Where to retire?

NealRomeoGolf said:
I don't need to pay $5000 of school taxes each year and then pay tuition on top.
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But you own an airplane. You must be rich! You can afford to pay taxes and tens of thousands of dollars a year in private school tuition. How dare you send your kids to be raised at school on the backs of the poor! While flying in your ultra luxurious private aircraft!

You and I are clearly elite since we own and fly aero-planes and should be sending our children to be raised at only the finest boarding schools. :rolleyes1:
 
Some goofy stuff on here as usual, but some good things to consider, too. It'll be a few years before I retire. I can't understand why HOA's are allowed to exist. Who thought that adding an extra layer of regulations was a good idea. Likewise all of the special taxes, but those are unavoidable.

One of the things on my list is to be far enough inland and up as to not be wiped out by storm surges from hurricanes, and not to be far enough inland that everything is flat like Ohio. Another is far enough from urban areas where there's no public transit. I'd love to find a state where there aren't any cities at all, but we don't have that, yet.
 
Albany Tom said:
Some goofy stuff on here as usual, but some good things to consider, too. It'll be a few years before I retire. I can't understand why HOA's are allowed to exist. Who thought that adding an extra layer of regulations was a good idea. Likewise all of the special taxes, but those are unavoidable.

One of the things on my list is to be far enough inland and up as to not be wiped out by storm surges from hurricanes, and not to be far enough inland that everything is flat like Ohio. Another is far enough from urban areas where there's no public transit. I'd love to find a state where there aren't any cities at all, but we don't have that, yet.
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Wyoming is pretty close! :cool:
 
Deelee said:
But you own an airplane. You must be rich! You can afford to pay taxes and tens of thousands of dollars a year in private school tuition. How dare you send your kids to be raised at school on the backs of the poor! While flying in your ultra luxurious private aircraft!

You and I are clearly elite since we own and fly aero-planes and should be sending our children to be raised at only the finest boarding schools. :rolleyes1:
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If you’re having the government raise your kids and spending money on a toy vs one’s offspring, I just think one’s priorities are off. Want to spend money on toys and not ones kid, that’s totally cool, don’t have kids.

Lots of people just dump their kids for the state to poorly raise, say they can’t afford proper private school, but have a financed 50k truck they are 20k upside down on, a plane and some other toys, c’mon man!
 
BladeSlap said:
If you’re having the government raise your kids and spending money on a toy vs one’s offspring, I just think one’s priorities are off. Want to spend money on toys and not ones kid, that’s totally cool, don’t have kids.

Lots of people just dump their kids for the state to poorly raise, say they can’t afford proper private school, but have a financed 50k truck they are 20k upside down on, a plane and some other toys, c’mon man!
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Do you have kids? The internet is a way more dangerous place than any public school these days. And here we are on the internet...
 
Albany Tom said:
Some goofy stuff on here as usual, but some good things to consider, too. It'll be a few years before I retire. I can't understand why HOA's are allowed to exist. Who thought that adding an extra layer of regulations was a good idea.
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I submit that HOA's are fine. But if you're gonna live in one, read the rules and make sure you can live with 'em. We "noped" a couple of nice houses back in the day because of over the top HOA rules and covenants. My current neighborhood has an HOA. The dues are $60/yr on a voluntary basis to plant flowers at the entrance and other minor stuff. The covenants and bylaws are about a page long and cover things such as no livestock. If you're gonna live near other people (as opposed to on a 50 acre spread), it is beneficial if everyone shares a basic understanding.
 
The problem is, the rules can change. I'm used to living where unless I present some sort of hazard to my neighbors, and more or less abide by the town's building code, I'm good. My neighbors are in the same spot. It works out great. Neither people nor animals were designed to live all bunched up together, and everyone has their own sense of personal space. Having about an acre is good for me. Some people are good with being a little closer, some want more space. But to me, more rules don't change the space I want, and they don't make any situation better. I'm sure others feel differently.
 
