Let's see if anyone can help me -- I'm living in the DC area and approaching retirement. I find this area too expensive to continue living here post-retirement, but I don't know where else to head that would be attractive and pleasant but less costly. I would even consider living abroad since I speak a few romance languages as well as English. Do you have any suggestions?
Also, what are considerations such as Medicare which I should keep in mind?

Get your hands on Money Magazine's annual "where to retire" issue and check out some options. It includes cost of living, quality of cultural, medical care, ease of travel, and other concerns.

It wasn't too many years after building a house and barn on five acres in Fairfax Station (1969) that we realized we had a potential gold mine on our hands. We also realized as the taxes increased and traffic got heavier that it was not a place to stay after retirement.

We considered several areas in Virginia over the years including Delmarva and the Shenandoah Valley. As retirement neared, we started looking into towns in the valley. One day we drove from Strasburg to Woodstock on route 11, and then route 42 down to Clifton Forge. We went as far as Roanoke before heading north again on route 11 and took an interest in Harrisonburg. It has JMU and NCAA basketball, plenty of shopping and restaurants, and a hospital.

Then as we continued north, we took a longer and deeper look at Woodstock.
Here was a town (est 1752) with a real
main street, an old town area , lots of charm, and a hospital right in town. It has town water, weekly trash pickup and excellent snow removal. We were hooked.

A year after retirement we said goodbye to Fairax County, moved to Woodstock, and have been enjoying it tremendously.

The only drawback we can think of is that we pay both county and town taxes,
but they are a quarter of what we paid in Fairfax.

Several major magazines have picked Oxford, MS as a very nice retirement city. I went to Ole Miss and frequently visit there. Now's the time to invest in property there because it is really booming. The population is about 15,000 or so I think. It's the home of William Faulkner and has a wonderful book store that has visiting authors such as John Grisham all the time. There are great restaurants and nice shops around the downtown Square. You should look into it.


http://www.oxfordms.com/

Like you, sundancer, we are approaching retirement & also live in a very expensive & high tax area.

We plan to retire to the Phoenix area, and while housing prices have climbed in the past year, taxes & other expenses are far lower. We also happen to love the area.

Good luck.

Hello sundancer, be aware that Medicare does NOT cover you when you are outside of the US. Best wishes to you..I sometimes think about moving somewhere less expensive then CA. But probably never will as I have lived here all my life.

Hi Sundancer

Have you considered the eastern shore of Maryland or Delmarva? It's a great place, taxes are lower and it doesn't even snow as heavily as in DC!! We're looking into it there also.

Some friends love the South Carolina areas closer to the beaches but not actually on them. Prices are lower as are taxes.

Certain areas of Florida are still good to buy in but many of the coastal areas have had major value increases and with that there have been significant tax increases. We have a place in Florida and if taxes continue to skyrocket we may have to sell.

I also like Ronkala's idea. It almost reads like my home town in Pennsylvania but, unfortunately, taxes are too high in PA.

sundancer
We will retire in two years. Last year we made the decision to move home. We have lived elsewhere for 17 yrs. Home is where we both grew up, went to school, and raised our children. We are so happy to be with family. We have no mountains or beach but we have brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren. We attend our grandchildrens ball games and I get to be part of sending my granddaughter off to Homecoming Nov 8th. She, her mother and I will have pedi's and mani's that morning!
My retirement spot is with family. If you have family, you might want to consider living in the same community with them. We love our decision and we did think seriously of other places.

There's a lot of appeal in what cd just advised about retiring near family. The one thing I would not want to do is retire to an area where there is only one relative, who can move in a minute. But if you are like cd and you have lots of close relatives in the same town, and most of them have lived there for years, you certainly might want to consider it.

I suggest you spend a fair amount of time in various areas that interest you before making a purchase. Rent a place and spend a month or two (and as someone here told me, spend some time there at the "worst" time of year for the area whether that be the hottest, wettest, snowiest, or most humid time of year)before sinking money into a residence.

