After writing Retirement Housing Decisions and getting a ton of GREAT suggestions (thank you!) I decided to ask the Wise Sage of All Knowledge what they thought about retirement housing.
Who is this Wise Sage? Google, of course. đ
After all, their entire business is built upon finding the best content for any given search term, so they probably have most of this figured out, right?
I started by Googling three phrases as follows:
- how to find a place to move to in retirement
- how to choose a place to retire to
- where to move in retirement
Then I opened each post on the first page of every result.
I read them all and decided to share my findings and thoughts so far (which are still a work in progress).
To note, several of the results were the same for different terms. And many were not that great, so maybe Google isn’t as wise as I thought.
Of course you could claim it’s my fault for Googling the wrong terms…LOL!
Anyway, let’s jump into what I found…
Best Places to Retire
There were a whole host of “best places to retire” posts.
Here’s the U.S. News list for 2019.
I’ve read enough of these posts to know to take them with a very large grain of salt (more on that in a minute), but I do think they are worth at least considering and putting through your own filter.
Here are some highlights and my take on each:
- #1 Lancaster, PA: While beautiful, I would never move there (we lived in PA for five years and loved it, but it’s not a retirement dream IMO).
- #2 Fort Myers, FL: A potential for us. We are staying in nearby Ft. Myers Beach for our trip to Florida. Here’s the house we’re renting.
- #3 Sarasota, Florida: Another option on our list.
- #5 Pittsburgh: I met my wife here and we loved our time there (5 years), but uh, no.
- #6 Grand Rapids, MI: LOL! No way! Too dreary and the winters are brutal (we lived there 14 years!) But I guess we could live in one of our rental units!
- #7 Nashville, TN: Lived there for five years, loved it, but summers are brutal and the allergies are terrible.
- #10 Lakeland, FL: Possible.
- #12 Washington, DC: I LOVE DC — to visit. I can’t imagine living there with the traffic, too much hustle and bustle, etc. I’ll be there in early September for a nice visit.
- #13 Daytona Beach: I remember this beach as a kid and thinking “It’s ok, but not great.” I seem to recall jellyfish all over the place, but maybe I have that wrong.
- #15 Raleigh & Durham, North Carolina: Hmmmm, interesting…
- #21 Miami: Too big!
- #22 Charleston, SC: Looks like a lovely place.
- #23 Melbourne, Florida: Maybe.
- #24 Jacksonville, Florida: We have friends and some distant family there.
Here’s a post on best places for seniors to retire to. It’s not that great IMO, but it does raise a few interesting points including these:
- Considerations for where to go: Cost of Living, Family and Friends, Climate, Activities, Healthcare
- Cheapest states to retire to: #1 Colorado and #2 Florida. Hahaha! Includes where we live now and where we’re thinking of spending winters.
- Their list of “cheapest cities to retire” looks like it was put together by the devil. Why don’t they just call it “places to retire to if you hate yourself?”
- Cheapest places to retire to in the world top 5: Panama, Ecuador, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Thailand. I’m not feeling any of these. If we spend any time overseas it would probably be in the Caribbean — Grand Cayman, St. Martin, etc.
- Best states to retire to: #1 Florida and #2 Colorado. Are we seeing a pattern yet?
Before we leave these results I want to share this post which summarizes my thoughts on why “best of” lists are only somewhat useful:
The problem with these lists is that theyâre typically based on broad geographic statistics, such as home prices, cost of living, state and local taxes, the availability of medical care, public transportation, and weather and crime rates. While the data might measure factors that are important to consider when choosing a place to retire, other criteria that canât be quantified may well be more important to you.
The article offers the following instead:
The best way to decide where you should retire is to find the place that best meets your needs and circumstances, however you define them.
To do that, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you want to be near friends and family?
- Will you be taking care of aging parents? If yes, will you need to be close by?
- Do you have hobbies or interests that play into where youâd want to live?
- Will you work during retirement? If so, will the location matter to you? (If youâll transition to a part-time schedule for your current job, you may need to retire near or exactly where you live now.)
In addition, says Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain, senior research scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity (SCL), âthe most important factors for you might include the physical structure of your home, the layout of your immediate neighborhood and the services offered by your surrounding community â all factors that canât be captured by general statistics.
