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Here's my input: you have 2 years to retirement. Hang out and wait it out. DO NOT cash out your retirement. If you mentioned this, I assume you have a pension plan and are opting to go into an investment plan. Bad move. You will end up spending money that needs to stay in your retirement and will run out of money prematurely, especially if you are young. In the meantime, suck it up and research other areas to live. Arizona and Florida are good choices if you are looking for sunshine. Northern AZ and northern FL (panhandle) will offer milder temps and less humidity...and far more sunshine than Asheville. Cost of living in AZ will be higher, Florida will be about the same or less than NC (no state tax in FL).
As for renting, that's a headache, especially if you are living in a different state. Absentee landlords (I was one) deal with more headache than most, and renters have a tendency to destroy long term rentals to the tune of thousands of dollars a term. Short term or vacation renting is a bit better, but still costly to upkeep with dependable people.
Make your decision on where you want to end up, visit it a few times during different times of the year, and then bite the bullet: sell your home, buy a new one and pack up and move out into retirement. Costa Rica?? Why does everyone think that move is a good idea?? You want to talk about lack of infrastructure?? Crime is starting to rise in that country, and although it's beautiful- I'd reserve it as a vacation destination and NOT a place to live full time. 603 homicides in 2017 there. No thanks.
As much as you might not be happy there now, make the best of it. Enjoy the hiking, fishing and other outdoor activities that abound in the area. Get a good LTE cell provider and if your internet goes down, hotspot from your phone. Buy a trash compactor. Invest in a small generator for those times your power is out. There are solutions- none of which lead to making poor financial decisions or hasty moves without research.
Grew up on the Gulf Coast. This area, including the Panhandle, can be very cloudy and rainy in the winter. Not sure where you're referring to in northern AZ. Flagstaff is one of the snowiest places in the U.S. Winters can be quite brutal.
You mentioned that you are a few years away from an early retirement, so I assume you are around 55 years old. The best places to enjoy yourself and meet new friends are taking classes at OLLI, and joining the Asheville Newcomers Group. You will definitely make friends if you join the Newcomers Group. I left Asheville for a year and these two activities are what brought me back.
Saw this a few weeks back and should have replied with a thanks! It sounds like a much better option than Meetup for finding your tribe.
I was thinking of your post today. I can see how you can say it can be gloomy. There are times, during the the winter, that it can feel that way. There are some nice sunny and warmer days coming so looking forward to that. I guess no place can be perfect. What have you decided to do?
Hi, beckycat. Yeah, the gloom pervades, although last week saw some sunshine make it through.
I've just about decided I'd like to trade in my car on a truck, and get a small, used travel trailer. As long as I can get set up with reliable Internet, I can still continue to make an income, as I have an online business, and then I'm free to follow the sun if I wish. I don't want to be a perpetual nomad, but spend a month or two in a nice area and then move on. Boondock occasionally to save the cost of renting spaces. I may try workamping; do a few months at an Amazon warehouse (for example) while my RV spot is paid for, save up the money I earn there, and have enough to live on for the rest of the year. If I don't snag a workamping spot, I'll just make do on the online income I already have, supplement it with some other online money earning gigs, and apply for SS at the earliest opportunity (which is just about a year away).
If I rent out the house, I would make about $500/month on that (after paying for a property manager), but many people seem to think being an absentee landlord is too big a risk, so I don't know about that. I could sell it, but don't know if I'd make much of a profit, if any. Still, it would get rid of a mortgage and all the taxes and utility costs that I would no longer have to worry about. Life would be simpler, and the older I get, the more simplicity appeals to me.
Selling my books is the only emotional hurdle I would have to get over - I'm not particularly attached to anything else. I have Kindle, but it's not the same, and I have thousands of books, so I can't afford to just convert them all. A big part of why I love books is simply the sight, smell, and feel of them - just knowing that beautiful volume is there, and I can reach for it and thumb through it to remind myself why I loved reading it in the first place. So I have to suck it up and weather that drastic change. If I find that I've unloaded a psychic burden that carrying all those books with me from place to place has unconsciously placed on me, then that's great...I can move forward from that with a lighter heart and no regrets. But until that happens, I worry about grieving over them. Still, needs must.
Finances have taken a big hit over the last few months, so my immediate requirement is to rent out one of my spare bedrooms, which will give me the breathing room I need to get all my ducks in a row, preparatory to a big lifestyle change like this. So I just take it one step at a time.
I'll stop there, as I've already crossed the TMI threshold! Just kept typing as it felt good to get all my jumbled thoughts out on "paper," as it were. But thanks for asking after me! I'm gearing up to make the changes needed to better my life.
Join a group or two comprised of locals who are all about things you are interested in, whether a church, hobby group, professional group, social group. Engage. Get to know folks personally. Invite to breakfast/lunch to chat about common interests. This will take your mind off of what you don't like, to some extent.
