Men and Women retiring alone to a new city/state -- where will you go and why? (55, move)

[2peaches2oranges]

My mom is looking for a senior independent apartment in the Adirondacks area of Upstate NY and Vermont. She has lived in Chicago for the past 2 years and prior to that she lived in Florida for 10 years. She also lived 25 years in Seattle and was born in NYC. She is currently in SW Florida visiting my sister.

We visited during the summer and she loved it. She has some family and friends in the Adirondacks. It seems like most people are snow birds for a reason. The older she gets she complains about the heat. Seems like she complained about the Chicago winters too, but how do they compare with winters in Burlington, VT or Plattsburg, NY?

She is also looking at places in Virginia and Western Washington. She is always on the go and likes to walk and go to libraries and browse shops and scenery.

Any suggestions?

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by 2peaches2oranges

My mom is looking for a senior independent apartment in the Adirondacks area of Upstate NY and Vermont. ... She is also looking at places in Virginia and Western Washington. She is always on the go and likes to walk and go to libraries and browse shops and scenery.

Any suggestions?

Yes... If she has ANY tax consequences, AVOID VT. Retain FL or NH Domicile. (WA will work too, but flying across multiple time zones tends to get old after a few yrs.) AND she must enjoy doing her walking in the drizzle 280 days / yr. WA (income tax free) is fine for many and lots to see and do for 20 + yrs in retirement VERY high cost of care. (if needed). A GREAT senior spot is Silver Glen Senior Co-op http://silverglen.org/ Northwest Prime Time | Silver Glen Silver Glen Active Adult Community

Better would be a condo overlooking the Seattle waterfront. Nice way to spend a rainy day; watching from afar. Sunrises and sunsets (rare) emphasize the snowy Olympic Range and pristine waters of Puget Sound. (Not too shabby).

I would first explore places in eastern time zone. Discount Air can go a long ways to improving your weather. I do it frequently on Pacific coast, but even going 1/2 way across (my TX place) takes a chunk out of your day. I can be from rainy Portland, OR to San Diego (sun) in 2 hrs for $19. one way. You can bet I do that A LOT!

[StealthRabbit]

BTW, There are some very cute, accessible, and affordable villages near Manchester, NH / Portland, ME and you get pretty decent access to 3 great airports for cheap flights (Boston included). Winter.... more Marine influence (warmer but dramatic shifts) and not the long bitter gray cold / arctic wind of Midwest.

Survivable, occasionally enjoyable. Adirondacks can get a bit 'over-the-top' for winter enjoyment. Unless she is an avid skier (NH has great options for that too, but UT is about the best place for retiree skiers to spend a couple months)

[jambo101]

Originally Posted by bullie62

I feel the same, and it scares and saddens me. And when your own city/state is taxing and imposing fees on you to the point you cannot afford to stay, what choice do you have? Live in subsidized housing with cockroaches and crackwhores? Yeah, no.............. I'll take off alone, thanks.bullie~

I guess if taxes are so high that you cant afford to live in anything but cockroach infested crack houses i can see your point in moving.

[brava4]

Yes, Vermont is NOT retiree friendly... at all. Tax wise that is.

[bullie62]

Originally Posted by jambo101

I guess if taxes are so high that you cant afford to live in anything but cockroach infested crack houses i can see your point in moving.

I will be living on SSDI, which, ONCE APPROVED, is a paltry amount. The fees and such that Chicago/IL impose on its residents is exorbitant. The subsidized apartments are pretty seedy. Having been in the property management biz prior to being unable to work, I know what I'm typing about. If you want to retire in Chicago, you have to have coin!


bullie~

[bullie62]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

BTW, There are some very cute, accessible, and affordable villages near Manchester, NH / Portland, ME and you get pretty decent access to 3 great airports for cheap flights (Boston included). Winter.... more Marine influence (warmer but dramatic shifts) and not the long bitter gray cold / arctic wind of Midwest.