And they end with this:
Choosing a place to retire is about much more than simply finding an area with inexpensive living costs, low taxes, delightful weather and fun things to do. Itâs about living the best life you can for the rest of your life.
So donât be swayed by the media hype and “best places” rankings with limited usefulness.
Yes, reading these lists can jump-start your research and help you compare potential retirement locations. But no matter whether youâll age in place or relocate, you’ll want to find the best place to call home by determining what truly matters to you.
Well said IMO!
Every “best of” list you see is based on some criteria (of course) and it’s highly likely that the list’s criteria of what is “best” is not the same as yours.
Hence the very large grain of salt with any of these…
Where to Retire Quizzes
Next I found several quizzes that you can take to determine where to retire.
One thing I found perplexing is that one of the first questions always seemed to be “what area of the country do you want to live in?” (or something similar). Uh, if I knew that, I wouldn’t need this quiz.
Anyway, I started with this quiz and when I reached the end it said: “We apologize, but this site is currently down for maintenance. It should be back online within 24 hours. Please visit us again!” FAIL!!!! How do these guys get into the top 10, Google????
Here’s another quiz I didn’t have the heart to take after the first one. And here’s one more which I also had trouble accessing.
Perhaps others will fare better than I did.
But no help here, so I moved on.
Actually Helpful Posts
I then ran into a set of posts that were actually helpful.
Let’s begin with this post which asks “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” and makes the following interesting points:
- “Despite the popularity and proliferation of the best places to retire lists, most of us stay put in our homes for retirement. According to the U.S. Census Survey data, very few seniors moved between 2014-15: 6% of 55 to 59 year olds relocated, 4.5% of 65-69 year olds relocated.”
- The top 7 reasons people stayed in place are: 1. Friends, Family and Community, 2. We Like What We Know, 3. Taxes, 4. Home is Where the Heart Is, 5. Moving is Stressful and Can Be Expensive, 6. Stuff!, 7. Familiarity with Existing Healthcare
- They list five steps to determining to go or not as: 1. Assess Your Goals for Retirement Before Searching for the Best Places to Retire, 2. Examine Your Finances to Determine the Best Places to Retire for You, 3. Get Creative â Think Outside the Box, 4. Use Best Places to Retire Quizzes and Calculators, 5. Visit First
Some thoughts from me:
- I’m not all that surprised that most people stay put in retirement. After all, I think many people like where they live, have family there, and moving is expensive. So they stay put. That said, I would have guessed something like 20% would have been movers.
- I think “assessing your goals” is a great start. The hard part is it’s tough to sort those out — and there seem to be so many. They require lots of conversation between partners to get everything right.
An example of this is in the following article left by a reader on my first post. This piece talks about how one couple took 15 years to find their retirement home. I found this section especially helpful — that the search began with “assessing their goals”:
So when looking for a place where we would someday retire, it only made sense for us to draft some rules.
We created a spreadsheet that itemized our must-haves. These attributes, we agreed, would be nonnegotiable. Drafting this document was illuminating (and crucial), because it raised the other major difference in our personalities: Chuck likes being around people and a sense of community. I want a remote location and plenty of solitude.
When Chuck gets a phone call, itâs usually a golf buddy looking to complete a foursome. Or a dear friend asking him to be a groomsman. Or a relative thanking him for the ride to the airport. When I get a call, itâs the dentistâs office confirming my 9 oâclock next Tuesday.
That brings me back to the must-haves spreadsheet. We knew it was going to be a challenge to find a place that offered Chuck the social interaction he craves, and me the solitude that I need. But we agreed that we would never move someplace that didnât have both.
I like the idea of a must-haves spreadsheet. I think we might use it.
Next on the list, I found this advice from Kiplingers to be solid:
Many new retirees fail to do the necessary research and planning before they embark on this major life transition. They may focus too much on the climate, for example. “Weather alone is not as meaningful as how you want to engage in your life in your golden years,” says Paul Irving, chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, a think tank in Santa Monica, Cal., that rates 352 metro areas on “successful aging” issues. “People live longer, and they want their lives to be filled with meaning and purpose.”