I have friends who bought several beachfront lots in Florida and built a large, mostly glass house (retired architect, couldn't help himself)so they could see the ocean from every room. They lived there four years and hated the last three years due to bugs, humidity and hurricane evacuations- things they never considered because they hadn't spent more than short vacations in the state before moving there.

i can give you a little insight into md's eastern shore--talbot county to be exact. we bought what we hope to be our retirement home here at the ripe old age of 32. in the last 6 years, the home has almost tripled in value so it was an excellent investment.

there are a lot of retirees here, you are still close to dc, baltimore and philly. you have a good arts scene in easton. excellent restaurants in easton, st. michaels and oxford. an ok hospital in easton but baltimore and its excellent hospitals are not far away. the area is gorgeous. people are incredibly friendly and it is an easy place to live. few hassles in daily living like you'd find in large cities. tourists keep the activity level up from mid march through christmas. january and february are unbelievably dead and incredibly windy. if the snow is less than dc, it isn't that much less. we've also gotten hit with storms the western shore missed.

property has skyrocketed in st. michaels, easton and oxford ($500k-$800k for a 2000 sq ft house). but you can still get a decent place in between those areas but not on the water for less. water will cost you $1.2mm+ for a livable place. if you look into caroline or dorchester counties, properties are still priced low. property taxes are similar to what my parents pay in montgomery county, md and about 1/2 what we paid in new jersey.

have fun investigating new areas!

Otra vez, no contest: Central Mexico.
M

We are thinking in terms of two retirement places- one in a small Mississippi town ("home," where we lived for twenty years and raised our children). It is only twenty-five miles from the Gulf Coast so I do not want to live there in hurricane season, that's for sure! One of our sons and his family still live there.

The other place (my preference) would be a small Virginia town around 50-70 miles from Washington,DC where two children and six grandchildren and other relatives live.

Our current idea is to live in Virginia, May- September and in Mississippi the rest of the year. We are trying to work out the logistics of this. A small house/condo in both places? A house in one and rent in the other?

Virginia towns that we are considering include Winchester, Warrenton, and Culpeper. Any more suggestions?

Has anyone else tried the idea of retirement in two areas? How did you like doing that?

You folks have been helpful.
I have seen Money magazine's retirement issue but I was looking for something more personal here; hearing about real folks'experiences and suggestions.
I will definitely check out Woodstock, ronkala, which I am not familiar with at this time.
Oxford and Florida seem too far south -- I'm also afraid of extreme weather in those areas.
Phoenix sounds nice, as a matter of fact I just recently traveled close by in the southwest. Astoundingly beautiful area, but I don't know about living there permanently.
As an adult, I have always lived in the NE and earlier as a child I also lived in France. I do not have a large family and what I do have is mostly in France.
I have a college bound HS senior who has yet to make up her mind about where to enroll, depending naturally on where she is accepted, and her move will also enter somewhat into the equation. She is generally looking at places in the NE but is also including McGill in Montreal as a possibility.
Have lived in the DC area since 68 and prior to that in NYC burbs.
I have considered the eastern shore but, like you indicated, lolfn, was under the impression that nice areas such as the ones you mention, had already appreciated beyond my means.
But I haven't seriously looked, just a general impression.

Saraho,
Woodstock is less than thirty miles south of Winchester on I-81/rte 11. Houses here run $180,000-$350,000 for the most part. New condos are in the $250,000 range.

In June and September lunch on the lawn is held in front of the old court house.
Local talent provides entertainment, and the town or busnesses provide soft drinks and dessert. There is also an in-town park with an outdoor pool, and a smaller park on Main Street where local talent also perform some evenings.

We are less than twenty minutes from
I-66, and less than an hour and a half from Dulles Airport.

Thanks, I will add Woodstock to the small Virginia towns we are considering. Any other suggestions?

Sundancer, check out www.findyourspot.com. You can personalize to what factors are important to you.

Perhaps you gringos might want to reinvent yourselves, lol.
M

Lots of good choices!

I've tried the two house thing, not retired! It's not for everyone but it IS for me.

Agree totally with cd, Heaven itself would not be my choice without multi-contact and support of my extended family.

The following was posted on another board by ***someone*** who also posts to this forum. It's interesting, if nothing else.

Some cool news on Astoria: Astoria was named on national TV on Aug. 9 as the top place to retire in the nation. The piece was aired on Good Morning America. The top five were:

1. Astoria -for the Best place for people who want some peace and quiet.
2. Sparks, Nev. Best place for physicall active adventure seeks.
3. Amelia Island, Fla. Best place for beach and nature lovers.
4. Yaletown (Vancouver) Canada Best place for the young at heart.
5. Ann Arbor, Mich. Best place for retirees looking for culture.