Does your house have tons of windows? Full spectrum indoor lighting might help a bit as someone mentioned. But there is nothing like natural light, even if tempered by overcast. People can get sunburnt in overcast conditions, so it must be good for something. We are in one of the rainier areas, Transylvania County. Our house is a semi-A-frame, with clearstory windows on the entire south-facing wall My wife has some version of SAD, but she enjoys the big windows with a view and a fair amount of light.
Quality of infrastructure and services are highly localized, even within a single urbanized area. In Connestee Falls, where we live, we also have Waste Pro. They have been reliable like clockwork. In parts of Connestee served by Haywood, they have power outages every few weeks that last for hours if not a day or more. In the majority of Connestee served by Duke Energy, we may get a flicker or two twice a year. All our power is underground. Comporium is pricey, but very reliable. Our fiber service runs around 50 to 80 mbps. I just ran a test and it registered 75 Mbps. Some parts our subdivision still have DSL and slower service.
Yes, it rains a lot and is overcast more than we would like. No place is perfect. You need to prioritize your needs versus wants and focus on your needs, and the things, relationships, views, climate, activities that best match you.
Here are several of the things I like best about our area compared to where I came from (The Villages in central Florida):
Four seaons
I enjoy the occasional snow
Sparse traffic
Changing weather/cloud/fog formations every morning
I meet someone I know in Walmart, Ingles, restaurants well enough to chat a few minutes
Beauty of the area, even in winter, due to terrain landscapes and climatic effects.
Several things I don't like:
Rains a bit more than I like
Many/most people in my subdivision are part timers/second homeowners
Wife needs more sun, but tolerates it
Cost of living/taxes on groceries, cost of health insurance seems somewhat higher
Many tradespeople remind me of The Shirk Brothers from The Money Pit.
No place is perfect. Focus on major priorities. Sub-areas within a community can be quite different. Reach out.
My house does have decent windows, but I happen to be located in a bit of a hollow, surrounded by tall trees, so the sun only gets in during a very narrow frame of time - basically at noon, and then mostly only in summer. So it's always dark inside my house, which I'm very well aware has contributed to my sense of gloominess overall.
I did try Meetup groups and several churches with no luck. Partly it was my natural introversion, but also they were clearly not good fits for me either. I'm not gregarious, and as I work at home, I have few opportunities to meet people with whom it would be "natural" to suggest coffee or some social get-together. So that, while it's good advice for most people, doesn't seem to work out for me very well.
I'm glad to hear that you've had good experiences with your utilities. Maybe I just got stuck on a route with lousy employees. As for Duke Energy, well...I was one of the lucky people who lost power for 2 days during the recent snowstorm, and with no backup, I simply froze and starved until the power came back on. I can't afford a generator, so I just hunkered down and bundled up. At least I had enough cat food to keep my kitty going.
To me these towns seem to fit your requirements:
Santa Fe, NM
Prescott, AZ
Payson, AZ
Sedona, AZ
Since they get less rain they aren't nearly as green as Asheville. Payson, AZ has some ponderosa pine trees but little undergrowth. Plus it might be a little too small for your taste. Sedona, AZ is pretty but kind of expensive. Santa Fe, NM and Prescott, AZ would be my top picks. Prescott, AZ is kind of boring in terms of scenery but has really good weather. Southern California is another choice but it gets very expensive depending where you live.
I've just about decided I'm going to hit the road ASAP and do the nomad thing, at least for a while. Definitely I'll be making AZ and/or NM a home base during winter. I'll be sure to check out your suggestions! As for making any of them permanent solutions, that would depend on the cost of living there, and I know for sure Sedona is off the table. If I went back to CA, where I've spent most of my life, I would go back to Northern CA, never Southern. But almost nowhere in CA (even Central) is a place I'd be able to live on a modest retirement income. But they all have great sunshine, so I'd like to hit them all up at some point!
You might be able to rent your house out through one of the outfits that does "vacation cabin rentals". I don't know what is involved in that, but I would consider it. It would allow you to keep some of your things like your books and large furniture in the house and then you could get some rental income from it. Maybe something to talk about with one of those places.
It's possible to AirBnB in some places, but not sure that would be best if you're going to be traveling and some folks have issues with the idea of AirBnB (mainly from people who buy up cheap properties and convert them to AirBnBs and reduce the affordable housing available for folks). I have a friend who is a traveling musician and he AirBnBs his place when he's on the road and has nothing but good to say about it.
I think absentee landlord can work if you have a good property management company that you are working with. I have several friends in other areas who do that and it's worked out pretty well for them. I wouldn't do it w/o a property management firm personally. I want the renters to have someone to call if the plumbing acts up that is not me if I'm in Arizona or somewhere.
Here's my input: you have 2 years to retirement. Hang out and wait it out. DO NOT cash out your retirement. If you mentioned this, I assume you have a pension plan and are opting to go into an investment plan. Bad move. You will end up spending money that needs to stay in your retirement and will run out of money prematurely, especially if you are young. In the meantime, suck it up and research other areas to live. Arizona and Florida are good choices if you are looking for sunshine. Northern AZ and northern FL (panhandle) will offer milder temps and less humidity...and far more sunshine than Asheville. Cost of living in AZ will be higher, Florida will be about the same or less than NC (no state tax in FL).
