Where to retire
 

We are looking for a nice place to retire. We have lived in Pennsylvania our whole lives, and the cold winters are too much for us anymore.

We are looking for:
1.) A relatively safe town
2.) Warm weather
3.) Within an hour's drive to the ocean
4.) Good shopping
5.) A reasonably priced town

Does anyone have some ideas they would like to share?

Thanks,

Rachel

Other than "good shopping" -- exactly the criteria I used when I moved from PA a few years ago. Ended up in Walterboro, SC, which is an hour from Charleston, an hour from Savannah, an hour from the beach, very safe, very inexpensive.

B/

I was thinking Summerville, SC, a beautiful, beautiful, small town on the outskirts of Charleston..not so sure about the prices but it has everything else you want! It was like driving through a dream town.

You may want to try www.findyourspot.com. It asks you are a series of questions about your preferences (weather, cultural events, cost of living, etc.) and provides recommendations.

Great shopping in Charleston which is about 20 minutes from Summerville. Beautiful little town.

May I suggest closer to the water? Without the ocean breeze I think it is miserable in the summers.

Also look at McClelanville & Beaufort, SC as well as Southport, North Carolina.

Sounds like Dothan, AL could fit the bill!
There are MANY retiree's there(mostly Army related due to the nearby base, Ft. Rucker).

They were ranked in the top 10 places to retire in the US just a few years ago! Belle.

How is affordability in Beaufort now GoT? DD's in-laws retired there (grew up there, lived all over the world as adults working for Exxon, then returned when they retired)...Lady's Island, and we'd sort of looked when we lived in Savannah. I LOVE the marsh. Found a marsh lot for 100,000 on one of those islands, can't remember which...hemmed and hawed about it but then never acted. :(

Lots and lots and lots of people are retiring here in Williamsburg, VA. The only draw back is that it isn't warm year round, but we do have four definate seasons and the winters are normally very mild. We are approximately 1 hour to the ocean and 2 hours to the mountains. I love it here!

Wilmington, NC.

The summers in the South are as bad as the winters in the North.
There are still a few affordable areas in California, Sacramento is 90 minutes from the ocean and about the same to the mountains. The summers are hot but not humid like the South.

I am a CPA so I always consider the economics of an issue IN ADDITION to other criteria. When I retire, I will be looking at sales tax rates and state income tax factors along with the ones you have already mentioned. You might want to consider that you now live in one of the few states where there is no sales tax on the purchase of clothing and no state income tax on retirement benefits. Depending on your age, South Carolina state tax is somewhat retiree friendly. I don't know about their sales tax rates. There must be a web-site that explores these issues.

Also, keep property taxes in mind! Some states (i.e. Texas) don't have a state income tax but property taxes more than make up for it.

Rachel - there is a magazine that is called "Where to Reture" or something like that. I signed up for it somehow. It's free. Try google...

Fairhope Alabama

You can go to www.wheretoretire.com to find out more about that publication, and also to subscribe. However, it is not free.

For good weather without the humidity I like Los Angeles. I moved here from Phila. 27 years ago and have no regrets; It is no more expensive than any other large city.

I would remember with the warm winters, comes hot and humid (very!!) summers! We moved to central VA about 7 years ago from NJ and the first summer was so Humid!
I think the weather is getting more extreme every year everywhere. If possible can you have two places??? A small one near grandchildren(if you have them) for the summers and then a winter condo near the beach down in FL. You can pack up and leave for the north for the summer/and hurricane season and return for the nice warm winters. I know that is expensive, but it is the ideal way to go if you can swing it! Just a thought!

Thank you so much for all the input. I have checked out most of the towns you suggested and will be receiving information in the mail soon.

Investigate Aiken, S.C., as well. It's a bit out of your one hour drive to the ocean criteria, but you can be at Hilton Head in about two or so.

The terrain has a bit of elevation and roll, less humidity, and more to do than Beaufort, Summerville or Walterboro, but I would live in any of them, quite honestly.

Jim

I strongly suggest you don't come to Florida. There are too many of us here already, and I'm afraid a few more arrivals will sink the entire peninsula.

Ditto the suggestion of Aiken SC - you would be within 3 hours of coast (including Charleston), mountains (Asheville), and Atlanta or Charlotte. Lots of variety... golf, horses, fishing/hunting within the area, large retired community.

OO, wish I had bought property there when it was still affordable.

Those $100,000 lots are now close to $1M if you can find one.

Beaufort has some affordable areas away from the historic district.

