<p>Yes, access to good medical care is important, especially as we age. A friend likes tcation with friends in Princeville, Kauai. It’s very rustic and somewhat rural (houses on one acre parcels) there is one semi-retired lung specialist, one hospital, and many people have to fly to Oahu for their medical care. Cell phone reception is intermittent. It’s OK for all of them while everyone’s pretty healthy, but as we age, some of us need to get more medical care. Good to have good docs & hospitals to work with wherever to plan to spend significant time.</p>
<p>dstark, my writing was unclear. My wife thinks the community of live artists in SF/Berkeley/Oakland is not that strong. Not sure why. I do suspect that $900K is not a big number for buying a house there, but I don’t know the market. The same is true of Boulder, CO, which I like and where I have a close friend. But, moving there would essentially be a replacement for where we are. Great all year round and spectacular in the summer, but cold in the winter (albeit close to skiing).</p>
<p>Plus, ShawD transferred back a college in our area to study to be a nurse and nurse practitioner. If she does it as an accelerated program, she could complete it in 3.5-4 years. But she’s been advised to work for a couple of years as a nurse before completing the NP training. So, she could be around for another 5.5-6 years. And, she’d love to work at a specific hospital in the area. So, she may be here much longer. ShawSon is graduating from college this year. I thought he’d pursue the finance route before going to grad school, as his advisers (and I) urged him to take a year or two off. But, he’s gotten involved in a startup that, at first blush, has real potential. I don’t know where they’ll locate but he’s asked if he and one of his partners could stay at our house over the summer so who knows. </p>
<p>We used VRBO to rent a place in Baja California Sur. Beautiful, problem-free.</p>
<p>sopranomom, I’m going to check out homelink.org.</p>
<p>Shawbridge, it looks like you are going to end up like me, cold. :)</p>
<p>In Oakland, I forgot about Piedmont, Montlclair, the
Oakland Hills. I don’t know about 900,000 getting a nice place though.</p>
<p>In Berkeley, there are places you can get for under 900,000 in good neighborhoods. The houses are small and old. I like them. :)</p>
<p>In SF, there is the Sunset district. Then there are condos and Co-ops scattered around the city. In the nice areas, 900,000 isn’t going to get you much.</p>
<p>Not knowing where the kids are going to be is a factor…
Sounds like it is going to be many years before you know where your kids are going to end up.</p>
<p>Some of the warmer areas are not going to be where our kids end up.</p>
<p>I don’t know about the artist community in the bay area.</p>
<p>This thread is timely for me. Today winter finally hit here…cold, WINDY, and only a little snow but it reminds us that balmy December weather is behind us.</p>
<p>As I was going out to get the paper, sliding down our driveway and realizing we haven’t bought any salt yet, I thought “This is how my life will end someday. When I’m 75, if we’re still living here, I will fall on my whatzit, break something vital, and end up in a nursing home.”</p>
<p>I love my house, my neighborhood, my neighbors, and all that…I’d just like to move everything to a place where hard winter is a VERY occasional novelty. Charleston, SC for example.</p>
<p>I don’t think a 2nd home is the way to go, however. Too much to worry about when you’re not there.</p>
<p>Well mommusic, you aren’t 75 yet. You have time. :)</p>
<p>This is what you get in SF for an asking price of 850,000. </p>
<p>A loft under a bridge.</p>
<p>[Rustic</a> luxury in South Beach warehouse loft - SFGate](<a href=“Rustic luxury in South Beach warehouse loft”>Rustic luxury in South Beach warehouse loft)</p>
<p>Dstark we just need 24 posters to go in together and buy two places… One east coast and one west coast and we’ll just each take it for one month at a time… Lol</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID BIONIC using CC</p>
<p>Lol…</p>
<p>Berkeley is doable for under 900,000…</p>
<p>At least for me…</p>
<p>This is a busy street, but I love the area…</p>
<p>[1324</a> Henry Street, Berkeley CA - Trulia](<a href=“1324 Henry St, Berkeley, CA 94709 | Trulia”>1324 Henry St, Berkeley, CA 94709 | Trulia)</p>
<p>I am just playing around. Berkeley is not a warm weather place in the winter…but I do like it…</p>
<p>There is almost nothing for sale in Berkeley. It is amazing.</p>
<p>Home prices are going up.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes indeed, which is why we may keep our permanent home in Madison. No shortage of doctors or hospitals here.</p>
<p>Derek Jeter’s 2nd home down here in Tampa, Fl would work for me. It’s convenient to everything in Tampa Bay area, it’s on the water, it’s 15 minute drive to Tampa International Airport, and the home is only 3 blocks from a level 1 trauma center with 5 medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital.</p>
<p>[Derek</a> Jeter House Pictures - CelebrityHousePictures.com](<a href=“http://www.celebrityhousepictures.com/derek-jeter.php]Derek”>http://www.celebrityhousepictures.com/derek-jeter.php)</p>
<p>Yeah, but, lizard, you’d have to know that moving into that, your neighbors on either side are going to be p*$&-ed off at all the construction, and the monstrous size of the building. ;)</p>
