Deciding where to retire

My husband and I expect to retire in the next 10 - 12 years. We currently live in a cold climate and would like to move somewhere warmer, but we're not sure where. We want to start using vacation time to scout out potential places, and want to make sure we really get a feel for how the places we're visiting would be to live, as opposed to just being a tourist. For example, I know I want to live in a really walkable neighborhood, but how do I look for it in an unfamiliar city? Has anyone here gone through a similar process to this? I'd love any advice you can give!

Do you know if you'd prefer mountains, coastline, small towns, larger cities, etc.? Maybe you could narrow it down a bit first.

BTW - I think living in Maine would be AMAZING - except for the bitter cold in winter. One of our retirement dreams in a few years is to rent a cabin and spend a month or two in Maine - during the summer.

Someone I respected a lot once told me that she wouldn't live in an area that doesn't have a college or university. Her reasoning was that there would be cultural opportunities and decent medical facilities nearby.

Mrs. PP and I are doing that. I work remotely now so we made the decision to take the winters and scout out potential retirement locations. We are currently in Gulf Shores, AL and loving it. We did an AirBNB on the beach from January 1 through February 28 and have liked it so much we will be back from November 1 to March 1 next winter. We may try Arizona next year, but we both like being near the water and there are a lot of snowbirds here right now and it is the slow time of year so snowbirds are catered to by local businesses.

Del, Airbnb might be a really good idea. I've used it for traveling, and you can often find housing that is in neighborhoods rather than touristy areas. The descriptions will usually give you a pretty good idea of the specific area that the rental is located in, and most owners are pretty good about answering questions.

Sounds like a fun project to pursue!

MSN has numerous 'best places to retire" articles that I've found very interesting. Once you click on one, you'll get them popping up in various forms regularly. Besides warmer weather, I focus on where my $$ will last the longest without having to change my life style that much.
I do like Airbnb too. Besides staying in one, look at the Experiences offered in the area. They give you a taste of the kind of things you can do in the area and where the best food, drink, etc., is to be found.

The real question is if you want to retire in one specific place. I think I am going to continue living where I am (maybe downsizing a little) and then just rent places a month or so at a time all over the place. It is a lot cheaper and less hassle in the long run than buying a second home and you can go wherever all over the world. But I like where I currently live.

Also, consider taxes: income, sales, inheritance, property. etc. Some states look better than others in that regard.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I wouldn't mind being a snow bird but my husband just wants to stay in one place, so even though we love Maine, we need a permanent move. I love having a change of seasons, and don't want to be someplace so warm that we feel trapped inside by the heat for a good share of the year. We're also spoiled by being so close to the ocean, and are aware we probably will need to accept being at least alittle farther away from water. (Right now we live two blocks from a neighborhood beach that's a real source of community - we don't know that it would be possible to replicate that!) I also agree with the advice about being near a college or university.

I really like the Airbnb idea. There's a lot you can learn from a distance by doing research, but you really have to be there in person to get a feel for a place.

One thing to be aware of when looking at areas that are known as retirement/snowbird communities: There are usually rental management companies/real estate companies that are less expensive than going through VRBO or Airbnb. When you find a place to rent through either of those apps, check to see if the property is managed by a management company and reach out to them to see if you can get a better deal by avoiding the VRBO/Airbnb fees.

DEL, I sent you a PM.

I'm assuming you have some hobbies/activities that you enjoy. I'd research for areas that may have a number of them in a fairly close proximity.

I had joked about retiring and living in an RV that I was going to park in my kids driveways for a month at a time. That way I could eat all their food and mess up their house for a change. My daughter must have taken this to heart because she is in the process of buying her first house and it is about 1/2 mile from my house. I guess she figures I won't want to park the RV that close to home.

I've not really thought seriously about relocating when I retire. I like where I live. It has all the seasons - deer season, turkey season, trout season, and bass season. I've got probably 12 years to think about it.

