At an age when most of us are probably living on our retirement and are no longer bound to a job location, why do we choose to live where we currently are? Most of us could move anywhere, at least within our own country. However, we've picked our current location to possibly stay at until............ Why did your choose to make a home in the place where you currently are? For me, the hurricane made me rethink this, but I always said I would never live more than 2 hours away from my parents while they are alive. I do have children and grandchildren also within that 2 hour radius, but we could all still visit during other occasions throughout the year. I admire @Cody Fousnaugh who said my dream is elsewhere and I'm going to do it. And he did.
We live in an apartment by choice. They're nice gated and for the last seven and a half years no problems. However they are expensive and I don't know how long that's going to last -one option is to go to a one bedroom at some point. Forgot to add..born and raised in Texas..don't see that changing.
My husband is a native Texan and we both had careers in this area, put down roots and raised our family here. It's familiar and it's home. As long as my little MIL is alive we will never move from the Houston area.
@Bess Barber "Why did your choose to make a home in the place where you currently are?" Couple reasons. First, we "did" 20 years in Phoenix, so knew what to expect when it gets to 120 degrees! During those years, we built our own custom home, which was possibly the single best building effort of my entire life. We used the proceeds from sale of that house after living in it 10 years, to buy a 90-acre spread in the Missouri Ozarks. It was there, after 5 years, that I went on S/S benefits. Prior to that neither of us was employed there except for the one year I taught Math at the local high school in town. Cutting and splitting firewood became more and more difficult for me, and we sold half the land to an OTR trucker interested in retiring there. Carried a loan, we used those payments to rent a condo in Bullhead City, AZ, two winters in a row. Climate there similar to Phoenix, the big "crash" had just happened, and scads of homes were for sale, foreclosures and short-sales, at greatly reduced prices. Second, then, we decided the Desert was the place for us again, and just about that time, our trucker friend offered to buy our remaining property in MO. Good timing. We moved ourselves, with help from my nephew in the Marine Corps. Bought a manufactured home buried in what is known as "pit-set", concrete block foundation; it can never be moved, is very much like a "stick-built" home. The succession was thus: went from Phoenix: To farm in MO: To the last place I'll live (likely):
Well, by now everyone on this forum knows why we chose to move back to Colorado. We were just no longer happy in Jacksonville, Florida. We decided to take a week of vacation and fly back to Colorado last July of 2018. Even though there isn't much in the way of "Western" stuff in the Loveland area, we did check out two lakes for our boat to go on. We can, if we want to, wear our Western apparel here and not be noticed, like we would have been in Jacksonville. Didn't realize just how much we had missed Colorado until we went back for that week. Loveland is nice, but not the city we would chose to live in the rest of our lives. That kind of city would be more like Cheyenne, Wyoming. That is, after our boating days are over and we've sold the boat. As far as family goes, my wife's family lives in So California, and we simply choose not to live there. We aren't that close to "family".
At age 85 I will in all probability die where I am presently living. It's 15 minutes away from my daughter, grands, and greats.
Careers, plain and simple... Long story how we got here in the first place but it involved being a naval wife and living in married quarters , and then it was time for us to put roots down before our daughter started school, we didn't want her to be moving school to school, as I had when I was a kid..., so we came back to the town where my first husband was born and raised.. Many years later 2nd hubs and I bought a second home on a gated community in Southern Spain and for many years hubs commuted to London on a one month on one week off block... , while I took work in Spain , but after 10 years it got too much to do... and we needed to relocate back here about 5 or 6 years ago ..we are in the process of selling our property in Spain now which we've had rented out in recent years I'd love to move , and even tho' I took early retirement 2 summers ago.. we still can't move due to o/h's work commitments. So we're stuck here.
