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Is this the year you're making the retirement move? Where to, and why? Is the plan working out well so far?
After almost two years of researching different suitable retirement locations in Washington and Idaho, we are quite certain that we will relocate in Spokane county preferably the northeastern area (to be near CDA and in the more forested, hilly area). I have been checking Zillow and had recently contacted a real estate agent. We are scheduled to fly to Spokane in late January to check out the driving conditions in our interested areas and to check out few homes. If we find a house close to our requirements, we will likely make an offer. Our plan is to buy a home first before selling the current home in New York.
There are many reasons for us to relocate. First is to be closer to our daughter in Boise. She loves her job, bought a house last year and has a wonderful boyfriend so it is likely that she will be there for a long time. We had checked out housings in Boise but could not find anything to our liking (the area is quite dry, barren and flat). The lack of a rowing club is another reason. I had thought of just forming an informal rowing group to row either on Boise river or Lake Lowell but neither location is great for rowing.
Spokane is only 6-7 hrs drive to Boise, 2.5hrs flight in our little plane and less than 30 minutes with commercial flights. Air ticket between KBOI and KGEG is very cheap (~$100 RT). When my daughter learned of our plan to be in Spokane in January, she said that she would like to fly there as well to spend the weekend with us.
The only family ties we have in the Northeast is my 90 years mother and my unmarried sister who live 2.5hrs from us. I love my mother but would rather being closer to my daughter. In the past, we only saw her once a year. This year, we lucked out, got to see her 3 times and had many wonderful moments.
The second reason for relocation to Washington is to lower our COL. Houses in Spokane are a bit more expensive than our current location in the Mid Hudson River, NY but WA property taxes are much lower and there is no income tax in WA. The no-income-tax factor is another reason why we prefer Spokane area over CDA.
The last reason to move West is for a new living environment. We have lived in the Northeast for over 30 years. We love the 4 seasons, the greenery, the beautiful deciduous forests. However, we are also enchanted by the stark beauty, dramatic geological formations of the West. There are just so many incredible National and State Parks in the West. We can visit them more often by living in one of the Western states. Our daughter and her boyfriend are also great nature lovers and hikers. We are looking forward to sharing many hiking/camping trips with them. We have spent the major parts of our life in the Midwest and the Northeast. Now, we both feel it's about time to have a major scenery change.
Moving across the country after living 24 years in a house is a major task. We have spent quite a bit of time trying to downsize and to fix up/update the yard and house in preparation for moving. There are still of lot of things to do. Searching for a suitable faraway relocation home also takes a lot of work. We have made 4 trips so far. We have also spending a lot of time checking out houses. It's difficult to find one meeting all our criteria. The ones which were close got snapped up pretty quick. It's likely that we will need few more trips after the one in January.
At this point, I don't even want to think about all the moving logistics: what to keep, what to move, how to move etc.
I will try to take one step at a time, take it easy and not to get too stressed out!
Barring some sort of unforeseen problem, we will be heading to Cookeville TN fairly soon. We signed a contract last week to sell our house to a neighbor up the street who is buying it for their son. We close on January 12 and have to be out by March 31. So now all we have to do is decide what will go with us, find somewhere to buy or rent in Cookeville and get moved. It is going to be a very interesting next four months.
Cookeville pretty much checked all the boxes for us. Weather, terrain, cost of living, things to do, plenty of shopping for us, and really nice people. When I am up there, I feel more at home than I do here in the Orlando area after 23 years.
I'm still researching. I've now added Pennsylvania to my list but have narrowed it down to PA, TN or Nevada. The last two because of senior housing, PA because I've been researching my family & my father's family came from PA. I want to explore the area they came from.
You will have to do a lot more narrowing for PA, it's a huge state. As some people joke, it's Pittsburgh on one end and Philadelphia on the other, and Pennsyl-tucky in between.
Me, ME, ME!!! Crossville, Tennessee. My last day at work is May 5th, and I plan to turn in my computer and leave well before noon. 30 years, and that is plenty enough for me!
I bought the house in Tennessee in 2014. It was a fixer upper that I have been working on as we visit. To furnish it we RatPacked our 'best' furniture. (I have a 6 bedroom house here is CA and its just me and two kids, no need for a nanny's room as they are too old, no guest room, and sadly, no room for my mom to visit). So I now have some empty rooms here in CA. The house is TN is fully furnished, and alarmed Plus I have the greatest neighbors! Very nice neighborhood.
So when we move a lot of the heavy things are already moved, no couches, bed room things, etc. The remaining bedroom stuff here in CA will be donated. We still do have tons of hobby entertainment, and toy stuff to move...is grows...
My adult daughter and her boyfriend moved there last September and they love it.
