DH and I have talked about moving when he retires (I will retire before he does because... well, I want to!).

We live in an area where housing prices have always been relatively high compared to most of the country, but have recently become obscene. We plan to move to somewhere that housing costs are lower, but not too far away (within driving distance).

New social networks are essential, whether a gardening club, book club, church/synagogue/mosque group, etc. You needn't be lonely. In fact, my guess is that if you and DH move to a "retirement community" that it will be quite easy to join in with others who've relocated.

I just mentioned on the Homesteading forum that if relocating think about the availability of Major Airports, If you like to travel and/or have guests fly in. To get to my town you fly to Dallas and then change to a flight here. At extra cost and time usually about a 3 hour wait in the Dallas airport for connecting flights.
Not much fun.

gandbb,

Don't feel that you have to be lonely.

Get out and meet folks.

As mentioned, clubs, associations and religious centres are places to look, but if one has a ready smile, a joke or a comment about something often means that one has an interesting experience with strangers - and can learn a lot of interesting stuff. (I originally wrote "studd" - but thought that I should amend it).

For example - sometimes while waiting for a long, slow freight train to cross an intersection in the city, I go back to a vehicle behind me, ask if the driver knows what the jail guard replied when the inmate asked him what time it was.

"What do you care what time it is - you ain't goin' any place!" was the reply.

Have a great day.

o j

absolutely! 5 yrs to go and iam 55 and gone! i hate living in michigan almost as much as i hate working. and its a fantastic job, great pay. dont like working never have. and i hate this filthy cold state. my wife and i have no kids and no close family. lucky she feels about the same as i do, when it comes to her job, and she dosent much care for mich. either.

It's nice in Texas Bill. I think you have to take into consideration the things that you do like there and the things you do like to do there and then see if another place has those same kinds of offerings.

Since you hate work make sure you have a good plan on how you two are going to get by if and when you do move.

I was 59 when I took early retirement.

minnie, tell me more about texas, we have been thinking that the fla. gulf coast is where we want to live, but lately i have been hearing alot about texas. we both like hoy humid weather yr round. our idea of a great time is taking a 5 mile walk on a hot august day in south fla. at this point it doesnt look like money will be a problem, health insurance, well we are keeping our fingers crossed, at this point we both have coverage that we take with us at 55, that covers both of us.

My husband and I were born and live in So. California. He has been with the LAPD for 31 years. We are retiring to Williamsburg VA in less than 2 years. We can hardly wait. I am a housewife now, although I worked for several years developing public programs for museums and doing fund raising for the local college foundation.
We have visited Williamsburg many, many times - actually we have looked for the perfect retirement spot for about the last 5 years - GA, NC, SC, MD, KY and VA....we keep coming back to Williamsburg - low crime - airports close by, lots of culture, lots of water and natural beauty, Colonial Williamsburg, good services, and close enough to DC, New York,New England and the deep south, to have some fun driving vacations. We hold annual passes to Colonial Williamsburg and the Biltmore Estate and we know our way around the East Coast pretty well for a couple of So. Californians. We have been to the south in the coldest of winters and hottest of summers - weather is not a big consideration for us in relocating.

Our children are in California and Arizona. Our youngest starts law school August 1 near the Bay area (CA)- he and his wife could end up any place after he graduates...another son and his family own a home in Phoenix, AZ but are moving to Utah, another son lives here and is unmarried but could relocate any place because his profession is in high demand....so rather than try to follow our kids as they establish their careers and families, we decided to move where the quality of life is high, the cost of living is relatively low (compared to So. CA), and where there are new adventures in store for us.

My husband and I are very much in love and are goers and doers - we love to ride bikes, take long distance walks (5+ miles) several times a week, are avid history buffs, like good music, food, gardening and landscape design, and especially enjoy traveling. The East Coast provides a new playground on which we can play...we can hardly wait. We will fly 3 or 4 times a year to see our grandchildren and children. We will have room in our new home for them to visit us, but we will not count on that since it is difficult for young familes to coordinate their busy schedules in order to fly across the U.S. We remain flexible in our pursuits and ambitions and we are very excited to think of all the new adventures awaiting us....new friends, new places of beauty and learning, new ways of doing things, new challenges, different weather, etc.

Good idea to go to where you may want to retire and rent a place for a year or so, for some places that look great in one season are much less so at other times.

It'll give you the opportunity to learn more about the place, activities, people, etc. than you can learn in a week or so while visiting.

