about 20,000 (according to City Data). Bend, Oregon, is close enough for a drive out from Portland or Corvallis, and you can get a good idea what the east side of the Cascades looks like in Bend - the drive out Highway 22 or 20 is gorgeous, too. Be sure to stop in Sisters, OR, my favorite of Oregon's "tourist towns." And the High Desert Museum, south of town, is a favorite,too, although, as a geologist, I can never resist Lava Butte (a 500' tall lava cinder cone, just off the highway) and the amusing educational displays.
For us, KFalls was the chances to buy several acres, a chance to be near some of my favorite Cascades and Sierras "alpine" hikes and my favorite "high desert" hikes. It's also the home of the Klamath Wildlife Refuge, and, seasonally, you can see just about every type of migrating bird western North America has. I'm not a fanatic birder, but I do enjoy it.
The town of Klamath Falls is still in the "up and coming" stage - the core downtown area has (Main and 6th, say) has some small boutique shops, but, in the past, a lot of them struggled to stay open. Talking to many residents, a "shopping trip" used to mean the 70+ miles over the pass to Medford, but in an interesting "backward" move, Klamath Falls has more and more of the "big box" stores (Best Buy, Target, WalMart, Office Depot and the like) opening up, and the increased availability of the big items means people are LESS likely to think "out of area" for shopping, and that the downtown area has been doing much better - the big boxes actually created an environment in which the downtown can do better.
The stretch of big box stuff, out toward the airport, gives Klamath Falls the "anywhere USA" look - but it also makes KFalls a self-contained city. It's far enough off of I-5 that it's not a "gas stop" town. It is still a fairly rural area, with a lot of farming and ranching, but it's also got an amusing live theater/music hall (the Ross Ragland Theater) and in summer there is the "Kinetic Race" - people from all over the country bring human-powered vehicles for a combination road race/boat race/hill climb.
It made "Relocate America's" top 100 places list for 2007
http://www.relocate-america.com/states/or/cities/klamath.htm (broken link)
It does have a very upscale large "resort community" (not retirement community) just outside the city, called the Running Y, with homes and condos in the 300,000- 3,000,000 range.
Bend, a larger city, has a lot of big-city amenities for such a small place. Unfortunately, Bend is priced out of my reach (and is not quite as sunny as Klamath Falls). It's also seen so much growth that it's having trouble keeping up - in 10 years it's grown by 57%, population wise (the general Bend area, not just the city).
It will get snow and some cold during winter. However people have been rushing to Bend and it seems cold and snowy to me. I know we all like different weather but I'm not so crazy about snow. I have lived in eastern Oregon but the northern part of the state. It seemed like long winters up there.
Waterlily, after reading PNW_type-gal's list, I was going to suggest New Mexico. Friends of mine just built a 2500 sq ft. adobe on an acre of land in Taos. They did a beautiful job, and their view is not to be believed--breathtaking.
Waterlily, after reading PNW_type-gal's list, I was going to suggest New Mexico. Friends of mine just built a 2500 sq ft. adobe on an acre of land in Taos. They did a beautiful job, and their view is not to be believed--breathtaking.
We visited New Mexico as part of our search. I loved Santa Fe but the spouse did not. Taos was too tourist-based for us. One of the things I do when I visit cities is to drive through the industrial and commercial areas to see how "healthy" they are. Santa Fe has a fairly large light industrial/commercial district, with a diverse set of businesses. Taos' is almost all home construction-related.
We also stayed for a few nights in an earth ship, just outside of Taos, which the spouse thought was wonderful. I preferred the more standard adobe casita we stayed in, in town, myself.
It will get snow and some cold during winter. However people have been rushing to Bend and it seems cold and snowy to me. I know we all like different weather but I'm not so crazy about snow. I have lived in eastern Oregon but the northern part of the state. It seemed like long winters up there.
Yes, I had to balance the weather graphs - the one with snowfall versus the one with a sunshine percentage that never dips below 50%, making it one of the sunniest places in Oregon. We purposely went down there in the winter several times while we were looking for a lot or house (also in spring and high summer). This last year, they had a huge snow storm that dumped about 6-7 inches on our lot the day before we got there. By two days later, the sun was out and we were walking around in short-sleeve shirts as the snow melted off. I've never lived, as an adult, in a place with snow and it'll be an interesting adjustment.
I remember that NM was on your original list. Yes, Taos was too much a tourist town (for me) and had more negatives than positives for my personal needs. I was never particularly attracted to Santa Fe, but Taos has actually become more spoiled than Santa Fe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal
We visited New Mexico as part of our search. I loved Santa Fe but the spouse did not. Taos was too tourist-based for us. One of the things I do when I visit cities is to drive through the industrial and commercial areas to see how "healthy" they are. Santa Fe has a fairly large light industrial/commercial district, with a diverse set of businesses. Taos' is almost all home construction-related.
We also stayed for a few nights in an earth ship, just outside of Taos, which the spouse thought was wonderful. I preferred the more standard adobe casita we stayed in, in town, myself.
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Blue State-Red State is a Myth for Retirement Places!