Why TN? Beautiful area, climate very much like where I live now, some snow, not much, in the winter, warm but not hot in the Summer. Nice lake to boat and let the kids play on, nice small town atmosphere with a variety of shopping and eating places. But bigger cities within an hour or two if needed for serious medical reasons or whatever. Nice airport within 2 hours. Friendly people, lots of transplants so we would not need to wait 5 generations to be accepted in the community. Low cost of living, including housing prices, property taxes, no state income taxes, and the Hall tax is scheduled to be eliminated in a few years.
I'm retiring in 2017 and bought a new construction house in eastern Washington for retirement purposes because it was much cheaper than Seattle or even Tacoma and the climate is sunnier and drier than Seattle. I previously bought a retirement house in Arizona that is being rented which we still may use as a winter home.
You will have to do a lot more narrowing for PA, it's a huge state. As some people joke, it's Pittsburgh on one end and Philadelphia on the other, and Pennsyl-tucky in between.
I'm just realizing that. I am researching Altoona, which is where they are from. Fingers crossed.
After almost two years of researching different suitable retirement locations in Washington and Idaho, we are quite certain that we will relocate in Spokane county preferably the northeastern area (to be near CDA and in the more forested, hilly area). I have been checking Zillow and had recently contacted a real estate agent. We are scheduled to fly to Spokane in late January to check out the driving conditions in our interested areas and to check out few homes. If we find a house close to our requirements, we will likely make an offer. Our plan is to buy a home first before selling the current home in New York.
There are many reasons for us to relocate. First is to be closer to our daughter in Boise. She loves her job, bought a house last year and has a wonderful boyfriend so it is likely that she will be there for a long time. We had checked out housings in Boise but could not find anything to our liking (the area is quite dry, barren and flat). The lack of a rowing club is another reason. I had thought of just forming an informal rowing group to row either on Boise river or Lake Lowell but neither location is great for rowing.
Spokane is only 6-7 hrs drive to Boise, 2.5hrs flight in our little plane and less than 30 minutes with commercial flights. Air ticket between KBOI and KGEG is very cheap (~$100 RT). When my daughter learned of our plan to be in Spokane in January, she said that she would like to fly there as well to spend the weekend with us.
The only family ties we have in the Northeast is my 90 years mother and my unmarried sister who live 2.5hrs from us. I love my mother but would rather being closer to my daughter. In the past, we only saw her once a year. This year, we lucked out, got to see her 3 times and had many wonderful moments.
The second reason for relocation to Washington is to lower our COL. Houses in Spokane are a bit more expensive than our current location in the Mid Hudson River, NY but WA property taxes are much lower and there is no income tax in WA. The no-income-tax factor is another reason why we prefer Spokane area over CDA.
The last reason to move West is for a new living environment. We have lived in the Northeast for over 30 years. We love the 4 seasons, the greenery, the beautiful deciduous forests. However, we are also enchanted by the stark beauty, dramatic geological formations of the West. There are just so many incredible National and State Parks in the West. We can visit them more often by living in one of the Western states. Our daughter and her boyfriend are also great nature lovers and hikers. We are looking forward to sharing many hiking/camping trips with them. We have spent the major parts of our life in the Midwest and the Northeast. Now, we both feel it's about time to have a major scenery change.
Moving across the country after living 24 years in a house is a major task. We have spent quite a bit of time trying to downsize and to fix up/update the yard and house in preparation for moving. There are still of lot of things to do. Searching for a suitable faraway relocation home also takes a lot of work. We have made 4 trips so far. We have also spending a lot of time checking out houses. It's difficult to find one meeting all our criteria. The ones which were close got snapped up pretty quick. It's likely that we will need few more trips after the one in January.
At this point, I don't even want to think about all the moving logistics: what to keep, what to move, how to move etc.
I will try to take one step at a time, take it easy and not to get too stressed out!
We recently visited some friends that retired in Liberty Lake just barely in Washington on the Idaho border and we would have probably considered that area if we had not already picked Richland. The lower property taxes and no income taxes is a huge plus for Washington state and in Spokane County the house prices are quite low.
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!!
we also bought a house in T.V.(Kahite) and move in on Dec 12. I searched for 2 years to find a neighborhood both on a lake AND and golf course close to a large city and with 4 seasons.
all I can say is YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!
Like a couple of the other posters, we won't be retiring until 2018. But once we do, we will be living in Germany for 6-9 months per year for a couple of years before we make that a permanent move.
Already retired and enjoying life! Traveling around the world! Will be moving to Florida soon for some much needed estate planning. As Florida has no state income tax....our pensions and SS benfits escape state income tax. But the biggest benefit is that Florida has no estate tax so we can escape the tax man and preserve our estate for our heirs. Planning is key!
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Plus I have the greatest neighbors! Very nice neighborhood.