Besides the hot humid summers, another thing to consider about the south is that any coastal area is subject to hurricanes.

However, after one hits, you can find deals on real estate.

Sorry,there are no deals after hurricanes--the prices in Gulf Shores have skyrocketed after Ivan. there's no end in sight. Condo shares are now the popular thing--rich man's time share!

That's too funny - deals after a hurricane! I sold my completely gutted house after a hurricane for much more than it was appraised for before the storm. There are no deals when it comes to Florida anymore.

RBCal, hurricanes do much more damage inland than they do on the coast.

Sorry GoTravel but that is just insane. Yes, hurricanes can do a lot of damage inland but if you have a chance to see an area on the coast after a devastating hurricane like Ivan you would not say that. It's just incredible to see the damage that Hurricane Ivan did to the Gulf Breeze/Pensacola/Pensacola Beach area. And that doesn't even take into account Perdido and other areas near the Alabama border which were probably hit worse.

Amelia Island, Fla. I'll meet you there in a few years.

stjohnbound, I understand the damage hurricanes do on the coast (I live on the southern coast of South Carolina) but the inland areas aren't as prepared as we are for them. Does that make sense?

For example, one of the many hurricanes we had this past fall absolutely devastated the Shokoe Bottom in Richmond by flooding. When you think about hurricanes, you don't think about Richmond getting damaged and Virginia Beach remaining virtually untouched.

Building codes are much much stricter on the coast than for those inland. In places that got hit by hurricanes in Florida, there is a marked difference between the neighborhoods built post Andrew and Hugo and those built pre Andrew and Hugo. Strict building codes helped these newer homes weather the storm.

GoTravel...My CRS is over. That lot was on Callawassie (sp) 8 years ago. Please no...not a million now! (Lie to me please...tell me they have stayed the same--oh maybe just a wee bit of appreciatioo!!)

There was another too, a marshview townhouse lot in Windmill Harbor (HHI) also $100,000. :( I don't even want to know what that one would go for now!! At that point we didn't even have a sailboat. Now it'd be perfect! I don't dwell on things like this, needless to say, or I'd be on serious meds!! LOL

GoTravel, a year ago I would have agreed with everything you've said. All hurricanes are bad, some are worse and then there are those that are devastating. Ivan was truly devastating and has changed everything about the Pensacola area. I have been through many hurricanes and I know that inland areas have a real problem with flooding many days after the storm due to rising rivers, etc. But this time a wall of water over 15' high caused devastation on the coast like I've never seen. And yes, the homes built to code fared better but were definitely not untouched. Building codes are great but only if it's new construction or rebuilding. The Florida/Alabama border has been hit many times by hurricanes but never anything like this. Not one building along the coast was untouched. Ivan hasn't gotten the media attention that the other storms in Florida got but believe me, it's definitely the worst one of all four that hit last year. God help them if another one hits in the next few months since the area is covered with blue roofs and many, many people are living in trailers on their coastal properties. Rachelnaomi, sorry for hijacking your thread but at least you know that Florida is not really the best place to retire!

What about Mexico? Baja California? It's cheap, beautiful, and you only live once.
You can't base where you are going to live around potential natural disasters. Hurricanes have hit plenty of places besides Florida. I was hit by 3 hurricanes last year and my mom was hit with 4. It sucked, but we survived. Their are earthquakes on the west coast. Mudslides, tornadoes, flooding, blizzards, brush fires.. You never know, so be prepared. At least with hurricanes you have plenty of notice that it is headed your way. Buy a concrete block house and get rolling hurricane shutters and a generator.

Everything said about the recent hurricanes is pretty much on the mark, but I wouldn't say that's a reason to rule out FL (though there may be other reasons, like skyrocketing land prices).

Two years ago, most people would have said FL was fine for retirement, and then the state has a once-in-100-years experience, and all of a sudden it's a bad place.

Go look at the National Hurricane Centers map of where hurricanes have made landfall in the past 100 years and you'll see that FL isn't any worse than TX, LA, AL, SC, NC. Short-term weather occurences can cloud your judgement, especially if you've lived through one of those "occurences."

Do you think the people who experienced the tsunami are going back there anytime soon?

Rachel,
I, too, am looking for the same as you. I am especially looking for a town where the taxes are not as high as NJ property taxes. Have you heard of anything good? I mean the taxes in NJ eats a lot of a person's pension up!
Thanks,
Tonice

You can live like a king/queen in Costa Rica.