Survivable, occasionally enjoyable. Adirondacks can get a bit 'over-the-top' for winter enjoyment. Unless she is an avid skier (NH has great options for that too, but UT is about the best place for retiree skiers to spend a couple months)

Stealth, if I thought I'd make enough off the sale of my house to be able to afford a cute little place in either places you mentioned... Manchester, NH or Portland, ME, I'd be on that research, STAT!



bullie~

[Wisteria]

Originally Posted by 2peaches2oranges View Post
My mom is looking for a senior independent apartment in the Adirondacks area of Upstate NY and Vermont. ... She is also looking at places in Virginia and Western Washington. She is always on the go and likes to walk and go to libraries and browse shops and scenery.

Any suggestions?

Oh, Gees, the Adirondacks??? Which town?? Glens Falls, NY, is nice and walkable. I've been there quite a few times because of a friend there (who, ironically, just moved to San Diego because he was desperate to get away from the snow). It has SNOW. I've been to Chicago quite a few times, too, and the snow there is not as bad as in NY State or New England..... Glens Falls, NY is not large, but it does have access to things, and it is near Lake George, which is great to be at in the summer. It's also near Saratoga Springs. The location is good, it's just -- does she REALLY want that kind of snow?? Hopefully, anyplace she would find would have snow removal services. I see why she is mentioning Plattsburgh (easy access to NYC), but how often would she go to the City?

I remember being in Olive, NY (which is actually in the Catskills near the Adirondacks) and oh, my gosh -- I thought we had it bad in Buffalo, NY, where I grew up -- man, Olive was socked in with ... gee, I'd guess 20-30 feet of snow. But it's not so bad in a small town, which it is, because you just stock up for winter and don't go out. In a city, like I grew up in (Buffalo) and it snows 20 feet, then even with all the snow plows they have (which they have more than anywhere in the U.S.), it still hampers a city that is filled with houses, businesses and cars parked on the street. With global warming, I think it is not as bad now, but still, it IS Buffalo and those lake effect snows can be brutal. I've been away so long now, that I don't think I could do it again unless I absolutely had to. Your mom may just be one tough cookie!

All of New England is just beautiful. But taxes are high up there. Maine seems a bit remote to me. I always enjoyed my times in New England, but I guess growing up in that kind of weather is still off-putting.

Personally, I would consider going to a new country just because it would be different. I mean, if we only have a limited amount of time to live at this point in our lives, then why not try something TOTALLY new?? I have been toying around with that lately. Don't know if I'll ever do it, but it has been occurring to me. Unfortunately, I do not qualify for the retirement status in Malaysia -- where I do have a friend...I am short by about $500/month -- plus, the money they want you to keep in the bank....so that's out. I'm looking at other Asian countries, but I may just have to stay here and go visit my daughter who will be living in either Hong Kong or Japan for my 90-day visa -- at least I'd have someplace very different to go to for 1/4 of the year.

South America -- I don't know -- I'd like to get my Spanish up to fluency, but do I really want to go to some place in SA alone?? It always comes down to that.

Where I am is suitable and affordable for me -- obviously, a lovely location, as most of you know about (Santa Cruz, CA), but I guess I still have those gypsy feet, and am not sure I want to go out without at least living in one other country (not just visiting). It's so confusing.

At any rate, if your mom has friends in Upstate NY and she's already used to bad weather in Chicago, then it wouldn't be that hard of an adjustment. She, obviously, knows what the weather is like in Seattle (I lived there, too), and, boy, I knew I never liked Spring back East, and then I realized that Seattle was like an eternal Spring with wet-misty-drizzly days every day for months at a time, and a reprieve of several days -- except for August, it was horrible. I could not imagine ever living there again....and it's a shame because it is really a fabulous city in many ways...I just can't do constant rain/drizzle....

Good luck to her. It sounds like she's been a lot of places already, so she probably has a good idea of what she is doing. Good for her!