1/2 mile Thomas? I think I see your daughter doing her weekly grocery shopping in your pantry.

Portugal.

More likely she will enjoy the benefits of having a handyman/free labor nearby. I am really excited for her, it is a beautiful home. In fact, after I went with her to look at it I told her that if she wasn't buying it I would consider it!

I agree with Randy. We love the Sarasota/Venice area in Florida along with Captiva/Sanibel, but with HOA and RE taxes for 5 months out of the year, it is not worth it to us to buy, just rent. Plus you can catch the desert and mountains of Tucson for a change of pace during the winter months. Once you buy, you are committed to that place.

My sister and BIL somewhat did that. They have been in Central FL ever since he retired from the AF, then he retired from Lockheed and they decided to move closer to TN. But not all the WAY to TN because it's too cold. [their son lives there]. They tried a beachy town in South Bama near where they once lived while in service, but found it to be too desolate during off season. They ended up near Montgomery, close to where they once lived when stationed there and now feel like they have the best of both worlds...close enough to go either direction and be in a different scenery. Yet not so cold and not so isolated, yet not in a big metro.

7.5 years to retirement, target age 67. Considering New Mexico, reasonable altitudes, close to mountains, beautiful, hiking, relaxed pace of living, fishing, culture, food. Just looking at options right now; not thinking of this as a permanent move but a stop over until or if we are unable to care for ourselves someday.

We are also trying to decide where we want to be in 6 years. We live in the 'country' right now and like not having neighbors and the ability to do what we want with and on our property. We just struggle with the thought of trying to up keep the hobby farm in our older age. Things that are important to us are medical and an airport. I like Randy's thought process and had not thought about living like that in retirement.

The last time I was on a cruise ship, there was a lady that had basically taken up permanent residency there. She was on her 168th (or so) week. There's food, entertainment, a ship doctor, housekeeping, etc. She got to meet new people each week, knew the staff very well and got to travel to nice places. She also got all sorts of perks for being a frequent cruiser. Apparently it was cheaper than a retirement home. I've often considered that may be the plan for me someday.

P.S. My wife says "no".

I'd definitely be in on that permanent cruising life David!

I'm 131 calendar days/93 banking days away from retirement. We love our house and neighborhood. We're close enough to the metro that we have everything we want and a major university 20 miles away. Medical facilities are excellent. Entertainment amd restaurant options are also really good. But I hate winter unless it's sunny with dry roads. We've had all kinds of thoughts about where to go to escape winter. What my house elf discovered after retiring 2 years ago is that cold weather isn't a big deal if you don't have to go anywhere. Now that I'm back to being able to work remotely when I want, I haven't had to fight the 28 mile commute in the ice and snow. It's changing my idea of wanting to snowbird it from November through March. Our house is paid for, but the taxes, insurance, and HOA are still a hefty chunk of change. I definitely don't want two properties. We love Marco Island, but haven't found the ideal rental yet. Haven't tried Gulf Shores or Pensacola, but on our list of 'maybe' for winter. We know we want to be near a beach and be able to see sunsets over the water (I'm totally NOT a sunrise girl and don't expect that to magically change in a few months). I can see January & February on the beach and March near spring training in AZ. I just don't want to be away from the grandsons for that long.

I read about the lady permanently cruising. I think it would be fantastic if I was alone.

Affordable short term winter destinations: Parts of coastal Mexico and Mexico City, Belize, Panama, Portugal, Thailand... imagine the interesting short travel hops form the last two. All with good heath care, great weather, ex-pat friendly, and with very affordable cost of living. In any of these you can get a great rental home in a city center with all the top amenities, and expenses and dining for 2-3k a month.

Our plan is to downsize here for summer, and long winter away for 6-7 months with 2-3 month stays in various cities and countries overseas.

i refuse to divulge my retirement plans as you guys are not trustworthy and i expect at least one of you started this so you could see who would be out of town when and how you can break into their homes and steal everything to supplement your retirement savings. i'm not falling for that trick!!!

