The Retire and Relocate Thread™

[vio]

Tweakers and shitty people are everywhere all across the country everybody. Unless you live in a high-end area then yeah you're not going to find it so much. But if you are just a normal person in a normal town you're going to have tweaker neighbors.

 

[vio]

No that was not a cut and paste.

I have never written and told anybody where I moved up until this point.

I just talked into the phone. Too much to type.
It was basically just a quick write-up to let you guys know how it feels like to move to the Midwest.

Thanks for splitting that up byke. Sorry for punctuation, grammar, and all that other stuff as this is my first post and it is rather informal.

 

[mrmarklin]

One thing retirement counselors say is that if you want to relocate, rent in the area for at least six months. If it's four season a year.

You can learn a lot about the good and bad side. No place is perfect.

Here in the Bay Area, most people that I have known, relocate due to the fact that it's cheaper to live almost anywhere else in the world.

I hate the politics here in the PRK, but love the climate. I'll not leave lightly.

 

[vio]

One thing retirement counselors say is that if you want to relocate, rent in the area for at least six months. If it's four season a year.

You can learn a lot about the good and bad side. No place is perfect.

Here in the Bay Area, most people that I have known, relocate due to the fact that it's cheaper to live almost anywhere else in the world.

I hate the politics here in the PRK, but love the climate. I'll not leave lightly.

I am like I said a weather wimp, and love CA weather. I absolutely agree that people should either visit or try and live somewhere to see if it works for you. At first nothing is easy. Change is hard older you get. Unless you are accustomed to change because of work or some other factor.

Being here is a learning experience. I've learned to count my blessings and am fortunate to have what I have.

 

[jt2]

One thing retirement counselors say is that if you want to relocate, rent in the area for at least six months. If it's four season a year.

You can learn a lot about the good and bad side. No place is perfect.

That's good advice. Even then, you have to be ready to make some adjustments. After nearly two years out of the Bay Area, I'm still struggling with adapting to a 40 minute drive to Lowes. Doing a project with only one parts run has been a struggle.

 

[littlebeast]

I am like I said a weather wimp, and love CA weather. I absolutely agree that people should either visit or try and live somewhere to see if it works for you. At first nothing is easy. Change is hard older you get. Unless you are accustomed to change because of work or some other factor.

Being here is a learning experience. I've learned to count my blessings and am fortunate to have what I have.

i’m kinda the opposite - i grew up in northern minnesota, and loved the changing seasons - love seeing the changing landscape. i recently left the BA for the mountains to get that back. it’s in my blood and i’m not truly happy without it.

WRT the midwest - in addition to minnesota, have also lived in north dakota and nebraska. spent a lot of time in iowa as well (summers with grandparents). only been to ohio once (work trip to wright patterson AFB), but loved the lush landscape. the midwest can be bleak or beautiful depending on your perspective. for instance - do you know that green beans turn bright blue after they freeze in their pods? used to dig through the snow for those treasures in my grandfather’s garden when i was a kid. it’s a wonderland if you let it be.

 

[Bowling4Bikes]

how does one afford to move somewhere for 6 months, while paying for their current place? It seems like a great idea but is not really feasible.

 

[Mr. White]

how does one afford to move somewhere for 6 months, while paying for their current place? It seems like a great idea but is not really feasible.

Rent out the current place. We're also talking about people that are retiring, so many might have paid off their mortgage or have a low mortgage from nearly 30 years ago.

 

[tzrider]

Our neighbors just sold their house and are planning extended stays in four or five locations before buying again.

 

[Sharxfan]

Our neighbors just sold their house and are planning extended stays in four or five locations before buying again.

That is a great plan. Nothing like living somewhere for an amount of time to get the real feel.

I do this with cars also I try to rent vehicle before I buy. A long time ago I wanted to get a Chevy Trailblazer then we rented one for a week and I found that the seatbelt being on the seat right behind my shoulder drove me nuts and was awkward to get to after about 3 days so crossed that off my list quickly.

 

[byke]

Also think many of these are general rules designed to cover picky people with disposable income. More important than whether or not there's a mall/beach/golf course/etc. nearby, or if the weather is what you like, is what kind of direct neighbors you have. You have to drive a little further for something, okay whatever, but having a shitty neighbor right next to you is something that can actually make home life pretty miserable. Otherwise, I think it's a mistake for people to focus too much on the "right" area. It's a natural tendency that we do with relationships, work, and where we live, is ask, "will this make me happy forever?!?!". Probably better to take an approach somewhat similar to having a kid, just do it and ya make the best of it.

 

[DrSwade]

An interesting thing we just discovered relating to making drastic moves.

In 2018 we were obsessed with living near our children and grandchildren so we left Cabo on August 26 for Spokane. We weren’t there long when we realized that we couldn’t stand the place. Very odd, insular people who seemed almost proud of their lack of travel and knowledge of other people and places. I call it “Kentucky without the accents”.
We moved out and back to Cabo August 26, 2019.
We really wanted to be around the kids but not totally give up on other things we enjoy in life.