<p>If I had a house like Derek’s and the neighbors complained to me…I’d tell them to kiss my astroturf. Derek’s home was finished over a year ago and the street is quiet.</p>
<p>When we did construction on our place, we took our immediate neighbors out to dinner. Showed them what we were doing and the timeline.</p>
<p>Had them over for dinner at our place when we were done.</p>
<p>Everything went smoothly. </p>
<p>Ok. One of the neighbors is one of my wife’s best friends…but still… :)</p>
<p>dstark, we lived in a loft in SoHo (NY, not London) for five years ago that was a lot more rustic than that, but it was 2700 sf with incredibly high ceilings and 13 5’x9’ windows. My first day there, I looked across the street and someone was rollerskating in the loft across the street and one floor down. My wife used 900 sf as a studio and we lived in the rest. I wouldn’t object to a loft. </p>
<p>I was just in SF, Berkeley, Sausalito (stayed on a friend’s houseboat) and Oakland last weekend. Weather was rainy and moderate compared to New England where they had an ice storm or something. I wouldn’t consider it cold.</p>
<p>We do have a house near Montreal that we use in the summer and occasional winter weeks. Great snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter and on a couple of lakes in the summer. I’d love to dump it, but it comes from my wife’s childhood and the kids adore it. I just do what the boss says.</p>
<p>Shawbridge, you were pretty close to me last weekend. </p>
<p>So? You mentioned those areas in the bay area, would you like to live in one of those areas?</p>
<p>Coldness is relative. I like to walk 3 to 10 miles a day, and I don’t like to walk bundled up. I had to wear a jacket the other day. </p>
<p>The other thing is I work out at night sometimes. And walking home sweaty at 11:00 at night when the temp is below 40 and damp and maybe a little windy is not fun. But, I already admitted I was a wimp. :)</p>
<p>Anyway, what were your plus and minuses of the parts of the bay area you visited? Did you see other parts of Marin? I noticed Marin wasn’t mentioned in your earlier posts.</p>
<p>A loft is fine. Under the bridge…?</p>
<p>“I’d love to dump it, but it comes from my wife’s childhood and the kids
adore it. I just do what the boss says.”</p>
<p>Yeah…:)</p>
<p>I would love to live in Manhattan. I didn’t work hard enough to live in Marin and NYC. 
</p>
<p>So your wife is an artist. I don’t know if the art scene is big enough for her here. There is a small art scene in Sausalito. Did you check it out?</p>
<p>dstark. I probably would love Berkeley or Sausalito. I spend a year at Stanford and loved the weather. Have never been to Marin, except on a bicycle trip (Rode from SF across the GG bridge to the Napa Valley, then Sonoma, then Anderson Valley, then Mendecino and then down Highway 1 back to SF. I do recall it getting cold on the way down Highway 1. So, I don’t really know Marin. A client of mine just bought a house there – moved from Europe.</p>
<p>Pluses, like the energy of Berkeley. Took a walk around the campus – I started my career as an academic and had never visited Berkeley. Seemed to me a really fun environment. There did seem to be some nice houses not that far away. Hard to judge Oakland, wasn’t there long. </p>
<p>Did not check out the art scene. I arrived on Friday, met with one of my college roommates who now lives in SF, met my Sausalito friends, went to a wedding dinner, then went to an afternoon wedding and flew to London Saturday night for a Monday AM client meeting. Nice to have a relaxed life. I plan to come back with my wife. She loved Boulder but the art scene was de minimus from her standpoint. So, we’d check out the art scene.</p>
<p>Shawbridge, you are a busy man.</p>
<p>I love Berkeley for the same reason you might love Berkeley. I love the energy. The campus atmosphere is great. There is a lot to do in Berkeley and you are close to SF and Marin. </p>
<p>I think you can find a place to live that you would like in Berkeley.
I think your ‘boss’ will like Berkeley.</p>
<p>That is one hell of a bike ride. Very nice.</p>
<p>Well…it is 55 degrees today. Went for a walk and I had to take off my jacket it was so warm. I read somewhere recently, I can’t remember where, that where I live was one of the warmer nice places to live in the winter.</p>
<p>So, I guess I don’t need to go anywhere. :)</p>
<p>There’s a very vibrant art scene in SF. Lots of young emerging artists who are making it big on the national scene. There are some wonderful galleries in the Mission District and the city is very supportive of the arts. SFMOMA is fantastic, as is the de Young. I have friends who are artists in LA whose primary dealers are in SF. Lots going on artistically speaking in the East Bay, too. Plus the San Jose Museum of Art features many emerging artists in their exhibitions. Yerba Buena has some interesting things going on from time to time. Arts-related publishing is big in the Bay Area, too – e.g., McSweeny’s, Juxtapoz magazine, many more. Then there’s the whole historical perspective with the Bay Area Figurative School (Diebenkorn, Thiebault etc.) and ceramicists like Peter Voulkos, etc. I don’t live in the Bay Area but it is hard for me to fathom that someone might consider the art scene lacking! The only US cities with arguably more vibrant scenes are NYC and LA but NY’s art scene is so dominated by big money that many in the art world prefer the energy on the West Coast.</p>