So what would have happened if you had a sibling with kids who lived 2500 miles away? How would your parents have been nearby grandparents to BOTH families?
We aren’t really planning to move…yet. And there are no grandkids on the horizon as far as we know. And neither kid lives anywhere I would want to relocate to…
My in-laws retired to Boca Raton, just over the wall from Century Village. I did not care for that part of FL at all.
You can get some absurdly cheap condos in Century Village (think $60K for a two BR), if you want to live with 10,000 senior citizens in the same complex. I hear the swinging in these developments is pretty wild. Bow-chicka-bow-wow! 
It depends where you go in Maine. For example, it’s been many generations since Bar Harbor was a hidden jewel. The town of ~5k gets hundreds of thousands of visitors each summer. Acadia gets millions of visits per year. When I was growing up, my parents and I visited family in Bar Harbor each summer. I had a game where I tried to find license plates from all 50 states, and in most years I was able to do it within the week long trip. There are also plenty of lesser known small towns that truly are hidden gems.
That may be true for a short visit, but it’s also one of the states with the largest percentage of the population living in rural and small town areas, the type of area where most get to know their neighbors well, including those who are not white.
I wouldn’t BUY in their cities (one currently is in DC and the other in LA). I’d do a long-term rental. No idea when either of them will know where the want to continue life bing, much less decide they’re in long term relationship or want kids.
My sis watches her grandkids 1x-2x/ week and that way she watches kids 3 days/wk and does other things the other 2 days/wk. That sounds like a nice balance to me. Little ones are only young so fleetingly!
My parents originally retired to Lexington, VA which was great for early retirement, but they lived on a farm outside town and were a seven hour drive from the nearest kid. They moved to Peterborough, NH. My father grumbled about the weather, but they were a 10 minute walk at most from shopping, and housing costs were inexpensive enough that they just paid people to shovel their (short) driveway and walk. Family was nearby which was what really mattered.
I’ve often thought that I’d just move to the downtown area of the town we live in once I get tired of living where we are. We are a 15 minute walk to my favorite grocery store, in theory very doable, in practice I always drive. There are restaurants, a hardware store and a pharmacy all within minutes. It’s more the upkeep on the house and garden that I think will eventually get to be too much.
I’m not sure how much I’d save moving to an apartment around here. I always thought I’d move into NYC, but sadly it’s gotten impossible. But living near the commuter rail is almost as good.
I’ve always thought that Walkscore site was remarkably stupid. It seems to be unaware that we are less than a block away from a bus stop, or that there is a real supermarket just as close as some of the other stores they mention. I don’t need to go shopping at the Mexican bodega. The elementary school they list is further away and not the one our house is zoned for.
@mathmom Funny to see you mention Peterborough, NH - that’s where I’m from! I’ve lived in California for the past ten years, but grew up in the Peterborough area and worked and owned a house in Peterborough before moving here. The housing is affordable there, however the property taxes are high. Despite that, I can see why a small community like Peterborough would be a nice place to retire. That said, my own parents hated the snow and moved to central Florida many years ago. No regrets!
I’ve been following this thread as my husband and I are trying to decide where we want to live. We are in our mid-40s, but plan to semi-retire early. I stopped working a year ago and my husband thinks he has five years left at his job before he’s had enough. At that point we want to work for ourselves - either some online business or through real estate investing (which we’ve already started). Basically, we can move anywhere. This fall, I’ll have one kid on the west coast in college, one in NH and parents in Florida. My husband’s family is in the UK. Our long term plan is to have a small, affordable place in the US, and another small place in Europe and split time between. Because we aren’t tied to any one area by family, it’s overwhelming to try and pick a location as a home base. Important to us will be proximity to an international airport, not far from the ocean, affordable housing, and an area where healthy eating/lifestyle is important. I vote “red” but coming from NH I’m used to having friends of all political views and would really like that wherever I live. We’re researching areas on the east coast but one of our criteria always seems to be missing with any city/town that looks good on paper. Once D is off to college, we will be spending time traveling to find that perfect place.