I'm a former HOA President, current HOA Board Member, and moved from the highrise community where we lived to a tight HOA community of about 5,000 homes in the West Valley of the Phoenix metro.

I like 'em, and I believe they have a purpose.

Are they for everyone? No. Even for "most people"? Probably not.

The highrise where we lived, pretty much REQUIRES and HOA to help oversee operations. I think communal living in a common structure like that makes it self-explainatory.

But when my wife and I drove to the community where our new home is located, probably nine months ago, we saw the homes, the parks, the golf course, how clean things were, how well-painted and manicured the property is, and said: "Oh, yes, this looks great." Yes, all the cars are put away in their garages. There's no basketball hoops, and people's yards don't look like Cracker Barrel came and dumped their store on the lawn.
 
Kind of surprised nobody's mentioned AZ or NV. Maybe too far west? But compared to crazy California airspace, AZ and NV are breaths of wide-open, uncontrolled fresh air!

There's some private airparks in Northern Arizona, and land is still affordable. More urban areas of Arizona are pretty expensive, and down in the Valley, prices are skyrocketing (and I think most airpark homes are in the 7 figure range.)

My wife and I are just closing on a home in Northern Arizona that we'll enjoy as a vacation home with our son, and it'll eventually be our retirement home in 5-10 years (because I still have to put my son through college... ouch.) It's on the outskirts of a good sized town, wide open spaces to the north, airport nearby so GA friendly, and most certainly 2A friendly.
 
Rgbeard said:
I'm a former HOA President, current HOA Board Member, and moved from the highrise community where we lived to a tight HOA community of about 5,000 homes in the West Valley of the Phoenix metro.

I like 'em, and I believe they have a purpose.

Are they for everyone? No. Even for "most people"? Probably not.

The highrise where we lived, pretty much REQUIRES and HOA to help oversee operations. I think communal living in a common structure like that makes it self-explainatory.

But when my wife and I drove to the community where our new home is located, probably nine months ago, we saw the homes, the parks, the golf course, how clean things were, how well-painted and manicured the property is, and said: "Oh, yes, this looks great." Yes, all the cars are put away in their garages. There's no basketball hoops, and people's yards don't look like Cracker Barrel came and dumped their store on the lawn.
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Basketball hoops! oh the humanity! Im guessing that you would object to my lawn too.
 
Rgbeard said:
I'm a former HOA President...
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Me too. It's sad, but, power corrupts even with something as trivial as a HOA. The stories in my neighborhood are too much to recount. The zenith of the lunacy resulted in the neighborhood recalling the board. Shortly thereafter, the HOA insurance company paid a homeowner ~$85K to settle a lawsuit he brought against the board for inappropriate liens. I swear property values in my neighborhood are depressed compared to adjacent neighborhoods from these actions and those of subsequent boards.
 
TCABM said:
I grew up in rural central Texas, went to college in west Texas, had a military career living in six states and two overseas countries, then came back because it’s where I want to live, warts and all.

But moving here, come eyes wide open…it ain’t the mythical paradise it’s made out to be. Then again, nowhere is.
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My Mom grew up in a farm half way between Brady and Brownwood TX just south of the Colorado River. could easily see part of some winter there but summer? Oh, no.
 
MICHAEL MAHN said:
Me too. It's sad, but, power corrupts even with something as trivial as a HOA. The stories in my neighborhood are too much to recount. The zenith of the lunacy resulted in the neighborhood recalling the board. Shortly thereafter, the HOA insurance company paid a homeowner ~$85K to settle a lawsuit he brought against the board for inappropriate liens. I swear property values in my neighborhood are depressed compared to adjacent neighborhoods from these actions and those of subsequent boards.
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Same with mine. Everything was a fight to the death. To the point where my friends asked why do you wanna live there? My only answer was the waterfront. It’s gotten better but the lawyers made out like a bandit. Everybody wants to be the boss. If I ever move, it won’t be to any place with an HOA. No condos either.
 