Happy - you make me smile!

You're on to us Happy. We just want your collection of Mardi Gras beads.

Mrs. ABC and I often discuss this even though we are 20-25 years away from retiring. We are both in the NE but hate the winter. FL isn't for us and we've been zeroing in Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, Richardson, Plano, possibly more) along with the possibility of retiring abroad (Portugal, Thailand, Spain or Italy). Texas, outside of real estate taxes, appears to have a lot going for it at the moment.

Walkability would be great but the cities that have great walkability scores tend to be in the NE and very expensive (Manhattan and Jersey City for example).

I've also wondered if retiring somewhere cold but not having to leave the house is doable?

ABC - turns out, I like winter when it's cold and sunny. I just hate it when it's gray and gross out. We get enough warning on incoming snow and ice that it's easy to calculate how long it's going to take for the plows to get through after the storm blows through and how many meals and snacks we need to have handy so that we don't feel deprived. Worst it's been is 3 days which was really easy. We're in a large KC suburb - everything is here, nothing is walkable, and transit is laughable (but parking is easy!).

I love the idea of Portugal or Australia or Ireland, but haven't figured out how health care works. I don't think it's free for ex-pats and I don't think Medicare works abroad (would love to be wrong). My cousin retired to Austin, TX, and loves it. Our kids and grandsons are here, the house is paid for, and I'm down to 91.5 banking days before retirement, so this stuff has suddenly gotten real. For now, we're sticking with KS residency and chasing summer when we get sick of winter.

Pippii, I live about 30 minutes from Marco Island

MB Guy? I kinda sorta hate you right now - could I send you a large box of snow? Up the coast, down the coast, or inland? Have to figure out how big the box needs to be...

We vacationed there last November and loved it. Heck, just move me to Ft Myers near a Mellow Mushroom for Jan/Feb and I'll be happy! Send me back to Lawrence, KS in time for March Madness.

LOL, I'm OK with the hate. I lived in Pittsburgh for 30 years and as much as I love the city, general area and really good people there, the weather is miserable so I had to get out. I actually live in Naples, about 10 minutes off Collier Boulevard/Rt 951.

Marco is nice, but to be honest I've only been on the island prob 20 times in the 21+ years I've lived here for some reason. My good friend is the BSA Officer with our bank and she lives on a canal on Marco (has for prob 20+ years) and has a beautiful place.

YES! Come to TX! Look at maybe McKinney or Prosper if you are interested in the Dallas area. There's a lot to be said for San Antonio as well.

The cool thing about the DFW metroplex is (and i have no idea whether you prefer urban, rural, or suburban life ACB) is that you can be an hour away (or less) from downtown Dallas and be out in the country (which would appeal to me). Places like Celina, Pilot Point, Muenster, etc.....

MB - I love Naples. It looks like the affordable version of Marco Island where virtually everything is beautiful. Someone told us that hurricanes always skip over Naples. I'd have laughed that off, but I've lived in tornado alley my entire life and - *knocks on wood* - the Tongy Split continues to keep them about 10-15 miles from us. So - about those hurricanes???

But critical issue - does Naples have Mellow Mushroom? We became utterly addicted to it when we found one near the condo we rented on Isle of Palms, SC. If we move for real, we have to have good proximity to Mellow Mushroom and a beach.

So sorry HMS Pippii not one in Naples at present according to their store locator: 21.4 miles away
10950 Eagle Village Drive , Estero FL 33913
Phone: (239) 599-2616

Maybe they deliver?

Naples is a really nice place. I could not retire to Florida (the heat in summer would be unreal) but Naples is a great place to spend time.

OK, then. Naples is off the list, although 21 miles is a lot closer than it is from here. I'm not sure how much worse the heat would be compared to KS in the summer. I think I'm more interested in 2-3 months during the dead of winter, tbh.

