Why don't you plan vacations for the next few years to visit various areas at different times of year to see if you would like living there.

My daughter and her husband relocated from Topsham, Maine to Las Cruces, New Mexico. They love the change, and so do I.

emalloy gives you sound advise. But include at least one visit in the months between June and September to experience the monsoons and the heat. We are living in Colorado and spending the winters in Tucson, but going back to CO in the midle of April, for good (temps.)reaons.

I would recommend Tucson over Phoenix, and also over Las Cruces.

Plan a vacation in the summer to Arizona or New Mexico.

You mentioned your daughter "and family." Does she have school age children? Arizona ranks at the bottom nationally for public education ( goes back and forth with Mississippi) and the funding has been cut even more this year. Something to consider.

You are almost going from one extreme to another. The summer heat in many parts of AZ and NM forces you indoors with AC as much as snow in the winter. A few years ago we played with the Arizona idea -- very disappointed with Phoenix -- huge urban sprawl with huge traffic problems -- but the housing is cheap and probably for a reason. Flagstaff in the mountains look more attractive but they get snow. We did not get to Tucson but were sufficiently discouraged that we decided to stay in Colorado. The year around weather in Colorado is hard to beat.

I agree that you should take a vacation out west in the summer to see how you feel about the summer temperatures. I have plenty of relatives that moved from Maine to Phoenix without the heat being a deal killer.

Arizona is a big state with 2-3 climate zones so check out the entire state.

Your housing desire is not practical in the urban areas of Arizona without spending a lot of money.

I don't know New Mexico except for driving through.

I agree with fmpden that you should consider Colorado. That's where my wife and I moved after living in AZ (Phoenix area) for 50 years or more. On the front range (the eastern side of the Rockies), climate is nice with winters milder than Maine and where finding a house with some land is not hard. I live in Greeley in northern Colorado. The house we bought here is somewhat larger on the same size lot as we had in Arizona - it was about half the cost of the Arizona house.

I wrote "My daughter and her husband", not her family. The children had completed school, so that was not a factor. I can't venture an opinion on that. I can tell you this-- I visited my daughter last July. It was HOT! However, it was much more comfortable than the summers in Maryland, where I live. Honestly, we went out and it was 104 degrees. I felt the heat on my skin, but I was not all sticky and sweating. When we were driving, the air conditioner on the car was off. Open windows did a great job, at least for a short distance.

My best tip is you need to spend some *significant* time there to know if you'd like it or not. I would start scheduling vacations to the area to look around. Personally I'm not a fan of the desert or climate so those states would not be for me. I can't imagine planning on buying a house somewhere I've never even seen before.

Maybe you already have, but I'd start doing research on the two states to get to know the various cities, regions, climates, plus where your daughter can find a job most easily.

I suggest you google something like "Best places to retire in Arizona", and something similar for New Mexico. Lots of factual data to be had.

Regarding the summer heat in Arizona, you might find the following jokes enjoyable, and even enlightening.

http://phoenix.about.com/cs/wacky/a/hotjokes01.htm

Look into Sierra Vista, AZ. Great weather--nowhere near as hot as Phoenix, not even close, because it's at a higher elevation. And it's less than an hour from Tucson. SV is home to a major Army base and is the health care hub for Cochise County. There's a community college, too. And while there are lots of small tract houses on small lots, if you look at Hereford or Bisbee, which are neighboring towns, you can find a large house on a large lot for less than you'd pay in Tucson.

The larger question is, having never seen the desert SW, could you be happy there? I thought it was beautiful, but I met a handful of people who couldn't wait to return to leafier areas. As others have suggested, a vacation trip or two or three would be wise given the scope of the change you're considering. Good luck!

Thank you everyone for your tips.

Another area to add to your list if you still want to live near the ocean: The area within 30 miles of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Texas has no state income tax if you want to work.

I live in Albuquerque. I second people's recommendations that you come and spend some time in the area at different times of year before you decide where to live.

Personally, I wouldn't live anywhere south of Belen, which is about 40 miles south of Albuquerque. It's too hot, dry, and deserty for my tastes.

Like Waldo said, we have dry heat - but it's still unpleasant in summer once the temps go above 90 degrees. Monsoon season starts in July; it gets humid in the afternoon and usually rains, so things cool off in the evening.

New Mexico is beautiful, but it's not green like Maine. Some people find that hard to handle.

Lee Ann

Adding to my earlier posting: The advise re Colorado from "fmpdn" and "bigtyke" is well worth considering.

We moved from Michigan to Colorado Springs a few years ago as part of our post-retirement "downsizing" process. We spend from mid-April to mid- November in our home in the Springs, the remaining months we are renting in Tucson. We consider this the best of two worlds.

We came upon this solution by travelling to Tucson for 2 months in March and returning to Michigan via Colorado Springs. The following year we reversed the trip, COS in early Fall, then on to TUS. Was worth all the travelling, besides we saw a lot of beautiful country as part of our "research".

You would think that with all that space in the west, some of it would be used for houses on big lots, but it isn't. It is mostly tract houses on small lots. If you want to live where you don't see or hear your neighbors or smell their cooking, stay in Maine.