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Rgbeard said:
But when my wife and I drove to the community where our new home is located, probably nine months ago, we saw the homes, the parks, the golf course, how clean things were, how well-painted and manicured the property is, and said: "Oh, yes, this looks great." Yes, all the cars are put away in their garages. There's no basketball hoops, and people's yards don't look like Cracker Barrel came and dumped their store on the lawn.
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That sounds like a nightmare.
 
Rgbeard said:
I'm a former HOA President, current HOA Board Member, and moved from the highrise community where we lived to a tight HOA community of about 5,000 homes in the West Valley of the Phoenix metro.

I like 'em, and I believe they have a purpose.

Are they for everyone? No. Even for "most people"? Probably not.

The highrise where we lived, pretty much REQUIRES and HOA to help oversee operations. I think communal living in a common structure like that makes it self-explainatory.

But when my wife and I drove to the community where our new home is located, probably nine months ago, we saw the homes, the parks, the golf course, how clean things were, how well-painted and manicured the property is, and said: "Oh, yes, this looks great." Yes, all the cars are put away in their garages. There's no basketball hoops, and people's yards don't look like Cracker Barrel came and dumped their store on the lawn.
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You must’ve been a wonderful HOA president. Basketball hoops are the very devil itself. Did you drive around in a golf cart? Inspecting lawns.
 
Speaking of upscale developments. We have a local major artery that’s going to have construction for five years or more, starting this spring. The only available bypass around the construction goes right through an upscale development. Can’t wait to see that.
 
I lived once in a condo development where the HOA was a horror show, and I'll not live under a HOA again. Nothing enables the tin-pot dictator fantasies of a control freak quite like being elected to a HOA board. We had the usual citations over people planting the wrong color flowers or installing an unapproved screen door, of course. You could have a towel draped over a deck chair if you were sitting on it, but walk away and it's a citation for drying laundry on your balcony. No car maintenance allowed in the parking lots, so I got nailed on different days for adding windshield washer fluid, and for checking (not adding) oil. Turned out, raising the hood was considered 'maintenance'. They finally, on short notice, banned trucks and commercial vehicles, which they defined to include any pickup, and any vehicle with writing on the outside--forcing a hundred or so residents to scramble to find off-site parking. I sold at a loss and got out of that train wreck (and I didn't even own a truck or commercial vehicle), so I don't know how the battle brewing over that power grab ended.
 
GaryM said:
I lived once in a condo development where the HOA was a horror show, and I'll not live under a HOA again. Nothing enables the tin-pot dictator fantasies of a control freak quite like being elected to a HOA board. We had the usual citations over people planting the wrong color flowers or installing an unapproved screen door, of course. You could have a towel draped over a deck chair if you were sitting on it, but walk away and it's a citation for drying laundry on your balcony. No car maintenance allowed in the parking lots, so I got nailed on different days for adding windshield washer fluid, and for checking (not adding) oil. Turned out, raising the hood was considered 'maintenance'. They finally, on short notice, banned trucks and commercial vehicles, which they defined to include any pickup, and any vehicle with writing on the outside--forcing a hundred or so residents to scramble to find off-site parking. I sold at a loss and got out of that train wreck (and I didn't even own a truck or commercial vehicle), so I don't know how the battle brewing over that power grab ended.
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That is a horror show.
 
BladeSlap said:
If you’re having the government raise your kids and spending money on a toy vs one’s offspring, I just think one’s priorities are off. Want to spend money on toys and not ones kid, that’s totally cool, don’t have kids.
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I don't have the government raise my children - I send them to the public school to get an amazing education that my tax dollars partially pay for.

And, even if I did finance my aero-plane (which I certainly did not - paid cash money for it)... even if I did finance that, and my car/truck and maybe a boat... and still sent my child to public school... I'm not supposed to have kids?

