I like the idea of aging in place. We are happy with both our permanent residence and vacation place. Right now we have a caretaker for our vacation place, which takes away some work and worries. The only thing I would change is to go to a warmer spot for January and February,
Below are most of the criteria we looked into. Basically it means considering all aspects of your daily life - how do you interact with the place you live now and how would the new city be the same or different.
Geography - I like to study maps to really be able to orient myself, not only in the city and surrounding area, but further out like day trips, etc.
Climate - at different times of the year. No winter was a must for me.
Housing - buying or renting; how much would it cost to live where we want in the kind of house we wanted.
Transportation - public transportation, road congestion, airports, trains, etc.
Recreation - including entertainment and health. We wanted access to a large body of water.
Socialization - where to meet people. We found a great Meetup group here where we met most of our friends and now have a lively social life.
Neighborhoods - which would meet your lifestyle needs; accessibility to shopping and work if applicable. Our two month trial let us narrow down the options.
Taxes - income, property, sales, etc.
Worship - if this is an interest. We wanted a decent Jewish population so one of our “musts” was a JCC.
DH wanted to make the decision of where to relocate scientific LOL so I put together a spreadsheet with 11 criteria and three potential locations. We then independently put a multiplier on each criteria of 1 through 5 with 1 being not that important and 5 being most important. Then we each independently ranked the cities for each criteria and applied the multiplier. San Diego had the highest combined score. I knew it would win from the start.
It was a huge move and although we knew the area, we didn’t know any people here. We ended up with a smaller house than DH wanted but I’m happy with the size and it’s one level - didn’t plan that on purpose but someday we’ll be relieved there aren’t stairs. It took a while to develop a new medical roster of doctors but that has all worked out.
DH would have been happy to just stagnate in our old life but I was going bonkers. He seems to be satisfied with our life here but now has little desire to travel elsewhere since we can daycation all the time!
Just saying, my area is a destination of several sorts and it IS driving me bonkers. My part of town is higher SES, we’re in the shadow of a top college, great food. But no vitality on the level I want.
@marilyn did you move into a regular neighborhood or a retirement community? Are you in the city or suburbs? And have you been able to meet people and form a social group? San Diego is beautiful with such great weather, but rather pricey! Thanks for sharing.
@mom2and - city. One of the nice things about San Diego is that the downtown is relatively small but the city footprint is large. So there are lots of neighborhoods that do not feel like the city - some are like beach towns and others like suburbs. For example, La Jolla is part of the city of San Diego. We’re on the Point Loma peninsula, exactly one mile from the ocean and short drives from everywhere the tourists go. It’s sort of a pocket neighborhood, all single family homes and an elementary school within two blocks. Our house is just under 1500 sq ft but our lot is 9000 sq ft. We have a front lawn and a resort style pool in back; also more grass and lots of palm trees and flowers.
We considered housing more inland but didn’t want to feel like we were living in a suburb that could be anywhere.
Housing is expensive and it was rising when we wanted to buy. This house had previously fallen out of escrow due to funding issues and our Realtor had grown up in the area and known the owner since childhood. So I think she talked them into selling to us. Also I made contact with another cc member who lives in the area and her advice was priceless.
Our social group derived from the Meetup group - it’s for Baby Boomers. I’d been aware of it before we moved. It has multiple activities each month, many of them ongoing. One of the nice things is that it’s not a singles group and we’ve met several couples. We were able to find compatible people and do both Meetup events (DH and I each lead a few) and non Meetup social get togethers and parties with just our friends. We’ve also met a few people through our synagogue, and could meet more through senior education opportunities. I could be doing activities almost every day if I wanted but I do love just relaxing at home.
Haven’t missed winter yet.
@Marilyn, thanks for sharing your criteria. Something I don’t see listed is medical care. We are concerned about it as we age. We also care somewhat about political leaning. We are fine with diversity in many areas, including politics, but we don’t want to be a very small minority. Other than that, you hit a lot of the same things we care about (except religion - that isn’t part of our criteria, although I guess if we wound up in an area where everyone was VERY religious that might make us a little uncomfortable).
We are in the process of deciding where to relocate for retirement, which happened at the end of 2018. A top “must” for us is safe biking and walking from our house. We don’t want to drive to bike! Dedicated bike/walk trails are high on our list.
@1214mom - we did consider medical care as very important but knew we wanted to be near a major metropolitan area so presumed medical care would be good. San Diego has some excellent and highly rated medical systems. Partly that derives from the huge military presence and part from the biohealth industry. I made sure my primary doctor was part of the UCSD group since they are so good in so many specialties.
