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I'll be 70 in January and am still working here in Illinois. I plan to transition to part-time employment as a counselor in March 2017, after my social security payments start in February. The two communities I have at the top of my list for a possible move are Greenville, SC and Mount Pleasant, SC -- but to practice as a counselor there, I need to get a SC license and get on insurance boards. It will probably take 7-8 months for this process to happen, so I'm planning on starting it about the middle of 2017, so that I can move to SC sometime in the spring of 2018.
I'd really like to move to Mount Pleasant, but it's more expensive than Greenville. Either would be nice: one close to the ocean, the other close to the mountains. If it doesn't work out, I'll stay here -- and that wouldn't be the end of the world either.
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.
Most likely I will retire in May, 2017 and we are in the process of selling the house (supposed to close this week) and moving from sunny and warm South Georgia to Grove City, Ohio near Columbus.
Never thought I would move back to snow country but grandma wants to go near the grandkids and I always make grandma happy.
Good thing is I've lived in northern Ohio before so I well know what snow and ice is.
I always figured we would continue to own this house and snow bird but going over the budget it... well... it is a money issue and I do want my retirement spending money.
Buying a two bedroom two bath condo that has a sun room and for the $211 HOA fee they take care of all the outside work (snow and ice removal which I do not want to deal with) and the exterior (roof) of the condo itself. The complex has lots of green spaces and a community swimming pool and I have to admit summers in Ohio are absolutely stunning. It gets warmer in Ohio than south Georgia only Ohio doesn't have the humidity and bugs.
I've added Bella Visit, AR back to the list so it is: Altoona, PA, Cookeville, TN, & Bella Vista.
My plan is to go to Altoona first, then on to Cookeville, visit brother & family in Nashville & then Bella Vista on the drive home. I'm planning on making it a 3 week trip. I'll firm things up through the winter & travel in the spring.
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.
5 months and 8 days yep, counting!
I passed through Crossville yesterday. Nice enough town, until you get below the surface. It has proportionally higher crime than even Memphis to be the worst in the state. CA transplants (read - people wealthy by local standards) probably won't see it, but it is a rough and tumble community for the natives.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by Serious Conversation
I passed through Crossville yesterday. Nice enough town, until you get below the surface. It has proportionally higher crime than even Memphis to be the worst in the state. ...but it is a rough and tumble community for the natives.
as is MUCH of TN, GA, LA, AL, SC, WV.... (and others)
I have scoured NO, NE, East TN and Blue Ridge area to find what you described. (Less than desirable neighbors, especially rural in the woods). Axe Murderers (and 'shipping container hostages') are likely ALL over the place.
Buyer beware, but.... this too, can be avoided.
Most anything can be sensationalized, (and is often done here on C-D 'retirement' forum especially by those not on the same page / wave-length / experiences / priorities.
Yes Elizabeth, most of us were not born YESTERDAY, tho we all look 'fresh and spry'!
BTW: I have had great times and stays in Crossville, never felt in DANGER, but I am pretty naive (born yesterday)
I passed through Crossville yesterday. Nice enough town, until you get below the surface. It has proportionally higher crime than even Memphis to be the worst in the state. CA transplants (read - people wealthy by local standards) probably won't see it, but it is a rough and tumble community for the natives.
I have read that on the INTERNET, but my information and decision basis goes a little beyond just reports, but to the underlying information.
The local newspaper reports the crimes and follows them through the court docket, including probation violations. I have followed them for a few years now.
It seems that about 1/3 of the cases are probation violation, mainly folks with sentences that require drug rehab that the offender drops out of the rehab program. Where I currently live in CA those things just drop through the cracks. It is well know that if one does not show up to the drug intervention program nothing happens until one is caught with an active new charge. At lease Crossville follows up on these guys and puts them in jail for failure to follow through and get treatment.
Another 1/3 of the cases seem to be someone stealing at WalMart. Both the police and WalMart take this really serious to the point of posting photos of people in WalMart and with their photos saying there is a reward for identifying them as they allegedly took something with out paying.
And the other third are mainly theft from homes, sometimes businesses and embezzlement, drug charges, DUI, no auto insurance, occasionally a higher level crime, but even then it is generally folks who know each other. There was a kidnapping of someone who knew someone, allowed the kidnapper in the home. A teacher shot her live in boyfriend. A drug deal that went bad resulting in them shooting each other, one dead.
It does seem that violent crimes between strangers is rare. That is what I am concerned about most.
My daughter who moved to Crossville did learn the theft lesson the hard way. She left her cell phone in the cup holder of an unlocked car, and yep the phone was taken. Now she knows to lock up and not leave things in the car.
I do believe that Crossville and Cumberland County report ALL crimes into the federal database. Other communities do not report everything, but only the major crimes, crimes that they can identify who did it and may end up in prosecution/charges because they have SOOOO many crimes that they can not keep up.
I actually work for an agency that reports crimes, in one office we were overwhelmed with traffic violations, DUIs, assaults of employees, etc, that we only reported those that were going to court. And minor things like destruction of property was not even noted in any form. I then transferred to another office with very low incidents. There, even a broken window in a bathroom is reported, graffiti, everything. The current place, on paper, looks like it has more crime, than the first place, but its like 2-3 percent of the crime as the first place. Just the law enforcement officers have the time to report everything...and the first place could not report everything if every law enforcement officer spent every minute just entering information into the database.
I think that comparing Crossville and Memphis is like comparing the 2 places I worked...and that is why it makes no sense to look at reports and judge a place.
I think all of TN reports multiple charges as separate crimes, so the phone theft is going to be a theft plus vandalism or whatever on the car. Yes, the numbers probably do make it look worse than it actually is and violent crime between strangers is rare, but property crime is very common in a lot of areas, mostly theft and people looking for drugs or money to buy drugs.
I wouldn't tell people to rule out TN for retirement on the basis of crime, but it is something to consider if you're not going to be a nice, gated community somewhere.
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!!!!
Knoxville is a large city? Places like NW Arkansas and Eastern Tenn seem attractive to me due to the scenery, weather and outdoor activities. But I would also like to be within 1 hour of a major metropolitan area, with major league sports, the arts, and an international airport. Any suggestions?
Knoxville is a large city? Places like NW Arkansas and Eastern Tenn seem attractive to me due to the scenery, weather and outdoor activities. But I would also like to be within 1 hour of a major metropolitan area, with major league sports, the arts, and an international airport. Any suggestions?
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.
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. 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.
