What I love is to be there… toes occasionally in the sand, breathing the sea air, walking, and taking pictures and just being. I don’t care one way or the other about swimming in it.
I have friends whose kids went to C of C and lived for a while on Folly Island. Much more affordable and easy to get into Charleston.
So I have been looking at SC and NC since this thread started. I am shocked at how affordable even Raleigh Durham is and other areas mentioned. Hmm
We have relatives who live in Cary, NC. Moved there from Boston. They love it.
We absolutely LOVE Chapel Hill. We’re paying more here than the rest of the Triangle to have our youngest in preferred schools. But yeah, the rest of the area is so much more affordable and there’s so much to do here!
You get 4 seasons, but winters are minimal. Traffic around RTP can really suck, but I just avoid that during rush hour. TONS of independent bookshops. They just opened one on Franklin St that’s a new/used bookstore, coffee shop, and Spanish Patisserie. It is DIVINE!!! We’re paying alot in property taxes b/c of the schools, but taxes are much better in the surrounding areas. Tons of lovely trees and green spaces. Lots of parks. But further from the ocean than you want. It’s about 2.5 hours from RDU to Topsail Island.
Something that we completely lucked into that wasn’t on our radar (but probably should have). There’s a very highly rated VA Hospital literally across the street from Duke University Hospital. My DH has a very high disability rating and anything service related he can be seen for at the VA for free. DH was listing off providers and their educations; tons of UNC, Duke, Stanford, JH, etc. We were very pleasantly surprised!
Edited to add: By 2022 (I think) there will be a total of 5 Wegmans in the area as well. Harris Teeter is a more than adequate grocery store too.
First, Cary = Centralized Area for Relocated Yankees. 
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
Second, shhhh…don’t let the secret out about quality of life in the Triangle!
LOL!!! @AlmostThere2018 We went to the Grand Opening for the Raleigh Wegmans this fall and I couldn’t get over how many Bills, Giants, and Yankees jerseys I saw!
If you like SoCal, affordability, safe, near the beach, Ventura County (north of LA) cities such as Camarillo, Oxnard, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, and surrounding areas might be an option for you?
Great suggestions! I’m looking into all of them!
Long Island??
@Knowsstuff Italy isn’t such a crazy idea! In fact, that is our plan, sort of. I am watching this thread and already got some good suggestions. Five minutes ago, I booked our flight to Italy for the Fall so we can narrow down where we want to search for a property. But we don’t plan on living there full time. Don’t want to hijack OP’s thread, but we are researching kind of the opposite plan, but I am reading here closely. For our ‘permanent’ home in the US, we want the same things as OP. However, we have not been nomads for the past 30 years but rather trapped in suburbia.
Now…we want to be unanchored and free. Husband and kids are birthright Italian citizens, so I will not be limited to a 90 day visa each year. We intend to spend 4-5 months a year in Italy, 3 months or so in a location where we think our hopefully-soon-to-be grandkids will enjoy visiting (water, mountains, etc.) and the remaining months being near each of our 3 adult kids, a month or so at a time. I think our generation is the first where such a lifestyle is possible giving the rise of AirBnb and such.
Will check out several of the suggestions here for our ‘permanent home’ (which we may or may not purchase).
(PS, the Italy thing is not so far-fetched. While there isn’t anything like the MLS in Italy, centralized listings are getting better. And Italy isn’t as prone to home price vagaries based on location as the US is…you kind of know what things are worth based on their size and condition. We are targeting $100-$150k and will either get a decent 2 bedroom apartment in a smaller city for that, or a countryside 3/4 bedroom villa. If one is happy with a remote village in southern Italy, you can get a lovely place for far less than that. Long term rentals are plentiful, too. So, we may not purchase if we simply cannot decide where we want to buy . What we are struggling with is location in Italy. North? Middle? South? City? Countryside? Hill town? Near the sea?
