I like the Laughlin NV area. My grandparents have retired there and love it.

I love the people in the Texas/Oklahoma areas, the problem I see with Texas is while they have no income tax.. they DO get you elsewhere! Like property tax. The guy sitting next to me is from Plano. He pays 3x the property taxes that I pay on my house in Oklahoma City and they're close to the same size and amount of property and value.

Just don't go outside in the summer in Laughlin.

Basically, the best places to retire are the places where rich people live now or where they have vacation homes. All other options related to how much money one has or doesn't have in retirement. CA is great, but expensive.

Excaliber - when you do decide, post your new address.

Yes, old Mexico is 'do-able' nowadays. There are some huge American expatriate communities. A furriner can own land, just not waterfront. It's actually better financially to rent or lease. Plenty of brokers in the border areas to get you thru the process. Just think, if you go there when you hear people talk about all the darn immigrants and 'press 2 for english'...they'll be talking about you! :LOL:

427sharpe, now THERES a thought! I would be the people I've warned others about. :LOL: I suspect Calif is loaded with taxes in one form or another, which is a primary reason people leave Hawaii when retirement comes. They tax you to death in this state. I'd hate to be trading a pinapple for a bushel of oranges when the tax man comes around. :D

Do NOT give up your fabulous weather to save a few dollars in state taxes. Its not worth it.

Go for an area that has weather that you love.

Well, I lived in the south Carson City area (Douglas County)for six years and just left. I will say this, it's pretty, the winters are not too bad, property taxes are decent and with the housing boom over...the prospects of getting a decent deal on a house for a reasonable cost exsist. I loved being within driving distance of the SF Bay Area and Sac. The reason I left was the schools were CRAP, but I've told everyone...if your single or retiring...there isn't much to complain about. Also, with Lake Tahoe in your backyard, you get trees, boating, skiing (water/snow) and mountains. Fallon is a dump (IMO), and it's because there is nothing around it and the singlewides around the area get old to look at. Las Vegas is another place to avoid, it's a giant tub of track homes with crime out of control and summers temps that cause serious issues with running the cobra. Good luck.

Hopefully, I am ten years away from retiring, and have been thinking these same questions. WTM442's remark about NOT giving up the weather to save on taxes is probably very prophetic.

Reno, looking strong, Redding, closer to home, neck and neck down the stretch... :D

You know a little snow in the winter aint a bad thing, just head west from Reno up in the mountains and I'm sure I could get a belly full real quick. I don't think it snows 'that much' in Reno itself?

Some good thought provoking comments on this thread, applicable to many of us. I haven't ruled out, or in, anything or anywhere for sure.

Weather is the single most important item for me. Having grown up in Chicago and coming out to the west coast, I just can imagine living anywhere it is cold, humid, or hot. Too cold here in the winter. I'd like to move further south.

It's very expensive here. I don't care. The weather makes up for most any other issue for me.

I'd like to know more about living in Mexico.

Paul F - I grew up in Petaluma...I can say, how Santa Rosa/Rodent Park/Petaluma have changed over the years. I thought highly of the area until it became "Northern Mexico"...hehehe but I will say the northbay still has the best weather in the US. If they could only fix the problems, I'd have stayed. My parents moved from Chi-town to Marin and now I've come full circle(petaluma, nevada and now indiana)...but still looking for the "ideal" home, if it exsists.

Excaliber - it doesn't snow much in reno, they get one dump of 8-12 inches per year...thats it and it tends to melt quickly. If you like green grass, trees and mountains not covered in sagebrush...I'd look just south of Reno, but thats just me...atleast WSCB is located close and the track at Fernley is not too bad either.

And where is Turk??????????

