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A while back there was a poster who was talking about a planned move to Weirton, West Virginia. I was curious so I checked. It looks rather good. Crime is about 1/3 the national average (1/4 the rate of Asheville) and the demographics are perfect for most of us. House prices seem to be very low. West Virginia has beautiful scenery.
I second this. We explored many nice areas of NC several years ago, including Raleigh/Cary/Apex and on through the towns into WNC. We did not like Asheville; it was an immediate aversion, we could not explain why. I liked Carrboro and Hillsborough About Hillsborough | Historic Hillsborough, North Carolina, charming small towns with natural food stores and arts.
There is no perfect place is there? My state is not perfect either but it sure beats all that snow and adverse weather. Yes we have miserable summers, but you can get outside, you can swim, you can do things in the early AMs and there are tons of malls and shopping and even more coming. For me, I can garden all year. A closer beach would be the ultimate.
If schools are not an issue, why not Arizona? Initially I looked all over to get out of this desert but have not found anything better. If I could afford CA, I would probably go. But with limited resources, it is very affordable for me here. I doubt it would be in CA.
I've hiked in the Superstitions when the shade temperature was 118. It was hot, but I had no trouble whatsoever. If I tried that in the humid east at a temperature twenty degrees lower I would have felt as if I were going to die. I would have also been a candidate for heat stroke as most victims have been in hot and humid climates for days.
When we decided to leave Colorado the final short list had two states, Arizona and Wyoming. It was a hard decision. If we'd chosen Arizona it would have been either someplace around Flag or eastern Cochise County, someplace along the Ghost Town Trail. I love Tombstone, but Sierra Vista seems to be engulfing it like a giant amoeba. The weather in that part of the state includes hot summers (over 90) and very mild winters. The range in January is 65 and 38. There's some snow most years, but it's gone in hours. There's shopping in Douglas and right across the border. There are many California transplants of the Conservative Republican variety.
If you draw a diagonal line on the map of Arizona from the NW to the SE you may assume that that the livable places are north of that line. That means that all of eastern Arizona has equitable weather.
Have you looked into East Tennessee or possibly the Greenville, SC area? In doing some pre-retirement research, so far both of these areas look pretty good. They have a nice combination of lakes, mountains, mild seasons and a fairly low COL.
Have you looked into East Tennessee or possibly the Greenville, SC area? In doing some pre-retirement research, so far both of these areas look pretty good. They have a nice combination of lakes, mountains, mild seasons and a fairly low COL.
Correct me if I'm wrong, Greenvillers, but in my several trips to Greenville I would not characterize the summers as "mild."
We live in Greenville, SC. We retired here a year ago last month. I would consider the winters mild in comparison to other areas. As far as the summers, we haven't been here long enough to classify them. However, it does seem less humid than where we came from which was Oklahoma City(13 years). We love it here. There is a lot for retirees in our opinion.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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no water shortage here... 100+ inches of drizzle / yr.
more moderate temps than NC, seldom snow (3-4x/ yr, gone by noon)
not hot in summer (excellent summers, can't be beat except AK (Longer daylight than our 5am until 10 pm))
Fresh wild berries, fresh salmon and steelhead. 20 min to Portland if you need a food truck, cultural event, or Airplane (or tax free shopping). https://www.google.com/search?q=cape...w=1140&bih=701
I have not had AC in House or car for 30 yrs.
Many can tolerate the wet winters... You can drive 1 hr east for dry, or jet to a dry spot.
I jet to San Diego (2.5 hr direct) for $23.10. Or to Austin TX, Colorado (my ex-home), or Many parts of CA (each for under $100).
You can buy a very nice little acreage with a fixer home for under $150k (I got my last one for $100k, 3 acres with shop, barns, house, gardens, RV sites...)
I eat and entertain on <$100/ month
Heat / power is $70
gas is ZERO (WVO burner)
Car was $35 (gets 50 mpg)
Fairly inexpensive and good quality of life.
Property taxes... another story. in my nice new $100k place = <$1200/ yr
in my main home 1 mile away... $14,400 / yr ($100k cost basis to build it) Assessor really likes it! (different county)
Colorado is a 'battleground state' with LOTS of problems (including Water). Political divide will destroy the QoL.
It was spoiled about 40 yrs ago.
So interesting to me that you were not turned on by Asheville but liked Hillsborough and Carrboro as that is exactly how I feel, as well.
Interesting OP you have Peaceout and brokensky and you might consider moving it to the city-data city-data. It might forewarn others who are seeking to move there to look hard at the points you mention.
I am a native of Asheville area but must say that Asheville city fathers/mothers have a successful marketing campaign selling Asheville as Nirvana or Shangri La; lots of people are lured to the area for what they think is made for them. Beautiful scenes and an art deco type downtown.
Then they find after a few years that the jobs aren't there, the cost of living is high for what you get, and the QOL is diminishing as more people arrive and dip their toes in the water. One of my realtor friends said "They come, they stay awhile, and then they go".
Good luck and hopefully you will find what suits you all.
I keep trying to write Western North Carolina Forum and it keeps popping up as city-data. Hopefully you know what I mean.
Have you looked into East Tennessee or possibly the Greenville, SC area? In doing some pre-retirement research, so far both of these areas look pretty good. They have a nice combination of lakes, mountains, mild seasons and a fairly low COL.
I have friends who retired to East Tennessee, and they like it. They're near Greeneville, TN which is in very close to the mountains. Chattanooga and Knoxville are the big cities in the area. COL is supposed to be low there, with low real estate taxes, no state income taxes on SS or pensions, etc.
Another area that you might like is western Virginia, especially the Shenandoah Valley. If I were to ever move South, I think the Shenandoah would be on my short-list. Western VA is not anything like the crowded DC suburbs further east, and as you go south, it becomes much less crowded. I love Winchester which is at the northern end of the Valley, but there's lovely little towns strung out all along, and then there's Roanoke just to the east. It's pretty country.
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Crime is about 1/3 the national average (1/4 the rate of Asheville) and the demographics are perfect for most of us. House prices seem to be very low. West Virginia has beautiful scenery.