As for renting, that's a headache, especially if you are living in a different state. Absentee landlords (I was one) deal with more headache than most, and renters have a tendency to destroy long term rentals to the tune of thousands of dollars a term. Short term or vacation renting is a bit better, but still costly to upkeep with dependable people.
Make your decision on where you want to end up, visit it a few times during different times of the year, and then bite the bullet: sell your home, buy a new one and pack up and move out into retirement. Costa Rica?? Why does everyone think that move is a good idea?? You want to talk about lack of infrastructure?? Crime is starting to rise in that country, and although it's beautiful- I'd reserve it as a vacation destination and NOT a place to live full time. 603 homicides in 2017 there. No thanks.
As much as you might not be happy there now, make the best of it. Enjoy the hiking, fishing and other outdoor activities that abound in the area. Get a good LTE cell provider and if your internet goes down, hotspot from your phone. Buy a trash compactor. Invest in a small generator for those times your power is out. There are solutions- none of which lead to making poor financial decisions or hasty moves without research.
Well, you have lots of good advice, thanks.
I have 1 year until I am eligible for early retirement. If I am making enough to live on, I would wait another 5 years, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. So I'll assess my situation when the time comes and make that decision. I'll hold out as long as I can. I'm not talking about any investments or pension plans - I'm talking strictly Social Security. Probably I shouldn't have used the phrase "cash out."
As I've mentioned to other commenters, it seems my best option is to sell up and become a digital nomad, continuing to make money online while I travel around following the sun and my own whims. I love to travel, and have missed it, so I'm not really interested in researching a new permanent location.
You seem to agree with everyone else who has suggested that absentee landlordism is not a good idea, so I will be very sure about the pros and cons of that before deciding whether to try renting my house or not. I'd hoped to make a little extra income from that, but maybe it won't be worth it. I'll see when the time comes.
Can't afford to take reconnaissance trips to see where I might like to go, so I think I'll just do the nomad thing and find them as I go. If I find somewhere that suits me down to the ground, well, then I'll put roots in that ground and they can bury me in it someday.
As for Costa Rica, that's just one option. Ecuador, Panama, Belize, Portugal, Spain...they are all possibilities, if I can afford to make the move. Every place has its issues, and mostly they are never as bad as the naysayers think, especially if said naysayers have never experienced them first hand. So I'll keep that idea on the table for future.
I'm not at all an outdoors person - no hiking, fishing, skiing etc. would ever float my boat (or boating either, for that matter) - so while your suggestion is great for many people who move to a new area with tons of those options, I'm afraid they don't do it for me! I'll look all day at a pretty view, if I can afford to get to it, but have no desire to climb it, bike it, swim it, or kill anything on it. Also, while I reluctantly have a cell phone, I use my landline exclusively at home as it is the most reliable and doesn't need recharging when the electricity goes out, so I really don't care to hotspot from my phone - a thing I may have to do once I hit the road, if I ever do, but which isn't of any use to me here and now. And finally, I'm sadly unable to afford a generator right now, so I just have to cross my fingers and hope for no more snowstorms like we had last month.
But your replies are useful and thoughtful, thanks! I'll take them on board and give them some thought.
My house does have decent windows, but I happen to be located in a bit of a hollow, surrounded by tall trees, so the sun only gets in during a very narrow frame of time - basically at noon, and then mostly only in summer. So it's always dark inside my house, which I'm very well aware has contributed to my sense of gloominess overall.
I did try Meetup groups and several churches with no luck. Partly it was my natural introversion, but also they were clearly not good fits for me either. I'm not gregarious, and as I work at home, I have few opportunities to meet people with whom it would be "natural" to suggest coffee or some social get-together. So that, while it's good advice for most people, doesn't seem to work out for me very well.
I'm glad to hear that you've had good experiences with your utilities. Maybe I just got stuck on a route with lousy employees. As for Duke Energy, well...I was one of the lucky people who lost power for 2 days during the recent snowstorm, and with no backup, I simply froze and starved until the power came back on. I can't afford a generator, so I just hunkered down and bundled up. At least I had enough cat food to keep my kitty going.
We lose power here a lot. Do you have a fireplace? If not, I think you can buy portable heating devices that don’t use electricity. If you have a gas stove, the burners work during a power outage.
Last edited by organic_donna; 01-17-2019 at 03:01 PM..
We lose power here a lot. Do you have a fireplace? If not, I think you can buy portable heating devices that don’t use electricity. If you have a gas stove, the burners work during a power outage.
I know what you mean, but you might want to clarify that gas stoves work during power outages for cooking. They are not safe to use as an alternate source of heat.
Have a friend there who loves it (Cotopaxi, recently moved there from Colorado Springs). Not sure if it's for me, but I'd consider it!
I lived in COS for a year. A Florida boy with a VW bug. No snow tires. Didn’t know a thing about snow. It was fun and I would do it again. Wish I’d never left there. Winters get a LOT of sun and summers are warm but AC use is needed in the afternoon. The beauty is incredible.
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