<p>Nottelling, thanks for your post.</p>
<p>Heading to ours in a few days! Can’t wait.</p>
<p>Alwaysamom, Have fun.</p>
<p>We have a small place at the coast and it’s lovely, but it’s in Oregon where I haven’t seen the sun in days. Right now we’re experiencing an inversion layer so it’s socked in frozen fog. Ugh.</p>
<p>I told DH that once the youngest is out the door to college I’m spending the winter somewhere between Monterey and San Diego. I grew up in Southern California and I miss the beach terribly this time of year.</p>
<p>Thanks, dstark. This will be the first visit of longer than two weeks. My H retired in December, so we’re very excited about a month away!</p>
<p>Alwaysamom, you have talked about your husband retiring, but I didn’t realize retirement was so near. I must have missed a post or two. Congrats and enjoy…both of your husband and you.</p>
<p>Agentninetynine, I like the Oregon coast, but yeah…the weather…</p>
<p>We like the four seasons here in NJ and the winters have (basically) been getting milder.
The RE taxes in retirement might kill us though.</p>
<p>I do lust after a slightly warmer, beachy place in retirement. Too bad I’m married to a cold loving, beach hating husband. 30+ yrs into marriage, it would be an inconvenience to divorce so we search for compromise. :)</p>
<p>Another CCer has shared the idea of Cape May NJ, both for beach and lower taxes.
We’ve also been looking at Delaware because of low taxes yet close to son who will probably be staying in NJ/NYC.</p>
<p>Maryland, NC are the farthest south that my DH MIGHT consider…
we have probably 8-10 yrs yet to go but I am a planner!</p>
<p>DH and I really love Arizona - Sedona, Tucson and Scottsdale, especially. DH is a hiker and I love the landscape and weather. We are in New Jersey and planning to retire in four years when our youngest one finishes undergrad quite near us. For the moment, it’s a lot of fun to be where we are but not for retirement. We really like the people of New Jersey, great neighbors and easy to get to know people – but the infrastructure and taxes are absolutely insane. If our kids are both in the Northeast then we might think about retiring somewhere in the region, but unlikely to be New Jersey.</p>
<p>What we fantasize about is Arizona. We both love the hiking, the scenery, the weather. Were just out there for a sun break and as usual we took a look at second homes. The prices are starting to rise and so we are seriously thinking of buying a home in a retirement community. Our hesitation is that we would like to rule out a few other areas we haven’t had a chance to visit yet, including some parts of Texas, South Carolina, New Mexico. Oh, and my DH just loves Palm Springs, CA. We are going to visit it in April . . .</p>
<p>In general, second homes don’t make a lot of sense to me in that I like to visit lots of different places and with a second home you feel compelled to go to that second home vs exploring the big world. But right now with real estate potentially recovering it might make sense to secure a retirement home for later.</p>
<p>We sort of ended up being second home people by accident. We had thought we’d be moving as soon as we found jobs in the new area, but alas that hasn’t happened. As musicmom mentions above, we find the taxes much, much lower in S. Jersey (at least by Jersey standards–I’m sure 3000 would sound ridiculous in other states, lol). But it turns out H and I are Jerseyans through and through, and our kids both live in the state, so this works for us. Wish we coudl sell the N. Jersey house (not that we’d get much for it, but the taxes are ridonkulous!), but meanwhile, we still have been able to travel some, and we do like taking a “vacation” every weekend! (Musicmom–we like still having 4 seasons, too.)</p>
<p>We bought our second home (on 9/11 of all things) as a getaway and an investment for college. Fast forward 11 years – the housing market has not rebounded here and the Oregon coast is always the last place for any sort of economic recovery. Thankfully we bought it at the low point in the market. We love it and it would be hard to sell, but I can’t see us retiring there as medical care is spotty, the weather is mild but not really sunny, and the closest Costco is an hour’s drive, lol.</p>
<p>I’d like to do what others are suggesting and spend 2 months in Hawaii or exploring other warm locales such as the Carolinas. We shall see. Have to get the kids in college, paid for and launched first.</p>
<p>Stunned at the property taxes you all pay in NJ. A friend pays 18,000 a year. Her neighbor --$25K. That’s nuts.</p>
<p>^^Yes, we are ‘lucky’ to have a modest home (meaning in need of much upkeep)…
and pay just under 11K per year.
So, south jersey does sound kinda inexpensive to us!</p>
<p>I think my mother pays close to $30K in a nice NJ suburb. It’s a big house in walking distance to the train station to NY but it is much smaller than a lot of houses that have been built in the neighborhood in the last 20 years (almost all tear-downs). So, I’m assuming many of her neighbors pay more than she does. She’s been told that the market for houses in her town is pretty good at this point. Not sure what that means.</p>
<p>Property taxes. Why we decided against a second home or a future retirement home before we sell ours. We will probably retire to a smaller home in a California county where can transfer our modest $2800 property tax base. (thankyou prop 13)</p>
<p>$2800? Nice. </p>
<p>I don’t think too many peoole can retire with prop tax bills of $30,000. :)</p>
<p>Yeah, like I said above, we’re only paying 3000 in our S. Jersey home. That or its equivalent should be doable when we retire. Up north, it’s over 8000 for a tiny house in a neighborhood that is NOT what most people think of as acceptable on CC. Can’t imagine paying the kinds of taxes people are paying in the “better” neighborhoods!</p>
<p>We pay $4K but no sales or income taxes. That’s for a pretty small place though it’s more than big enough for us.</p>
<p>A property tax of 3,000 is very affordable for many people. And Garland, you have a location you really like. Win. Win.</p>
<p>dstark-- :)</p>
<p>California property tax is around 1.25 percent of assessed value. Assessed value can be based on your purchase price- a teeny tiny discount plus 2 percent increases a year. Then there are local community add ons for schools, parks, etc.</p>
<p>If your property values drops below that assessed value, than you can have your assessed value adjusted upward.</p>
<p>How does it work in NH, Nj, wherever?</p>
<p>Garland, :)</p>
<p>One thing about California, if you are over 55, and you sell your house and buy another one, you may get to keep the assessed value of your old house instead of your new house. This could keep your property taxes low.</p>