Harbinger of our need to move (55, weather, moving, communities)

[MI-Roger]

This morning my wife commented on the upcoming snow season and the needs of our neighbors relative to clearing driveways.

• The 79 YO widow across the street for whom we have been doing snow removal for maybe 5 years. Until last winter I shared this duty with another neighbor, but he was 70 YO and the couple moved away last October to be close to their daughter to assist with child care and for her to assist them in coming years.
• The 45 YO neighbor next door with recent multiple serious health issues which might eventually be diagnosed as Multiple Myeloma, an often fatal blood cancer.
• The 82 YO old neighbor two doors down who is recovering from Open Heart surgery this past summer.
• An 80 YO couple who lives diagonally behind us and whom are having difficulty with exterior home tasks (grass & leaves) which will undoubtedly include snow this winter.

My wife's question was "Do we need to buy a larger snow blower?"

I don't mind helping, but all these neighbors in need of assistance prove to me that somewhere on the near horizon my wife and I will face similar challenges, and it will be best for us to act proactively to move to a lower upkeep dwelling BEFORE that day comes. Likely needing to move within 5 years as we are 62 & 65 currently.

[EllieKay56]

When my Mom was alive and living in Chicago, she along with 2 other neighbors pitched in and bought a snowblower. The young guy, Jeff, he was about 45 took care of my mom and the other neighbor since they were both widowers. It worked well for all of them.

[davebarnes]

Start researching now. Take your time to plan.
Take notes. Communicate fully with each other.
Eliminate places you would never live. That will help. A lot.
Talk about townhomes, apartment style condos, single family houses.
Is a high WalkScore important to you or not?
How close do hospitals need to be?

I spent a lot of time at age 60 thinking about acceptable places and we decided (before our daughter was even married) that we would stay in the Socialist Paradise of the City & County of Denver.
Now, the grandkids live 8.2 miles away so you know we are not moving away.

At ages 62/53 we woke up one morning in our dream house of 24 years and said: we should downsize our mortgage and living space.
I decided that a duplex made the most sense for reduced maintenance effort.
Our WalkScore is 90 and this turns out, for us, to be very important to our lifestyle. Three blocks to the nearest supermarket.
Ten years in our "new" house and we are very happy.

[ihatetodust]

I had a neighbor who was becoming increasingly dependent on all of us nearby. It was stressful. None of us minded helping but the tasks were increasing rapidly and I'm not sure at what point anyone would have said no had she not passed.

[Chas863]

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

This morning my wife commented on the upcoming snow season and the needs of our neighbors relative to clearing driveways.

• The 79 YO widow across the street for whom we have been doing snow removal for maybe 5 years. Until last winter I shared this duty with another neighbor, but he was 70 YO and the couple moved away last October to be close to their daughter to assist with child care and for her to assist them in coming years.
• The 45 YO neighbor next door with recent multiple serious health issues which might eventually be diagnosed as Multiple Myeloma, an often fatal blood cancer.
• The 82 YO old neighbor two doors down who is recovering from Open Heart surgery this past summer.
• An 80 YO couple who lives diagonally behind us and whom are having difficulty with exterior home tasks (grass & leaves) which will undoubtedly include snow this winter.

My wife's question was "Do we need to buy a larger snow blower?"

I don't mind helping, but all these neighbors in need of assistance prove to me that somewhere on the near horizon my wife and I will face similar challenges, and it will be best for us to act proactively to move to a lower upkeep dwelling BEFORE that day comes. Likely needing to move within 5 years as we are 62 & 65 currently.

I can hear Governor Ron DeSantis calling your name... "Hello, Roger! There's no snow here. The weather and political situation is GREAT! Come on down!"

[PAhippo]

someone told me the time to move is when you don't have to, meaning when you have to it may be too much to do.




yup. start looking into it now.


and thanks for helping all those that need it.

[rjm1cc]

Yes it is time to move. But do you move down the street to an apartment building, or across country to an over 55 community?
First decide if you want to stay local or maybe move to a different climate.
Select a few places and then check them out. Remember the location will be home so do not evaluate like a vacation spot.
Check the costs of the location
AND the most important is a place with activities to keep you busy in retirement.
You do have plenty of time to make up your mind.

If you can I would try and rent for a few months in the location you think you would like to move too. Better yet if you could spend a couple of weeks in several locations. If you are looking at over 55 communities try and stay in the community and I would talk to all the sales people. You are trying to learn from them what others have though was important.

[matisse12]

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

My wife's question was "Do we need to buy a larger snow blower?"

I don't mind helping, but all these neighbors in need of assistance prove to me that somewhere on the near horizon my wife and I will face similar challenges, and it will be best for us to act proactively to move to a lower upkeep dwelling BEFORE that day comes. Likely needing to move within 5 years as we are 62 & 65 currently.

Considering your own life, could't you pay someone and hire someone (perhaps a snow removal service) to do your own snow removal when you no longer wish to or find it too strenuous?

[Hemlock140]

That's a very timely post, since just this morning we had our first frost, 27F when I got up. We get much less snow here, normal is 3-5 snow "events" /year, with 2-6". We do sometimes get hit though, in our 27 years I can remember 24", 12" 3-4 times, and 14" twice. The last two year that we got heavy snow, both my wife and I were ill and had many medical appointments, and at 67 then I was also getting too old to shovel the driveway. We were very surprised when we looked out and our driveway was completely cleared, and we were able to go to our appointments the next day. It turns out that over two years there were 4 times that two high school boys down the street had come up and cleared it for us, without saying a word. This year we'll just have to stay home, because they have both gone off to college.

[thedwightguy]

Our community Hall volunteer contingent came see the "off ramp" coming up fast. Most are north of 75. There are no replacements coming down the pike (turnpike). I really don't blame any generation: but it forced me to basically QUIT my volunteering resume, which started with your snow shoveling (for free) and started over half a century ago.

What we're trying to do is keep the community Hall open as there's a DAYCARE there (for that same generation that owns two houses, and is "really busy". If we close, the daycare closes. Can't fix everything.