What were / will be your criteria for choosing a location for retirement?

[Bob Ross]

We're 5-10 years away from retirement. The current criteria are (in no particular order) are:
- mild or non-existent winters
- excellent road cycling ...and by "excellent" we mean not just terrain and/or beauty, but also infrastructure, and local attitudes, tolerance, community/Clubs, etc.
- space. Not a lot, but a small yard, a garage, enough spare bedrooms that we can each have ouur own office and still have guests over
- natural beauty that is easily accessible and visible from the home
- predominantly "Blue" demographic, at least at the local level (i.e., we could tolerate living in a blue bubble in a red state)
- within plausible driving distance of my sister and my parents, so basically the western third of the United States.

[54ny77]

Fun thread to read. Would be cool if fellow Paceliners from outside of the U.S. chimed in. Things like, ohh, retire in Tuscany and ride Italian steel bikes every day while angels sing....

[el cheapo]

Wanted to live on either coast but too expensive. Lived all over Florida and California but choose to go cheap...small town (but growing rapidly) Texas. Only problem it's waaaaaay tooooo conservative. If you have a different thought process from group think...good luck. If money was no object I would have moved to ....Pebble Beach, California. Riding Seventeen Mile Drive on a Sunday morning to Carmel was always spectacular.

[majorpat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

As far as the hospital, well, eventually, you're going to need it.

And, I've always wanted to live in a college town, but I'm really happy I'm not right now. Any college or university bringing thousands of near teenagers back into one place this fall is going to kill off a lot of the older people in that town, to start. It will be like having a cruise ship docked down the street with the passengers free to come and go to land. That may continue for a few years.

I'd consider upstate NY, but, it snows there.

I live in the eastern Finger Lakes and it is cycling and living nirvana...for about 5 months, then winter, lake effect, etc. the OP talked about getting one place but I keep leaning toward two like many of my NE friends. He said he’s looking at Adelaide, does Australia grant residency if you can prove a pension income! Kind of far, and my wife would have a heart attack to be away from family but he mentioned that it was a proper Mediterranean climate. I think the only areas close to that, climate wise, are in California which is probably too much $. There must be some secret location that can be shared here, we promise not to blab about it.
I’m trying hard to be done with work in 7-9 years, turning 50 in a couple months. The Florida snowbird thing is popular but I’m not so sure, maybe a foreign location might work for 5 or 6 months a year. Anyone have ideas? I liked Spain near Rota when I spent some time there, Mexico? Portugal? This thread will be fun to watch.
Pat

[reuben]

Originally Posted by Dave B

4. I like seasons, so if I could see at least 2 a year that would be cool.

Just beware of the places that have ONLY 2, or a very short third.

[2LeftCleats]

For us, we were looking for a more politically progressive area, with reasonable culture, weather, and access to water and mountains.

We retired and relocated a year ago to Eugene OR. We lived most of our lives in IN, the last spot being Bloomington which supplied most of our cultural needs. But we had toyed with moving to the PNW for many years, and our oldest has been in Portland awhile. 2-3 years before retirement, we began trips out that way, including several in the winter. Also tracked weather daily, comparing it to IN (admittedly a low bar). We’re not fans of hot humid weather, nor of nasty cold. During our trips, we spent time in cities and with realtors from Bellingham down to Eugene. This town—so far—has hit the sweet spot for us. Not a busy big city, but reasonably good culture and a university. Rain is probably less than or no worse than IN. Summers can be hot but not as humid as the Midwest, so more comfortable. 90 min gets us either to mountains or coast. Gorgeous scenery. My wife is living her gardener’s dream. Riding in Southern IN is quite good with challenging hills and nice countryside, but there’s more here and much to explore. There’s an excellent trail system for hikers here. Housing costs are high in the large cities of the PNW, but not terribly higher here than in Bloomington.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by 54ny77

Fun thread to read. Would be cool if fellow Paceliners from outside of the U.S. chimed in. Things like, ohh, retire in Tuscany and ride Italian steel bikes every day while angels sing....

The only thing that keeps me from moving to Italy is my lack of ability to learn the language, and I don't think I want to struggle with that at my age. A lot of places in Tuscany are fairly pricey, but, as long as you stay away from the trophy areas, I'll bet you could find an affordable apartment. I'd consider north somewhere in the Veneto, also, in the foothills of the Dolomites, but near a nice town and a short drive to amazing steep biking and skiing.
I'm guessing that this pandemic will make for some more affordable RE opportunities over there, especially near some touristy places, since that business has been decimated. If you can show a minimal asset base plus some income, the Italians will gladly welcome you.
Spain is also getting hit hard, and Brexit isn't helping at all, since much of the coastal apartment market is retired Brits, who will be losing their mainland health insurance. Girona would be pretty awesome place to live.

Some talk about moving south of our border, but, sorry, too third world for me. Covid is also exposing awful public health policies and inequality in many places down there. That and poorly funded infrastructures just don't turn me on. Give me Europe's history, wealth, and relative cohesion. Whenever they let us back in.

[nortx-Dave]

Retired from the Army in 2015 at 53 yrs old. Born and raised in South Texas and never thought I'd return (I dreamed of western Colorado).....but my better half had other ideas. She's totally immersed in western horse culture and North Texas (West of FT Worth) happens to be an epicenter for reining, cutting etc.

