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To steal some words from Tesla, I moved from ludicrous expensive Sunnyvale, Ca about 60 miles to my currently insane expensive location. Kind of trapped in Cali due to prop 13 limiting increases in property taxes. Although Cali has high income taxes, other "no income tax" states have essentially unlimited ability to impose increases in property taxes. Its a catch 22. Places in no income tax states which are also attractive to live in are attracting home equity wealthy Californians like flies. This drives increased valuations and associated property tax increases which can negate the income tax savings. Not only that but the locals may find this state of affairs less then ideal so you have to try to hide where you came from.
The conversation goes something like "Where are you from?" you "Oh I sort of mumble mumble drifted around the world and mumble mumble wound up back in the states and just love it here" while at all times being sure to distance yourself from the California license plate. "Yea, that's my rental car"
One of my kids moved to Washington. The Traitor we call him. The others and our single grandchild are local. We would not move away from them but, of course, they could join our traitorous Son and move away from us. We bribe them to stay by babysitting for free.
When I worked, lived where I had to live to be there when needed in certain number of minutes. So what. I was at work most of the time. When I retired I got two places - summer & winter places. I planned on that for 30 years. The housing crash and foreclosures helped a lot.
Yeah we bought our winter house in 2011 in Phoenix at the bottom of the market (I had wanted Phoenix winter for decades and thought I would never be able to afford a winter house there before the crash). We changed our location in Washington only slightly by selling our house to our daughter and buying a new smaller house (4000 sf to 2800). I retire in 4 weeks. We have the winter house rented and we also now are thinking Scottsdale instead of where we bought so we may change that location out slightly.
So from another question I recently asked, it seems that relocating to a lower cost of living during retirement seems to be a very popular option. I admit that for me it's not an option for 2 reasons, primarily family and loved ones and two, from my experience, every single person I know that relocated far from the place they spent the last 40 years ended up back within 2 years for various reasons. mainly folks who moved to Florida or Arizona and then hated it when they got there.
So if you have relocated, a few questions.
How far from your original home did you move?
What was your biggest adjustment?
If you have kids/grandkids do you see them often?
I moved out of suburban NY in 1995 for a work promotion. Lived in suburban Maryland for 12 years before I retired. Moved right after I retired to suburban TN. Have been here in TN a little over 10 years.
NY - MD 283 miles (fastest route by car) (also lived in DC for 3 years when I was 18)
MD - TN 539 miles (fastest route by car)
NY - TN 804 miles (fastest route by car)
Meeting people. It had absolutely nothing to do with where I moved to and everything to do with being retired and a natural loner type. Still have friends and a sister in NY but the sister who has never lived anywhere but NY is talking Texas these days.
Thinking of moving to Delaware from NJ as I am retired over a year. Still trying to figure out the Pros and Cons . Some of the Pros is lower property taxes car insurance no sales tax. Some of the Cons healthcare High transfer tax places to go out to eat(Italian food) and check you are not to close to chicken farms. Every state has it's pro and cons .So is this a bad move?
I spent more than 2 weeks vacationing in Delaware this year and spent most of my time in Kent county taking farm photos and photos at Bombay Hook. What's the issue with Delaware chicken farms? The best thing about vacationing in Delaware is its size. Although, the traffic in the Rehoboth area is awful in season. Stayed clear of that on this May visit.
I stayed put after retirement - always knew I would. No reason to move when you enjoy your location and feel totally comfortable where you already live. I could move to the middle of Kansas (or to hundreds or thousands of similar locations in the U.S. where the cost of living is low) and live like a king.
But money is not everything and I don't want to live in the middle of Kansas (or in hundreds or thousands of similar locations in the U.S.). I don't want to live in high summer humidity. I don't want to live where there are mosquitos and lots of other bugs. I don't want to live where the live classical music offerings are amateurish.
I just spent a week in Baton Rouge, Louisiana visiting a slew of cousins and children of cousins. I really enjoyed the visits and the people, some of whom I hadn't seen for years. But was I ever glad to get out of the place, and was I ever grateful that I don't live there!
Such rubes out there - in the middle. Makes you wonder why the oh-so-superior effete folk like the LA Philharmonic would even tour icky places like that. But I'm sure the rubes feel extra important just being able to rub elbows with the really ultra-special people from LA - if only for a day.
We relocated to our retirement city about ten years before we will retire.
We also moved to a place were we already had friends so there would be little to no adjustment period.
It seems kind of dumb to me to move somewhere totally alien to you when you retire and not already have roots there.
Almost 700 miles I believe.
Why would you call people "dumb" for not needing the same emotional security blanket as you?
Why do I need "roots" to live somewhere?
There are 50 states in this country and I could find fun and adventurous stuff to do for quite some time in each of them. I'd avoid California just for political purposes, though, and I've already been there numerous times.
I guess you're not familiar with the RV lifestyle either.
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I already moved 150 miles from my hometown about 40 years ago so my family was at some distance away already. I moved another 1,000 miles four years ago
What was your biggest adjustment?
My learning curve has been a little bit of a challenge because I never had a well, septic system, boiler heat, evaporative cooling, and occasional critter issues. I'm in love with this place but there are some distractions that have to be dealt with. This is a bigger city than I'm used to so I chose to live out a ways. That makes it a little longer drive to city attractions or events...but we have a commuter train that helps.
If you have kids/grandkids do you see them often?
My daughter came to visit and also fell in love with the place and got a better job here and moved about 15 miles away. We see each other every week. Other relatives and friends drop in occasionally because I'm close to a major east-west interstate and there is a lot to see close by...a good stopping point.
I will probably be going back home in a box someday...I already have a spot with my name on it next to my wife. Just chisel in the date.
You will see many posts on CD from people that never kept a job long enough for a pension. That is why most people stay in one area.
I must be missing something? What does keeping a job long enough to qualify for a pension ... have to do with staying in one area versus relocating when one retires?
I once tried living in a small town to see if I would like to retire to one. It just did not have what I would want in retirement.
1) Very car dependent with no public transit if I could not drive.
2) Very limited medical care. If I needed a specialist it was two hours away
3) Too boring, once those walks around the shore of the big lake or through the wooded trail got stale, there was little else to do during long brutal winters.
4) No work if i wanted to work a little, and any work available paid too little to be worth my time.
5) Very little there to engage me intellectually. At least here in the city I can go to novel readings, museums, etc.
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I must be missing something? What does keeping a job long enough to qualify for a pension ... have to do with staying in one area versus relocating when one retires?