Another common mistake is to plan for retirement as one life stage, rather than as several, with each stage requiring adjustments. With longer life spans, moving to Florida or Arizona and staying there may no longer be practical. “Often people don’t account for inevitable changes in their mobility and health because it’s not fun to think about,” Sperling says. Retirees who move away from family members may need to expect that at some point they will return, he says.
It gives us a lot more to think about — not just considering the next five years, but the next 25.
I went on and found this piece from Forbes which lists 8 questions to help you decide whether to move in retirement. Here are their questions and my answers:
- How will you fill your days? Probably similar to what I do now: workout, walk, write, play pickleball, relax. If you add a beach to these, it would be nice.
- Will it be difficult to visit family? As long as there’s an airport nearby, I don’t see why it would. Plus I’m thinking that if we live in a popular place we might get more visitors. That’s sure been true about CO.
- Are you open to renting in retirement? Yes.
- Will you have easy access to medical care? Huge question. Not only this, but I do love my doctors here in CO. Not sure I could find ones I like as well elsewhere.
- What makes me happy? The hardest question. I’m pretty happy now, just looking for a bit less winter.
- Who will you spend time with? My wife, mainly. Probably friends as well.
- What is wrong with where I call home now? Not much other than the winters.
- Can I afford to move in retirement? Yes.
This was actually pretty helpful as I answered these. It seems I don’t need to move at all, just simply find a solution to getting out of CO for the winter.
Similar to the above, here’s a “six-step decision-making process to help you with your planning” as follows:
- Commit in Writing
- The Case for Moving
- The Case for âStaying Putâ
- Relocation Strategies
- Things to Consider
- Settling Into a New Community
It has a PDF worksheet as well to help you get through each of these issues.
Next here’s an article from Fidelity that asks “Should you move in retirement?” It approaches the topic mostly from a cost perspective, which isn’t a big concern for us. Some things worth noting:
- Key takeaways: 1) Housing is primarily a lifestyle choice, not an investment. But unlocking equity and lowering the ongoing costs of ownership can improve finances. 2) To overcome high transaction costs, aim to downsize by 25% or more if you are moving to improve your finances. 3) Consider downsizing early in your retirement to maximize the benefit of cost savings.
- They show a net worth chart which is very scary for me. For the 55-64 age range, average net worth is $164k with almost $100k of that tied up in a house. Even for the highest net worth age group (70 to 74) average net worth is $225k and only $69k when excluding home equity. How do people retire with these numbers? (FYI, our house, which is mortgage free, is 10% of our net worth.)
They share some cost considerations as well as a case study which is quite helpful.
Here’s Vanguard’s take on The Top 5 Considerations When Deciding Where To Retire
- Quality Of Life
- Healthcare Costs
- Taxes
- Family Vs. Sanity
- Real Estate Preferences
Finally, here’s the U.S. News list of 10 important criteria for deciding where to retire with my thoughts:
- Safety. Of course. This is one reason we like Grand Cayman — feels very safe there.
- Proximity to health care. Yes.
- Cost of living. Not as big of an issue for us.
- Climate and weather. A big reason we want to go somewhere else January through March.
- Presence of diverse people. I’m more concerned with living near nice people. If they are or aren’t “diverse” isn’t as important.
- Cultural amenities. Also not as important.
- Low taxes. A subsection of costs IMO.
- Proximity to a major airport. I would like this for sure — both for us traveling and people coming to see us, though if we’re in a location for only a few months, it’s not that big of an issue.
- Recreational amenities. Yes!
- Political climate. Unfortunately, it’s important, though less so if you are a visitor.
Not in the Google results but left by a commenter here is this post about a couple who travels the world during retirement. Some insights:
Question: What other logistics did you have to take care of?
Response: I wouldnât be truthful if I didnât tell you there were about 5,000 detailsâfrom getting glassesâ prescriptions to take along, to dealing with the Schengen Agreement (the EU rule that allows U.S. Citizens to be in the EU for no more than 90 days out of 180), to getting insurance for the things in storage, to getting inoculations for places we planned to visit. It was a whirlwind, but worth every moment.
Still, when we go âhomeâ to California to visit (where we rent places near our children) we spend much of our time seeing our doctors, dentist, and ophthalmologist for check-ups. Thankfully, we always check out well. We just condense a yearâs worth of practical stuff into a few weeks, and weâre off again!
