Help us decide how to retire cheap (conversation, fighting, friend)
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RVing is expensive. Most decent parks still charge $500-700 a month, plus your cost of fuel and the RV itself. You couldn't pay me enough to stay in upstate NY. I GLADLY traded a few days a year with high heat and humidity, for low taxes, months of pleasant winter weather, access to world class airports, the ocean etc. Only northern Virginia around the DC area, and perhaps in Charlottesville is expensive. Almost anywhere else is pretty darn inexpensive when considering the location and weather, compared to anywhere in the NE. However, if you have allergies, then there are precious few places in the south that dont have high pollens of some kind in spring. Just too many flowering plants down here. I lived up north the first 20 years, then 6 in the midwest and west. Prefer the southeast by far.
I think you should first look at some RV's before you reject the RVing option. RVing sounds like your perfect plan now. 1. You don't know where you want to land. 2. You haven't even been in any of the places you might consider for RVing. 3. You can stay awhile in a location you might want to consider and stay a while and see "how it fits". There are some very nice units that can accommodate a couple very nicely.
You actually sound just like me, several years ago when we first started retirement planning. We had no idea where we wanted to go. EVen if you don't RV, you're going to have to do some traveling. Some places that might look good on paper you quickly find out will never work for you. Good Luck.
There's a great saying that in life you can "have it all, you just can't have it all at the same time..." and I think that fits your situation. I still work but am able to snowbird (Florida and Montana) and I've had to make trade-offs in order to achieve it.
The least expensive way to snowbird is typically to have your main home and then rent in the other location a few months a year, HOWEVER, good luck finding a rental that will allow you to bring in six dogs and two cats.
RV-ing with a big fifth wheel is not cheap. Not to mention that your 'home' is constantly depreciating in value. An RV lifestyle can be inexpensive if you're willing to stay in national forests or areas with dispersed camping, but that typically means no electric hookups, no water hookups, and at best, pit toilets. You and your husband don't sound like the type to do that, it sounds like you want to be near a nice town (meaning more $$$).
Owning in both places may allow you to bring the animals (although probably not for any condo/townhome/mobile home community as most of those have size and numbers restrictions for animals) but owning in two places is also the most expensive way to snowbird. You pay higher taxes being an out of state owner, higher insurance because the property is vacant for long periods, and of course you still have utility and maintenance costs associated with the second home.
I honestly don't see a way that you can get all of what you want cheaply. You're going to have to make some major trade-offs, whether that's waiting until you no longer have so many animals or sticking to more remote areas that probably won't have all your special health foods. Finding a small town somewhere in North Carolina, western Virginia, Tennessee, or the mountain areas of South Carolina and living there full-time seems like the best fit.
Thanks everyone. Tennessee is the first choice for me. I've been thinking of the Bartlett, Maryville, Oakridge, and #1, Jonesborough area. Any info, comments about those areas or others?
Oak Ridge is filled with transplants due to the labs and probably feels the least Southern, but given all your other criteria, none of these really work/
It doesn't have to be too expensive if you find a place and home you like, where everyone else feels the same way. I you are both over 62, and you find the perfect area in the country, as well as the perfect home that you are sure you would like to stay in for the rest of your life, you can actually purchase it with a reverse mortgage.
The way it works is, you put roughly 50% down on the house and the mortgage company puts up the rest. Over time the equity grows for the mortgage company and shrinks for you. Since you have no other family, who cares. You get to stay in the property until you sell or die. Works better if you are both 62, so that the younger surviving spouse does not have to move out when the older one dies first. All you have to do is pay the taxes, keep it insured, and maintain the property, thing you have to do anyway, even with a mortgage payment.
You could try out the RV experience until you find the perfect place, and then do the reverse mortgage.
Most people are aware of reverse mortgages for property they already own, but few are aware they can purchase a new home with one. It has to be your primary domicile, so you have to make the right choice or you will lose some equity when you try to sell. The longer you wait to sell the more equity you lose.
Thanks for all the info out there. All of you are wonderful to "talk things out with a stranger". The RV bit was not to keep on the go, but to live in it: Just to be a snow bird or to find out where we wanted to be. Guess it would get old real fast. We will be taking a road trip in the spring. Our house sitters are in college (we have a horse also.) and need for them to come back.
A family member lives semi-permanently in an RV with slide-outs, in a nice park in a safe area in the Los Angeles metro. Because it's not a mobile home, there is no property tax, just the yearly vehicle license fee. There is ready access to culture, top medical care, nature and the beach, not to mention ideal weather. The monthly space rent is $775. and includes water and cable TV and Internet. California is not one of the 13 states that tax Social Security, and there is no tax on food or prescriptions, either. And there are even cheaper areas of the state for RV living. And if you really want to leave and move somewhere else...easy.
Last edited by nightlysparrow; 10-08-2015 at 02:48 PM..
Yeah I wouldn't go the RV route, I have to think that would get old very quickly.
I'm about 10 years away but have been doing the same sort of research. Living in Central MD we are looking for a less expensive place to live with shorter winters too. Oddly enough the leader right now after 3 years of looking is Johnson City, TN. Roanoke VA is also in the running but I much prefer Tennessee. Here's why:
JC and neighboring Jonesborough are just nice small towns with beautiful mountain views. JC is a college town and there is that feel for sure, which we both like. Seems to be the perfect size, it has everything we could need but still small enough to get around easily. The downtown revitalization there has been tremendous, way way nicer downtown than my first visit 3 years ago. People are really nice and friendly but it's not "too south". It's strange, most of the local have a very slight southern accent, kind of like what you've hear in say Richmond. So if the husband is not a fan of the south this may be a good for him. The school and medical center brings in a lot of transplants from the NE, I met a guy from Syracuse who had been there for 20 years and loves it. So we won't feel like a fish out of water or ostracized as outsiders. When you go into a store don't be surprised to meet the owner's dog. We saw that a lot and as dog owners we loved it. Sure there are the local yahoos but they tend to be up in the hills. Jonesborough is right down the road, I think it's like 7 miles. Older with a cool Main Street it's also worth a look.
Weather looks great. We went in August to confirm the summers are not brutal, this will NOT be the case in other cities in TN including Knoxville. Shorter winters but still gets snow every now and then, I'd hate to totally say goodbye to snow but going from 30" to 7" that melts by the next day sounded good to me. Another factor: heating bills will be less for us, WAY less for you.
Thanks everyone. Housing costs for us is a moot point (almost). we can do up to about $350, BUT we don't want to. So we are looking at $150 tops, but prefer lower that that. Like I said I'll live in a Nice single or double wide, in a nice area and then never be home because there are things to do. We had it with the big fancy house. We want small and easy, and LIVE! Travel. Eat out. Go out with friends. Etc. You hit a point in your life when all you want is a bed and a bowl. A nice one in a good area of course. As for a health food store a little travel is ok. We drive 2 hrs for a doctor, and 45 minutes for a supermarket now.
I don't understand this budget. Is this $150 total for rent????
I don't understand this budget. Is this $150 total for rent????
I think they meant $150K to buy a house.
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