By the way, Italy has the second best healthcare system/outcomes in the world. You can buy into their system for quite a reasonable fee ).
When we were being moved to the area the real estate agent told us that C.A.R.Y. = Containment Area for Relocated Yankees
Lots of choices in coastal NC, centered around Wilmington, and stretching up and down the coast both directions. ILM airport is a solid airport with good links to the hubs of ATL, PHL & CLT. RDU is 2 hours on an easy new highway. The area has become a regional hub for health care. Small but thriving theatre scene.
oh snap- took so long to post that @AlmostThere2018 beat me to it…
@collegemom3717 – haha!
Agree in and around Wilmington would be nice. The downtown is historic and thriving. I think you’d have to get inland to get to $1500/mo but I don’t know much about the real estate market there. Def. art galleries and theater, but not so sure about museums. You’d have to drive to Raleigh.
I know there are a lot of retirees in Wilmington these days. Unfort., with that has come challenges. The local schools are struggling b/c the new wave of retirees are not supporting investment in schools and there’s some real needs for improvement. I know this isn’t unique to Wilmington, but it makes me sad. So if you move there, don’t be those people! :).
@Knowsstuff – ooooh, fun. When can we watch you on Int’l House Hunters!! I work from home and that’s my lunchtime break!
Italy is something in our minds- hubby can claim his birthright citizenship (as many of his cousins have) as soon as he is out of the military. That said, this retirement comes at a very young age and we will both have to work for another 20 years, so a foreign country is unlikely even with citizenship.
That age means we aren’t looking really for an area filled with traditional aged retirees either, though I’m not incredibly picky there at all.
So Cal is very expensive. Tons of traffic. Hideous strip malls everywhere. Smog even near the coast. Devoid of character and no good museums, except in Los Angeles County proper. (I get to say this because I lived there for many years.) Nothing would ever persuade me to live there again, except a beach house in Laguna. There are some other nice pockets.
This is a good thread. Hubby and I are considering this question now. We will probably end up moving back to England where we have a lot of family and friends. BUT, I want to be near my kids. Then again, we can’t predict where they will end up. I’m sure my folks never thought I’d move overseas for twenty years.
If we stay here in the US, I think Massachusetts could be a possibility. We want to be within two hours of a major airport. Interesting seeing what is important to people in retirement.
@Lindagaf we’ve lived in LA county and near San Diego, and in the Bay Area has loved our time in California- all of it. It was five years ago now, but when we lived in Sierra Madre, we had a (tiny!) 3bd apartment for $1800 a month. We absolutely found the space trade off to be worth living there. I wouldn’t willy nilly choose a SoCal spot, but there are many that I would be incredibly happy to call home.
If you like SoCal, why not move out towards Palm Springs? It’s pretty affordable there and even though it’s inland, you can still get to the beach in a reasonable amount of time. What about around Temecula?
I have a cluster of friends who relocated to the Sarasota area in Fl. They love it and found it very affordable.
Personally I love having the four seasons so I have no direct experience myself
If it’s affordable, being near a college is a huge plus. I live steps away from Northwestern and we are there all the time for shows, concerts, and lectures. Many of which are free. Very enriching!
If VA healthcare is important, I would recommend either near a large base or near a strong Medical school. Where I live & work, the VA specialists are from our med school & the VA quality and care is very very good & the same as the non-VA hospitals in the area. (I live nearish a great lake - I’m moving ASAP too!)
You mentioned continuing to work - what field? Does this play a factor?
@promom4 we don’t (at this time) anticipate the need for VA care. Despite both of us having masters degrees at retirement (husband should graduate in December), we are planning life as though we will have normal minimum wage jobs. Ideally, he would work for the DoD as a civilian, but I’ve been out of the work ford for ten years already so I imagine my education is worth about zero at this point. If we plan on two minimum wage jobs and then are able to do better it would be great, but I have no desire to count on making more money when it may not happen.