You might decide that it's just the place for you - or you might decide that, for whatever reason, there's no way that you want to live there.

In a location that others might consider to be heaven.

Sort of like, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

joyful guy

We took early retirement and will be moving shortly. Property taxes are just too high in the area that I am in (Dallas, TX area) and my wife and I both like the gulf coast area. Certainly, we are going to miss our friends, but we both agree that we will need to make the effort to make new friends. Weather was one of the critical things for us, then the cost of living. It also puts us in between relatives with a reasonable drive in both directions.

This is a topic DH and I have been discussing a lot. He is retiring in 2 years. I don't think he really knows what he wants to do. So far in his mind he has moved us further south to Valdosta, Savannah, then Orlando, and the last place is "just across the Alabama state line", where he says we can find land less expensive. We have too much acreage now, but he says land gives you privacy. Who's going to take care of the land? I can get a home on a cul de sac that has privacy, but he hates subdivisions. We would stay in our current home if it were stepless, but it ain't! Another advantage in moving is all this capital gain we will have to enjoy retirement even more. We can find a nice smaller house and pay cash for it and still have a lot of capital gain left over - tax free!

He says Florida stays warmer in the winter months, but I love a beautiful fall season, and I don't think I have ever seen sugar maple trees in Florida, LOL! Besides people in Florida had to come to Georgia because of the hurricanes, so why move if we have to come back here, LOL. It's starting to look like we will be downsizing where we are.

A big consideration for me in moving very far is we would be further away from our sons and their families. It would make it more difficult on our sons to visit whenever they wanted to. I have strong feelings about this because I moved out of state and left all my family when I was 18 so DH and I could find better jobs. Thank goodness our sons never had to do the same. I can't imagine living somewhere and seeing our sons only once or twice a year, which is what we did to our families. (I'm sure this is just a mother touchy-feely thing, LOL, as he doesn't take this into consideration like I do).

That's exactly what we did 19 years ago!! We were in the Washington, DC area and got out of there as fast as we could. We had lived on the MS Gulf Coast for 10 years during my husbands career with USDA. Both southerners, NC and VA but love the year around tennis here and the mild weather. We would make the same decision if we had it to do again. Dotty

Just popped back on the Forum Bill. Texarkana is growing. It is in the NE corner of Texas and the dividing line between us and Texarkana Arkansas is State line Street. One side all is Texas and the other Ark. People think of it almost as one town. The slogan for years has been Texarkana, twice as nice. The big post office downtown sits on both state and is a photo op site. You can stand with one foot in each site for a picture. I-30 (the NAFTA highway) goes right thru and brings a lot of business. since I've been here (July 2005) a lot of growth has been going on up in my neck of the woods. New shopping plazas are bringing in bigger named restaurants etc. I think we'll have about one of each pretty soon haha. We have one Mall. the downtown area is trying to make a comeback as are most downtown areas around the country. We are in a four state zone here, Texas, La, Okla, and Arkansas.

We had a terrific ice storm back at Christmastime in 2000 and most were without heat,elec,phone and water for days, some for even weeks. I had all my Y2K supplies and some cans of Sterno so made out ok.

I think it still has a small town feeling but is growing fast. There are a lot of parks and fishing place to go to if that interests you and loads of churches. We have a Regional Airport on the Ark side which gives you access to the Dallas and other airports. If you don't have a lot of things to do you might feel you could be "stuck here" as one DS says but I'm happy.
right now we are like the rest of the country with 94-100° temps every day. But you learn to stay out of the heat.
I lived in Panama City Fla for years and loved it and wouldn't mind returning some day. One DS has a house in Ft Walton Beach which he rents out and will probably relocate there when he returns from Germany. I miss those Gulf Breezes.

Unless money is the issue, stay where you are, if your family and friends are there.

agnesd,

What happened to your sense of adventure?

If you have friends where you are - you can make new ones in a new place.

You need to keep making new friends wherever you are - cause the current ones keep dying off! And the older you get, the faster they disappear.

Course, when your turn comes, you won't need to worry about that any more ...

... friends are ready-made in the Great Beyond, no?

Lots of 'em.

And good ones, too.

I figure.

Course, I could be wrong.

ole joyful

Same as Cattknapp, I am going to be leaving California. I can't afford to retire here. I don't own and my rent is higher than house payments would be in the mid-west. We have perfect weather here in the SF Bay Area but we also have horrible traffic, rising crime and outrageous housing prices. I will miss my friends but I am a joiner and make friends easily. Besides, I will be able to afford to visit here a couple of times a year.