And this:
Question: What advice can you offer to others to make retirement the best phase of their lives?
Response: We would advise seniors to give some serious thought to the things they really want to do with the last third of their lives. People are living much longer and as medical advances have helped older people to maintain a higher level of mobility, almost anything is within reach of the older generation.
Certainly not everyone would like to give up their homes permanently as we have, but house trading is a wonderful option for people who want to travel longer than the standard two-week vacation. Even if travel isnât a priority, we urge seniors to take advantage of the gift of time they have been given to accomplish their dreams. Something as simple as building that garden shed youâve always wanted, going back to school to learn the things you missed in college, or volunteering for a cause thatâs dear to your heart can make your later years more challenging and rewarding.
The only thing we wish we had done differently is to have started sooner.
I actually reserved this person’s book from the library. If it’s worthwhile, I’ll share key insights from it with you.
So Where Does This Get Us?
After all this research and reading, what does this tell me?
Some thoughts:
1. The “best of” places are ok to add to your consideration list, but that’s it. The reason: what they use to decide the best is probably not the same criteria you’d use.
2. The quizzes are not that great. Maybe I should create my own. LOL!
3. Our winter quarters could be either in Florida or Grand Cayman at this point. So far, it appears the only cost differences would be food as the housing and flights appear to be about the same (I’ll find out if this is true when we go to FL in the fall.) That said, Florida is going to have to have some pretty good beaches to compete with Grand Cayman.
4. Another option: I’d be willing to move to a cruise ship, but my wife won’t go for it. đ
5. I’m going to eliminate the idea of a long-term move since I don’t think that’s what we want. Instead, we just need to find a place for three winter months and move there temporarily.
I made this comment on the original post:
If we sell our house and look for a condo here, we are stuck:
- If we move south of where we live, there are less desirable neighborhoods.
- If we move north, itâs new construction and the new condos cost as much as our house does. So we make nothing and lose the walkability we have now (gym, grocery store, park, etc.) only for the benefit of having a smaller house.
This is why I think we’ll keep our house for now. We don’t need the money and though it’s too large for us, the location is perfect and hard to find something else.
6. Even if we’re gone for “only” three months, what do we do with our house? Hire a house sitter? Have someone check on it once a week? Something else?
7. If we get it wrong the first time, we can always adjust.
One reader made this comment:
As my wife says, âNothing is irrefixable.â
IMO, this statement offers a lot of freedom. If we do all our research, pick a spot, try it, and hate it, we can simply change.
Those of you who have gone through this process (or are going through it now), please leave your thoughts on what worked and what you wish you would have done differently.
Sarah says
Great article! I happen to live in Daytona Beach and have been here 8 years. We live beach side on the peninsular which gives us an 8 minute walk to the beach about 15 minutes to a dock on the river side to watch sunsets.
My wife and I have recently decide to buy the house we have been renting for the last 8 years as we don’t see any reasons why we would leave in the next 5 years. While Daytona isn’t the most glamourous beach town what we have done is put roots down here. We’ve consciously spent the last 3 years investing in our social network here and growing our list of hobbies (pickleball lover here!). We easily live within the 10 miles of house – jobs, grocery store, doctors, farmers markets, beach, library, movie theatre, restaurants.
Its all about lifestyle design and finding the activities/people you want in your life. Now all we have to do is break the shackles of our full time jobs so we can enjoy more of the life we have built!
Kathy says
Itâs a good idea to try a new place, but if youâre staying on Ft Myers Beach in the fall, you wonât get a feel for what itâs like January through March. Just sold our house there, and itâs a totally different experience in the winter. Considering how much you like Co except in the winter months, you can have the best of both worlds if you just escape a few months each year. We know from experience Florida is not so great 8 months out of 12đ¤Ł
Sarai says
Keep your Co. house. Check out Navarre Fl. you can purchase a nice house or condo. Its not crowded.
ESI says
Google lists average high temps for Navarre as follows:
January: 61
February: 64
March: 69
We had actually looked in that area (Destin) prior to booking a place in Ft. Myers Beach but then my wife looked at the temps and said they were too low.
If we want to go somewhere in the winter, she wants it to be at least in the mid-70s.
Elkay says
You should definitely create a quiz! And one of the results should be the realistic decision you’ve come to: “You just need to escape winter for three months every year, not sell and move.”