Just to get this straight and sort of summarize things so far - In this thread you are telling people where they should/shouldn't live. You are telling them what they can't buy and finance. You are telling them they can't have kids unless they meet your criteria...
 
EdFred said:
Are your guys' kids gonna help me decide where to retire in 5 years? If not why are we talking about them?
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Welcome to POA. Personally I think you're going to pay some sort of tax no matter where you go, and if you aren't paying a tax you'll pay some other way. All anyone here will do is boast about where they live (except me. I live in a ****hole, you've seen it. No one moves here who doesn't have to).
 
EdFred said:
Are your guys' kids gonna help me decide where to retire in 5 years? If not why are we talking about them?
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My kids always have opinions. I'll ask them where you should retire when they get home from school. They go to public school and we used to own an airplane when the one was born and were accused of owning airplanes by the time the other two were. So I'm not sure if we should have them in public or private school, or if they understand geography or how to speak American, but they do know how to math sometimes.
 
steingar said:
(except me. I live in a ****hole, you've seen it. No one moves here who doesn't have to).
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Yes. We left Ohio quickly, and I couldn't see any amount of money convincing us to return.
 
steingar said:
I live in a ****hole, you've seen it. No one moves here who doesn't have to).
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Ted said:
Yes. We left Ohio quickly, and I couldn't see any amount of money convincing us to return.
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There are three places in Ohio that I DO want to visit:

Rock N Roll Hall of fame in the mistake by the lake
National museum of the Air Force in Dayton
The Bass Islands
 
EdFred said:
Are your guys' kids gonna help me decide where to retire in 5 years?
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I dunno... My kid is pretty good about telling my wife and I what to do :D ... I'll ask her...

Ok... according to her, you should retire to either Arizona (where my father-in-law lives) or the Bahamas. Meh. Not bad options...
 
Bill said:
There are three places in Ohio that I DO want to visit:

Rock N Roll Hall of fame in the mistake by the lake
National museum of the Air Force in Dayton
The Bass Islands
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I haven't even been to the R&R museum, but I should rectify that.
The Museum of the Air Force is well worth the trip, but you can't land there. Air Force base and all.
The Islands are well worth the visit. Take a bicycle when you do Kelley's Island.
 
Bill said:
There are three places in Ohio that I DO want to visit:

Rock N Roll Hall of fame in the mistake by the lake
National museum of the Air Force in Dayton
The Bass Islands
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Air Force museum is unbelievable. You should go. Tomorrow.
Well maybe not tomorrow, the weather is going to suck. Go next week.

Don't forget Cedar Point
 
You should retire to the Pacific coast (not Baja) of Mexico. Become a beach bum and, not-so, amateur sport fisherman. That's what I keep trying to convince my better half of at least.
 
What's wrong with Michigan? I'll go against the grain. Move North into the UP.
 
Bill said:
National museum of the Air Force in Dayton
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Yes. That is definitely worth the visit. But once you see it, make sure to leave promptly.

Bill said:
Went there many times as a teen, but it's been, um, 40yrs+ since I've been there.

Holy crap, I just realized I'm old! :yikes:
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I just realized not long ago that this year will mark 20 years since I graduated high school.
 
Ted said:
Yes. That is definitely worth the visit. But once you see it, make sure to leave promptly.



I just realized not long ago that this year will mark 20 years since I graduated high school.
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Youngster. ;) 26 for me.

@EdFred I've already told you the best ever place. The rest of the thread is just fluff.

I'm looking at Tennessee myself. A friend of mine retired to Traverse City. Different strokes for different folks. He's got a nice property, though.
 
NealRomeoGolf said:
The answer is Peoria. You know you want to.
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You know, I hear that all the time. I ask friends where they're going for summer vacation, and I hear "Peoria!" And I ask others where they're going to escape winter and it's "Peoria!" Peoria, the little city on eveyone's mind!
 
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