We just spent two separate weeks there visiting and are talking about moving there again. Our son is a cop there now so it looks like a career for him. His GF is “born and raised” (a slogan of pride I had never really heard before Spokane) and our daughter and her husband seem pretty rooted now with three kids.

The difference, aside from the increased grandchildren stakes, is that we know and understand the place a bit better now. I think we can make it work for us. So instead of visiting Spokane constantly, we might move up there and do the reverse, visiting Cabo monthly or a few weeks every couple of months. Or all winter.

 

[OldMadBrit]

An interesting thing we just discovered relating to making drastic moves.

In 2018 we were obsessed with living near our children and grandchildren so we left Cabo on August 26 for Spokane. We weren’t there long when we realized that we couldn’t stand the place. Very odd, insular people who seemed almost proud of their lack of travel and knowledge of other people and places. I call it “Kentucky without the accents”.
We moved out and back to Cabo August 26, 2019.
We really wanted to be around the kids but not totally give up on other things we enjoy in life.

We just spent two separate weeks there visiting and are talking about moving there again. Our son is a cop there now so it looks like a career for him. His GF is “born and raised” (a slogan of pride I had never really heard before Spokane) and our daughter and her husband seem pretty rooted now with three kids.

The difference, aside from the increased grandchildren stakes, is that we know and understand the place a bit better now. I think we can make it work for us. So instead of visiting Spokane constantly, we might move up there and do the reverse, visiting Cabo monthly or a few weeks every couple of months. Or all winter.

I spent some time in Spokane for work and also found strange and insular. It was also way too Rightwing Old Testament for my tastes.

I escaped to Coeur D' Alene, whenever I could. Its only about 45 minutes east of Spokane and weirdly (given that it's in ID not WA) I found it a lot more cosmopolitan. You could check it out if you haven't already.

 

[Jammer]

Brother moved from Vancouver Washington to Rock Springs Wyoming last year to escape to homeless and increasing COL. Surprise! I think the COL has caught up to him.

 

[WoodsChick]

Brother moved from Vancouver Washington to Rock Springs Wyoming last year to escape to homeless and increasing COL. Surprise! I think the COL has caught up to him.

A friend of mine moved from Escondido to Rock Springs a few months ago for purely financial reasons. She's miserable.

We are on the bleeding edge of retirement. Financially we are fine splitting our time between Oakland and our place down in Miramonte. That doesn't stop me from traveling every day on my Mac, looking for something else. It wouldn't break my heart to end my 41-year love affair with Oakland. Or this country, for that matter, depending on how things go. Climate change, water issues, and the idea that our house in Miramonte can (and probably will eventually) burn down at any time definitely has me thinking of moving north. There is much more coastline, and a lot less people vying for it, so it is financially attractive. We need to do some foundation work on the house in Oakland so we're thinking of raising the house, adding a nice apartment below (we have a basement on our downslope lot right now) for us and then renting out the house. That gives us options down the road if we have to come back full-time due to health care, or the aforementioned conflagration. We're a very short walk away from our Kaiser. We can take the house and give our caregiver the apartment, or take the apartment (no stairs!) and give the caregiver the house, or rent out one or the other. Or sell the whole thing and live like kings and queens the rest of our days. So many options, it's hard to know what to do...


RestlessChick

 

[DrSwade]

I spent some time in Spokane for work and also found strange and insular. It was also way too Rightwing Old Testament for my tastes.

I escaped to Coeur D' Alene, whenever I could. Its only about 45 minutes east of Spokane and weirdly (given that it's in ID not WA) I found it a lot more cosmopolitan. You could check it out if you haven't already.

I couldn’t wrap my head around CDA either. I probably should give it another look again next time we’re up there.

I don’t find “Brokane” as my wife calls it, very right wing. In fact, my daughter has become quite the lefty there due to terrible influence of complete loser friends.
My son other the other hand….let’s just say they don’t talk politics without her ultimately going ballistic.

Spokane has a very strange mix of people; tubby, estro-laden guys to the very popular bodybuilding culture there. A SHITLOAD of crime and homelessness. In three months my son has experienced things on duty that most cops don’t see in ten years. He did a welfare check on a guy in his old apartment building only to find a guy who was dead over a month. A few weeks ago he was plugging holes on a guy who was shot buy his fellow officers.

I worked at the jail there as a CO for five months. Black and Mexican gangs have to recruit white guys to fill the ranks. Nothing so silly as a skinny white guy flipping gangs signs and calling out “Duece duece crips yo!”
They book and release EVERYONE except DV or DUI. I think we booked and released 70% of people during my short tenure.

Lots of bad neighborhoods too. Names like “Felony Flats”, etc. But like most towns, you can avoid most problems. The homeless, while ubiquitous, aren’t SF aggressive.

The state currently is favorable for concealed carry so I have my Austrian co-pilot there awaiting me for visits.

 

[byke]

Tell us again about covid too please, "doc". Since we're doing this apparently.

 

[DrSwade]

Tell us again about covid too please, "doc". Since we're doing this apparently.

Not sure what you mean but telling anyone here anything about covid is pointless. The jury is in and seems to have always been in.

 

[byke]

I'm very certain that the vast majority of the folks in Spokane would agree with you.

 

[DrSwade]

Been to Spokane?