<p>Western WA or Western OR would be many of those things, as long as you don’t mind the rain. If you are 1-2 hours from Seattle or Portland, you have SWA available</p>
<p>Very interesting input so far, thanks! Let me add that I wouldn’t live in Florida under any circumstances–hot, humid, flat, too many golfers (sorry, but I’ve already been subjected to a lifetime’s worth of golf bores at various employers), and I don’t even like palm trees! As for some kind of age-limited retirement development–we have relationships with people of all ages and would hate to live in a totally homogeneous environment. </p>
<p>Interested to hear how you deal with the concept of starting over in a brand new place after many years in the same community–the challenge of developing new friendships, finding new docs, service people, favorite stores, etc. I was up for all that when I was younger, but now it all seems so disruptive, and I fear we’d feel like outsiders for a long time. I don’t even want to leave my current book club! If only the cost of living were less in our part of the country, we’d just downsize in the same town and call it a day. The winter weather is really not a bother–without the obligation to go to the office, it’s no big deal to endure a snow storm; our streets are well-plowed within a day. And as noted, we don’t yearn for more warm weather, since outdoor sports are not part of our lives. We live in a small city with nice amenities that’s less than an hour by train from Manhattan–a hard place to leave, but so very costly.</p>
<p>What a timely thread. Like others have said, I’d like to be near my children (but who knows where they’ll end up), an airport, good medical care, temperate weather, cultural/sports activities. We’ve talked about being near/in a college town to take advantage of the opportunities there, but we’ve never really investigated the possibilities. I feel like we should be exploring our options, both virtually and in real life at this point, but can’t seem to get DH to start thinking that far ahead.</p>
<p>MommaJ…like you…we have what we want…but would love a less expensive version. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Just moving to a smaller house or condo in this area would be more expensive per month than staying here.</p>
<p>We live near the beach in SoCal and can see ourselves retiring here but our house is too big. We’ve joked about just closing the second floor and living on the ground floor.</p>
<p>We moved to the Nashville area 5 years ago for my job and it was “starting over”. We landed (by luck) in an awesome neighborhood- very social, book club, parties etc. We love it here so much that we abandoned our plan to retire to Colorado. Also, as we aged, we knew the climate would be too extreme for us there- even at the slightly lower elevations.
We like everything about the Nashville area, and we ARE into outdoor sports. Cost of living is good. We are building our “last house”, which is really H’s thing. It is NOT down-sizing, and it all makes me a little nervous, but he has wanted to build for a long time. I need to work for about 5 more years, and, unfortunately, am back in the job market. The economy here is healthier than in most places, fortunately.</p>
<p>thumper - It’s funny that you mentioned Winston-Salem as a retirement area you’ve thought of, because when I read your criteria I thought of uptown Charlotte, NC. Friends of ours just bought a condo uptown that is in a wonderful area of restaurants, shopping, and nearby theaters. You’ll also meet lots of people from CT and other northeastern states. Many of us are already down here. Downtown Davidson is also very nice.</p>
<p>We probably won’t stay here though. Our retirement dream is part time in Hilton Head and part time on the North Shore of Massachusetts. I would love to be where my kids are, but I have no idea where they’ll end up. I never thought I would be here in NC!</p>
<p>My only change for retirement will be to switch from my two story in So Cal to a single story. After 55 we can sell our house and keep our very low property taxes(we bought in the early 80’s). We do have a delightful change of seasons. From OK, to nice, to fantastic to perfect. It happens every year.</p>
<p>We plan to keep the large house in retirement. I have visions of taking in my Dad, or the kids might boomerang. So, we’ll keep it until those possibilities are no longer likely. For fun and variety while we’re in that “boarding house” phase, I’d like to “summer” at a Delaware beach or Cape May, NJ. Winters? Um, maybe Florida, but that’s not a given.</p>
<p>For a new location, if we wanted one, I’d probably advocate for Williamsburg, Va or Wilmington, NC. Cities, colleges, airports, change of seasons, and ocean nearby.</p>
<p>Any comments on Lexington, KY as a retirement destination?</p>
<p>In a few years, we would love to move to a little smaller home in either a small town just minutes from our current home (but has a much different feel than our neighborhood now) or to the Ann Arbor area (again, to a smaller town - not exactly AA2). While a little warmer climate sounds good, I don’t think we’ll be likely to stray too far because we have a summer cottage that is north that we won’t want to be much farther from. </p>
<p>My/Our requirements:
-Slightly smaller house w/good outdoor space - doesn’t have to be large, but somewhat private and “options” - front or back porch, deck, trees w/potential hammock space. 