It’s all relative. Our taxes are three times what my parents’ taxes were. Our house is bigger, but the lot is half the size.
To keep this on track, I’m more worried about humidity and mosquitos, finding a cute, intersting, safe area, not far from the ocean, with good med care, and affordable, than being asked my family origin. And, no, I do not “look” American. I routinely get asked where I’m “from.” I smile and say, “You mean city or my older relatives?”
I completely understand the sensitivity some feel, people of various races, ethnicities, religions. Yes, it can factor in decisions. But a whole state isn’t what “some people” show. So no, I don’t equate being questioned with hostility or the inability to make friends or interact with the asker. Ymmv.
My walk score seems a lot lower than it should be (54). I have restaurants, banks, post office, public library, grocery store, a school, a college, local gov’t offices, a mechanic, gas stations, a hardware store and more within a half mile, most of those closer than that.
Looks like a lot of them are just outside the quarter mile they count most in the methodology (groceries are .3, for instance). Plus some of our schools are not walkable from here.
I think of my current home as “Walker’s Paradise - Daily errands do not require a car” in fact I have gone weeks without taking it out of the driveway.
I guess the walk score needs to be taken with a grain of salt - clicking on the map shows what’s really walkable and how far.
Regarding housing inventory in Maine, it is very seasonal in northern New England. You’ll see many more listings pop up as we head into Spring.
Exactly, @OHMomof2. One example. Previous house had a single digit walk score, but the next door neighbors’ place was walk score twice that number. Our kids walked to and from schools together (the district does not bus kids who live within half a mile with no major intersections to cross).
I would think that walkability is impacted by age. What is “walkable” for a 30-40 year old is not necessarily so for a 70-80 year old. And weather would play a role too (though maybe not in the walkability scores themselves). I have a dog that needs 2-3 walks a day (no matter the weather). So I go for walks in downpours, thunderstorms, blizzards, hail storms, heat waves, etc. I have little interest in running errands in that now without being retired. Add a couple decades and I am confident my interest will be even less. And as I want to live somewhere with 4 seasons (and a real winter which includes real snow falls in addition to just cold), walkability isn’t likely to be high on my list.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: The thread was drifting off-topic, so I deleted several posts.
Id love to live nearer to the ocean and the downtown area. The people I know who,live there can walk to markets, movies, restaurants, shopping, etc. it’s the money. I can never see moving back up North, and it could be years before my son has permanent roots. Perhaps I’d spend a few months around the future grandchildren and visit often.
Anyway, I have to declutter my house over the next few years so I can be prepared for a change.
I don’t know whether someone has mentioned this yet or not, but you might consider blue regions or counties in red states (there are quite a few). There would be a lot of compatible people and interesting activities in your area, and I think that the cost of living would sometimes be less than in blue states.
Consider major college towns: generally lots of cultural events and activities, often walkable, and good medical care, especially if the university has a med school/medical center. Here, according to one online cost-of-living comparison tool, is how much income you’d need in some college towns to have a standard of living equivalent to a $50,000 income in Boston:
Ann Arbor $35,992
Madison $32,254
Bloomington IN $27,457
Iowa City, IA $29,812
Lexington, KY $$27,045
Athens, GA $26,957
Tuscaloosa, AL $27,987
Gainesville, FL $27,634
Oxford, MS $28,046
Eugene, OR $32,666
But some are pricey:
Boulder, CO $52,384
Berkeley, CA $72,837
I think some of bclintonk’s suggestions correlate with blue cities in red states.
@bclintonk good info…
But really…living in Boston on $50,000 annual income? I guess I’d think a $100,000 Boston comparison would be more realistic in terms of being able to afford rent,etc.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/bostoncitymassachusetts/PST045216 indicates that Boston’s median household income is $58,516, so $50,000 is not that far below the median there.
@ucbalumnus that’s all fine and good. But if i want to retire to Boston, I want to live in a neighborhood that is safe, has lots of amenities, has easy accessibility to everything I want to go to…and I don’t want to live in a studio apartment.
Housing in Boston is VERY pricey. That might be the average household income…but probably not in areas where many of us would want to retire to.