Where are you retiring to?

But "value" is an opinion.

 

Actually the value of the dollar isn't an opinion, it is empirical data.

 

Another on the caveat side ... "property tax." In CA it is capped at 1.02 percent of value with a small, capped yearly increase allowance (generally). But our overall "tax" rate on our house is 1.4 owing to overlapping tax levies that by strict definition do not constitute ad valorem property tax. In some places it can get near or even top 2 percent. So do your due diligence. How many "taxing" authorities levy on the county-generated property tax bill? Is the property/home encumbered under some form of land-secured conduit financing, as in a Community Facilities District (Mello-Roos) or Assessment District (that's the developer kindly presenting a lower price on the house in question by wrapping some portion of the servicing infrastructure into a bond ... and avoiding the upfront out-of-pocket cost of putting that stuff in).

 

for the same square footage house in Scottsdale vs our house in So Cal, the property tax bill in total ( add in all the misc add-on fees) is almost exactly 1/2 in Az vs Ca.

Az also has lower sales tax rates by 4%, lower gas prices, lower Insurance rates, etc, etc

 

One thing I will need to consider is public transportation - I do not drive due to overlapping medical concerns, and using Uber/Lyft/taxi a lot can really add up And if mobility becomes a concern I don’t want to be in a position where I have to walk long distances between the nearest transit stop and where I need to get to, and vice versa

 

"Value" is a subjective term. If you mean purchasing power, it's empirical - are lemons $1 each or 3/$1 at the local grocery store?

 

Now price that house in Tucson!

 

Yep, subjective. But isn't that the same for purchasing power if the same-priced lemons are found where the wages are 50 percent higher?

 

My wife and I retired and moved to the MS Gulf Coast three years ago. (Gulfport) There is a 26 mile long stretch of beach that I walk on 6 days a week and 9 nice casinos within a fifteen minute drive. I can actually walk to the nearest casino if I choose to. Plenty of local bars & restaurants to choose from (actually so many that we still have a relatively long list of places we want to try). We have a great view every day from our 12th floor balcony with nothing but air between us and beach. (well, Hwy 90 is between us and the sand but no buildings or developments) I have joined a local Mardi Gras marching club (Ole Biloxi Marching Club) so I march in multiple (11 last year) Mardi Gras parades each carnival season. Unfortunately, we did not get to march in ANY parade this year here on the coast but we got an invitation from the Pensacola, FL. Carnival Association. to come march in their delayed Mardi Gras parade May 22. We are all looking forward to that. Anyway, plenty of great food, a wide selection of gambling options, and mostly (Hurricane Zeta reminded us earlier this year that it isn't always great) wonderful weather makes retirement pretty enjoyable for us.

 

I considered several spots (and by selling my house on the central coast of California I had a lot of options): Laughlin (condo in Bullhead City near the river and casinos), Sun Lakes near Phoenix (one of my sisters lives there right on a golf course, very tempting), Costa Rica, LOL, (with my retirement income I could live like a king very near the ocean), Prather/Auberry/Tollhouse area in the Sierra foothills—love it there just below Shaver, Dinkey Creek, Huntington), and Oregon. I finally chose Oregon, mostly for family reasons but I also really like Oregon and now I have a good spread, pretty close to a 36-hole golf course and only miles from where my daughter lives in Hillsboro—she works for Intel. My other sister still lives on the Central Coast so I'm still a pretty frequent visitor—it's where I grew up.

 

Believe that's more tied to "cost of living" but it has been a few years since I studied economics ;-) I guess when it comes down to it, salary + retail or other fixed costs are objective and everything else is relative.....

 

Objective but not necessarily relative in another market, so not really objective.

 

Nowhere close to retirement.

If I were choosing a U.S. destination it would be a southwest combo. But it’s probably going to be a European destination when all is said and done...

 

I've taken a number of times today this "where to retire" quiz I saw on the WSJ. I've changed a few of the parameters but no matter what I do Ft. Collins comes up every time and often in the first slot. Then again, Riverside-San Berdoo came up in the #5 slot once and there is no way in hell we're ever going back to the IE or So Cal.

 

Same here! I want to become far less dependent on the private car!

 

One thing I'm unlikely to get in my retirement I'd really like is a nearby college with a hockey team that would let me watch daily practice ;-) SEsp if I could walk to it. But that would require retiring north and/or west, which is unlikely at this stage. I like winter, but not shoveling every day. Shoveling once or twice a year is what I've become used to at this point.

Yep, I have very strange desires. Isn't variety what makes life interesting? I've often thought a (small) college town would be nice for the amenities I'm looking for, so that would be a priority if we ever decided NC/current home isn't what we want. (I've lived in enough college towns over the years to be aware of lots of the downsides too, not to worry ;-)

 

College/university is a big plus, on balance, to our way of thinking, too.

 

I definitely agree with the university idea. And HH, if you can get over your snow-phobia Small, nice college town with a lot of amenities and character, and a good hockey team? You just described Ithaca, NY. Just hire somebody to do the shoveling.

While we're at it, if we want to include international, I've often thought about Montreal as a retirement destination. I freely admit that I haven't thought about it enough to figure out requirements for emigration, but I love the city, and it ticks of a lot our list (university, real seasons, great restaurants, etc.). Of course, I'd have to actually learn French.

 

Moi, je parle français! Or I did fluently enough to take university classes for a year....

If I move north, it would be an old industrial town (pittsburgh, cleveland, milwaukee) or it would be the town where I went to high school in CT. I've often said if my high school opened a retirement home, I'd move in a heartbeat!!!

I do love that lots of colleges offer classes free to local seniors. I'd be in heaven!!!

 

I still have 20+ years, but Belize has my interest currently.