Some years ago I was offered a transfer (from corporate) from Hawaii to San Diego. Would have been a good career move, I guess. I was pretty excited about it, weather and all things considered looking real good. So I contacted a realtor, what a SHOCK that was! I couldn't live anywhere NEAR close to work (Navy base) at a reasonable price. I ditched that idea in hurry when I calculated a freakin' two hour commute from a reasonably priced house. No wonder they couldn't find anyone to fill the work load down there. When they mentioned LA, I hung up on 'em. :LOL:

My last house in California (Cotati - just south of Santa Rosa) was a small 1700sq.ft dump on a postage stamp lot in a nice "hispanic" neighborhood where I got the deal of a lifetime...$510K. I would have liked to cried or screamed the first time my neighbors had a baptism...there were cars in the street, front yards and sidewalks everywhere (which really wasn't abnormal from any other day) and the only thing to save me was ear plugs from eating my gun after 10 hours of Mariachi music. Oh well, got to love Mexifornia.

How bout Washington state? Get mild winters, warm summers and if you go inland more you barely get much rain... I am a BC boy and their climate is very similar to ours...

I was going 'home' to Oregon, plenty family up there. I just can't deal with the constant rain and mud anymore. The unemployment rate gets depressing after while as well. My hometown, Cottage Grove, was/is strictly a logging community and now a ghost town. It's been bitter sweet watching "Ax Men" on TV. That pretty well did it for me, guess I've gone soft. :D Whats thats saying, "You can't go home", comes to mind.

Jamo-take a flyin' %$#^in' leap-would ya?:LOL:

Ernie-i say Florida.That way, WHEN CS sues you,you'll be able to hide behind the BS laws they have down there like O.J.

Ernie-i just consider it paying"dues" for a shirt-sleeve winter.

Ernie,

In the Reno area you have a lot of historical places that are a short drive also. Placerville where the old Marshall Sawmill has been restored to a degree with a museum, Donner Pass and a chance to actually see where they lived during that Winter. Same applies for Redding as it is just a 4 hour drive to Reno if the traffic isn't bad. But in the end it comes down to what is going to please you the most. Flordia does have one good thing that I can think of off hand. Turk now lives there so that added some class to the state. Good Lord, a Gashole actually adding class to a state. Maybe he can teach them how to vote.

Ron :LOL:

SPF,

Having gone full circle, what are you glad to be back to in Indiana and what do you miss about Northern California? Ignoring the $$ issue and assuming you could afford to live anywhere in Sonoma, which do you prefer?

We had a lot of people move out here for jobs from the east in the late '90s. Everyone was amazed at the shacks that are sold here and called houses.

I like the Midwest a lot, but everytime I consider going back there or anywhere to retire, the weather still becomes the blocking issue.

Coming from someone who's lived virtually everywhere, it all depends on what's important to you.

If cost of living isn't an issue, and you can stand the liberalism and illegals, California (San Diego) is the place to be.

Florida is nice, but the weather is more humid, and the bugs are much more plentiful. The laws here aren't as redonkulous (as Cali). The illegals are only a huge issue down in SE Florida (the rest of the state is about the same as the rest of the country).

If you're looking to capitalize on a cost of living disparity, move to ND (highest number of millionares per capita)...if you can stand the weather. ND has low crime, low cost of living, low pollution, and is usually in the top 5 for education. Great place, if you can stand 7 months of Winter, 1 month of Spring, 3 months of Summer and 1 month of Fall.

Montana (Western) is much more beautiful and tends to be more expensive nowadays (all the bourgeoisie from Cali and such that have moved in). Eastern Montana is about as interesting as a parking lot.

The Pacific NW is my favorite. Nice people (comparatively), cost of living is average to high (depending on where you're at), immigration issues are moderate, crime is relatively low, taxes are hit or miss (depending on the state).

I'd take a serious look at some of the better cities around the country. St Louis, Cincinnati, Tampa, etc.....all are cities that are large enough to do stuff (sports, concerts, festivals, nightlife,) and have a major airport, but don't have the outrageous cost of living or rediculous traffic that some of the other huge cities have (like Chicago, LA, NYC, etc).

By the time I'm ready to retire, I'm going to want to be far away from everyone so I'll probably either retire in Montana or Alaska. I'll have a vacation home here in FL with a primary residence in MT/AK or vice/versa depending on the tax advantages.