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Southern Spain. Beautiful coast, climate like CA, great food and wine, theaters, museums, historical sites, plenty of outdoor and water sports. Airports close by for convenience, great transportation. Low cost of living.
This reminds me of a couple posters here who wanted it all without paying for it, and cried about the unfairness of the world as a result.
It reminds me of the logic - or lack thereof - of posters in the Work forum who want a zero stress 40 hr/week job that pays $160K with guaranteed lifetime employment, free health care and a gold-plated pension.
San Jose, Costa Rica fits the bill. It is at 3800 feet elevation and hence isn't particularly humid, although if you descend to the Pacific Ocean or cross over to the Atlantic Ocean it will be. It does rain a fair bit.
The taxes in NY are also killer. For 1M you can get a REALLY nice house. I was looking at 600-700K and there were many options. Train to LA. Good food and entertainment choices, beach, nearish to SB. The big negative are the fires.
Coming from NYC, and enjoying that lifestyle, Scottsdale would not be appealing. But to each their own.
Even around Los Angeles itself, there are plenty of decent and commodious places, where a single-family-house (detached) can be found for $700K or less. These won't be mansions, and they won't be in the trendy/tony sections of town. But they won't be corrugated-iron shacks, or gangland.
There are two astronomically costly places in the USA: New York City, and the San Francisco Bay area. Everything else - Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego - is in relative terms much more "affordable". And by "affordable" I mean a $700K house instead of a $2.5M house. So, a person decamping from SF or NYC would found comparative savings anywhere else.
San Jose, Costa Rica fits the bill. It is at 3800 feet elevation and hence isn't particularly humid, although if you descend to the Pacific Ocean or cross over to the Atlantic Ocean it will be. It does rain a fair bit.
Year-round temperate weather -- check.
Easy access to culture -- check.
Easy access to food -- check.
Easy access to art -- check.
Easy access to music -- check.
Easy access to health care -- check.
I’ve spent time in San Jose. It’s not a pretty place and it feels 3rd world to me. Also lots of crime.
Since you are onlu 48, become a Florida resident and live in Downtown Tampa 6 months and 1 day each year. Rent VRBO's by the month up North wherever you please for 5 months each year. Try out a buch of different places until you decide where you want to Summer full time in the future.
I thought San Jose was pretty nasty too, stayed there for a few days before heading to Samara which is absolutely beautiful. The last time I went there I flew into Liberia just to avoid San Jose. Costa Rica is not really cheap either, especially compared to the rest of Central and South America.
Here in north Alabama we have low taxes, great weather and lots to do. It's a couple hours drive to Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta, and a couple more to the beach. We have a small plane to make the beach trip in a couple hours. When landing at Gulf Shores, Lu Lu's will pick you up and bring you in the back door to avoid the lines. I retired on much less than $3.5M.
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