My husband wants to stay in the northeast, near his aging siblings, but we’re considering moving to a more fun house & community around here and then getting away in the winters. Still crunching numbers (but at the same time thinking YOLO and YCTIWY [You Can’t Take It With You]).
Chadnudj says
“That said, Florida is going to have to have some pretty good beaches to compete with Grand Cayman.”
Crescent Beach on Siesta Key (in Sarasota, FL) is arguably the best beach in the world, with the softest, whitest sand you’ll ever find (so white that it never gets so hot that you need shoes). Having grown up in Sarasota (but now living in the Midwest), I’m definitely putting a winter retreat on Siesta Key on my retirement “wish” list. (It also has a lot of the other things you seek — good theater/art/culture, big airports in Tampa/Sarasota/Fort Myers, and an excellent hospital system)
ESI says
How is the snorkeling?
Chadnudj says
Not that great (not really much coral/reefs other than at Point of Rocks at the north end of the beach — the sand into the ocean is similarly soft/not rocky, which results in very tame surf and no undertow, which is great for families with small children), but the water is clear enough that you could snorkel and see a ton if there was much to see.
ESI says
That’s what I love about the northern part of Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman — the water is as clear as glass and there’s GREAT snorkeling not far off shore.
There’s only so much standing around in water/swimming I can do. đ
JR says
Siesta Key is very nice, but it gets extremely busy. There is only one way on/off the Key and traffic can be a nightmare. The worst thing that ever happened was it being named ‘Best Beach in the US’ a few years ago because it led to over crowding.
Venice is close and much less crowded while still offering access to all of the things/places you mention.
ESI says
I actually have a friend who lives in Venice. I need to chat with him.
Chuck says
We bought a condo on the beach in Venice a few years ago, pre-planning for retirement. The climate is great from December to March, and not bad November and April. The town has a nice small-town feel, great biking/walking paths, and a quaint downtown area. It’s also 20 minutes from malls and dining in Sarasota. We have been considering where we will spend summers in a few years, and CO is on the short list. After 28 years in SW Missouri, we have found that it’s a decent place to live unless you can snowbird, then it’s not on the list for either season. BTW, I think it’s those quizzes that are feeding Google and Facebook your 5000 data points they sell to marketers.
AKH says
Iâd love to be a snowbird! Although, if I stay where I am now then Iâd rather leave in the summer. It would be fun to do a month in each of the more popular regions or cities before picking one.
John says
Interesting article but curious why no mention is given to becoming an expat and living abroad? Proximity to family maybe but a plane ride is a plane ride. Places like Mexico, Central and South America, Thailand and the Philippines among others offer top notch health care and a cost of living substantially lower than the states. We have looked into these areas and last year purchased a gorgeous place that we now use as a vacation rental, when we are not there it is rented out as an Airbnb and usually booked about 1/2 the time, if this continues our initial cost will be returned in 8 years or so. For now we will keep our Silicon Valley primary home and other rental (no mortgage on either) until last child is out of the nest, then decide what to do with homes.
Retiring abroad is not for everyone but for our international family it certainly is.
thanks for this site, keep up the great work!
Nomad
ESI says
Uh, I mentioned Grand Cayman. Doesn’t that count? đ
Monica says
I visited FL a couple time in the winter and it was wonderful… I am curious everyone’s feedback on living there whole year round. Is the summer bearable? I live Northeast, so summer are bad too..
ESI says
No, it’s terrible.
I lived in FL for two years while in middle school and it’s brutally hot in the summer.
Chuck says
We have a condo in SW Florida for winter, but occasionally spend a week there in summer. The water is nice, but overall not a good idea unless you like hot and sticky. Our condo complex becomes a ghost town from May to October. The snowbirds have it right.
Kathy says
Lived in South Florida almost 35 years. Canât wait to retire and move back north. Although it gets hot up north too, the heat and humidity in summer, day after day really wears on you. There is basically no breakâexcept for a hurricane. We really miss weather variations, and of course the season changes. If youâre considering a full time move-definitely spend time there in the summer đ
Monica says
wow! Thank you Kathy & ESI:) !