I just returned from my third trip to Tucson. I went with a friend who bought a house in Marana - actually it won't be built for another year. It will be a beautiful home in a beautiful location.

I visited the church I will be attending when I move. I am going to live in the University District. I was somewhat taken back by how scruffy some of the neighborhood is, but I quickly adjusted and I think I prefer urban living to the retirement communities. My husband just isn't the type to be told where he has to keep his garbage can and what kind of flowers he can grow so the northwest retirement communities aren't for him either. I am so bummed to be back home in Washington where it is gray and 60 degrees.

I have decided that living in Tucson is not for sissies. We had a whale of a time driving through the monsoons. It must be fun though if you live there and know how to deal with them.

Cattknap, Williamsburg is one of the places DH and I are considering, too. We keep saying that after we retire, we'll get minimum wage jobs in the Historic District.

I was stationed in Tucson and my oldest DS was born there. I moved back for about 6 months and really missed it when I left. I lived right behind the University stadium I can't remember the address, maybe 8th street?

I saw my first Flying Saucer over Mt Lemon and spent many happy times driving with a bunch of cronies around "A" Mountin and Ranch Diablo. Your post brought back a lot of memories ( I don't want to tell you how many decades ago!!)

fla. is my 1st pick, i want temps that rarely drop below 65 deg. i want to live in a decent size city maybe somwhere that owning a car is optional, bike and walking paths are a must. and a area where i can find a decent condo in the 150 to 175 range, also adult only area. any ideas?

We do! And coming from Florida, I had thought we would return to that exotic, stimulating state. Recent and future weather says "NO"! I have 3 books here, and 2 more on hold at the library, searching the stats. I know nothing equals living there for a while, but I need to do homework, just as my way to sit here, and be so limited with contacts. So, who likes it where and why? I know Michigan.... gray. Got to stay in the Southern East (family), near clear water with no alligators to munch our Chocolate poodle, art and college community, little if any snow in winter. Any suggestions? I am having a hard time.

egads, why would I? My DDs are within 80 miles. I remember what it was like when my folks got old and ill and were far away. Besides it is gorgeous 3 seasons of the year here and even early and very late winter are OK, the bad part I spend in the south - not during hurricane season.
I have known some who have moved back, cuz it was difficult to make new friends. Unless you move to a retirement community, people already have their circle of friends. It is not like when we had little kids and we met playmates parents and classmates parent etc.
Besides, we have our home just like we want it finally and it is all on one floor. We plan to hire help if we need to and be carried out of here feet first. Of course, there is always the unforeseen horrible stuff, but we are planning on aging with the norm. If it is worse, we will cross that bridge with our girls, when the time comes.
jan

egads, why would I? My DDs are within 80 miles. I remember what it was like when my folks got old and ill and were far away. Besides it is gorgeous 3 seasons of the year here and even early and very late winter are OK, the bad part I spend in the south - not during hurricane season.
I have known some who have moved back, cuz it was difficult to make new friends. Unless you move to a retirement community, people already have their circle of friends. It is not like when we had little kids and we met playmates parents and classmates parent etc.
Besides, we have our home just like we want it finally and it is all on one floor. We plan to hire help if we need to and be carried out of here feet first. Of course, there is always the unforeseen horrible stuff, but we are planning on aging with the norm. If it is worse, we will cross that bridge with our girls, when the time comes.
jan

I had a call from my brother today. He is sick of the heat in Phoenix and I think tired of not having enough to do. He isn't sure he did the right thing in moving. Food for thought, but I think the Arizona heat would allow me to do more because I would be in less pain. I always thought my mother-in-law was nuts to prefer sitting inside in pain in Washington to being able to walk in southern California. She had terrible rheumatoid arthritis and did feel better when she traveled to drier climates, but still she preferred looking at Evergreens. Unlike my brother, I don't plan to retire to a senior community. I hope to stay active with church and civic affairs in the city.

It's all part of lifes' cycle to migrate. Early birds get to choose their worms. Sadly the human race does not stick together when migration takes place so yearn for the past or look forward to the future. Now doesn't that sound like LIFE to you? Distance for humans is totally irrelevant in this day of video/internet communication so choosing your retirement destination is great fun. I have come across dozens who have fled to the sun but returned not for family but for climate that they are used to (try before you buy). I have friends all over the World and I intend to make a lot more before we all meet up somewhere else. If you don't take some risks in Life you are not really LIVING. I will be chatting to a lot of garden owners in Nova Scotia because I think it is THE best way to make friends without having to follow group mentality. If more people walked and talked then the World would be a much nicer place in which to live.

