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I’m trying to help my mother (51) and stepfather (63) find a place to relocate. I will start with their preferences and then provide a back story and current situation to help narrow down a place that would be good for them.
Current residence: Myrtle Beach, SC Current monthly housing expenses: $1200 + utilities Current monthly income w/o jobs: $1250 military retirement & $1100 SSI Mother: Born and raised in SC. Has only lived in one other state (MS) for one month Stepfather: Born and raised in Oklahoma/Texas. Spent 20 years in the military - lived in Europe for 16 years, and has lived in Chicago, Texas, and SC.
UI money anticipated for moving/car: $20-25k Regular income w/o a job: $1250/mo military retirement & $1100 SSI Desire: Small 1-2 bedroom house, condo, or townhome
Preferences in a place to relocate:
Affordable on small income (absolute must have)
Mild winters (mother is adamant about not living in a place with snow, but I’ve tried to convince her to try it if the place is otherwise nice and gets mild snow)
Greenery
Not a major urban area but not a small town (population around 130k-200k max). Must have job opportunities. For example, they don’t want to live in a place like Los Angeles but would be okay in a smaller city about 1.5-2 hours outside of LA county so that they could still visit for fun if they wanted.
Higher walkability score
States they’ve considered but haven’t researched in depth: Texas (my step dad has always loved it), Arizona (warm), and CA (I’ve tried to convince them to consider smaller and more affordable towns in CA). I live in CO and have told them not to come here due to the weather, higher cost of living, etc.
Okay, now for important background info:
My parents lost everything in the Great Recession. We moved to Myrtle Beach while I was in high school right on the eve of the Great Recession (Feb 2008). We lived in a hotel while finding a place to live and jobs for them. We never found either and we lost all of our furniture in storage, the car, etc. They filed bankruptcy. Ever since then my parents have never recovered. They have to pay for places that are furnished and include furniture/utilities as part of rent. They don’t own a car. The only thing they own are personal items and the clothes in two plastic bins. They’ve spent the last few years being foster care house parents for organizations in Florida, SC, and NC. This was helpful because they all included housing, a car, etc.
After years of doing this they left a job last November and decided they can’t do it anymore. At their age it was becoming increasingly difficult to care for up to 12 kids/teens with behavioral problems, getting 4-5 hours of sleep per night, etc. They planned to just get regular jobs and save up to leave for somewhere better. I convinced my parents in December to have my stepfather take his SSI early even though it would mean a cut. I told them they don’t know how long either of them will live and they need that money now. This turned out to be extremely beneficial because then COVID happened and their UI became exhausted with their new job offers in minimum wage rescinded.
They’ve been fighting for UI under CARES for 8 weeks and it’s finally slowly getting sorted out. I’ve told them that they have to leave the southeast. It’s non-negotiable. There are no opportunities for them there and they will sink. At their age they need to get on their feet and be stable.
I’ve told them to save their UI money and take all of it to buy a good used car (something like a Honda/Toyota/Hyundai/Kia/Mazda) for no more than $12k (preferably 5-6k) and to move to a low cost of living area and put the rest as a down payment on a house, condo, or townhome. I’ve tried to convince my mother that she ought to consider the midwest because even if they hate it they can at least stay there for a few years and get on their feet. She’s just opposed to the snow. That said, I think that puts the northeast and northern midwest out of the questions. I also think the pacific northwest wouldn’t be good for them due to cold and rain.
So, this is their plan right now. They are saving all of the UI money and trying to find places to research so that they can put a down payment down and get a car, and then they will work minimum wage jobs as needed. My step father can't make more than $18,000/year on SSI but is getting to the age that he can't work much longer anyway, especially after straining his body for 20 years in the Army.
Arizona is not really well-known for being green. And it’s green parts get snow. Transplants really underestimate how brown we are. Despite the complete lack of grass (deserts and all), almost all our buildings are brown too. The mountains are brown. And if you’re near Phoenix then you have smog (brown air). Other colder parts of the west are actually pretty brown too, you should know living in Colorado. Even Boise was surprisingly brown to me (in pictures anyway).
Out west there really aren’t any viable small towns. Water resource laws basically prevent that kind of town with exceptions for being far from everything else (couple hours or more from another town). Usually there are few to no jobs in such towns.
Your parents want somewhere in the southeast not out west. Good luck.
Some places that come to mind are Savannah, GA, Northwest Florida (Pensacola-Panama City---especially South Walton or Okaloosa), St. John County, FL (St. Augustine area), Brevard County, FL (Palm Bay-Melbourne Area). Some of these places don't meet all of the criteria but may be worth checking out.
How about a smaller city on the outskirts of Oklahoma City or Tulsa or inside either? Edmond, Norman, Yukon, Jenks. The COL is low, not too far from CO, some green, economy would be better than Myrtle Beach. It's not as isolated as the West and the weather would be better than upper Midwest.
Another thought too, they could be eligible for income restricted senior apartments too somewhere which would lower the price of housing-1200 is too much with their income.
I'm a bit confused as to why they want to leave Myrtle Beach? I read your post about their jobs and finances and such, and I couldn't help that had you not said they already lived there, I actually would have suggested Myrtle Beach! I know of people that want to retire there. There are plenty of inexpensive places in-land, and it sounds to me that they types of jobs they hope to secure at this age could be attained in just about any small city?
That said, a few other places that come to mind:
Savannah
Pensacola
Jacksonville
Daphne/Fairhope
Johnson City
Omaha (gets snow)
Kansas City (get's snow)
Tucson
San Antonio
Birmingham
Chattanooga
Richmond
Hampton Roads
I just don't see any green areas, that are lower-income, that doesn't get a lot of snow at least not west of I-25 at least.
Would a place like say Medford, OR be somewhat affordable enough it doesn't get a lot of snow and should at least not be as expensive as Portland or California? Salt Lake City and Reno get too much snow for the OP's parent's needs more than likely.
If it is mountainous or hilly stuff then Chattanooga, TN along with Greenville/Spartanburg SC may be on the list. Both are near mountains/hills but since they are in a valley they stay pretty mild and only get about 3-5 inches of snow a year and several years where they may see a half-inch to 1 inch of snow at best. Huntsville, AL for a lot of the same reasons could work but the COL is creeping up in that area.
Birmingham and the suburbs of Atlanta offer some hilly terrain with even less snow than Chattanooga and Greenville/Spartanburg.
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Pensacola, Florida
