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Thread summary:

Move South: high cost of living, smallish house, animal-friendly with some property, stand-alone home

 
Old 12-08-2007, 02:53 PM
 
Location: Marion County, FL
1,288 posts, read 2,883,730 times
Reputation: 554

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My husband is already retired, and I hope to join him in that happy state in a year or two.

We’re New Jersey born and bred, but have had it with the cold and snow, and being cooped up in the house for at least 5 months out of the year. We want to move south at some point soon after I retire. Currently, we’re thinking about (in order) Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida.

So we’ve started to look into our options. We currently live in north Jersey, just outside NYC, so we’re used to a high cost of living – something we’d like to be able to avoid in retirement. We currently have a smallish home – a 5-room ranch on a 50 x 100 lot that currently costs $8K a year in property taxes (they’ve more than doubled in the 16 years we’ve owned it -- ouch). No kids, so we don’t care about the school system, but we have 4 dogs and 4 birds, so we want to live somewhere that’s animal-friendly.

We don’t need a large home, but we’d like one with a some property around it so we’re not on top of our next-door neighbors. We also love to garden, which ties into the desire for a home with property around it. We’re looking for a stand-alone home rather than one in a community.

Amenities? We’re not much for nightlife (we’re up with the birds, usually), but we’re used to easy access to shopping, so we’d like to be close to shopping centers (hi – my name is Kathy and I’m a Barnes and Noble addict). The practical side of me would like to be close to a good hospital, too. I’m not looking to work full-time after I retire, but would like the option of working part-time if necessary (perhaps in the aforementioned B&N).

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Old 12-08-2007, 04:56 PM
 
Location: North Dallas
583 posts, read 2,627,107 times
Reputation: 190
Check out Aiken. Zip codes are 29803 and 29801. Retirement friendly, nice charming downtown, very animal friendly. Lived there for almost 10 years and really enjoyed it. Woodside, Cedar Creek, and Houndslake all have attractive homes that may interest you. You are probably 45 minutes from a barnes and noble so your checkbook may thank you. Aiken is less than 1 hour from Columbia, 2 hours to Charleston, 2 1/2 hours to Atlanta, Ga, 3 1/2 hours to Jacksonville. You will find tons of northerns from Maryland and New Jersey. Our former neighbors were from New Jersey. Weather in SC is pretty nice. Summers are pretty warm and humid (ok--August is usually just gross!), fall is amazing and many times we had our windows open at Thanksgiving, Jan and Feb are the coldest but many days surprise you and you hunting for short sleeves, mar-jun is simply the best. Good luck on finding your perfect spot!
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Old 12-11-2007, 08:41 PM
 
Location: Outskirts of Columbia
64 posts, read 209,003 times
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Hi Kathy! You may also want to check into the Elgin/Lugoff area. I am orignially from NEPA/Upstate NY, moved here 2.5 years ago and love it. I currently reside in this area and its in a wonderful location. Elgin is about 15-20 minutes to downtown Columbia. Its also close to an up and coming area of Northeast Columbia. They have a wonderful shopping area called Village at Sandhills. Not too mention they have a very nice Books-A-Million. And alos a Barnes and Noble is about 15 minutes from here as well. This area is out of the way from the "city" but not far from anything you need or want to do...nice and quiet too. Also, Elgin is just over the county line in Kershaw county. Granted, property taxes in Richland county, the county where Columbia is are not high compared to back home in NY, but they are even cheaper in Kershaw County. I believe its also about 2.5 hours to Myrtle Beach and Charleston. Right in the center of it all. If you need any more info...just let me know...I can even take some pictures of any of the area around here and post them for you if you'd like. Also, columbia has excellent hospitals. And most places I believe are animal friendly. I personally have 2 big dogs and 2 kittens :-) I wish you good luck on your move!
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Old 12-12-2007, 01:32 PM
 
59 posts, read 254,805 times
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Default Retired in Anderson , S.C.

Retired 2 years now , made the mistake of moving from Utah to Mississippi to just be in the south , away from snow , cold , ice 6 plus months of the year. We spent less than a year there till we moved here to Anderson , S.C. Today & yesterday we worked in the yard , haven't had the heat on in several days . The temperature is 79 degrees today as it was yesterday . We now have a brand new house just under 4,000 sq ft on the lake , on own fishing dock , fishing pier , under $300,000.00 , annual home owner insurance $500.00 , figure the electricity , gas heat , water , cable TV, phone all total come to less than $250.00 a month for our new home . We still have to sell the original home we bought here down the road about 3 miles , it is a 4 bedroom , 3 bathroom, 2,500 sq ft all brick home with walk out access basement , double garage , large rocking chair front porch , large 750 sq ft work shop storage building with electricity , on just over 2 acres , listed at $154,900.00 . The annual taxes as is the home owner insurance both at just over $500.00 annually . Gives you all some idea what you can get for you money down in the area. No sales tax on groceries you buy , while other than groceries there is a .06 percent sales tax . If you 65 , they don't tax your first $15,000.00 of retirement money per individual , they don't tax your social security , the state doesn't tax your intangables , interest & dividends you recieve , it is a very tax friendly state for seniors & those retired . Our medical insurance is cheaper here than in most states for the same or better coverage , a decrease of over $50.00 a month from what it cost in Utah & Mississippi . They here in Anderson have some of the most modern equipment & newest proceedures they have anywhere , new facilties everywhere. Really give things a try in Anderson, S.C. Lots of things to do , places to go , & basically not like any place we've looked at elsewhere . We don't see traffic to speak of unless on travels to the coast or Atlanta.
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Old 12-12-2007, 05:29 PM
 
