Where to retire?

When I retired, everyone asked me where I was going to move to. I said, "Move?? Why would I want to move? This is God's country!"
 
EdFred said:
I have a few floor plan designs I've done, and am shooting for a 2BR 2BA ranch in the 1500sf range. Probably a 5ft block and concrete crawlspace to house mechanical/water tank/heater. Would like to drop that down in the middle of 10+ wooded acres and have a detached barn/wood shop. A 30-60 minute drive to "civilization" isn't a big deal, but cheaper land 15-20 mins out would work too.
Click to expand...

A foundation is the only suggestion I have, helps keep the mice out.
 
One of the guys on my team recently moved from MI (fairly close to you, actually) to eastern TN for somewhat similar reasons - he was ready to kick MI to the curb after all the COVID hullabaloo and big brother breathing down his neck every time he turned around. He seems to like his new digs so far. He bought 20ish acres and can do what he wants without someone looking over his shoulder to make sure he picked the right shade of green to paint his mailbox. I like the eastern TN area - 'Nooga is a pretty nice town - big enough to have some stuff to do (including minor league baseball), but not too big to have a lot of the negatives of a city. Plus, with the hills right there you can get away from everyone pretty easily. Close enough to the coast that you can do day trips (in a plane, at least).

As far a building a runway in GA, other than the typical fed stuff, I think it is a county-by-county ordinance thing. I know in our county you have to own at least 50-60 acres together to be able to build a runway - so you can't just buy 10 acres that's 100' wide x 4300' long and squeeze a runway on it. As already mentioned, GA is pretty 2A friendly as long as you don't have big demons in your closet. Stay away from the metro area, which is slowly bleeding out into our neck of the woods unfortunately. Get much farther south of ATL and summers can get pretty warm, but there are still some remote-ish areas to hide away in if you want.
 
Things that I learned from my first (aborted) retirement to Florida:
1. Split Bedroom floor plans are awesome.
2. Florida is too hot.
3. Choosing a location over important people (family/friends) was a mistake.

Don't ask me how I wound up in SC. I still haven't figured that part out yet.
 
luvflyin said:
Being able to plink around with your guns in a City I don't think is common in any State...homelessness... No burn days happen from time to time during fire season/bad air quality days, and yeah, they will enforce if they catch you having a weenie roast.
Click to expand...

Move 20 miles north and all those things change.


Sent from my SM-A515U using Tapatalk
 
Rich Holt said:
Things that I learned from my first (aborted) retirement to Florida:
1. Split Bedroom floor plans are awesome.
2. Florida is too hot.
3. Choosing a location over important people (family/friends) was a mistake.

Don't ask me how I wound up in SC. I still haven't figured that part out yet.
Click to expand...

For FL it’s more the humidity, the hot season it’s like living in a sauna

Also S FL gets pretty spicy with undesirables, budget like $1500 a year for crime.
 
BladeSlap said:
For FL it’s more the humidity, the hot season it’s like living in a sauna

Also S FL gets pretty spicy with undesirables, budget like $1500 a year for crime.
Click to expand...
Same for NC. It is getting worse too. Why anyone would want to live there I have no idea why. Look at the crime statistics on Lumberton North Carolina. If you care about your safety and your comfort don’t move to North Carolina.
 
weilke said:
One of the great mysteries in life is the desire to own a large house if one does not need a large house. 'No dear, I do not wish to operate a bed&breakfast for your family.' They have this wonderful place called the 'Hilton Garden' just down the road. Other than that, no more than 1 guest room with en-suite and a pull-out couch in my office.
I love her dearly and she is (outside of the lapse of judgement of hanging out with me) the smartest and most analytical person you are going to find. But that house thing remains a mystery.
Click to expand...

Some of it can just be laziness if you're already there. My aunt's mother (and then my aunt and uncle) lived in the same houses they raised their families in, which were much too large, the rest of their days. My aunt's mother probably didn't go up to the 2nd or 3rd floors of the house for the last 10 years of her life. My uncle died last year and now my aunt lives there alone, and it's way too big. But she wanted to have the space for when the kids and grandkids came to visit, plus they just had everything there.

I spent the first 20 years of my life someplace I hated, and since leaving have lived in 4 additional states. Up and moving, getting yourself acclimated to a new place, developing a new network of friends, etc., is a challenge. You can't make old friends, and the older you get the truer I find that to be.
 
