Where would you move to in my situation?

DFWJC said:

Ive been in Texas for 30 years but I think North Carolina offers almost everything
Nice climate, beaches, mountains, rural or urban……great mix

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NC keeps popping up in my searches. Any particular part you think is best?

Crazed Liotta Eyes said:

NC keeps popping up in my searches. Any particular part you think is best?

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I lived in Greenville for 6 months, it isn’t a far drive to the mountains or the Outer Banks. Pretty decent area with lots of possible acreage but it does snow some. The people are cordial but don’t expect great food

Runwildboys said:

How about the San Diego area? I have a nephew who lives there and he loves it. I was there when I was a kid, but I don't really remember much about it except the weather. Then again, I'm a Summer guy.

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San Diego is awesome. Expensive though and I have a Brother-in-Law who lives there that I'll assault on sight. Bit of a problem.

Crazed Liotta Eyes said:

NC keeps popping up in my searches. Any particular part you think is best?

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The Asheville area is really nice.
I have relatives on the Outer Banks, but that might be a bit rough year-round
The west Raleigh or Chapel Hill areas are milder, and split the difference between the beaches and mountains

Tabascocat said:

I lived in Greenville for 6 months, it isn’t a far drive to the mountains or the Outer Banks. Pretty decent area with lots of possible acreage but it does snow some. The people are cordial but don’t expect great food

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Home of the ECU Pirates….arrrghh

not the prettiest area of the state, but a good college town

So many variables to this answer. Really depends what you want deep down. If you want warmth year round, that cuts your options in at least half. As for Hawaii, I have known several people that have moved there and ended up moving back. I always think, "How could you want to move away from Hawaii!?". The first answer I usually get is the cost of living, but the second one is that people eventually start feeling stir crazy being stuck on an island.

The locals would hate me for saying this over the internet..................but Idaho has some nice places. Just not warm year round. lol

Crazed Liotta Eyes said:

I think the craziest thing I ever saw on the road was my own experience. I was driving to Dallas during an ice storm at night and everything seemed ok in my little RWD sports car. They had salted all of those short overpasses that cover the ditches. I hit one of those things near Dallas that I guess had not been salted and my car fishtailed completely sideways. I corrected and spun back the other way but there was suddenly a car right in front of me at a dead stop. Corrected the other way and literally missed them by inches, doing a full spin. I hit a dry patch shortly after and my tires caught and straightened me out. There were at least 10 cars in the ditches off the side of the freeway on either side. People talk about slow motion in high stress situations, and I definitely experienced it then.

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This topic could probably support it's own thread. lol

Only craziest things I can remember while driving in my time is.....

1) Buddy and I were driving and the car in front of us rapidly accelerated and then shot off to the right, jumped the road, went down the embankment, and started up a hill before it came to a stop. My friend and I pulled over and ran over there. There was an older gentlemen in the drivers seat and he had a seizure. We stayed and waited with him until help arrived. It was a miracle he didn't roll the car or shoot off into oncoming traffic. Scary stuff to think about.

2) Back when I was about 20-21 years old, I was driving on a freeway coming out of downtown Boise. Just by myself cruising in my little truck I had at the time. It was a warm summer evening and I had the windows down and music up. Eventually I just get this weird sense out of the corner of my eye that this vehicle is staying right with me. I don't look right away, but I turn down my radio. As I do this I hear some "hey. hey you" type screaming. I finally look over and here are 3 college girls in a Jeep with the top off. As I look over the 2 girls are standing up, and boom, both of them pop their tops and flash me. haha I was almost shocked that this was happening, but at the same time I'm saying to them with my lips, "Thank you!". They speed off and I never saw them ever again.

DFWJC said:

Home of the ECU Pirates….arrrghh

not the prettiest area of the state, but a good college town

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Yea, wife had to go teach there at the University hospital for a bit. It isn’t an ugly area but not beautiful either but close enough to the ocean and mountains. We would never settle down there but was okay for a short stint.

Pompey-Cowboy said:

Hawaii, beach house. Like Florida but less 'drugs and weapony'.

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Beautiful place, but insanely expensive.

South Carolina

North Carolina is an awesome State. You have mountains to the west beaches to the east. It's not hot like Florida in summer but does get hot and winters are well above crazy snow. They cancel school when its snowing and you can still see grass about once a year.

VA and NC seem to be very popular for people around here who want to escape the cold winters of northern New England.