It’s a mixed political bag - city is more liberal, outlying areas very conservative. Most of our social group shares our positions. We’re not especially religious but knew we would not be comfortable in an area with few Jews. We wanted more than one synagogue in 50 miles! We were actually surprised at the size of the San Diego Jewish population - more than we realized and an interesting history in the area.
Med care is, surprisingly, one of my concerns. Fact is, most areas I’m interested in are served by a sort of secondary tier of hospitals. Friends say, no matter, you can drive the 60 miles (whatever) to the better facility. But in an emergency, the ambulance is going to the closest available.
Bff’s 2nd home (Md Eastern Shore) has a small local hospital (and in financial trouble, repeatedly at risk of closing.) She says, no worry, if it’s serious, they’ll airlift you to Baltimore. Um, no.
SD is a great place. That’s where I could live for months at a time or longer. But in this case, far for the kids.
We left DS behind in Chicagoland when we moved - kicked him out of the nest for the second time then the nest got torn down by the developer we sold to so no going back! But a couple of years ago he got a job in Seattle so we’re on the same coast and same time zone and much less weather issue with flights. My mom had passed away back home literally days after we moved (9 days after we arrived, to be exact). No other parents left;. Brother and wife are back there too but no issues not seeing them in person ;).
SD isn’t perfect by any means - the homeless are a big issue. Energy costs are very high even with much less usage.
We had been spoiled by restaurants and museums in Chicago so weren’t all that impressed here. The restaurant scene is improving rapidly though.
There are tons of bike and walking trails around here although the %*&%^# scooters are becoming a huge problem. New regulations go into effect in a couple of weeks. DH loves biking and can go to Cabrillo National Monument and Mission Bay from our house. I only like biking flat land and there are steep streets near us. But one day I walked to the ocean and back. Too cool. This will be our final house; it can be converted for live in assistance and the few steps can be ramped.
Thanks @marilyn. Sounds like an amazingly good choice!
Can’t beat walking to the ocean. Hmmm… We have been getting those developer mailings to look at our house… Hmmm.
If the right offer we might do it. We are on a lot and a half in Chicago… Hmmm…
I need another cup of coffee…embarrassed to admit how confused I was with recent posts.
SD is not South Dakota! Haha!
You can get a great house in South Dakota for cheap --just saying!
@Marilyn, we are SD natives and close to becoming empty nesters. I hadn’t thought about returning to SD to live but your posts have given me something to think about. Now, I wish we hadn’t sold our house there.
@lilmom - woulda coulda shoulda. I wish we’d bought in when our apartment building in Chicago was converted to condos in the late 70’s. Bilevel 2 bedroom at the foot of Lincoln Park for$125K - outrageous! ;).
San Diego was the right place for us (well, for me, anyway) at this stage of our lives. But it might be too quiet for some, although there are a number of cultural and intellectual activities in which we do not partake. It took a while to distinguish between UCSD, SDSU, and USD. I know there are educational opportunities for seniors offered by one or more of them.
@Knowsstuff - no harm in communicating with some of the developers. I had been in contact with a few long before we were ready to sell. Having a ballpark estimate of what you can get is useful when considering options. I also had tracked housing prices both there and here for several years (it became a hobby). When the time came, I drove around town to see who was knocking down and building and added them to my list of potential buyers. Those were some of the best choices to talk with vs cold call letters.
Me too! We almost bought a condo in Lake Point Tower back in the 90s. Absolutely stunning views. Would kill to have that place now.
One of Mr’s coworkers retired from SFO to a ranch in South Dakota. Loves it apparently.
I had an odd experience this week. Went to a concert in a town 45 mins away and found a lot of what I want, very different flavor than where we live now. (I’d always seen that town as a tourist mess.) Enough to make me think about spending some time there, evaluating, volunteering, see what connections develop.
I’m kind of going in the opposite direction with my retirement housing choice. I’m recently widowed and close to retirement, or at least part time employment just to keep active. I was very close to selling my large (well, too large for one person) home, downsizing and taking the money to the bank. But, I have a very close group of friends and I could not envision leaving. And I couldn’t find any appropriate downsize condo or townhome in my neighborhood.
So, here’s my current plan which is already in action. I am turning a section of my house into a separate apartment. Plan to do long term rental because I don’t want the responsibility of cleaning, fixing, etc between AirBnB guests. But I could make a lot of money if I did short term rentals. The rental income should pay my high maintenance costs and my low property taxes. This frees me up for extended visits all around the world. My dream is a month away somewhere during off seasons and my D or friends would come visit for a week or so. Unfortunately, I have high standards on the rental apartments. May have to lower those standards in the future?