To Ed's question, Kansas is a pretty good option for all of the requirements listed except for taxes. I really don't like the property taxes we have to pay on items. The side of it is our schools are quite good, and living here is otherwise very nice and enjoyable. Negatives are that summers are hot and humid (90+ highs essentially all summer) and winters have a lot of cold days. But we have more sun in the winter than you do in Michigan by a good bit, and overall we don't mind the balance. Folks are friendly, GA and 2A is very friendly here. The only negatives I can state are the lack of terrain and the taxes.

I'd strongly consider the 4 corners states. I've really been enjoying Utah when we've been out there on RV trips.
 
Ted said:
I'd strongly consider the 4 corners states. I've really been enjoying Utah when we've been out there on RV trips.
Click to expand...

Rachel may or may not have had the Zillow app open as we were driving from SW UT back towards SLC when we were out there. ;)
 
CJones said:
Rachel may or may not have had the Zillow app open as we were driving from SW UT back towards SLC when we were out there. ;)
Click to expand...

I've mentioned to Laurie on our visits there "I could totally live here." While we have no desire or plan to move from Kansas now, that's a place I could see moving to, or at least visiting a bunch.
 
Ted said:
I've mentioned to Laurie on our visits there "I could totally live here." While we have no desire or plan to move from Kansas now, that's a place I could see moving to, or at least visiting a bunch.
Click to expand...

Exploring the back and dirt roads of Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico would be a wonderful thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ted
EdFred said:
Yes, I fully expect this to go like the "which plane should I buy?" threads, which is why I am asking.

Retirement is in the not too distant future (5ish years) if things go like I hope.

Why is your state/area the best to retire in?

Factors in my decision making:
Housing costs
Land availability
Real Estate/Recurring property Taxes/Sales/Income Taxes
2A Friendliness
GA Friendliness
hangar availability and costs
runway construction​
Property rights friendliness (minimal ordinances)
Other considerations not mentioned?​
Click to expand...

Access to medical care. You will be amazed at how often you need to visit medical facilities as you age. Consider the following aspects:
1. regular care (e.g. regular preventive visit type stuff, annual physical, some chronic condition monitoring).
2. major event access. e.g. heart attack, cancer
3. lab access for regular blood work or related services
4. cross specialist scheduling. If you move in between Knoxville and Nashville, you do NOT want your specialists split between the cities. You will spend your life on the road. You want a large medical center that has the super majority of medical specialists all in house and will handle scheduling multiple visits together on the same day for you. (assumes you have a "commute" to such a facility).

Tim (I watched my parents, grandparents, and many other retirees wake up to these facts over the pas couple decades)
 
Just a point of reference:

When we sold the hotel in 2020, we purchased a home on the mainland, 4 minutes from our hangar (at KTFP, in Ingleside, TX) and retired to play with old cars and airplanes.

Texas is ideal for so many things. No income tax. Pro 2 A. Mild winters. Relatively low cost of living. Small town life (Ingleside, TX population: 10,000) near to a major metro area, giving you the best of both worlds. Beautiful beaches, with the Hill Country an easy 60 minute flight away. Lots of friends with ranches nearby, meaning lots of fun shooting/hunting opportunities.

We have traveled 52,000 miles since we retired, according to Google, and -- other than a recent health scare that has finally resolved itself -- have been enjoying the heck out of retirement.

Texas is the bomb.
 
BladeSlap said:
If you support those things, why not move to one of those awesome places that also supports what you support like San Francisco, Chicago, NYC, NJ, Seattle?

You wouldn’t want to live with all of us “backwards rednecks” down here, besides just watch the news we all have covid and are we’re full :)
Click to expand...

I don't support all those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... you'll never know since I tend to be a bit "gray" in terms of sharing my affiliations and beliefs with people on the internet. Point is - If I like the climate and flying weather in Florida or anywhere else, I'll move there. And I probably share many of the same beliefs and values as you. Maybe all of them. Except the one that is so exclusionary that you can't stand to have people with opposing beliefs and values living in your state.

Morgan3820 said:
Yes, please. You can do all those things where you already are.
Click to expand...

See above. I personally don't do/believe any of those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... that's not the point. The point is regardless of what I believe or what values I have or what political affiliation I have, I'm going to live where I ******n well please.
 
Deelee said:
The point is regardless of what I believe or what values I have or what political affiliation I have, I'm going to live where I ******n well please.
Click to expand...