If you want lake living it doesn't get better than Lake Norman in NC. Pricey buying on the lake but you can find reasonable stuff with in an hour.
https://www.visitlakenorman.org/about/visitors-guide/

Tabascocat said:

Yea, wife had to go teach there at the University hospital for a bit. It isn’t an ugly area but not beautiful either but close enough to the ocean and mountains. We would never settle down there but was okay for a short stint.

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My sister and nephew graduated Med School there

Small world

Pompey-Cowboy said:

Hawaii, beach house. Like Florida but less 'drugs and weapony'.

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I lived on Kauai for about year. If your not from the islands, not likely you'll adapt. Its claustrophobic feeling knowing you cant just pick and go. Being on mainland, we can pick up drive anywhere.

Say your in LA, you can drive up to SF or down to San Diego. Or anywhere remote.

I love this thread because my wife and I are planning our retirement move from NJ. We don't need the big house anymore. The snow sucks. the high taxes suck too. We are the only state with both estate and inheritance taxes and the threshold is only $675,000. If you think that is a lot, it is not when you consider housing here is very expensive. So if you own a house when you die and leave it to the kids, you almost hit the threshold on that alone.

We've looked at west coast of Florida quite a bit. Most of it we don't like but we love Naples. The problem is everyone loves Naples so houses are very expensive near the water. We are going to look on the East coast next. The Eastern US has some really nice beaches, from Maine all the way down to the keys in Florida. It is true it gets very hot in Florida in the summer, air conditioning and swimming pools help to deal with that problem. I have the cold and don't mind the heat so I am pretty sure I will be okay in Florida.

But you have to have priorities to narrow down the search. We have family in the NY/NJ area so we don't want to be too far away. I have relatives in CA and we never get to see them. I know people who have moved to Florida and they drive back and forth a few times a year to visit relatives. I can deal with that.

We are looking for a smallish house, maybe 2000 to 2500 sq ft. No income taxes, low property taxes, and no estate or inheritance taxes. After retirement, keeping your hard earned and saved money has to be a priority. We are no fixated on Florida, I could see us looking at the Carolinas but they are not as tax advantageous as Florida.

Crazed Liotta Eyes said:

So, I just got full approval to work remotely, which means I can pretty much go anywhere. I'm trying to decide where to go. I'd love to hear suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Kids are grown and out of the house. Or will be after this move! I would prefer to get a little bit of land (1-10 acres). We're tired of the cold and snow here in the mountains in California, so we'd like somewhere warmer if possible. I'm from Texas and my wife is from Florida, but we could go anywhere.

After we sell this house in California, we're going to have about 300-400K to put directly into a property. We're leaning towards Florida but not sure about what part. She is from the Miami area and does not want to go back there.

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You can buy a house with about 10 acres and a condo on south Padre Island if you move to the Rio Grande Valley.....cost of living is great
..I'm a part-time realtor and prices have gone up because of the low interest rates, but the deals are still great.

Midwest. Texas to Great Lakes States. Can avoid the big cities if needed. Mostly cheap land and less regulation. Healthcare options would be biggest concern.

My thing is though I don't mind the cold as long as I'm not too old to manage in it. (e.g. shoveling the front entrance, scraping the windshield, chains on the tires and all that fun stuff) I'm the opposite of most Yankees. I've been living in 100 degree+ spring-fall areas so much, I'm due some jacket weather.

West Coast... too expensive, too regulated & earthquakes
SW... no more water
Gulf Coast... too many hurricanes
NE... too expensive, too cold & too regulated
Hawaii... too expensive (love it though, probably my favorite past home of the ones listed)

Playing devil's advocate, the states that are more expensive & regulated generally have the better healthcare options.

Praxit said:

I lived on Kauai for about year. If your not from the islands, not likely you'll adapt. Its claustrophobic feeling knowing you cant just pick and go. Being on mainland, we can pick up drive anywhere.

Say your in LA, you can drive up to SF or down to San Diego. Or anywhere remote.

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Not everyone takes it well. I loved it. My wife hated it. Would definitely recommend someone try it out first because saw a lot of haolies come in eager and leave quickly. The further away from Oahu, the more you're roughing it. And yes, big island is cheap, but you're also much more likely to lose your home to lava or an earthquake.

A lot of Cowboys fans in Hawaii, BTW. I know we have quite a few on this board. I met a lot of former players every year they went to the Pro Bowl.

You should get a studio apartment in Manhattan. That’ll run you about $400K.

darthseinfeld said:

However Id say a place like Albuquerque, or some of the cities in Arizona you could probably find similar towns to what we have in Rochester. Ive heard Scottsdale is very nice

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No rain there but if that’s what you like it would be a great place.