OT: Retiring in Delaware: Newark/Wilmington/other?

[Ken Robb]

Or they could move to a warmer clime where homes are cheaper and host family visits. When I was a real estate broker I saw quite a few instances where grandparents retired and moved near their kids and grandkids. Then the kid(s) got a new job and moved away leaving the grandparents where they no longer wanted to live.

Jobs are so transitory these days that many people move a lot. Realtors love this.

[Ralph]

Send them to Florida.....where warm weather makes old bones and joints feel good.....where folks move and many add a bunch of years to their lives when they get active again...assuming they are healthy to begin with. See this all the time in folks who move down here. They come down here to live out a few years and die.....then they get a bike, walking shoes, or something to use on our miles and miles of paved trails around here, and become aging athletes. It's amazing what activity does for old people when they can go outside every day. Some single ones fall in love....think they are 20 again.

Not having to pay a state income tax on retiree income is nice also. Cut the property tax bill by 2/3, cut housing costs by at least 1/2 for a nice home, and spend some of the savings for a condo for the kids to use when they come down. I see this all the time also.

And like above said.....planning a retirement home around where kids live now doesn't always work out. Kids move. Retirees come here for a reason. Life style and quality of life. And BTW....while not everyone is interesting in cycling....where I live in Central Florida not like anything most tourists see at beaches or Disney. Their image of Florida not anything like around here. Visiting a new area is always a good idea.

[fuzzalow]

Originally Posted by Hilltopperny

Fuzz I have a modest house and 2 acres with a 15 year mortgage with taxes escrowed in for right around 6k a year. Just a few miles down the road from the southern adirondack park and great riding right from my front door. It works for me, but it's not NYC type of living.

My father in law just sold his parents place in Westchester county last year because the taxes were around 15k a year. My 14k a year estimate was for a mortgage on a nice home, acreage and taxes combined.

My mistake Hilltopperny. I took the $14K property tax as being what you were getting hit up for, not for what your FIL pays in Westchester. $14K for Westchester isn't bad but likewise is it also not inexpensive,

NYC is it's own head and we have great affinity for this great city it is but don't think for a minute that I don't also pine for what you have outside your door too. The grass is always greener...

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Pullin' your leg on what? Just facts.

Jeff

Never mind, my fault; I was outta sync with your flow of conversation. I was viewing the tax situation as the sum total tax burden rather than the segmentation of taxes payable to property and earned income by any state or municipality. I was jumping ahead unnecessarily even if I thought my train of thought was relevant to cost considerations on any choice on where to retire.

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

by the way. last i checked, there is NO dispute. NYC is the greatest city in - the world.

Most likely true for us here in NYC Metro but other cities might be revitalizing too in their own way. Y'know that magazine TimeOut New York that they give away on the street? They did a story last month where a NY'er and a Los Angelino traded living spaces for a week - a 1BR bungalow in LA versus a 4 story walkup w/2 roomates in Greenpoint Brooklyn. The jist of the article was any change is not a bad thing for a little while. It’s time to talk about L.A.

But there is no denying that NYC is intense - one of the Brooklyn roomates quipped to the visiting Los Angelino that "New York City is like boot camp for life". What a great line.

you wanna be under an hour commute to the greatest city in the world - you gotta pay.

Yup. It is getting worse and that is not a good thing. Neighborhoods overrun by rising costs like some kind of contagion of gentrification.

Originally Posted by R3awak3n

damn fuzz, thats crazy.

and angry is right, NYC is amazing. You can either pay 1mil for a 1 bedroom in the city, or pay less for a house an hour for the city but you going to get hit up with taxes.

I went up 2 hours and my taxes are still crazy, the next county up from me though would have been half the taxes but I just did not want to go up further, 2 hours from the city was my cutoff.

If you own it, it's yours and that is nuthin' to sneeze at.

My only comment about retirement locations: consider how adversely life becomes at the point that you are no longer able to drive a car. When I lived in the burbs I watched my neighbor wither and die after her kids took away her Toyota Camry because she was no longer safe with it - a captive in her own home eventually made life not worth living.

[R3awak3n]

Originally Posted by fuzzalow

My mistake Hilltopperny. I took the $14K property tax as being what you were getting hit up for, not for what your FIL pays in Westchester. $14K for Westchester isn't bad but likewise is it also not inexpensive,

NYC is it's own head and we have great affinity for this great city it is but don't think for a minute that I don't also pine for what you have outside your door too. The grass is always greener...



Never mind, my fault; I was outta sync with your flow of conversation. I was viewing the tax situation as the sum total tax burden rather than the segmentation of taxes payable to property and earned income by any state or municipality. I was jumping ahead unnecessarily even if I thought my train of thought was relevant to cost considerations on any choice on where to retire.



Most likely true for us here in NYC Metro but other cities might be revitalizing too in their own way. Y'know that magazine TimeOut New York that they give away on the street? They did a story last month where a NY'er and a Los Angelino traded living spaces for a week - a 1BR bungalow in LA versus a 4 story walkup w/2 roomates in Greenpoint Brooklyn. The jist of the article was any change is not a bad thing for a little while. It’s time to talk about L.A.

But there is no denying that NYC is intense - one of the Brooklyn roomates quipped to the visiting Los Angelino that "New York City is like boot camp for life". What a great line.



Yup. It is getting worse and that is not a good thing. Neighborhoods overrun by rising costs like some kind of contagion of gentrification.



If you own it, it's yours and that is nuthin' to sneeze at.

My only comment about retirement locations: consider how adversely life becomes at the point that you are no longer able to drive a car. When I lived in the burbs I watched my neighbor wither and die after her kids took away her Toyota Camry because she was no longer safe with it - a captive in her own home eventually made life not worth living.

that is really sad. that said I am 32 so a long way to go till retirement (or at least till I am not able to drive oe take care of myself anymore)

[jet sanchez]

My mom is pretty cosmopolitan too and thought about retiring to a small community so she visited with some friends who had retired to a small town about 2 hours drive from Toronto. She didn't like it one bit, too quiet, nothing to do, etc. She is very happily retired in the city, renting a small apartment close to my sister and I.