Retiring, WHICH State?

[bdeutsch]

goes back to picking what is important to you then prioritizing...

[Joe Wicked]

Originally Posted by fsstnotch

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.

The property tax is higher, but with no state tax, it is really a lot lower. When I lived in California, I was paying about 2-3k/year in state tax while making under 40K/year. Here in the Dallas area (I work in Plano) I am paying no state tax but my property tax was $2300 last year and we made over 80K. That to me is paying a lot less. Some areas do have higher tax rates, but it is not as bad as it would seem, you have to look at what your state tax liability is and add that to your current property tax. Most people tend to find that it is not as bad as they thought and sometimes, like my case, cheaper.

I live in the lowest tax area of Collin County Plano is one of the mid range cities, but it has some of the highest property values. It also is among the best rated schools in the area. For City tax, I believe it is .4%, where I am .2%. Overall I am 2.2% and Plano is 2.4%. Frisco (highest tax rate in the county) is 2.6%. I live just outside of what is considered part of the Metroplex (11 miles east of Plano) so my property value is a lot lower than in Plano, but it is quiet, so I like it.

[Ron61]

Joe,

When I was working back in the early 80s my state taxes ran around $5 to $7K a year. My property taxes were over $3700 until prop 13 saved me there. But not many people are still under that as so many have moved and bought bigger homes.
When they sent a woman out from Social Security to check on me after I lived and was out of the hospital, she told me that I had paid more in taxes for the four months that I managed to work that year than her yearly salary was. So I can only cringe at what some of the people that are making real money here are paying. However I can't complain about my property taxes now as they had to roll them back then and I don't pay much at all considering what the others around me pay.

Ron

[Excaliber]

Ron, do you live outside the city limits? Rumor has it property tax goes down a bunch if you do. $3700 a year for prop tax? I know your place 'aint that big', whew, the horror!

[Ron61]

Ernie,

No, when they incorporated here they took Central Valley, Toyon, Project City and a chunk down the East side of I-5 into the city limits. That $3700 was before I went on Prop 13 and they had to roll it back. I sent you an e-mail telling you what I paid last year. If you never received it let me know and I will send all the particulars again. And yes my place is just 1258 Sq. Ft. with approximately 3/4ths of an acre. The house plans say 1567 Sq. Ft. but I left off the sunken den and made it a back porch which they can't tax and they came out about 5 times to measure and check to be sure that I wasn't lying. Also I had an asphalt driveway put in and they can't tax that. I can ask some friends of mine what their taxes are if you want. That could give you a good base of what they run up here now.

Ron

[wtm442]

Northern Mexico. Do not laugh. A lot of people are moving there.

On the other hand, western parts of Virginia and North Carolina are nice.

If you want low taxes and some snow during the winter, southern NH is fantastic.

If you can stand slightly higher taxes, less snow and the crazy K twins (Kerry & Kennedy), move to the historically rich Boston area. That is especially true if you want to go back to college for anything. No better concentration of higher education in the world. Also, if you get sick, there is no better concentration of top notch hospitals anywhere in the world. My real estate taxes are less than $5K for a 1/2 million value.

Of course, if you are a sports nut ...
Red Sox Nation
Patriots
The Boston Marathon
BC Hockey won the Frozen Four this year
Revolution soccer team came in second this year
Bruins (Ugh), but getting better. Took Montreal to 7 games before losing.

The Atlantic Ocean is nice too.

[Ron61]

Warren,

Why did you leave the Celtics out? I watched them last night and they are playing great. So are the Lakers. Lakers over Boston in 5 for the title.

Ron

[Excaliber]

Hey, it's not like I'm LOOKING for snow! But some within driving distance would be OK. New Hampshire? Surely you jest!

Ron, I was just thinking what you USED to pay for property tax may be a good indication of what I would be paying now. Prop 13 don't apply to 'newbies'. The Gestapo actually came to your house and measured it for taxes? Dam! What the heck am I getting into even THINKING about Calif? Not to mention the tax on the Cobra, but, well it is a nice area and a lot of memories/friends there.

Reno's out, I figure overall it's just going to be to cold for me. When it hits the low 50's here in the 'dead of winter' I can barely move around the house it's so freakin' cold.