I've just never understood this mindset. I generally don't fit in anywhere anyway, but why would I intentionally move someplace where I know that I am going to have significant differences from the prevailing culture that create friction? Sounds like that would add a lot of annoyance to my life. The local culture should be part of the appeal of a place to me.

I grew up a place that I hated and disagreed with most of the prevailing views. So, I left.
 
Deelee said:
I don't support all those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... you'll never know since I tend to be a bit "gray" in terms of sharing my affiliations and beliefs with people on the internet. Point is - If I like the climate and flying weather in Florida or anywhere else, I'll move there. And I probably share many of the same beliefs and values as you. Maybe all of them. Except the one that is so exclusionary that you can't stand to have people with opposing beliefs and values living in your state.



See above. I personally don't do/believe any of those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... that's not the point. The point is regardless of what I believe or what values I have or what political affiliation I have, I'm going to live where I ******n well please.
Click to expand...

I think you missed the point.
 
The fact that Minnesota makes the top 10 while being the 43rd most affordable automatically invalidates that list. And that health care is weighted heavily on Mayo. But hows the health care in Baudette?
 
EdFred said:
No income tax in Texas though so it's offset. Illinois for example double cornholes ya.
Click to expand...

Wrong answer, seriously. There’s various org’s that look at state-by-state total tax burden. Texas usually falls just below the middle of that list.

Most subdivided property in Texas is subject to either deed restrictions or a HOA, so just shift your municipal regulations to a private entity restricting what you can do on/with your property.

Perfect example: our HOA board got tired of street parking, so there’s been a years-long ramp up in enforcement of no vehicles beyond the number of spaces to park. 2-car garage w/driveway can have no more than four vehicles, all must be parked in garage or driveway. HOA dues pays for a private, 3d party enforcement company that comes out and leaves you a notice of infraction. HOA assesses fine, if you fail to pay the fine, they file a lien.
 
These lists are pretty meaningless. The qualities you are looking for a just so heterogeneous within a state, assigning a statewide number is folly at best. In Virginia for example, affordability in McLean is going to be different from affordability in Lexington. And the components that go into the 'healthcare' rating often confuse cause and effect. A high number of 'healthcare facilities per capita' doesn't do you any good if your local/regional hospital is mediocre. I can see making a ranking for individual communities, as a statewide number its useless.

Oh, and taxes. Sure, nice not to have an income tax, but that isn't the only tax or user fee you are going to pay. And again, property tax on a shed in Windermere, FL is going to dwarf paying income tax on some non-exempt income in a middle of the road tax state.
 
I fall back to a conversation I had with some co-workers back in the day. This was back when one of the big lotteries topped $1 billion. We were having the "what would you do if" conversation. All of my coworkers talked about moving, to Colorado, to Florida, to Texas, etc. I don't know if I'm just small minded, or happy where I am, but leaving this town and state didn't cross my mind. Mind you I wasn't born and raised here in Iowa, and have moved a few times before.

Granted a second residence on the beach in Florida for those winter getaways would be considered. Probably wouldn't want to live there permanently though.
 
EdFred said:
The fact that Minnesota makes the top 10 while being the 43rd most affordable automatically invalidates that list. And that health care is weighted heavily on Mayo. But hows the health care in Baudette?
Click to expand...

These lists are silly. My state ranks 39th, yet affordability is #2. Healthcare and QoL are both 48, but that highly varies based on where in the state one resides. Out in the sticks good healthcare may be hard to come by, while where I live there are two top ranked hospitals. As far as QoL, there are a lot of fun outdoor activites here, Outdoor magazine voted this city #1 twice as best place to live in the US for outdoor activites. I will not lack for activities in retirement.



Capture.JPG
 
weilke said:
These lists are pretty meaningless. The qualities you are looking for a just so heterogeneous within a state, assigning a statewide number is folly at best.
Click to expand...

I would agree. There can be drastic differences in a single state between their major cities and rural areas. Most of the time the stereotypes of a certain state are based on the major cities and we forget the entire state isn't that way.
 
Deelee said:
I don't support all those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... you'll never know since I tend to be a bit "gray" in terms of sharing my affiliations and beliefs with people on the internet. Point is - If I like the climate and flying weather in Florida or anywhere else, I'll move there. And I probably share many of the same beliefs and values as you. Maybe all of them. Except the one that is so exclusionary that you can't stand to have people with opposing beliefs and values living in your state.