We had been living in Michigan for a few years and knew that we didn't want to spend the rest of our lives in the Frozen North. We had started thinking about moving to Virginia; Florida wasn't even on the radar. One of my sisters had moved to Orlando and was bugging us to come down on vacation. Our daughter was agitating for a trip to Disney World. So, we flew out of Detroit one step ahead of a horrendous ice storm, landed in Orlando close to midnight. It was March, the temperature was 70 (at midnight!). The old airport had no jetways so you had to walk down the steps and into the terminal. The airport was surrounded on three sides by orange groves and they were in full bloom. If you've ever smelled orange blossoms, you'll know how "intoxicating" that aroma is. I got down on my knees and kissed the runway. Really. Nobody seemed to think that was anything unusual, at least on flights from Detroit. At the end of the ten days, we returned to Michigan, proceeded to put our house up for sale, quit our jobs and moved to Orlando. Never regretted it. And that, boys and girls, is how I ended up in the Sunshine State.
Funny, but the Frozen North to us, and to many others, is...…...Canada and Alaska. However, Minnesota and Wisconsin can get mighty cold. When we lived in Colorado before, I worked for a Senior Healthcare Company and was pretty amazed at how many younger and older Seniors live in Colorado. It's sort of amazing how many older Seniors live right here in Loveland, CO.
Lived in Penna. northeast for 23 years. Worked outside year round for 13 years with winter the most unbearable. Last 10 were inside in management. With winter still not a happy time. Winter pretty much shut down outdoor activity with my family. Toss in bi-level home upkeep, taxes, pot hole roads, & need to travel out of Penna. for fun. Moving after retiring when kids were out on their own living far away got us into planning. Moved to Southern Nv. paid cash for no exterior maintenance ranch style home. Warm enough year round, no arthritic pain. What we paid in taxes in Penna. covers what we pay in property taxes, all utilities & part of our yearly food expense. We can walk to 4 major food chain stores, & our dentist. Doctor & hospital close enough in case of emergency. Anytime fitness paid for by medicare a 10 minute drive one way. A wealth of restaurants, casinos & other fun stuff to do available 24/7. We planned what we thought would be best for us in our retirement years. It's working like we hoped for.
Born and raised here in Dayton, Ohio. I have visited other states and never felt what I feel here. I didn't like the thought of beginning all over e.g. learning, adjusting, getting established. I already have that here. Johnny had ideas of us moving to his hometown in Arkansas, nope, nada, no no nanette. Way, way too hot and dry for me.
@Bob Kirk Hoping you won't think me too nosy........I also did pretty much what you just described, only difference being it was getting away from my birthplace, Chicago, and I was 30 years old. The first move of my life, it was to Las Vegas in 1972; I figger that's likely what you mean by southern NV, as no other part has as many amenities as you describe. Still, I realize there have sprung up a number of "suburbs" to Vegas, but to me it's still all Vegas. Only complaint I ever had there was the wind. Didn't know then that wind is an inherent part of the Desert. I regard my 6 years there as representing the best time of my life, so far. Frank
@Mary Robi I'm not sure how I missed you living in Orlando! The old downtown airport on Colonial BEFORE the mall and shopping centers, is where my mom and I landed from Germany when I was 3. We lived in Orlando while my Dad was in college there. My daughter lived off of Colonial for about 10 years before moving back to Jacksonville. My youngest son lives in Winter Park. I really like Orlando. At some point, I would be happy to move there. It's hot and sometimes congested, but such a lovely place and quite a homey feeling for a city.
@Frank Sanoica Odd that you would choose a desert after such a shady spot in Missouri. Deserts have a cool look though, and I guess no one has to worry about the grass growing too fast.
You nailed it. As for wind the desert still kicks up dust bust Vegas is so built up not much dust from all the black top. We lived in a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom home with a 3 car detached garage on 8 acres of land back in Penna. surrounded by trees, farms & orchards. 900 foot driveway a bear to clear when it snowed. We decided that living where cold, snow & ice causing extreme boredom & shut down what we like to down was not what retirement should be. There is far more to do here than most realize. Doesn't hurt to get comped several times a month to drink champagne & eat as much prime rib you can eat & cut with a butter knife. My wife really likes her spa days.