Great answer Rich -

I agree to an extent, but just cuz one decides to keep their home, doesn't mean they aren't a risk taker. We have traveled to a multitude of countries and states and find no place we would rather retire. We were thinking about FL, but decided no thanks with the hurricanes and there are a lot of gators, tho that really didn't bother me. I just mention it cuz someone else did.

Climate is very impo to me. We are here most of 8 months of the year, the other 4 we are in FL. AZ Mex and WI. Love every minute of it. Our whole year is wonderful weather and exploring great and fun things and we have friends at all these places.
jan

Jan, I assume you are from the Minneapolis area from your posting about the Guthrie. I traveled recently to Minnesota, but didn't have the time or money to make that last couple of hundred miles that would have taken me to Minneapolis. I wish I could have. We stayed in Fergus Falls and I have never before been in such a "pretty as a postcard" town. It was just lovely, greener than Seattle in April. The locals did tell me that they had a very rainy summer and the green was a bit unusual. You can keep your mosquitoes though.

Of course you don't have to leave home to have an adventurous life. I think that Rich was just being reassuring to us who want to but are hesitant about moving. I am nearly certain, based on previous visits, that my health will improve considerably in a dry climate though I am not fond of high temperatures.

Nope. We fixed up the house and plan to stay put. We don't want to leave our kids and grandkids. We belong to some clubs and get to go on day trips and travel around. We're pretty content in NY.

We originally came from the Northeast, moved to Florida, then recently moved to Georgia to retire. We couldn't see ourselves staying in Florida and struggling to make ends meet or worrying about hurricanes every year. We like Georgia because the life style choices are great. We have the coast (Savannah), the mountains, a choice of many lakes, a college town (Athens or Macon), a big city (Atlanta,)or a small town. We chose central Georgia because we can visit any of these areas on day trips. You have expensive or reasonable areas, elaborate houses and mobile home parks, retirement communities, new developments but most of all, very friendly people. Give Georgia a thought! We love it here.

I have been thinking a lot about comfort zones since Katrina. People refused to get on planes to go to states with low unemployment rates, and inexpensive housing so I asked myself where I would be willing to go. I am from Washington State. I would be pretty comfortable going to Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, Montana, the Dakotas, and Arizona. Anything else seems too far away, too foreign, too unfamiliar.

I think this carries over into retirement planning. I couldn't go to Georgia because it is too far away. Until it got too expensive, people from Washington who wanted a warmer climate when they retired went to Caifornia. Now it is Arizona and Arizona is where I plan to go. It seems to me that people in the Northeast are more likely to stay on the east coast. I don't know what people in the heartland do. Do you go to Texas, New Mexico or ? Part of it is that I don't want to be more than a 3 hour plane ride from my children, but I think there is more to it than that. There may be very little difference from one state to another, but I don't know that and something in me seeks the familiar. Coming from a "blue" state, I will settle into the only "blue" county in Arizona. I would like to be more adventurous, but I always find myself seeking out the familiar.

Someone I knew years ago had moved to Washington from the east coast. She said that it was so important to her that television was the same everywhere. Some people derided her comment because of her reliance on television, but I think I know what she meant. Once while visiting in South America, I found myself watching Plaza de Sesamo (Sesame Street) just for the familiar characters.

gandbb, I understand your reasoning perfectly. Living in one of the boroughts of NYC, I would never be comfortable out west. I would have at one time considered Florida for a seasonal home, but no more. The weather is changing there for the worst.

We live in Florida and are going to sell the house and move to another state that doesn't have bad natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. Does anybody knows of such paradise?
Irma

We recently moved to Wyoming from the Washington DC area where both my husband and I had lived our entire lives. We moved here (we are both retired) to be near our daughter, son-inlaw and young gradsons, while we miss our friends (no other family ) we do not miss the horrible traffic and the crowds every where there. We are enjoying Wyoming and the lack of traffic, the housing prices here are much less than there, It is so easy to get things done here! took all of 5 minutes to get cars registered here. This would have taken atleast one whole day in Northern VA. The wind here can be a problem but being able to spend time with my grandsons is priceless.