I've been to too many retirement workshops in the last couple of months. Medicare appears to cost a fortune to lock in and not worry about it. I need to get to 70 before pulling Social Security or we're screwed when one of us dies (and that was legit good advice after running the numbers). Taxes, insurance, and HOA is big bite even with the mortgage paid off. Social security becomes taxable when you're pulling money out of IRAs or 401ks and you top your deductions. #twitch On one hand, I know the presenters are trying to scare us into using their professional services and on the other hand, they're showing us the tax code, tax brackets, how we all saved everything in tax-deferred buckets because taxes would be lower in retirement except maybe not. Baking 3% inflation into the retirement budget and 0% growth in the investments to shock the budget was fun. Actually? The fun part of that was teaching the retired house elf what "stress testing" and "shocking the budget" meant.

90 more banking days left.

Naples is a nice place. Been here 21 years, and it would be difficult to move anywhere north of here. The heat isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's warm, absolutely, but you typically go from your AC house to your AC car to your AC work/store/whatever on the really hot days, but I've been further north where it's been just about as hot as here, plus we have the beach and the evenings and nights are unbelievable. And I'm not even speaking of fall/winter/spring when it's absolutely perfect. But, it's not for everyone, and I get that.

I would consider moving TX if we had to, or maybe a little further north in FL, but the traffic isn't too bad here and I work from home almost full time now so I have a pretty nice gig that would be hard to make better. Although, we are in the midst of a merger, so I may not have the choice, unfortunately.

No rush to retire from the 25 hour week I've been working for years. I honestly like the job I do and continue to learn more here too. However, the ice on the driveway today has given me newfound respect for the notion of snowbirding. Thank you all for sharing thoughts that I will ponder.

My husband and I too discuss this a lot. We have lived out West for decades, and I love the low humidity. We live in an area that does get snow, but it's not onerous most years. Hubby's family are in Florida panhandle, where he grew up, and he would like to move there, but the hurricanes, humidity and heat scare me away. I am also not fond of living in a tornado prone area. We don't really have those here. The occasional earthquake, but we have not one had one here that caused damage in the 27 years we've been here. But we will need to make a decision within the next 5 years, possibly sooner. Not an easy decision to make.

One thought I don't see anyone addressing here is care needed as one ages or are you all anticipating moving into some sort of retirement community that includes advanced care if/when needed? I'm loathe to move away from family who can help out. Having lived with my mother as she ages points out that realistically, moving states away in my 70s would either be short-lived or ill-fated, neither of which makes it very appealing.

One thought I don't see anyone addressing here is care needed as one ages or are you all anticipating moving into some sort of retirement community that includes advanced care if/when needed? I'm loathe to move away from family who can help out. Having lived with my mother as she ages points out that realistically, moving states away in my 70s would either be short-lived or ill-fated, neither of which makes it very appealing or fiscally sound.

Aging is something they've hammered pretty hard in the retirement seminars we've gone to in the last few months. We're generally healthy and excited about freedom at the front end of retirement, but the reality is that most of us don't drop dead unexpectedly and it can be rough at the back end of retirement. One key thing (beside long-term care coverage) is to be close to good medical facilities and understand the differences between Medicare and the Advantage plans (cheaper, but have some pitfalls if you're not in/close to an urban area with excellent medical. At this point, we'll stay where we are because no mortgage, family is within 15 minutes, and we have access to everything. Since we're used to this, we hadn't considered what it would be like to live an hour or more away from good medical and family. If you're not in/near a big urban area, the ugly side of getting old is something to consider. I love the idea of chasing the sun for a month or two every winter though.

Another thing that came up over and over is that when one spouse dies, the other one loses either their social security or their deceased spouse's social security. You get to keep whichever is higher, so higher wage earner ideally puts off taking it until 70. I looked at our finances and with both of us drawing social security, we'd be fine right now. Down the road, one of would rather be getting mine that comes at 70 than what I can get now - there's almost a $1k/mo difference. Living on *that* budget is a whole new ballgame. We'll probably downsize at some point and find a retirement community nearby that we like, but hopefully that's a long ways away.