See above. I personally don't do/believe any of those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... that's not the point. The point is regardless of what I believe or what values I have or what political affiliation I have, I'm going to live where I ******n well please.
Click to expand...
Well, ok. You are free to fart loudly in church. You just won’t be popular. But you may or may not be ok with that.
 
TCABM said:
Wrong answer, seriously. There’s various org’s that look at state-by-state total tax burden. Texas usually falls just below the middle of that list.

Most subdivided property in Texas is subject to either deed restrictions or a HOA, so just shift your municipal regulations to a private entity restricting what you can do on/with your property.

Perfect example: our HOA board got tired of street parking, so there’s been a years-long ramp up in enforcement of no vehicles beyond the number of spaces to park. 2-car garage w/driveway can have no more than four vehicles, all must be parked in garage or driveway. HOA dues pays for a private, 3d party enforcement company that comes out and leaves you a notice of infraction. HOA assesses fine, if you fail to pay the fine, they file a lien.
Click to expand...

What does an HOA have to do with Illinois having pretty high property tax PLUS an income tax vs Texas not having income tax? Illinois is 9th, Texas is 30th. Pretty sure my answer was right. Illinois pounds ya twice, Texas once.
 
Ted said:
The local culture should be part of the appeal of a place to me.
Click to expand...

I agree. But that's not on a state level. You can't say - "Oh, a liberal snowflake. Stay out of Florida." Lots of Florida is full of liberals. I spent a week in Miami around Christmas time because my kid played in a golf tournament there... um... yeah it was pretty liberal. Also know plenty of conservatives that live in parts of California... And like it enough to stay....

EdFred said:
I think you missed the point.
Click to expand...

Maybe not the main point... Ed you should move where you are going to be happy and be able to live the life you want to live...

I am more responding to the people saying that Americans can't move or shouldn't move to a state because the whole state is uninhabitable because of certain beliefs/values strikes me as exclusionary.
 
Ted said:
Some of it can just be laziness if you're already there. My aunt's mother (and then my aunt and uncle) lived in the same houses they raised their families in, which were much too large, the rest of their days. My aunt's mother probably didn't go up to the 2nd or 3rd floors of the house for the last 10 years of her life. My uncle died last year and now my aunt lives there alone, and it's way too big. But she wanted to have the space for when the kids and grandkids came to visit, plus they just had everything there.
Click to expand...

I recognize that there are also transaction cost and tax consequences to a downsizing move. I wouldn't call it 'lazyness', more 'inertia'. You already own the place, you have a social network in the area, maybe you even like your neighbors. You can't just snap your fingers and shrink this from 4000sf to 2500sf.
In my family, we ended with a deal between my siblings, myself and my parents that allowed my sister to keep the 'big house' for her family while my folks moved into a single level place that they'll never have to leave.
 
Deelee said:
I don't support all those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... you'll never know since I tend to be a bit "gray" in terms of sharing my affiliations and beliefs with people on the internet. Point is - If I like the climate and flying weather in Florida or anywhere else, I'll move there. And I probably share many of the same beliefs and values as you. Maybe all of them. Except the one that is so exclusionary that you can't stand to have people with opposing beliefs and values living in your state.



See above. I personally don't do/believe any of those things. Or maybe I do. But maybe I don't... that's not the point. The point is regardless of what I believe or what values I have or what political affiliation I have, I'm going to live where I ******n well please.
Click to expand...

Just part of being a good person and having a good life, moving somewhere where you know your values will make friction, let alone voting those values, why not just stay in a place, or move to another place, that has the same values as you? Perhaps because all the places filled with people who think the same are not very nice?

It’s a odd liberal thing, not many move from AK or FL or TX to Chicago or LA for retirement, but the other way it happens a lot, it’s like a kid who poos the bed and now wants to crawl into your bed.

Can you legally do it, yes, but it’s still morally not very nice.
 
midwestpa24 said:
I would agree. There can be drastic differences in a single state between their major cities and rural areas. Most of the time the stereotypes of a certain state are based on the major cities and we forget the entire state isn't that way.
Click to expand...

Applies to everything on those lists. QoL in Hazard Co KY is not going to be representative of QoL near Lexington, KY if you are into the horse thing.
 
Still honestly don't see much wrong with Michigan. The place is gorgeous with all those lakes. Your family has a livable airport for Odin's sake, and another besides, and the UP can be skied or snowmobiled in the winter. Plenty of good health care depending on where you are. You have people there already. I just don't see the down side, other than grass is always greener. And all those places in the south get too bloody hot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top