41 posts, read 215,942 times
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Cool For retirement SC is hard to beat

Everything you want is in SC including lots of Barnes and Nobles. You will have to turn out the lights on the way out of NJ because most of the people we meet in SC are already here from NJ. (And they are happy people)
As far as specific locales, I know that the Greenville area (i.e. Anderson) is one of the best.
You need to make a swing through the major cities including the areas around Charleston and the SC areas around Charlotte as well as Columbia and maybe Aiken
For low cost its hard to beat the Greenville area but it is a bit warmer near the coast in winter. If you do like the coast it will be more expensive, especially for insurance and of course there is always the storm concern.
SC has faults for many, but for retirees looking for beautiful weather and very reasonable cost and plenty of things to do, you can't beat it. If you need more ideas for how to go about a search you can send me a PM

Last edited by lowcountry; 12-12-2007 at 05:32 PM.. Reason: spelling
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Old 12-13-2007, 08:37 AM
 
Location: Marion, IN
8,189 posts, read 31,166,083 times
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I am going to go with Aiken as well. If finding a job is not a concern Aiken is an incredible place to live.
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Old 12-17-2007, 08:29 PM
 
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My vote goes with Aiken also.

I moved to Aiken to get away from the harsh Cleveland winters. I've been here since Sept 25th 2007. They will have to run me out of town to make me leave. What a beautiful, friendly place.

As Envy said, if you aren't looking for a job (seems everything is a minimum wage job here), come on down!!
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Old 12-18-2007, 09:21 AM
 
10,545 posts, read 13,546,026 times
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From what you've outlined, I would say that most of the areas you're considering would meet your needs. I would suggest giving some thought to other things you would like that would help differentiate places. Would you like to be near the coast, lakes, hills? How close to places with arts, restaurants etc. would you like to be etc.?
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Old 01-24-2008, 03:25 PM
 
Location: Marion County, FL
1,288 posts, read 2,883,730 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rggr View Post
From what you've outlined, I would say that most of the areas you're considering would meet your needs. I would suggest giving some thought to other things you would like that would help differentiate places. Would you like to be near the coast, lakes, hills? How close to places with arts, restaurants etc. would you like to be etc.?
Well, my heart and soul would like to be near Yankee Stadium, but that's not gonna happen.

We're from very urban NJ (Bayonne -- the average lot is 25 x 100), and we're used to good Italian and Chinese food. We like the beach, but living on the coast would be a negative due to hurricane risk.

We would love to have a nice piece of property where we can fill the garden with roses. I'd love to be able to start riding again, and a part-time job to keep me in pocket change for books and DVDs would keep me very happy. We're not very arty, though I love to go to the occasional movie, and we're pretty much homebodies -- but we're used to being able to go to malls and bookstores and electronics stores whenever we want. DSL access is a must.

I'd be concerned about local animal-ownership laws, since we have 4 dogs and 4 parrots. We'd also be concerned about deed restrictions -- we don't want someone telling us we can't put up a 6-ft fence around our back yard, or telling us what color we can paint the house.

City water would be essential, and we'd prefer sewer to septic.

Taxes are a concern -- I'm hearing about personal property taxes in SC, and I'm not at all familiar with them, since NJ eliminated them decades ago. What are they assessed on, and at what rate?

I'm sure I'll come up with more questions as I think about this more.
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Old 01-25-2008, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Columbia, SC
6,830 posts, read 16,497,434 times
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Kathy, don't worry about the personal property taxes, they are more than made up for by the low real estate taxes. Income taxes here are not all that bad either. You will marvel at the amount of house you can get for your money here, too.

Except in historic neighborhoods you really won't have much problem with being told whether you can put up a fence or not. Exceptions might be in more exclusive subdivisions, but that is doubtful.

I'm in Columbia and pretty much all of the urban and suburban parts of Richland County have city water and sewer. If you haven't been to visit yet I have plenty of photos on my website.

Waccamatt's page |
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