^^^^
This!

I have discussed this at length with my husband as the years approach quickly. We live in upstate NY so you know what that means, long snowy cold winters and he works outside all year. He wants to put the for sale sign up immediately and I say no way. Our daughters are here and I have always said, if we move away when we are relatively young and healthy what happens when we get older and need help. My MIL is going to be 96 in a month, she lives in Florida and is still in her own home but I have often said if two of her daughters had not relocated near by she would be back up here in the cold because although she is ok, she doesn't drive anymore and could never be there by herself.

I do think I have convinced him to snowbird to the sunshine state.

I'm going to retire right here but probably head "south" for a month or two (or four) during the coldest, snowiest part of the year. I do like Florida but would like to check out Arizona or New Mexico as well. Still have 8-10 years before I can go for more than a couple weeks.

If you know where you want to retire and have the ability, I know a lot of people buy the retirement house and then rent it on VRBO or AirBNB using a management company. Their theory is that the rent will hopefully knock down the mortgage by the time they're ready to retire. I'm not sure I'd have had the risk appetite to do that 20 years ago, but it's a fun idea. Ready made vacation house. You just block off the dates you're going to be there so that it's not rented to someone on vacation.

I need to stop reading this thread … I still have 27 some odd years before I retire.

27 years ….

I know this.....if given the choice between these scenarios...

A) I can retire tomorrow. I'll live happily doing all sorts of things i want for 5 years....then i'll get sick.....slowly go downhill.....cannot care for myself....and die in 10 years.

OR

B) I have to work until i'm 75.....but i'll be in good health the entire time, be relatively happy, and then i'll retire and live 15 years and drop dead suddenly of a heart attack.

I'd choose B...i know we don't truly to get to pick either scenario......but i guess i'm saying.......work is work...we all know how to do it and i'd rather be healthy and working than retired and unhealthy. (I'm sure my stance is influenced by watching my dad.....who was very, very work-oriented his entire life.....retired at 67 or 68......and lived about another decade....and the last 5 years of his life at least were in very poor health related to dementia, cancer, pneumonia and various other ailments.)

ETA: Sorry....not exactly on topic.

while an hour from downtown Ft Worth certainly can place you way out in the boonies, an hour from downtown Dallas maybe gets you to mesquite, love field, arlington, rowlett...the traffic there is so bad it can take 2+ hours to get from downtown to anywhere rural

I guess it depends on how you define "downtown" Happy. If the LBJ exit on 75 is your marker (it's where i was defining it....i rarely actually go TO Dallas for anything,, but i go THROUGH Dallas a lot), then i can get from there to Muenster in something approaching an hour. But yeah, if there's a wreck and it's rush hour.....then yeah, add 20 minutes to 4 hours.

ETA: I can be in OKLAHOMA from the LBJ exit on 75 in about an hour in normal Dallas traffic. I've done that approximately 250 times in my life.

I get that RHJ. My dad was in decent health for most of his life, but once he retired he got really sick (it was inevitable due to the work he did as a younger man) and died a couple years after retiring. I don't know what to plan for as my generation (X) as a whole is much healthier than our parents and grand parents, and will most likely out live the prior generations by a pretty decent amount. I am considering getting my teaching certificate and teaching in one of the local community colleges here. I think that would be a pretty rewarding retirement career as well as keeping some funds coming in so I'm not wholly relying on my retirement and SS.

raitch - that's totally on topic. If you picked A for some dumb reason, you'd probably want to travel a lot for 5 years, but live near family that's willing to put up with managing your care and not permanently move to some idyllic retirement spot. If you pick B, then go travel and ex-pat your heart out. Family history has to come into play to some extent and we're all risk managers, right? Run the analysis in your head before you roll the dice.

