Hello all,
We have been exploring places to retire in the next several years. We live in the NY Hudson Valley. While we love it here, we are car-dependent, which means we need at least two cars, our property taxes have skyrocketed, due to the school taxes which are included in the home taxes. Our children live in Boston and we love Cape Cod. For a while, we thought we could retire in the Cape but realistically, it is just too over crowded in the summer. The bridges will most likely go under construction soon, causing more traffic.
We started looking at Plymouth, which has most of what we are looking for. We would like a coastal community, where we could walk to restaurants, and shops or at least have a vibrant downtown to go to. At the same time, have nature trails where we can walk with our dogs. We like that it is close to Boston, the Cape and Rhode Island, which we also like. Yes, some of the houses/condos are expensive but we plan to talk to a realtor that has been recommended to us and we are not in a rush to buy something right now. If you are familiar with the area, I would love to hear your thoughts on living here.
I have vacationed there at a friendâs house. Itâs a cute little town. You will absolutely still need at least one car. There isnât a lot that is a close walk to all the things you mentioned.
Plymouth is less crowded than on Cape in the summers.
We have two relatives that live in Plymouth. Both live in a very large development called Pinehills. Itâs very pricy for what you get in my opinion. One relative is in a detached home in a 55+ section. The other is in a townhome that is not age restricted but seems to be filled with retirees anyway. Both have had issues with neighbors, which I guess you can have anywhere, but people seem particularly grouchy there. Some of the sections have had problems with shoddy construction. If you do go to Plymouth, I would avoid Pinehills.
I would suggest looking further north - not just in Plymouth. There are lots of coastal towns in the âSouth Shoreâ that are convenient to both Boston and the Cape. Take a commuter rail map and look at places that have train stations. They are most likely to have some walkable downtown as well as an easy way into Boston.
Duxbury is adjacent to Plymouth and a beautiful town, with no historical tourists.
Yes between Plymouth and Boston there are some nice South Shore towns. Notably Hingham, Scituate, Cohasset. The North Shore is beautiful too, but prices have gotten very high there too! Marblehead, Beverly, Manchester, Essex, Ipswich, Newburyport, Gloucester, Rockport.
Do consider in your calculations MA inheritance taxes, if you think you will be leaving much of an estate.
Do you think at some point you might qualify for the senior tax exemption in New York? Looks like your area offers it, and itâs a 50% discount if you qualify. Something to consider if you hadnât looked at it otherwise.
I live on the South Shore, and the Plymouth harbor area would allow for walking to shops and restaurants. Other parts of Plymouth are significantly more spread out, and rural.
As mentioned, Duxbury, Cohasset and Scituate are nice, but expensive. They each have areas that are conducive to walking, but you pay for that privilege.
Marshfield and Hanover might work. Kingston has some nice areas. Hingham is closer to Boston, and there is a water shuttle from the harbor to both downtown Boston and Logan Airport.
You could look at Squantum/Marina Bay in Quincy. You would be much closer to Boston there.
If you want to split the difference between the Cape and Rhode Island take a look at Mattspoisett or Marion on Buzzards Bay.
We have 2 sets of friends who live in Plymouth and both do not like living there. Too far from Boston, too far from airports, need to time short car trips to avoid crowds, and interestingly enough re:above post they have also found people to be grouchy. They also have found not enough services for the population and find they need 1 car per person. We have visited and found it was a great place to visit.
Plymouth is one by of the biggest townshipâs geographically. Take your time exploring the neighborhoods. There are ocean beaches and many small ponds. The surrounding towns are nice too.
Even if you are in downtown Plymouth, you would need at least one car to get to the grocery store and Drs, etc⊠The train from Kingston, the next town over, goes into Boston. There are express buses to the airport.
You may want to look at the coastline between the cape and Rhode Island as well - Buzzards Bay and south. You can be in Boston in better time with less traffic than on route 3 and prices can be a little better.
Thank you all for these great replies. It gives us a lot to think about. We will take some time after Labor Day to explore the area. I am sure we will always need one car but here we need a minimum of 2. The traffic situation bothers me a bit. Pinehill seems nice but we donât golf and the HOA is quite high due to the amenities so it is off our list. Grouchy people would be awful. We experienced that when we first got married and lived in a condo complex. Then we moved to our current home where there is a lot of separation between our neighbors.
I didnât know about this. I will certainly look into it. Thank you!
Perhaps you should take a look at Portsmouth, NH.
I just happened to be in Pinehills in Plymouth today for the first time. Wow, it is a huge development, not at all quant, and without good services within the actual community (one overpriced grocery store, one overpriced gas station, etc.)
Personally, I would not want to live in such a big development.
You need to make a list and prioritize the requirements for your retirement home. That is what we did. For us convenient to a train into Boston and being able to walk to stuff was the top priority. It did not have to be a retirement community or a retirement building.
FYI, thereâs a local Boston show called Chronicle that explores different New England areas. Tonight I believe the episode is about the South Coast/Buzzards Bay area. Below is a segment they did about Hingham.
One thing to note when looking at retirement communities in MA, is what percentage of your neighbors will be snowbirds. Many people have a second place in warm places like Florida that they escape to for half the year. If you plan on living there year round, you will want neighbors that are there year round also.
Suggestion- (I am not retired, but this is based on the experiences of several friends who have). Decide to exist with one car for now. Either declare two days a week âone car dayâ, or declare the month of September âone car monthâ.
Every single one of my friends got rid of one car. And every single one of them regret it (or have already replaced it) except for the ones who retired to Manhattan and live in an apartment served by three different subway lines, are close to commuter trains and Port Authority, etc.
It is not as obvious as it seems that youâll be able to maintain some semblance of your current lifestyle with one car until youâve tried it out and it works for you. One car plus frequent ubers? Thatâs possible if you can make it work. One car and regular rentals when you need (out of town visitors, recovering from a health scare or injury)?
But donât assume that having cute restaurants, a gourmet grocery store and the public library within easy walking distance means you wonât need that second car. Itâs worth a trial period, no?
We have moved someplace where we could do with one care. Except a few weeks ago when I went on a road trip with friends and my husband would have been left stranded if we only had the one car and I was using it. Yes, I could have rented a car for this vacation. But having the second car made it simple.
We live in the suburbs south of Boston, and two cars are a necessity. There is NOTHING we can walk to. One of them is a newer car that is for long drives, etc., while the other is a 14 year old minivan that only has 100K miles that we will drive into the groundâit essentially serves as our âpick up truckâ.
My good friend owns a house near one of the ponds in Plymouth. She is NOT retiring there. She wants to be within walking distance of lots of things and her Plymouth house just isnât. She also saysâŠitâs very dreary there in the winters.