Tom says
Great post! My wife and I are deep into this conversation right now. She has less than a year to go before she pulls the plug on her job; and Iâve already done so. Another tool people may want to use for the search for retirement paradise is weatherspark.com.
We have a number of challenges in terms of determining our âwhereâ: Iâm an avid skier, sheâs not. She loves to garden, I can take it or leave it. Sheâd prefer somewhere rural, Iâm ok with a bit of that, but I need somewhere with more social than she does. Etc, etc.
The one thing we both agree on is we love the weather where we live right now, outside of San Francisco. Itâs perfect weather here for 6 months or more of the year. We donât have a/c in our house – and donât need it. We turn the heat off in May and donât turn it on again until October. It doesnât rain during that time, so we donât even both checking the weather forecast – we just plan whatever we want to do outside, and go do it.
The downside is that itâs crazy expensive to live here! High state taxes, among the highest real estate taxes nationally, expensive gas and food, etc.
So as we look for a place to relo to, weather ends up being a high priority. To help us with that we use a climate comparison website that provides an excellent visual climate comparator for pretty much anywhere in the world. Check out http://www.weatherspark.com if youâre interested.
So where have we found that looks just about exactly like here? Valparaiso, Chile is pretty close, weatherwise. Weâve been there and loved it. Just a little bit far away, but not completely out of the question. The search goes on. Thanks for the info!
Millionaire73 says
Would consider the Destin area if you are looking at FL as cheaper cost of living (for a beach area), beautiful beaches, golf courses, restaurants and some trendy areas (30A) although housing costs have gotten higher believe the most expensive time is the summer so for a snow bird can find some good rental deals (lots of rental properties).
We have a friend that owns a condo there and take an annual summer family vacation to all spend time together.
ESI says
See my comment above about temps in January thru March. Too cold for us.
Mary says
My husband and I are considering a planned community for retirement. We have taken advantage of Discovery Packages that give you a chance to experience the community and amenities for a reasonable rate. One thing weâve learned is that you can add days if you like to the packages, so youâre not limited to the 3-day, 2-night offer. Weâve been on about 10 Discover Packages in AZ, FL, GA, NC and TNâand at times, have gone back to the same place again. We started with a spreadsheet of about 30 items including such items as: warm weather, near water, available cultural events, proximity to family, racquet sports program, good dining on site, etc. Then we independently rated items as Required or Optional. I canât stress enough the importance of visiting places! One place that looked Ideal on paper, turned me off, of all things, because I thought the mailboxes looked tacky (and the roads were narrow–my husbandâs complaint). We wouldnât have known this without being three. In another place we got attacked by a swarm of bugs while walking, and this was confirmed by someone as saying âYes, itâs âbuggy and muggyââ. One time we saw light post holders intended for lighted-tennis courts, but they werenât installed. Is playing tennis in the evening important? Other things to consider: how do you fit in with the people?, is there endless construction?, are there hidden costs? (one community has a 20% bond due to the developer on the retail price of every new homeâthis was never mentioned.) This has been a really fun time, and weâve enjoyed including some of this âscoping outâ with our vacations. Next we plan to narrow down our list and stay for extended times in places to really live like the locals.
xrayvsn says
I would have thought Florida summers would be more brutal than Nashville ones, plus I would think humidity would be worse as well.
I lived in Louisiana and the humidity was quite an issue. As far as world places I would consider, I would love do Thailand/ Bali. But same thing with humidity, although by mid week of my vacation in Bali we did get used to the humidity pretty well.
ESI says
They’re both bad in the summer…
Jackie says
What about those of us who want all 4 seasons ?? I love the changes, not a fan of heat / humidity, & want to be near water, salt preferred over lakes. I am leaning towards Ireland, but don’t have a clue as to how to research retiring from the US. any suggestions ?
Mary says
Jackie, I just bought a book called: How to Retire Overseas by Kathleen Peddicord. It’s a very interesting read and she actually lived in Ireland for part of the time. It goes into very specifics on what to do as well as recommended places for certain priorities such as budget, easy access to US, tech infrastructure, healthcare, climate, etc.
Scott says
Retiring in 2.5 years to Arizona. Daughter lives there and closer to grandkids. After 58 Midwest winters, Iâve had enough. Donât mind heat and humidity. You get used it. And, as Iâve told my wife, âyou donât have to shovel heat!â
Moveables says
If you lease/rent a place in Florida for six months every year, can you change your residency to that state. My wife and I live in a high tax state and are thinking about moving to Florida, but are not sure about buying a place there.