I'd be very happy to die in my sleep at 90 after going to bed healthy, happy, and mentally intact. I also know most of my family keels over from a stroke in their late 80s which helps on some level because it seems to happen when they wake up and stand up too fast (and it's 50/50 on keeping your marbles past 88). Then there's my oldest sister who has early onset dementia and was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at about 73, both of which aren't remotely normal for our family so I don't know how to factor that in. I don't even know if they're connected or she was just diagnosed simultaneously.

But - I'm 64 now and hanging it up in 90 days which is 4 days after Medicare eligibility and I'm not touching my social security until I'm 70 if I can possibly avoid it. Dobby the House Elf is going to be living on an austerity budget for a year until I'm convinced we know what we can live on vs what we want to live on - and he wants to be 66 and 2 months before taking his, so there's potentially 14 months of me being very cheap. I had a shining moment of clarity when I decided I'm happy and healthy and no longer willing to sell 71.43% of my life to my employer (and they pay me extremely well). I just want to kick back and enjoy it while I can. The worst part was that my boss wanted 6 months notice (and got a little over 5 months). Mentally, I'm done. I don't want to hang around for the exam in April and May. It's hard to focus once you give notice... I keep thinking about June 8th when I wake up and don't have to go to work, while a bunch of you guys are at the Compliance Conference in DC without me.

Enjoy your retirement Pippii. It sounds like you've richly earned it.

I owned a salmon fishing lodge on the Kenai River in Alaska for 20 years. Then for some reason I sold it and moved to Nebraska. But hey, it's not for everybody. TX, WA, AK - no income tax. I think there's one more. WA has everything you could ever need, desert, ocean, mountains, lakes, street people. I grew up there. It is a beautiful state. But I like corn fields. Every person must make their own choices.

Somebody, please pass me an Irish Coffee while I sit back and consider liking corn fields (after 44 years living in NE Kansas).

Frosty? Are you a storm chaser? That might have something to do with what I like about Kansas. Other than the Flint Hills, the only thing here that's really pretty happens in the sky.

TN has no state income tax either.

Or DE

Or Florida

Nor Nevada. And Minden, NV is a popular place for retirees, as well as Carson City.

Hmmm - there are more states with no income tax than I knew. Interesting....

You'll make up for the no state income tax thing in Texas if, you know...you live in a structure.

The whole no state income tax thing makes me chuckle, they get it one way or another.

I probably should revise that to say "if you lay your head down indoors at night". I used to get a kick out of renters in Texas who believed that the high property tax rates didn't affect them. Um, i'm pretty sure you're helping your landlord pay the property taxes with your rent.

Here in TN the sales tax is 9+%; however there isn't a state income tax and property taxes where we live aren't bad. It is much cheaper to pay the property taxes on our vehicles in TN than it was in KY.

gee, in louisiana we are 9%+ sales tax, have a state income tax, but have a ridiculously low property tax, with the first $75,000 of the value of the house having a homestead exemption and therefore not taxable. and once you turn 65, the tax rate on your property is locked, never an increase

Sounds like a good deal Happy!

@ everyone about Texas - I'm fairly open to different parts of it. I know property taxes are high, but Texas does check off a lot of other boxes for me. We will probably rent in there for a few years before making a decision. We've also look at the other no income tax states and Florida just won't work. I do like Nevada and Wyoming but Mrs. ABC isn't sold on either of them.

We are living in Gulf Shores, AL until March 1. No income tax here, but 10% sales tax on everything including food and clothing. Not sure what property taxes are like. They also use tolls to help pay for roads. Mrs. PP and I will be renting here again next winter and renting in other areas in the future to try and determine where we will eventually call our winter home. We will most likely rent in the south unless we find an incredible deal somewhere. We do not want to deal with the liability or stress of an empty or rented home when we are back up north.

