Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OP, you just have to come to a decision as to which mixed bag you want to deal with, the one you have now or the one you will have when you move.
Best response of all because with slight variation it can be applied to all decision making; the situation you have now and the situation you'll have after you make it.
1. Don't buy when you move. Rent for a year to be sure.
2. Be frugal. Not crazy, but cautious.
It upsets me the way people just throw that out as if its always so easy.
If you have pets, its not.
A years lease.
Depending on the location, it can be hard. Many resorty type areas have super tight rental markets. The one place I've been looking at has an impossible rental market.
Depending on the location, renting can be more expensive than owning
Moving more than once is hard
Security deposits
Changing utilities and addresses
Finding a place may require flying to the location just to find a suitable place. Pictures on
line always look better than in person. It can be quite a shock.
Renting is hard. I'm not saying that it doesn't make some sort of sense to live in an area renting first.
But it is also not particuarly practical in some ways. You can spend quite a few years moving from
one place to the next every year.
I am in a similar situation as Otterhere. Perhaps "worse". I'm not worried about making a mistake and slinking back. People will talk and judge, always have, it can hurt your feelings a bit but its never stopped me from anything. I'm not worried about making a mistake and having to move on, I do think it can be an adventure - except for money. I don't have the money to say, buy a house in Arizona, buy a house in Alaska, or buy property to build but they buy a house somewhere else. Money can't solve a lot of my important social problems but it could certainly go a long way to solving my relocation anxiety!
If money is tight the laissez faire attitude doesn't really work as well.
It upsets me the way people just throw that out as if its always so easy.
If you have pets, its not.
A years lease.
Depending on the location, it can be hard. Many resorty type areas have super tight rental markets. The one place I've been looking at has an impossible rental market.
Depending on the location, renting can be more expensive than owning
Moving more than once is hard
Security deposits
Changing utilities and addresses
Finding a place may require flying to the location just to find a suitable place. Pictures on
line always look better than in person. It can be quite a shock.
Renting is hard. I'm not saying that it doesn't make some sort of sense to live in an area renting first.
But it is also not particuarly practical in some ways. You can spend quite a few years moving from
one place to the next every year.
I am in a similar situation as Otterhere. Perhaps "worse". I'm not worried about making a mistake and slinking back. People will talk and judge, always have, it can hurt your feelings a bit but its never stopped me from anything. I'm not worried about making a mistake and having to move on, I do think it can be an adventure - except for money. I don't have the money to say, buy a house in Arizona, buy a house in Alaska, or buy property to build but they buy a house somewhere else. Money can't solve a lot of my important social problems but it could certainly go a long way to solving my relocation anxiety!
If money is tight the laissez faire attitude doesn't really work as well.
Renting is hard. Buying and then trying to sell a house is harder. We will have pets when we move and have been able to find several options.
Giesela, I recommend calling a few real estate offices in the area you are thinking of moving and ask if they know of rentals in the area that will accept pets. Often the agents know LL who rent in the area. Some, in fact, are LL themselves and if they rent to you it's a double bonus to them, since they can get you into their rental, and then when you are ready to buy you are a loyal client for them.
This is how we found our place. We got a 6 month lease, since she knew we would be buying something pretty soon. She even let us out of the lease early when we found a house sooner than we thought we would. She got the commission on the sale, so it was all good.
To clarify: I plan to make a major change (relocation) and major purchase (retirement property), so I definitely feel the pressure to "get it right." If you'll be aging in place with your usual home, location, family, friends, hobbies, etc., the only difference is that you don't go to work any more. Not much can go wrong there? If you're bored, add more hobbies or another job. Many, however, have a "retirement dream" they pursue that is a major life shift, and I sometimes wonder if it turns out as they planned.
If not, why not, and how could that have gone better?
My husband was the retiree, as I'd been retired for 15 years. But, we did all the major changes:
we bought a house far away in a state where we didn't know anyone - except for one C-D member we met in person within a week of our move. We bought property sight-unseen and only visited for a day within a week of the closing. No family, no friends, NYC to SW TN aggy country - talk about culture shock.
That was 4 years ago. We found some new hobbies:
animal rescue and transport,
animal rescue fund-raising and political action;
went from 1 vehicle to 3, one of which can pull heavy trailers;
bought an RV for guests since the nearest hotel is too far;
crafts for fundraising to help out the local high school;
Our dream had been to travel. Small house for a home base. The travel is not nearly to the extent we want being that we now have 2 rescued dogs and 3 additional rescued kittens to add to the cats we had when we moved. (There's your "why not" - we couldn't turn these abandoned/dumped starving/freezing critters away. Being able to just go and call someone from the road to check on/feed the cats is no longer an option - there's boarding (and the fees that go with it) and planning. Last minute/spur of the moment/while we're out staying out is no longer part of our life or our plan. But I have a service dog who is with me whenever and wherever when my husband isn't. So many things changed - and I'm happy, we're happy. But we do wish we could travel more. We are looking for a live-in animal care person to change that back to what we had planned on - travel more.
Some people like retirement, some do not. I've retired twice and it did not agree with me. I now am back working 40 per week, and am so much better for it.......financially, mentally, and physically.
I've seen so many people retire and turn into a vegetable or die quickly. No stimulation, no exercise, no human contact. You can only play with your toys so much and sleep in so much, then it starts to become you just biding time till the Grimm Reaper knocks on your door.
When he knocks at my door, I won't be home, I will be at work.
I'm not dealing with the "mixed bag I have now"; I will be making a change. The question is TO WHAT.
You wanted to move to the beach, right?
I'm at a beach now. I loved it last summer. Nice and refreshing. Ugh, this year, so humid. And too many people at the grocery store. It's a small town in Deep South Texas, port Isabel. I don't know if I could handle the crowds if I lived here.
Yikes Don. Don't look at it that way. You must have one of those stimulating jobs and I hope not to high stress.
Retiring at a reasonably young age has it's advantages. I'm not sitting around waiting to just pass time. I'm enjoying the luxury of having all the time I need to pursue the things I wanted to do, but had to take in small increments because of work.
Exercise? I rode my bike for 4 hours at night already this week. I guarantee that a lot of people younger then I could not keep up with me I've lost ten pounds since I retired.
I think those that have turned into a vegetable after they retired probably waited too long to retire and were used up physically from work. They could have wasted their last chance to live free working instead.
One of my late night buddies on my bike rides is 78. I call him lonely guy on the corner, but he's far from it. He's a regular party animal. We sat and drank mai tai's on his front porch until 4am one morning. He has a very active social life as well.
I'm glad you're happy still working Don, but I'm glad I'm not a workaholic in a high stress profession any more. This last year has been one of the best years of my life.
Otter, why do you feel the need to move right away? Why can't you just stay where you are for awhile and finally totally enjoy your home where you're comfortable?
I'm not ready to give up our house that we've spent so many happy years and effort to make it exactly what we want. Some day we will be ready to move on, but for now I'm enjoying the heck out of this time in our life. Take your time on major decisions. You will have the luxury of time to figure it all out at your own pace.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've lost ten pounds since I retired.