It's all good though....affordable housing - I built a 2200 sq ft house and horse barn on 5 acres in a rural gated community for $350,000.....zero state income taxes....we're a little remote being 30 minutes from grocery stores and health care but it's QUIET with my nearest neighbor being 1/2 mile distant. The riding is decent with little trafficked, rolling terrain that allows me to average over 8,000 miles/year....very mild winters with no snow (my wife has health issues that preclude cold) for the last couple of years but the summers can be brutal, as well as the chip seal used by TXDOT. I ride year round, just early in the morning during July and August. And my parents are distant, but not too far as they are in Houston and San Antonio, and we've no kids to muddle things.

[buddybikes]

1. Small but functional house with lots storage, one level - check
2. Near/on water - check, cove off Narragansett Bay
3. Near/accessable healthcare, and in case of loss employment after COBRA - a state that has adopted Obama Care. - check
4. Some privacy/land - check
4. Quiet riding - check - half mile from bike trail
5. Blue state

Desired but not got - shorter winters/lack of sunlight - no check

Sunrise copy.jpg

[paredown]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

The only thing that keeps me from moving to Italy is my lack of ability to learn the language, and I don't think I want to struggle with that at my age. ....

I'll put in a plug for learning a language--or at least not letting that stop you from giving it a try--several years ago my wife's job took her to Germany, and I was the 'trailing spouse'. One of the only perks available to me was language lessons. I was in my 50s, fully convinced I was incapable of really learning to speak a foreign language.

I started cold--to be fair I had a reading knowledge of French, but had never really learned to converse--and was convinced I lacked my wife's ability to speak foreign languages.

Happy story--with a good teacher, full immersion and making some effort, I had passable German with in a year, enough so that I could hold a serious conversation (without too many glitches) and was more than fine in day-to-day interactions. Our house was half a duplex, and we got to know the other couple--and for social occasions the language was usually German...

Three lessons a week--and they included learning more of the history and culture, so they were actually fun! I did silly stuff to stretch myself, including selling on German eBay. Nearing the end of our two years, I went on a bike tour of Hungary/Czech Republic where a lot of the older generation still speak German (and the younger ones in the tourism business learn it for business reasons) and I ended up as the defacto translator for some of the other Americans--taking over my wife's role, which seemed pretty funny at the time.

As far as functional--ordering in restaurants etc, 3 months and you would be OK.

My first trip to Northern Italy was last year, when we drove from where we were staying (close to Lucca) all the way to where our friend has been renovating an old mill into a fabulous house. They were in a small town close to Lake Maggiore and I would move there in a heartbeat!

[exapkib]

Watching my parents go through this process several years ago changed the way I think about my own retirement.

My parents had specific areas to which they always wanted to retire (driven by proximity to activities they enjoy, geography, tax implications, etc.), but when the time came to pull the trigger, their friendships and the community they had developed in their current neighborhood trumped all of the assumed benefits of their intended retirement locations. The thought of starting from scratch to rebuild a similar network of friendship, community, and support was just too much.

My father-in-law, on the other hand, wanted to retire to a place where he didn't know anyone and no one knew him. He needed some space, even from his kids. Now that he's been away for almost eight years, he's ready to move back close to family.

Somehow I never realized that the social dynamic of a retirement move is more important than so many of the other items on the lists we draw up earlier in our professional lives.

Edited to add:

Also a lesson learned from my uncle who often hosted my wife and me at his dream home in the Shenandoah Valley when we needed to escape the pressures of graduate school: one day, as we were sitting "enjoying the charm of the evening," he turned to me and said, "I should have built this place much smaller and many years earlier. I saved until it was clearly comfortable and responsible to make this dream a reality, but now I'm too old to enjoy it." Went on to talk about how important it is to create experiences for yourself and your family when they are young, even if it requires some extra sacrifice.

We've tried to follow that counsel.

[biker72]

If I was actually thinking of moving from Texas it would be the Fayetteville-Bentonville Arkansas area. Great for mountain biking but road biking is excellent too thanks to the Walton Foundation.

Lower taxes and more affordable housing than here in far North Dallas. Less stifling summertime heat than we get in Texas.

[saab2000]

I’m not at all certain I want to retire in the US. Italy would be on my list, as would France, if they allow retirees to enter and stay.

[Tandem Rider]

We moved here a little over 3 years ago. There were lots of discussions at the TR household because we didn't want to move a long distance twice. We wanted to have milder extremes, both winters and summers. Moving from IA to Central OR was a good move for us in this regard, I work outside all year round so I really do notice. Housing prices are higher but with downsizing the housing cost was a sideways move for us. Wages were a sideways move as well.

We enjoy all the seasons and really feel like we made the retirement move already. We are now considering renting a Class B motorhome and trying that out for small trips with bikes to other places in the West. If it works out, we would buy one and that would be the "retirement home".

After several years here, the things we found that we didn't like are the overwhelming crush of tourists at peak season, and smoke from forest fires. The biggest unexpected bonus is the sunshine, I no longer have to take Vitamin D in the winter and it does improve our wintertime disposition.

[Tickdoc]

Following the kids/grandkids to their eventual locale is our plan. (Assuming one of them will settle down AND live in a decent place is a big assumption here

Definitely is the main determinant of where we may end up.

Barring that, small town Colorado/NM would be my choice, anyplace with a beach would be hers.