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I want to and plan to get out of this miserable cold gray sky weather. DH who doesn't like change has no problem staying here until they hall him off. Houston, we have a problem.
It doesn't hurt to try. DH was set on desert, I hate desert. So we made one trip and visited two states, Washington (for me), and Arizona (for DH). I ended up feeling that Sedona would be tolerable, and ended up ruling out WA. That decision just occurred naturally and made us both happy.
We later ruled out Sedona for other reasons, and I started looking at towns in NV. We visited the area and BOTH loved the same location.
I was a natural evolution in the decision making. But I think the bottom line was, no matter where we lived the most important thing was that we were together, and could enjoy anywhere.
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It doesn't hurt to try. DH was set on desert, I hate desert. So we made one trip and visited two states, Washington (for me), and Arizona (for DH). I ended up feeling that Sedona would be tolerable, and ended up ruling out WA. That decision just occurred naturally and made us both happy.
We later ruled out Sedona for other reasons, and I started looking at towns in NV. We visited the area and BOTH loved the same location.
I was a natural evolution in the decision making. But I think the bottom line was, no matter where we lived the most important thing was that we were together, and could enjoy anywhere.
We did a lot of that research too. Trips to New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada.... we both had concerns about them all - but in the end settled for where we both had friends and family and familiarity - which is huge for us.
I had a huge fear of moving - again - somewhere out of the blue and not being happy about it within a certain time frame.
And frankly - I have moved a lot in my life and it gets way harder the older you are.
For me, the big reason would be medical care and more to do. I'm hours away from any top notch medical facility. Aside from the outdoors and college sports, things to do here, especially in the winter, are tough to come by.
I live in Illinois, it is sort of like the armpit of America. Everyone with common sense wants to leave.
Hard to argue with you when you're so darned right.
I grew up outside of Chicago, spent my teen years in the 1970's and loved it here. Since then, the harsh winters are becoming ever-harder to live with (this winter was an exception, more like St. Louis than Chicago, I could get used to this), the politics have gone from blue-collar, middle class Purple (Richard Ogilvie and Richard J. Daley) toward left-coast Blue (JB Pritzker and Lori Lightfoot); the state has become intolerant of law-abiding gun owners, tolerant of criminal gun owners, and the corrupt politicians have essentially bankrupted the state. Real estate taxes are now "confiscatory", I may have already paid more in taxes on my home in the twenty-five years I've owned it than I paid for it to begin with (with extremely low appreciation). Roads and traffic have certainly not improved in 30 years, it used to be that I could be in what felt like "the country" within twenty or thirty minutes; now, it takes sixty due to sprawl. And, the state's problems are looking like they are going to get worse in the future, not better. To quote my future self, "I didn't leave Illinois, Illinois left me".
So, I'm looking for a place like Chicago was in the 1970's, except with less-severe winters and less humid summers. Essentially the weather of Kanab, UT, the politics of Kentucky or Indiana, and with adequate services, shopping, and health care. I don't give a hoot for access to professional sports, international air travel, high-dollar dining / shopping, or racial diversity, but I do want diversity in things like auto brands, everyday dining, veterinary care, etc., and mostly, a low/reasonable amount of criminal activity. Does such a place exist? Lubbock is on my list of places to visit, but who knows. Having maybe two more decades of breath left, time's a wastin', as they say.
Hard to argue with you when you're so darned right.
I grew up outside of Chicago, spent my teen years in the 1970's and loved it here. Since then, the harsh winters are becoming ever-harder to live with (this winter was an exception, more like St. Louis than Chicago, I could get used to this), the politics have gone from blue-collar, middle class Purple (Richard Ogilvie and Richard J. Daley) toward left-coast Blue (JB Pritzker and Lori Lightfoot); the state has become intolerant of law-abiding gun owners, tolerant of criminal gun owners, and the corrupt politicians have essentially bankrupted the state. Real estate taxes are now "confiscatory", I may have already paid more in taxes on my home in the twenty-five years I've owned it than I paid for it to begin with (with extremely low appreciation). Roads and traffic have certainly not improved in 30 years, it used to be that I could be in what felt like "the country" within twenty or thirty minutes; now, it takes sixty due to sprawl. And, the state's problems are looking like they are going to get worse in the future, not better. To quote my future self, "I didn't leave Illinois, Illinois left me".
So, I'm looking for a place like Chicago was in the 1970's, except with less-severe winters and less humid summers. Essentially the weather of Kanab, UT, the politics of Kentucky or Indiana, and with adequate services, shopping, and health care. I don't give a hoot for access to professional sports, international air travel, high-dollar dining / shopping, or racial diversity, but I do want diversity in things like auto brands, everyday dining, veterinary care, etc., and mostly, a low/reasonable amount of criminal activity. Does such a place exist? Lubbock is on my list of places to visit, but who knows. Having maybe two more decades of breath left, time's a wastin', as they say.
I'd trade today's Chicago for Appalachia in a heartbeat. Chicago has few problems compared to here.
I'd trade today's Chicago for Appalachia in a heartbeat. Chicago has few problems compared to here.
Hard to argue with you, Appalachia has a lot of challenges right now, thanks to opioids and the changeover from coal (from what I've heard). I was thinking more of Indianapolis and Louisville / Lexington when I mentioned Indiana and Kentucky for political preference, I was only trying to state that I didn't need a deep-red state to be happy, I just don't "fit" with Chicago anymore politically, the inmates have taken over the asylum here. Deep Red would be preferential to Deep Blue, but Purple is OK with me.
Hey, Lake Michigan is awesome, as is access to quality health care and any other service you can pay for. It's just no longer "worth it" for me to live here anymore. If someone still in their working years could get a well-paying gig here to make the numbers work, God Bless 'em. But without a well-paying gig? "Run away, run away". Being retired, I'm gone (soon). Recommendations for the "new place" are welcome.
Our main reasons for moving are state Taxes in CA. We are retired and while not in a top bracket, we are paying about $20K to CA. More if we did Roth conversion or started RMD.
Appalachia must be bad because I don't think I would ever move back to Chicago.
... I may have already paid more in taxes on my home in the twenty-five years I've owned it than I paid for it to begin with (with extremely low appreciation). ...
That’s the #2 consideration for me (#1 being taxes). Part of the point of being retired, or semi-retired, or early-retired, is that one makes one’s money from investment, rather than from labor. I want to be paid for what I possess, rather than for what I do. Because of the parlously low real-estate appreciation in the Heartland, owner-occupied residential housing has been a non-investment for 20+ years. I don’t want that. I detest that! For 20+ years I’ve been burning with caustic, peeved envy, that my peers who settled in “nicer” cities on the Coasts have profited handsomely from their houses, whereas mine has been far inferior to renting. Now I’d like to join them, rather than persisting in resenting them.
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