[Wisteria]

Bullie62:
Life changes are the things that make people look for therapy, or just lose their ever lovin' minds......

1. Moving
2. Divorce
3. Death
4. Loss of Job
5. Illness

HAH!! At our age, we're dealing with ALL of the above~! We're a walking/talking/writing/writhing jumble of emotions and fears! I know, I'm not helping, sorry..................

OK to help the situation, let's focus on the friendships we've made in our lives, in real life, and online. What can we take from those friendships, to help us in our next phase of our life? So maybe our real life friends aren't there for us with regard to our moving situation. A LOT of you have made friends here, on CD and in other arenas, REAL friendships, where you've met in real life and have visited each other, know you're not a nut case.... *cough*......... THIS is what we have to hold onto, now.

ONLINE INFORMATION is bologna cupcakes. If you take what some "person" ~and I put myself into that mix~ tells you, and you don't do your homework, check out the facts, delve deep and far into finding out the truth about what you seek, that's on you.

BE ACTIVE.

Ugh, being mature sucks. lol


bullie~

YES, some of us HAVE made friends here on CD -- still hope the NEW moderator will change the name back, so others can find us. Being a single woman retiring alone IS daunting. Plus, we generally have much less money than the men. And we like to talk about the emotional side effects of this.

One must really meet the person in person to know what you have. I do know of one person on C-D (not on this thread anymore....they were kicked off) in RL who is a pathological liar and when they attacked me online, I knew who it was and they (CD) checked the IP and, yep, it was that person. Everything that individual said was NOT true. I think that most of us are very authentic, and some of us have met in person, too. Mostly, we are just regular, normal women who just happen to be doing this alone for whatever reasons that led to us being alone. That's why this group of *women* is so useful to us. We generally have very different reasons and outlooks than the men.

I can always tell when a man is "zoning out" when I get emotional or "talk too much." Their eyes go blank, or even on the phone, suddenly they are talking about construction they are doing around the house -- totally off-topic stuff - lol. It's hard to talk to guys about the emotional side that we just naturally have and feel comfortable expressing. We are not just about the facts -- we are a complex mixture of many things -- of which I feel proud!

I do, though, think we get a lot of valuable information here. So many of the women on here have done so much and been through so much and lived so many places. We can understand each other. I have been able to piece through the various types of information from these wonderful women and it has helped me a lot in narrowing down places to be. For all of you great women here -- I am grateful!

[Minervah]

I have met and become flesh and blood friends with two people I have met on CD so it really does happen. I have become cyber friends with a few others both on CD and another web message board who lives in the UK.

One piece of advice I would like to add when it comes to relocating is that the best advice comes from those who actually live in the place about which they are giving advice. This may sound a bit odd but I have noticed that in looking around various forums, although not this one so much, I have noticed that often people like to give second, third or fourth hand information about cities or states they have picked up from various sources. Much of it I suspect is incorrect because much of what they say about my city is very wrong.

People seem to like to just spew out hearsay. They heard it in Social Media or read a story or saw it on TV so it must be the truth. Yeah, right. There is nothing like firsthand information to really get the straight dope. But even better than that, there's nothing like visiting a place and talking to as many people as possible about that place to really get an idea of what it's like.

I know many of us can't just go to every potential relocation spot so we have to depend upon websites like CD and forums like this one to give us insight as to what a place is really like. So that gets me back to my original suggestion of listening those who really know about a place and asking questions you think will pertain to your situation should you move there. Read the posts of others to see who you feel you can trust and who is just talking hot air. Remember hot air rises so after awhile, it's pretty easy to tell.

Final thought, and I am guilty of this myself, don't chose a place based on reputation only whether its a good reputation or a bad one. I have found that many cities don't deserve the reputation for which they are famous either way. Check it out for yourself. Just ask the folks who live there. They will set you straight in a hurry.