Chuck says
Itâs my understanding that if you stay 6 months plus a day you can claim FL residency. Also, there is a homestead exemption for owners. Donât know the details.
Rick Reading says
Couple comments from this edition…..
Interesting Mr. ESI that you lived in Pittsburgh and are considering Fort Myers. I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and am on my second stint in FL, (after my 4th stint in Pittsburgh) this time in Cape Coral FL. Cheap waterfront if you love boating!
I also agree with Mr. ESI that try it, and if you don’t like it, try somewhere else. I’ve lived in PA, MA, MD, and FL, mostly as I decided to take a job or try something new. I do concede this has put a good dent in my “potential” net worth with all the buying and selling homes, and of course moving. We love the East coast of FL, but decided to take a shot at the west coast because we could get a home on a canal with a boat lift that heads out to the ocean. Twice as much to do so in Boca Raton.
Very, very hot in the summers, glorious in the winter here in SW FL. Must have a pool and first class AC. But as Scott said above, “you don’t have to shovel heat”! Will look forward to visiting family in PA in the FALL?
Maca says
Great article and discussion! Not that ESI would be interested, but we have been exploring the beach towns of Delaware, which could be a viable option for people coming out of the NE or upper midwest. Very tax-friendly. Short winters that are on the mild side and longish summers. The downside is 3 hours to major airports (DC and Philly) and a less than world-class healthcare system. Our kids will likely end up between DC and New England, so this has been a consideration too.
Growing up in MA, I never would have imagined living in DE, but we’ve been visiting regularly for the past couple of years (with retirement in mind) and really like it. Beaches are great. Lot’s to do, including some really good golf courses.
Debby says
Never understood why people love Florida so much with all of the dampness and mold. I never have allergy issues until I visit there. Hickory Bonita springs is beautiful but it’s still Florida
ThomH says
Our plan may be the best of all worlds… Living “full time” in low cost Virginia for Spring and Fall (April-July, and Sept-December). Our home is on a beautiful lake at the foot of the Blue Ridga mountains. And then… We pack up just after Xmas and heading to the FL Keys from January-March, then during the hot Virginia Summer, going to Bar Harbor, Maine from July-August. Works great for us! Cheers!
JP says
Just went to Boothbay, ME last week. First time for the whole family to visit in Maine. Gorgeous and great summer weather.
Jim says
My challenge is that I live and work in Silicon Valley where what constitutes the full purchase price of a home in most areas of the country doesn’t even amount to a down payment here. A decent condo is $850,000+.
Would like to investigate moving to Palm Springs. Beautiful weather from October to May. Summers can be a scorcher with temps north of 120 degrees for a week or longer. I am told that you get used to it and you adapt.
It’s got the things I want (close to friends, two airports, community, a good live theater, reasonably priced housing, a good bowling league and tournament, two quilt shops), just not to the level in the Bay Area, though I can do without the density, high cost of housing and the traffic.
Much research yet to come.
Chris says
Great Read! And the Raleigh/Durham area of NC is fantastic!! Just sayin.
We are frequent visitors of the area.
-Chris
BLS says
Does anyone have experience with Margaritaville lattitude communities? They are located in Florida and South Carolina. They intrigue me because of the social aspect of living in an adult community where people value being active and enjoying music, etc. I would love to hear about people’s experience with these new communities.
I also wonder about how people enjoy adult only communities. I think I might miss living near families with children.
Chuck says
We have friends inThe Villages near Orlando FL. They love it, because itâs so huge and has everything you could think of for activities. People use golf carts as their main way to get around, including the grocery store, post office, etc… we have known several people who have lived in these adult communities, some loved it, but others found they prefer having families and children as neighbors.
Steve Barker says
Why one place? Having retired 18 months ago I float generally with the seasons between, Auckland, New Zealand, Cape Town, South Africa, Breckenridge, Colorado and Hong Kong.
In short I follow good weather but the wife makes me âendureâ a few weeks of skiing.
âWe went for the winter but stay for the summerâ is so true regarding Breckenridge in our house.