[Ron61]

Ernie,

I am not so sure that property taxes would be that much more around here now that the prices of homes have dropped so much. They measured the house when I first built it because I turned it in as smaller than the blueprints showed. But they weren't nasty about it. Just wanted to see why I had turned in a smaller sq. ft. than it showed. Now you could look at Palo Cedro and live next to Merle Haggard. I don't see him around much any more but used to see him every few days slumming around. I will talk to some of my friends who live in the city and some who live out of it and see what their taxes are. Things kind of go with the economy and right now it isn't to good around here. Lots of empty houses and no buyers so you might get a good deal by offering them quite a bit less than they ask.

Ron

[trularin]

Why not retire first...then think about moving?

[Ron61]

Tru, You have it backwards. Ask Warren. When you retire you aren't supposed to work or think.

Ron

[AMF]

I find that most people who actually work hard for a living and retire, end up working again within 3 years. They become bored with retirement.

So you might want to keep that in mind....you don't want to move somewhere, just to move back searching for a job.

That, and a lot of industries and companies are finding it very easy to shop talent in the retiree pool these days because of the management vacuum that's being created by the baby boomer numbers. Too many people are retiring and creating a large number of senior positions that need to be filled. A great opportunity for younger folks, but it also means a lot of retirees get lured back into the workforce.

[Excaliber]

I DID 'retire' a couple of years ago, for about a year. It was cool for about 6 months, got a lot of projects done, then sat and got bored no end! Basically 'retired' all ready, I just wanna drive my car.

Happy Valley area, Ron, that should be outside the city limits! Bet I could get some nice acreage out there to. One bedroom house, six car garage, works for me.

[Silverback51]

My plan is to retire, sell the house and buy a 40 foot diesel pusher motorcoach. Travel around until I find a place I want to live, and then stay there.

I personally do not want a house when I retire. Don't want a yard, or the upkeep on a house. I look at my wife's parents and all the time and money they are putting into their places, and that's not what I want.

[Excaliber]

Gave some serious thought to a motorhome, gas mileage and gas prices have kind of put a damper on that for me...

You make a good point about maintaining the house though. I don't want to do that either, to much.

[Silverback51]

Here's another thought.

Buy 5 acres or so and have a metal building erected. If I remember right you can get a 60 X 120 for under $50,000. Build living quarters off to one side, and have the rest of the area for cars, bikes, and such. Leave the property as is. No landscaping.

If you have a motorhome, just lock up and leave. No yard or plants to take care of.

That's another option I'm exploring.

[Excaliber]

Good call, worth considering. Like the massive warehouse I found in Oregon and then thought: I'll move a trailer inside and do laps in the warehouse with the Cobra. Never even thought about doing that with a motorhome.

[Ron61]

Ernie,

I wish I had built a 12 car garage and just attached a small house for my Mother and Father to live in when I built this place. I have a good friend who lives over in Happy Valley and I should call him as he retired a year ago. He has a 1965 Mustang that I have tried to buy form him ever since he got it new. Also a 1957 Corvette I believe it is that he got new. Last time we talked he was restoring one of his pickups. He really likes it out in that area.

Ron

[HI Cobra]

Ernie,
If I can get my Cobra inspection stuff taken care of I'll see you Saturday night at Kapolei if you are going. Just got back from spending a week at our Lake
Conroe, Texas house getting furniture etc., and the more of that area I see the
more I like it. Plenty of trees around plus 125 square miles of lake to temper
the seasonal extremes (not like Dallas). No worries about running out of new
roads to explore either - not like Hawaii in that regard. Property taxes are
higher but no state income tax and just about everything I have seen is a whole lot cheaper than Hawaii. I won't be selling our Hawaii house anytime
soon, that's our home, but I see me splitting time back and forth and maybe
making Texas my primary residence sometime in the not too far future.

[Excaliber]

I'll be there Flip, I bet Jan is like a kid in a candy store buying stuff for the Texas house!

I just got a lead on a 3000 sq ft 'Club House' somewhere near Shasta Lake for cheap. An old, now closed, Club house of some kind. Sounds interesting. OK, heres the plan: Put in a big garage door, drive right in and park next to the couch. Perfect!