Posted on 01/15/2018 10:57:58 AM PST by Chickensoup
The kids are grown and gone. I live in the Northeast. I am looking to move to a small city or town or village. I am healthy, happy and adaptable.
I would prefer a place that has a conservative base. Every location on the lists of best places to move are leftist s***holes.
I am hoping for a place with four seasons, albeit, not as severe as the northeast. Elevations are fine, beauty is important, and so is the need of good, friendly people.
Any ideas?
Yes, our four seasons are:
Spring Breakers
Wealthy Rednecks
Stingy Canadians
and
Snowbirds...........................
interesting that you responded with Kerrville as it is a popular retirement spot (hill country) for a lot of people...and is a very nice town to boot. But I am describing the less popular and less known San Angelo some 150 NW of Kerrville which does have all those features but lacks the hills. Does have rivers, lakes etc. Probably somewhat cheaper COL than Kerrville.
To my mind happiness is a sense of place where you are comfortable with friends and experiences, not necessarily a function of weather, geography or finances. If happy where you are, best not move.
I know! Snowed all day yesterday and most of the night...woke up this am with lots of snow on the ground. And unfortunately they don't have the plows to handle it. This would be a non-event in michigan but nobody gets around down here.
And thanks for the info about nearby rec areas...we'll check them out!
Ha ha! I have friends in Fla that hate it there in the summer. It gets so stinking hot. Many have places in the North and go back to Fla in the winter.
It’s not that bad along the Gulf Coast.
Down South, around the Everglades and Miami, yeah.................
A very timely and useful thread; Ms. Spook is already retired and I’ll make the transition in 6-7 years. We currently reside in Virginia, but you don’t have to be a political analyst to see where the Old Dominion is heading. Our new governor, “Ralphie” Northam laid out his vision for the state and everyone reflexively reached for their wallets, since his programs will mean another rise in taxes. The commonwealth (tax-wise) will look like Maryland or Massachusetts within the decade, and that’s a shame, because Virginia has much to offer. But, since I like hanging onto my money whenever possible, we’ll be leaving as soon as I hang it up.
We’re looking at several potential landing spots. Much of what we’re looking for matches the requirements outlined by other FReepers; affordable housing, low cost of living, low taxes, conservative values, four seasons (without too much winter), access to quality healthcare within a short drive and (as a military retiree), relative proximity, so I can take advantage of the BX, commissary and gym.
We’ve already looked at a few places. One of my assignments during my USAF career was as an ROTC instructor at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Bought a house there and held onto it for almost 16 years. Great community, relatively affordable housing (though real estate prices are going up fast) and the benefits that come with having an SEC school within a few miles of your house. The downside is that the city is becoming Berkeley south, but the surrounding area is very much Trump Country. Unfortunately, Oxford is about 100 miles from the closest base and that makes a difference, particularly in health care. We’ve learned that the farther you get from a military community, the less likely doctors are to accept Tricare for armed forces retirees.
Our second choice was Ocean Springs, MS, on the gulf coast, across the bay from Biloxi. We lived there during another assignment (Keesler AFB). Quiet, affordable housing and little crime (at least when were there 25 years ago). Also home to a unique arts scene and the greatest donut shop in the western hemisphere, Tato-Nut Donuts. Also close to Keesler and the Navy SeaBee base in Gulfport. The downside is that every 10-20 years you’re going to have to rebuild after the next major hurricane blows through.
If we decide against a return to Mississippi, we’re looking at Clarksville, TN, just outside Fort Campbell. I’ve read a lot of good things about the community and it seems to have what we’re looking for. Very favorable tax structure (no state income tax); housing seems very affordable, and Nashville is about 45 minutes down I-24. Would be interested to hear from FReepers in the Clarksville area, particularly those who are military retirees. Would you recommend the area to somone in my situation?
Good luck hope you find what your looking for.
I saw a post on twitter that said someone saw a jeep missing a door in about 2 degrees, zooming down the highway blasting Kid Rock. The poster said they had never seen anything more Michigan than that.
I think that is a pretty fair description of upnorth here.
And that is true. Have lived in many many places and here, the snow is just plowed right away.
Stay away from areas that regularly get snow but don’t really remove it adequately because normal winter highs are above freezing and they count on it to melt. Cold spells are a nightmare.
Does it snow much in Bristol or johnson City?
Politics is a huge reason for leaving California. It is not just high taxes and high cost of living motivating me to flee.
You can live in the most conservative city in America, but if it is in a commie liberal state, you are still oppressed by the progressive state laws, still subject to the high taxes, and still dominated by what liberals want.
I cant take that anymore. I cant live in a liberal state, even if my city is extremely conservative. I at least need a battleground state where liberals dont always get what they want.
I have to respectfully disagree. The north east is completely off limits to me, and equally as bad as the west coast. Would you live in New York? Massachusetts? Or any other commie lib New England state?
Not me. No way
One of the hidden challenges of finding a retirement location, is projecting what it will be like 10 years from now, or 20 years from now. I dont want to love my new place now, only to be driven out because I hate it 10 years later.
I was all set to move to Virginia Beach. It is fine now, but the libs are on the verge of taking over the entire state. So I know that 8 to 10years from now, the commie laws and high state taxes will have me fleeing yet again.
Everybody tells me Myrtle Beach is getting run down. Like you, I thought maybe Nort Myrtle Beach would be acceptable. If I could guarantee that North Myrtle Beach would stay as it is today, it would be on top of my list. But I know that pestulance in MB is going to spread to North MB and then I will just have to move again.
I want to do this once, live in my dream home/location to my dying breath. Nobody can guarantee that, but Iam going to stack the odds by moving somewhere that is changing for the better to me, where there is scant risk of it going downhill.
That’s just me.
In East Texas????? Small, small world.........;)
WE ALL ARE looking for plain old America. It is getting impossible to find, and if you are a city person, it is flat impossible to find. I am just lookin for a city that has some of that, and is not completelt ruined yet. It is a difficult search.
You have nailed it. And all of the places I would love to live, flunk that criteria. The commie libs have conquered every single city I would kill to live in, because I cant stomach the oppression or taxes or people.
So I have to resort to my second tier or even 3rd tier of places.
I dont like the south. Not because of the normal reasons you hear but because the south is generally so flat. I want a view. I want rolling hills. I dont want June bugs and stink bugs. I dont want the long hot summers.
I love the beauty of New York state and Pennsylvania, and Virginia. But they are all commie lib or on the verge.
So now I am forced to look at South Carolina, NC, Alabama, West Virginia, the Ozarks, Mississippi. It sucks that the commie lins have taken away every single place I want to be. But I would rather melt in Mount Peasant and suffer stink bugs tan watch Virginia descend into the next commie hell hole.
I will say it again!
I was born 25 years too late. Yet I kiss the ground in gratitude to God that I was not born today.
You may have misunderstood my post. I have never lived in the northern or northeastern US (only visited) and so would not be in a position to offer a recommendation either way.
From what I read my answer would be no - I wouldn’t care to live there. Living in the shadow of the SeattLunatics is bad enough!
I am considering Biloxi MS or Orange Beach AL, but the talk of nose bleed priced wind and flood insurance post Katrina scares me off. If yo live near the beach, how do you afford insurance?
I am having the same problem with coastal North and South Carolina as well.
I dont see how any working stiff Floridians can afford a beach condo given soaring insurance costs.
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