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I like those better than a small (not really) random collection in a magazine.
I've always liked Find Your Spot - I think it still requires email etc before it gives up the results.
I just took the "where should I retire" one and don't think it's ready for prime time.
I marked no cold weather and no earthquakes as very important to me and more than half the results are California and New England. (It also included my current location, which I am really not fond of and can't wait to leave come retirement )
Reachthebeach, I said I tried find your spot and found errors in some of the information. It would be nice to find information on one website in order to narrow down my choices to a few cities. I thought find your spot would be great. But errors on population of a city, median home price, etc leaves me wondering what else is incorrect with their information.
They all have some flaws I think. The trouble is that nearly all the answers are going to be compromises and that is difficult to automate. A lot of my desires for a place to retire aren't in the questions exactly. I would like to be able to spend time outside comfortably most of if not all of the year. I hate the cold. I would like to be able to go fishing without driving. I want to be near the beach. I end up with maybe half the suggestions being maybe acceptable. Another "problem" is that outside of weather and proximity to the beach, you can find nearly any COL and set of wants in almost every state if you look hard enough.
I hope everyone on this forum knows that city-data has all the basic demographic and weather data for cities all over the country, and a "compare" feature where you can look at 2 cities side by side.
I hope everyone on this forum knows that city-data has all the basic demographic and weather data for cities all over the country, and a "compare" feature where you can look at 2 cities side by side.
Okay, now that I'm looking for it, it seems I have brain fade. It only will compare COL. We must have printed out the two cities and manually compared them. DOH!
I tried the Where Should I retire quiz and it gave me answers from Lake Erie to Kansas, to central Florida, California, and every place in between. Not much help! But I've already found my spot and here I will stay.
... If y'all are looking for a website to do comparisons of different places, try this one at Moving.com - add this part to the string, and you can see the Comparison Page: "/real-estate/compare-cities/"
It's been good for us, because we can look at numerous categories. The "disclaimer" at the bottom of the frame states:
"The city comparison report data is drawn from an array of sources, and is updated at least once a year:
U.S. Census Bureau estimates and projections, including latest monthly estimates for population at the city level.
Bureau of Labor employment data by industry and occupation.
Internal Revenue Service statistics on tax filers and year-to-year migration.
Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police departments and municipalities for crime information.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for weather information."
Too many print publications are for high-rollers with a fixation on golf.
We don't consider ourselves high-rollers; however, with a mortgage-free California house to sell and a few other things, we do consider ourselves somewhat fortunate, but only if we leave this SF Bay Area that I love. The weather and amenities here are ideal.
We don't play golf and consider it a wasted space (and wasted water!) that we would much prefer is open parkland for all to enjoy and are well aware that golfers tend to control the areas (esp. HOA's) where communities are built around golf courses.
We bought a few issues of Where to Retire years ago just to get some ideas, but we soon learned it wasn't the best for our needs.
I got the magazine for about 8 years. If was helpful to find retirement communities. I did find that places I knew well they will say all the good but never the bad.
I mean Lake Havasu, AZ can be fun in the Winter and early Spring but HELL for most in the Summer. I mean 115 degrees most of the summer and over 100 degrees 4 - 6 months of the year. The article will be pages of how great it is with maybe one line about "Oh it can be hot in the Summer" Often the places they recommend I would see a big ad for so if course it is driven by advertising dollars.
I don't think the magazine is bad, but you have to visit in person and visit during the worst weather. They will always have the "great" relocation stories and never the bad ones of course.
The fun part for me was learning about places I had never heard of. Some of them we went to on vacation and to check out for retirement. After 8 years of searching we retired 50 miles north of our prior home in San Diego. None of it was a waste of time or money, it was good because now we know this is the best place for us. I can handle 100 degrees for maybe 3 days, not for an entire summer. It helped me to know what I can and can't handle. We are total weather weenies and realized that snow/ice/heat/bugs etc. were not for us. So better to stay here. We found a cute country town and as far as I know "Where to Retire" never focused on Fallbrook. The Avocado Capital of the World!
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