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Old 11-28-2016, 09:34 AM
 
Location: Van Buren, Arkansas
188 posts, read 251,421 times
Reputation: 178

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Drift Away View Post
Retiring mid January. We've already bought a house in East TN (Tellico Village). Sure hope it works out like we have it envisioned. Our dream was to live on a large, clean lake, but still be near civilization. We're putting current house on the market in a couple months. Not looking forward to the "moving" part, but it's a necessary evil. Exciting times tho!!
You will love that area. Maryville is beautiful, Knoxville is close but not too close, and just a great view. We looked at that area, but it is just too far from the grandkids.
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Old 11-28-2016, 09:37 AM
 
Location: Van Buren, Arkansas
188 posts, read 251,421 times
Reputation: 178
Quote:
Originally Posted by RiverBird View Post
Is this the year you're making the retirement move? Where to, and why? Is the plan working out well so far?
On the last school day (June 2nd but who's counting) I retire and we move to NW Arkansas. 2 years in Fort Smith, so my wife can wrap up her time, then look for the mountain home on about 5-10 acres. Cannot wait.
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Old 11-28-2016, 10:35 AM
 
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,656 posts, read 57,755,120 times
Reputation: 46115
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wes59 View Post
On the last school day (June 2nd but who's counting) I retire and we move to NW Arkansas. ... look for the mountain home on about 5-10 acres. Cannot wait.
Here is a town in FAR NW ARK, that my neighbor gal really likes (she has a cabin there, but lives in Hill Country TX most the yr (farm + livestock)

>50% BELOW average US Crime.
//www.city-data.com/city/Eureka...-Arkansas.html

Yr round organic market.
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Old 11-28-2016, 10:54 AM
 
4,315 posts, read 3,975,513 times
Reputation: 7796
Quote:
Originally Posted by StealthRabbit View Post
Here is a town in FAR NW ARK, that my neighbor gal really likes (she has a cabin there, but lives in Hill Country TX most the yr (farm + livestock)

>50% BELOW average US Crime.
//www.city-data.com/city/Eureka...-Arkansas.html

Yr round organic market.
However, there was an article in the Little Rock paper that Eureka Springs shop owners had a hard time finding help as rent is sky high and the workers they need can't afford to live there.

Also, Eureka Springs is definitely a tourist town that slows WAY down in winter.
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Old 11-28-2016, 12:08 PM
 
Location: Hot Springs Village
22 posts, read 35,741 times
Reputation: 47
We are searching for places to retire..........Currently in Central Texas. Too hot in the summer and becoming too congested for my taste. Lots of traffic issues, lots of growth.......SO if you are still working it's great place to live and earn a decent living. But in retirement I want a slower pace.

I love the Mountains, drier air, cooler nights, slower pace, friendly people, near a city so you can get whatever you need without living there. OH........decent cost of living which rules out places like Denver (which I love but can't afford)
Any suggestions?
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Old 11-28-2016, 12:09 PM
 
Location: Idaho
2,097 posts, read 1,921,777 times
Reputation: 8361
We had thought about following one of the common advice of renting before buying a house in a new location but it is not an easy process.

Doing so will require finding a dog friendly rental place which does not require a long term lease. Then there is the question of whether to move all our belongings, move some stuffs, keeping some in the current home or a storage place etc. We will also have to move the stuffs twice if we can not find a furnished rental home etc..

Our compromised solution is to make week-long visits in different seasons especially the worst time of the year.

We learned quite a few lessons from our PIL's retirement relocation experience. They spent at least 5 years researching for a suitable place spending a week or two in each location. Once they decided to move to Glenwood Arkansas, they bought a 20+ acres lot and had a house built to their liking.

They lived down south for over 15 years, very happily for my FIL and very unhappily for my MIL! My MIL missed her children and grandchildren greatly. Her life there was also very restricted and lonely. She had severed allergic reaction to chiggers' bites and was pretty much homebound most of the day. She could not even walk around the yard or work in their garden.

Their social life was also very limited. They found Arkansans in that small town to be courteous but not very friendly. They tried to join local groups and attended local events but always felt like outsiders. They had only a handful of social friends, all Yankees like themselves! The lack of social life did not bother my FIL since he was by nature a loner and occupied his time with clearing bushes, chopping woods, tending the garden, fixing/building things. My MIL missed her old writing, painting groups in Michigan. She also missed her old friends (their dancing, club going and bridge playing partners).

As I had mentioned in a previous post, when my MIL had some health problems, she decided to move back to Michigan to spend her remaining days with my BIL's family. My FIL refused to move until after he was forced to do so by the children. One time he was pinned down by the tree which he was cutting and it took half of the day before a neighbor found him. He also had few other incidents which later were found induced by several mini strokes.

We were not sure whether the mini strokes which they both experienced or the long-term unhappiness and resentment held by my MIL which caused a lot of arguments when they were back together in Michigan. Not long after that, my FIL had a more severe stroke and spent the last 3-4 years of his life in a nursing home.