On the other hand, if I had to leave Nantucket, New Mexico is the only other place I would want to live. You have the same horizon to horizon sky that you do on an island -- and for the same reason: there aren't a whole lot of trees.

My in-laws were all set to move to Az from NH till they spent a month out there. They moved to South Carolina (the western part) instead. They couldn't stand the lack of trees out west. Summers are pretty hot and sticky, even in western, hilly South Carolina but almost no snow and they are putting their garden in when we in New England are still looking at two feet of packed snow. The cons: the political/cultural climate is a little different from the north east, if that's an issue for you.

I went to college in Colorado (northern, Ft. Collins) and while there was 14 inches of snow the week I arrived (in September) it was all melted in a week. They did get snow, but not like New England where it just stays on the ground for ever and ever and ever all winter. For year round considerations it was really a very pleasant climate, but still had seasons. I was all set to move back out there but when we went looking at houses we found tiny little houses on tiny little plots of land for more money than we spent on a quite large house on a couple of acres in western Mass. It obviously depends on where you live in Maine as to what kinds of prices you can get for your present home, and therefore what you'll likely be able to spend on a new one.

LeeAnn, ha ha - you don't have a clue what REAL humidity is; the stuff we get in ABQ is consider a great day back east!

I moved from suburban NYC to ABQ in 2001. I had come out 3 times during different seasons to make sure I knew what I was getting into, weather wise. While I miss the leafy trees, I miss wide expanses of water the most. There are leafy glens to satisfy my need in that regard, not so much for the water though. San Francisco takes care of that and it is a short Southwest Airlines ride away.

I agree with LeeAnn about not ever wanting to live in southern NM,too hot and too isolated from things for my taste.

You can get big spreads of land on the east side of the Manzano Mtns. and still be in fairly close drive time to ABQ. Plascitas has the rural feel and is close enought to I25/Bernalillo to be convenient. Corrales has some quirky homes and acreage and is just outside city limits. The North Valley is another unusually rural area of ABQ.

Biggest issue is employment, it is hard to come by jobs that pay well or even just decent jobs. Make sure you know what your chances are for work BEFORE you commit.

You really have to come and spend time here, and not a long weekend, to understand what it is like here, it is pretty different. But I love it and would never go back to NY, except to visit. And even then, I am always happy to return to NM.

I'd start with the job hunt for your daughter's hospital job. That could really narrow things down quite a bit and make your search a lot more focused.

OK, I'm in Texas but if you want to move west you should consider the great state of . . .

First, Texas's economy is better by far than Arizona's or New Mexico's.

Second, Texas has no state income tax -- a plus for your daughter who is seeking a steady income.

Third, coastal Texas, Austin and San Antonio are not as da*nably hot as Phoenix, Southern NM or even Dallas and Houston (in Houston, it's the humidity). Phoenix hits 90+ from April/May to late September and 100+ for most of the summer including MANY days over 105. That "it's a dry heat" concept is bull -- if it's 105-110 in the shade (and that will happen in Phoenix) and you can barely breathe because of the oppressiveness of the heat, it doesn't matter if it's dry. You are from MAINE where 85 is hot. Do NOT underestimate that difference.

Fourth, facilities: Northern New Mexico is very pretty (a more stark beauty like outback Australia, not goodgawdlookatallthosetrees like Maine) but lacks top notch hospitals and medical care (especially for Santa Fe and anywhere outside of Albuquerque). In Texas, Houston and Dallas have excellent medical centers. This is both an issue for your daughter's employment and your own future.

All that said, the 2/3 Colorado and 1/3 Arizona option is appealing but you need to determine (1) if that works viz. your daughter and (2) if you can handle the atmospheric difference. That leads back to emalloy's suggestion to visit and explore, which is a good piece of advice.

We retired to Tucson from the NE (Port Jeff- NY, Longmeadow-MA, Nashua-NH)We chose Tucson because of its slower pace, friendly community, and amenities. If you want major shopping, you can head to Phoenix but otherwise, we have everything here without the Phoenix heat, crowds or traffic. Theatre, Opera and an outstanding Teaching Hospital. We are a university town so we also have athletics along with the other amenities of a university town. I agree, you should vacation where you are planning to retire and at the same time also compare what you are going to need and want in your retirement. Try to visit at different times of the year so you can get an overall picture. Call up the Newcomers or Welcome clubs and see if you can attend a function or two. We thought about NM but decided on Tucson and have never regretted our move for a moment. This is our Home.

For the hospitals your daughter needs, there are several in the Longmont/Loveland/Greeley/Ft. Collins region. I disagree with Isabel - outside of the downtown of these NO. Colo. cities, the lot sizes are good size and not that expensive. But that depends on what you consider expensive.

How much are you looking to spend on housing and what size lot are you looking for?

>>LeeAnn, ha ha - you don't have a clue what REAL humidity is; the stuff we get in ABQ is consider a great day back east! <<

I've spent a little time in Texas in the summer, and we had a memorably humid few days in Virginia one September. Believe me, I appreciate New Mexico's humidity levels! But it's kind of fun to complain about 40% humidity in the summer...

Lee Ann