Friday Night Dreaming - Where do you buy a condo to rent out now and retire to later?

[joosttx]

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/invernes...37--2084085555

Rarest of the rare.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by joosttx

https://www.trulia.com/p/ca/invernes...37--2084085555

Rarest of the rare.

Somehow I don't think anyone who can afford that is going to be staying up nights working on their retirement investments - then can afford to pay someone to do the work for them.

[mtechnica]

Eastern Europe has potential. In the US you can do a lot worse than Spokane/CDA as long as you can handle having a real winter. CA is not ideal IMHO I wouldn't move here by choice, although compared to other places in the U.S. it's paradise sadly. Anywhere in the Midwest/south is a nonstarter IMO for many reasons mainly politically if not geographically and weather wise.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by mtechnica

In the US you can do a lot worse than Spokane/CDA as long as you can handle having a real winter.

Dave Thompson used to live in Spokane. He may still go back in the summer, but in the winter he's busy sipping tequila and smoking Cuban cigars on a Mexican beach...

Google tells me that Spokane averages 44 inches of snow per year. That's definitely a real winter.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by DRietz

I have a couple of friends who moved to Girona. Their "penthouse" apt is $500/month. Residency was incredibly easy for them to establish.

I think they're in cycling heaven.

Spain is about 30% less expensive than the rest of Europe and just as beautiful. If you wanted to drop the cost even more, Portugal is a serious suggestion.

AND if you can work out citizenship, hello healthcare...

"An influx of bike enthusiasts is driving the development of rental properties in Girona, which saw property sales prices rise 15% year-to-year": https://www.wsj.com/articles/cyclist...ar-11579104146.

[Drmojo]

Originally Posted by eddief

Sonoma, CA.

Eureka might be better
Rainy but glorious
Lost Coast
Avenue of Giants
etc etc etc

[torquer]

Haven't read the entire thread, but how about Barcelona? (Just an hour down the road from Girona.) My pilates instructor just completed a condo purchase as an investment. Unit needed a little work, and transaction had a few hiccups (mainly due to seller, so that could happen anywhere) but prices are down because of the political situation. Still, Spain isn't Lebanon or (former) Yugoslavia, so that risk isn't huge.
Portugal would also be on my list, unless Brexit dries up the stream of vacationers from that source.

[MattTuck]

Stories like this aren't helping either...

2 gorgeous countries with ‘high quality’ health care — where you can live on less than $2,500 a month

Spain: Spain ranks 19th on the Lancet’s list for best health care and is one of the top countries according to the World Health Organization, while the Guardian notes that it has a high number of doctors per resident. The Guardian also adds that health care here tends to be best in the bigger cities, which of course also have higher costs of living, but notes that many people travel for care. And health-care company Aetna notes that Spain has “excellent” health care.

Spain is less expensive to live in, in general, than the U.S.

MarketWatch talked with a couple who retired in Denia, Spain, on about $2,000 a month and another couple who retired to Granada on $40,000 a year — and love the lifestyle: “Granada has a way of slowing you down [so that] you’re more present in the moment,” Jim Wasserman told MarketWatch. “Here we walk everywhere, we’re in the moment — the lifestyle means we sit outside, we see people.”

[metalheart]

I have a friend who just bought a new construction house/villa place in Greece for a relatively modest amount, about 300k. Based on her experience, she can rent it with no problem until ready to move there or just keep it as an income stream. Don't know about Greek health care

[Ken Robb]

Originally Posted by Louis

Dave Thompson used to live in Spokane. He may still go back in the summer, but in the winter he's busy sipping tequila and smoking Cuban cigars on a Mexican beach...

Google tells me that Spokane averages 44 inches of snow per year. That's definitely a real winter.

Dave sold the Baja place and still lives in Spokane. They recently stayed in a nice hotel on a visit to Los Barriles where they used to own a place.

[polar8]

Nice, France. Great food, good weather, lots of great riding options.

[gomango]

Des Monte, Costa Rica= winter

https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...28!4d-84.47239

Ely, Minnesota= summer

https://www.google.com/maps/place/El...!4d-91.8670873

Bayern base camp to visit family.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ch...2!4d12.4537375

All set and ready to go.

[572cv]

Originally Posted by polar8

Nice, France. Great food, good weather, lots of great riding options.

There are lots and lots of great options in Southern France. Nice is terrific for cycling for sure. However, whenever we travel, we check out the real estate prices, and around Nice was not inexpensive. Our trips - particularly to France- have generally been for a couple of weeks of cycling in one basic location, so we’ve gotten to know a few areas. I’d recommend the Minervois/St Chinian area as sort of what Provence used to be like. The area around Mauvezin, near Bagneres de Biggore in the Pyrenees gives you great access to the climbs there and is beautiful. Anything you could find near Annecy, or the Vercors would be a huge win. And the area where we actually found a place that meets Matt’s criteria, the southern Corrèze, near Turenne, is terrific old rural France. France is great if you live on the east coast. Easy to get to, often with direct flights. Great food, great respect for riders, a lot of government investment in infrastructure, and in an area like ours, excellent value in houses. We’re already at the point where “ its a place to go when we’re older”..... we are older. I loved riding around Girona and Catalonia, but France is a bit closer to wonderful for me.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

What little corner of the country (or world) would you look at to buy a unit that satisfies the following?

1. Fairly cheap (ie. not in one of the hot real estate markets). Let's say a 2 bed/2 bath unit for under $250K.

2. Close to decent year round cycling with enough terrain/routes to keep a retired person busy. Mountain biking nearby is a plus, but not a requirement. But, access to good roads with minimal cars would be key.

3. Convenient enough to get to for a week or 2 week vacation annually.

4. Enough local attractions that you could use AirBNB (or similar) to rent it out and cover most of the expenses during the time you're not there.

Sicily around Palermo or Catania... Or around Bari on the Adriatic..

[Ralph]

The older I get, the more I appreciate modern medical facilities. Living here in Florida, I have seen more than one retired couple come back to USA for treatment of a medical condition, after retiring in some exotic location. A good friend, who lives about 15 minutes from a hospital here, survived a heart attack that would have killed him many places in the world. And how about strokes...and the importance of getting treatment fast? And it's not always problems of the man, many times it's surgeries that are routine here for wife, not so routine elsewhere. And issues about your medical insurance....where it will cover you, etc. But dream away....it's fun.