Mr PP - from what I've learned from friends, they think it's worth it to hire a management company and rent it out rather than sitting empty when they aren't there, but I can't wrap my head around the hassle of that either. Mostly, I like the idea of not being locked down to one second location. I'd rather rent for a couple of months. The other thing I can't get on board with is how good the rentals would be in the off season. Anyone interested in renting in a KC suburb during the winter? Nice house! Didn't think so...

Depends - how much you paying me to stay there? On second thought, nah, you couldn't pay me enough to stay there.

Where is that RV?

In Florida, you can volunteer with the park service and live rent free in your RV from campsite to campsite. You volunteer, I think it's a minimum of 20 hours a week in exchange. I think I could do that if I no longer had a barn and houseful of 4 leggeds.

smart idea from florida...wonder how many people take advantage of that

At Pippii's place in KC. Been there, done that. Not gonna happen again.

Campground hosts are not limited to Florida: https://www.forestcamping.com/dow/host/host.htm

LOL @ Jim. You've never seen my house. RVs aren't allowed here. Looking out the window of my home office at the gently falling snow and wondering what's not to love?

BTW, you wouldn't recognize your former job. I'll leave it in good hands, but at least we went from that professional dress code and boots on the ground mentality to jeans and telecommuting as appropriate - makes life much easier!

Did you notice who won Super Bowl???

Not talking about your house in particular, just KC in winter. And my RV is an airplane (Van's RV-6A), not a motor home, so not allowed in most neighborhoods.

Talk to me when you've won 5 more in the next 17 years.

Our memes are funnier than your memes were... and we have Patrick Mahomes who's only 24.

^^^^^^^THIS!

Any idea how old I'll be in 17 years??? On the other hand, Patrick Mahomes will only be 41...

Back to where to retire! Compare Scottsdale to Naples. They both sound good to me for the worst of winter.

One of my cousins looked at Tucson and Naples when she got sick of Wisconsin winters. She moved to Naples

Considering we are closing at 1:00 because the snow is coming down at record rates, Naples sounds perfect!

There are worse places to live than Naples...

Naples: currently 69* and mostly cloudy, 60% humidity and a high rip current risk though tomorrow morning.
Scottsdale: currently 54* and sunny with 30% humidity
Here: 36*cloudy, 13 mph WNW wind and 27* wind chill.
Soccer: closing at 1:00 for record rates of snowfall

I'll go with Scottdale (I love 50s and sunny), Naples, Here, and just gonna say no to Soccer's Utopia

83.5 more working days, at least 25 of which involve up to 18 OCC examiners on site or working remotely at their office. Personally, I'd rather have them on site asking questions.

Any thoughts on San Diego in the winter?

I've only been to San Diego once a few years ago for the ABA Compliance Seminar, which was in May or June (forget) and although it was during the May/Haze - June/Gloom time of year, the place was amazing. It is one of the few places where I'd seriously have to think about moving to if there were an opportunity there. I really want to go see more of SD and So Cal in general as that place is unbelievably beautiful. I guess that's why it's so expensive to live there, and I can totally see why.

I'd retire on Coronado Island in a heartbeat. Even in May/June, it's gorgeous and the beach is right there. Having priced a condo? Not likely to happen.

Regarding Arizona:

Some retirees flocking to Arizona now homeless because of rising rents: ‘Not as affordable as used to be’

https://www.foxnews.com/us/silver-tsunami-senior-homelessness-phoenix

My aunt lives in San Diego and she claims it's 70 degrees all year round. I've spent enough Thanksgivings down there to be able to testify it never gets really cold. Because it's on the ocean, it also doesn't get terribly hot. Personally, I'd rather have a little bit of weather.

San Diego is an amazing place and has great weather. It's not cheap though. I was told Naples is lovely but that it's starting to get expensive?

i was there a number of years ago for a conference (probably 10-12 years ago), and a 1 bedroom bungalo house was going to $800k on a postage stamp sized lot. i'm sure that has likely doubled since then