So the lessons which we learned were that we have to find a place which is more acceptance of transplants, and suitable not only to our lifestyle but also more fitting to thinking/feeling on social, political and religious matters. Our new living environment has to meet not only the practical but also the emotional, mental and intellectual needs of both of us.

After much research and several visits, we feel that Spokane/CDA area is a promising place. We hope that our subsequent visits will solidify our favorable impression. It will certainly not be our 'forever' place. We may have to move again when one of us get seriously ill or develop major health issues. Until then, we plan to find a home where we have lots of privacy, spaces to putter (gardening, raising animals), near places to enjoy our daily outdoor activities (hiking, rowing, flying, photography) and to partake in nearby cultural and educational offerings.
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Old 11-28-2016, 02:33 PM
 
554 posts, read 743,166 times
Reputation: 1042
Quote:
Originally Posted by RiverBird View Post
Is this the year you're making the retirement move? Where to, and why? Is the plan working out well so far?
... Probably not until 2018, the way things are going, right now ... I'm planning to start retiring full time, in May or June, 2017.
DW also wants to retire (early for her), but does not want to sell out of here (CA) right away. Her local grandkids "need" her, here, she says ...
My original plan was that we'd retire here, then sell-out, move to TEXAS, and then get re-aquainted with old friends left behind, from back in the 1990's.
But ... with the advent of new grand-babies appearing on the local scene, that original plan has fallen by the wayside. There's the very real possibility that the only way I'll get to "live" in TEXAS again, will be by being buried there.
.
We're nowhere-near finalizing any planning on it, however.
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Old 11-29-2016, 02:31 AM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,136 posts, read 28,901,368 times
Reputation: 32488
I'm still waiting for a miracle, that the price of my townhouse will rise up above $100k, as I stubbornly refuse to even get a $10 mortgage on my retirement home in Tucson. Problem is, price goes up here, price goes up in Tucson.
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Old 11-29-2016, 04:06 AM
 
Location: Phoenix
3,211 posts, read 2,231,559 times
Reputation: 2607
Quote:
Originally Posted by norm42 View Post
We retired last year and ended up moving to the Greenville SC area. We moved from Western NY partly due to weather (snow) and taxes. I came to the conclusion I could save $5+k/yr in taxes by moving and not have to deal with the snow.

We looked in many places, wanted to go south enough to get out of the snow, but still have four seasons. Florida was a possibility, but we talked to friends there and insurance, higher heat, other things ruled that out. We also noted people moving out of Florida to the Carolina's (since many came down from north, they were nicknamed "half-backs").

California would be ideal - too expensive in a wide range of ways. Considering the Midwest and West, many states had issues with healthcare, real estate costs, weather (tornado alley). I was on a business trip in Oklahoma City and remembering looking at the TV at 2am looking at all the tornado "hits" wondering if I would survive the night. No thanks.

Long story short, we ended up with Greenville SC.

One driver in decisions was access to healthcare. Not that we have any major issues, but going forward expected that to be more of an issue. As an example, I worked with several western state governments and found a deficiency of providers. New Mexico indicated they were short 2000 drs and ~5000 PA/Nurses. People in the frontier areas were air lifted to ER care. In many cases in those states traveled to other states for specialists. Again moving in maybe different than being there all your life as many drs are not accepting new patients. We did not find that an issue in Greenville.

Cost of real estate was better in SC as well, we built a house here at ~$200k at 2400 sq ft. ($82/sq ft) with upgrades such as hardwoods, tile, sun room etc. Real estate taxes are ~$1500 vs ~7500 in NY. You do pay property tax on cars ~$700 for our cars.

We are also close to the coast, Charleston/coast (3.5 hrs), Gulf (8hrs), Smokey mts (45min). Mountains are quite visible from here. The mountains also protect the area from tornadoes though we do get thunderstorms. Locals do indicate we can get ice storms occasionally. We did have a day or two of snow in January - nice to look at . Then back to T shirt weather. It is hot in the summer (June-August), sun is more direct as well. Spring and Fall are really nice, more extended than up north.

Overall a reasonable choice for us.
I worked in Greenville a couple of years and loved the area and especially downtown Greenville. For sure Greenville has a large Protestant very religious group and tends to be conservative....just wondering how you feel you fit in coming fro NY state?


Seems to me you made a great choice. If my son and 2 grandsons weren't in Seattle, we would consider Greenville.
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Old 11-29-2016, 01:38 PM
 
708 posts, read 718,742 times
Reputation: 1172
Quote:
Originally Posted by Serious Conversation View Post
The Knoxville metro is around a million people.

It's about 2.5 hours to Nashville. It does have the University of Tennessee. It's a nice city but you may be more interested in somewhere like Cookeville that is closer to Nashville or Chattanooga that is closer to Atlanta.
Chattanooga is a beautiful city!
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