Help us plan where to move in retirement

Parent Cafe
1

Ok, a thought exercise. My husband and I have been discussing his retirement (a few years away still, I hope), and trying to decide where we will settle down after being nomads for over 20 years. Where I want to go is too expensive to be reasonably feasible (Sierra Madre, CA), and where he wants to go is a flat no from me (Chicago)… so drawing board! 

Where would you move if you could pick- it has to meet the following requirements:

  1. No more than 60 mins from the ocean
  2. Rent for a one bedroom apartment can not exceed $1500 a month (and lower is better)
  3. No more than 60 mins from museums, galleries, etc.
  4. No more than 75 mins from a decent airport
  5. Does not have insane traffic- for instance it can take me 45 mins to go two miles on the highway here, and I would love to never deal with that. Normal/moderate traffic is fine.
  6. Must have a good library/library system, more than one grocery store, and a decent movie theater.

I know this place may not exist, but it can’t hurt to think about it. And no, I don’t think Great Lakes = Ocean. I am trying to avoid the freezing cold of that region.

2

Maybe Savannah or St. Augustine?

3

Virginia Beach?

4

Are there no financial or health considerations? Your’e not looking for income tax free states? And you are renting forever?

5

Also…look in Delaware.

6

@Sybylla yes we would plan to rent forever. I’ve owned four homes in my life and it isn’t something I hope to deal with again. The rent is the financial consideration, and no health considerations.

7

Another Vote for Delaware or Maryland’s Eastern Shore. 4 Seasons. Low taxes. The beaches are great (but not tropical). Close to Wilmington DE, Baltimore, DC, and Philadelphia. Close to state of the art medical centers. Close to I95 to take you up and down the East Coast.

8

OP: it might be helpful if you shared any thoughts about Florida–especially about the Florida Panhandle & about Jacksonville area.

Obviously, South Carolina locations should also be considered.

Wilmington, North Carolina is worth considering.

9

Ask @sherpa. :slight_smile:

Although 60 min to museums would be a stretch on a bad traffic day.

10

I have freinds who just moved to Newport Beach, CA which may fit your criteria – you would need to see if it works with your budget.

11

I’m not positive but I think that Newport Beach while great doesn’t have many under $1500/month apartments.

My kids both rented apartments, one in a larger city, one in a mid sized city. Both pay/paid more than $1500/month. D in her mid size city says that rents are out of control because of Airbnb. Landlords find that they can get more with temporary renters so inventory is low, rent is high.

Both in the northeast but not an expensive area.

12

Newport Beach, California is expensive.

P.S. OP: Now I want to move to Sierra Madre, California.

13

Near Sarasota Florida? We lived in Bradenton which is right next to Sarasota. Sarasota is on the Gulf but if you are willing to be more inland there are lots of little towns that are a lot less expensive. Sarasota has an airport and Tampa, which has a much bigger one, is only an hour or so away. Or you could go closer to Tampa, which would likely have more museums, etc.

14

Take a look at Greenville NC. 15 minutes to the waterways, maybe half hour 45 minutes to the ocean. Has a major research university in the UNC system, ECU. Has one of the largest medical centers in the southeast (Vidant Medical Center, with 10 satellite hospitals). ECU has a med and dental school with a ton of residencies whch account for many of the rentals. Some much nicer than your typical undergrad apartments and housing.

It does have a small airport but RDU is 65-70 minutes away. Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill is bout an hour with tons to do.

We lived in wake county for a least a decade and it has seen tremendous growth. Farther east, Pitt, Nash, Greene and Beaufort counties are seeing some but not with the crazy prices of Wake and Orange counties.

Rentals in Greenville NC (not SC) are much. much lower. 2 bed, 2 bath in gated complex with granite countertops, pool, and gym run around $1000-$1100 a month with a lease. Complex also has garages. It is right across the street from the med center.

You can drive from one side of town to the other in about 12-15 minutes. It is the county seat and with the med center is the gateway to eastern NC. Great food, 2 movie theaters, neighboring town has a Watermelon festival every year.

We have lived in San Diego and the Bay area for years before moving to NC. So shhhhh, this is like San Diego years and years ago. Everybody has a boat, (not saying what kind of boat!) Lots of sand, lots of trees (magnolias) and lots of corn and cotton fields in the middle of town. And the BBQ.

Our little rental is 2500 sq feet 100+ year old farmhouse with a lot of cotton for $850 a month. Smaller ones are cheaper and fancier are more money.

We did a lot of looking and have lived all over. This is a nice bit of heaven, that and all the sweet tea.

Kat

15

Sierra Madre is idyllic. What about towns slightly east of there?

What about North County San Diego? Vista? Fallbrook?

All of the California I know has traffic though.

16

Newport Beach seems to be a great museum of people with money or debt displaying status symbols (e.g. in one weekend, you will probably see more Rolls Royce and/or Bentley cars than in a year in most places).

17

What about Winston Salem? School of the arts is there. It’s near enough to Greensboro and that airport…or an hour or so from Charlotte and Raleigh Durham. It might be a little further than an hour to the ocean. Rentals should be within your price range.

Wake Forest Medical Center is terrific. While you don’t have health issues now, it’s nice to have a good resource just in case…

18

Heh, Chicago has 2 seasons… Sorta ?. Like this thread to keep going since I was just thinking about this. Have you ruled out places like Italy? Rents are inexpensive near nice cities.

OK. Back to reality…

19

How much do the things brought up in the “New Orleans” thread ( http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/2173174-new-orleans-how-dangerous-is-it-really.html#latest ) matter? (e.g. crime, racism, homophobia, etc.)

20

All of California has traffic, but not like we have here in DC. I actually miss LA traffic sometimes. Ha. I love fallbrook, and I’ve looked around Monrovia and Duarte and think it might work- even maybe parts of Pasadena, but that’s iffy.

@ucbalumnus, not worried about crime more than not moving into a drug den or where there is known gang activity. There are racism and homophobia everywhere, even idyllic Sierra Madre- we used to have a guy who sat on our corner there for two years straight with racist political signs. We just deal. Once both my kids are gone my whole standards change and perhaps just generally lower a bit. Ha.