-House near small town area where we can walk to shops, restaurants, library and grocery and Farmer’s Market. (true fact: I want to buy one of those cute fabric carts on wheels I see at TJ Maxx/Home Goods to put my daily groceries in!)
-Charm of older house with updates MOSTLY taken care of.
-Garage space for H to do his tinkering.
-Don’t need big box and shopping in town, but would like it accessible within 15-20 minutes or so.</p>
<p>If housing prices don’t get any better (to sell) than we won’t be going ANYWHERE. :(</p>
<p>Don’t know if this list appeals to anyone- 10 perfect suburbs?
[News</a> Headlines](<a href=“http://www.cnbc.com/id/44347217]News”>http://www.cnbc.com/id/44347217)</p>
<p>SouthJerseyChessMom – thanks! They all look like great places to live.</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’ll actually retire. H and I are both self-employed, so I can see working another 15-20 years at my current pace then maybe doing more from home/less from the office. </p>
<p>We are counting the days til we can move out of the school district which we still need for S’14. Taxes outside the school district are about 1/2 what we pay, and houses are more affordable. We’ve even looked at paying tuition to S’s public school if we want to move out sooner. We’ll probably end up very close to where we live now – near enough to NYC to get in for a movie or dinner, suburban enough to have a garden. I prefer a suburb where you can walk everywhere – to the town, to a movie – instead of being in your car all the time.</p>
<p>Williamburg VA (or any part of the Tidewater area) would satisfy most of your requirements, although the Richmond airport is not huge, Dulles is under 2 hours away if you want international access.</p>
<p>Classof2015 - maybe we should say not just “retire” but “retire from the current house” - that probably would work for us, as I also don’t know how soon we would just “stop” working.</p>
<p>NC here as well-</p>
<p>RDU
Duke Cancer
UNC Chapel Hill
NC State
Durham performing Arts Center
RTP
Asheville and the Smokies a short trip away-mountains
Outer Banks, wilmington a short trip away-beach</p>
<p>We moved here from CA (kiddos were all born in San Diego, relocated from Northern CA) so our cost of living dropped significantly. HUGE!</p>
<p>5 kiddos loved the in-state tuition and now grad and med school students love the in-state tuition even more. </p>
<p>They can take me outta here in a pine box.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>It’s not near the ocean but Asheville, NC. Small city but cosmopolitan. Short winter compared to the NE but not as short as closer to the ocean.</p>
<p>I know people love Williamsburg but I find it a “sleepy little town”. My daughter described it as “Disneyworld for seniors”. We’ve been to the town (not the tourist part) several times and it’s never really done much for me. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>If you want to get a feel for an area see if it has an online Patch site [url=<a href=“http://www.Patch.com%5DPatch%5B/url”>http://www.Patch.com]Patch[/url</a>].</p>
<p>OP: think you will have any trouble selling that large home? Here is the chicken or egg question: sell first, then pick a retirement home or pick new area/home first and hope it all works out on the selling end? And what if you and spouse don’t agree on where to go – my current issue?</p>
<p>Because D2 is currently at Dartmouth, we get a subscription to the alumni magazine. And if the ads in that for new retirement communities are to be believed, apparently Hanover, NH is a popular retirement spot. </p>
<p>I don’t quite get it. I can understand it being desirable from the standpoint of being a college town, having a nearby medical center, and being endowed with a big dose of New England Quaint, but it seems to me the winters are way too brutal for most retired folk.</p>