Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[HBE4]

54 minutes ago, Keksie said:

We got lucky when we found our current home.  We did know there were no state taxes and that all the other taxes were low.  We knew that we were an hour from my son and 45 min. from the beach.  We were lucky that the local pandemic response, and the response to other issues fit with the way we want to live.  

 

Knowing me, I'll over-analyze things for a year or two, then decided I don't want to move too far from family & friends and since they don't seem to be going anywhere, I'll stay in NY and maybe move to a slightly less expensive county 🙂

[Tree_skier]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

A friend gave me a copy of Kiplingers retirement guide and they list Visalia, CA as one of the 7 Great Places to retire. 

I'm very familiar with Visalia.  Ive been there often and have friends there.  I'm surprised to find it on 7 great places to retire.  Not that I hate Visalia but I don't know if it would even make my list of top 7 places in California.  

[lenquixote66]

9 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Knowing me, I'll over-analyze things for a year or two, then decided I don't want to move too far from family & friends and since they don't seem to be going anywhere, I'll stay in NY and maybe move to a slightly less expensive county 🙂

My daughter who has the upstate NY house is in Delaware County.One of my former neighbors relocated there .A lot of formerly LI people are there now. 

[HBE4]

31 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Many people that I know who live in Manhattan and Westchester take the LIRR to Long Beach or drive to Long Beach .It is a much less congested area with a beautiful boardwalk and great restaurants.People in my part of LI who could walk to Jones Beach flock to Long Beach .They even have summer concerts .

 

I've been to Long Beach once. Not for the beach but to meet friends at a restaurant.  It is a beautiful area with beach resort feel. Hard to believe its so close to the city.

[lenquixote66]

8 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm very familiar with Visalia.  Ive been there often and have friends there.  I'm surprised to find it on 7 great places to retire.  Not that I hate Visalia but I don't know if it would even make my list of top 7 places in California.  

Kiplinger has Portland ,ME and Rochester ,NY as great places to retire to.A former co-worker of mine who moved to Hawaii when he was in his 40’s relocated to Rochester after retirement .I love Portland .I have been there several times.If I was younger and healthy I would consider the Toronto area.I have two friends there .

[mo&fran]

1 hour ago, HBE4 said:

 

My brother-in-law keeps reminding me that as soon as I move away from the NY / NJ / CT area, I'll instantly have an extra $10-$12,000 in my pocket every year just from the tax savings. And that doesn't include the lower cost of living.  Of course, he still lives in NY although in a more rural portion of the state.

 

I'm still in the very, very early part of the process. I'd figured Id pick  3 or 4 places before doing a "deep-dive" research into things like cost, taxes, amenities & activities, etc

 

A friend gave me a copy of Kiplingers retirement guide and they list Visalia, CA as one of the 7 Great Places to retire.  Taxes seem to be a mixed bag. High sales tax but low property tax, no tax on SS income but other forms of retirement income can kick you into a high tax bracket.  But they recommend it based on other things - lots of outdoor activities, easy access to medical care, lively downtown, manageable drive to LA & SF, etc etc

 

As you said, no place it ideal and since DW passing, my retirement years are going to be a lot different than I thought. I'll need to reevaluate & re-prioritize my list of attributes. I doubt I'll be making any moves for a couple of years.

Taxes were my primary reason for wanting to leave Ct.  Well , that and DW wanting to come back here. 

[voyager70]

4 hours ago, Keksie said:

There is always Florida!  North Florida does have cooler weather and away from the coast a country feel.  The state does have the attributes I think you are looking for.

There is also South Dakota if you like snow.  The Black Hills are beautiful and also has the attributes you might like.

If I recall you live in the Panhandle? They have some of the nicest beaches in the country and I love the laid back southern feel. But being from the northeast I want nothing to do with winter (or as little as possible) when I retire so I’m looking at south Florida for my retirement, hopefully in the next 10 years. I’ve always been partial to SW Florida (Fort Myers area specifically)  as it was a second home to me growing up but I’m also considering the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area now because I want to make sure I have access to good health care as I get older. I’ll have to do my research before making any type of decision. Whatever I decide it will sure be nice to be in driving distance to several ports!

[NHProud]

My hometown’s slogan is America’s Finest City so it must be so . I’m 145 miles from Palm Springs and an almost equal distance from Big Bear for mountain recreation.  In essence on a winter day I could be snow skiing in the morning, lunch in Palm Springs and enjoying the beach in the afternoon.  The beach is 12 miles west of my home and if I look out of my kitchen window I’m looking at a golf course.  No humidity, 10” of rain annually, no hurricanes and no tornadoes. I’ve not experienced any earthquakes.  
 

Evidently , it must be a desirable place to live because 2,000 people are knocking on our door wanting to enter. 

[HBE4]

57 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Visalia ,Calif has a lot of residents who moved from NYC.Every summer they have a get together of former NYC residents including a woman that I went to HS with.

One of my daughters and her husband have a home in upstate NY that has a fulltime population of 251.Many people come there to ski in the winter.

 

I never heard of Visalia until I read the article.

 

18 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm very familiar with Visalia.  Ive been there often and have friends there.  I'm surprised to find it on 7 great places to retire.  Not that I hate Visalia but I don't know if it would even make my list of top 7 places in California.  

 

They focused on small to medium sized cities although they probably could picked any one of 3 dozen similar communties. Maybe the writer had a house there & wanted to drive up home values. 😀

[lenquixote66]

2 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

I've been to Long Beach once. Not for the beach but to meet friends at a restaurant.  It is a beautiful area with beach resort feel. Hard to believe its so close to the city.

There are great restaurants there.My younger daughter lived there after graduating college.She moved there because her boyfriend at the time was into surfing and that is a very popular place for that .

A singer who is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame lives there as does a retired MLB player.

[HBE4]

5 minutes ago, NHProud said:

My hometown’s slogan is America’s Finest City so it must be so . I’m 145 miles from Palm Springs and an almost equal distance from Big Bear for mountain recreation.  In essence on a winter day I could be snow skiing in the morning, lunch in Palm Springs and enjoying the beach in the afternoon.  The beach is 12 miles west of my home and if I look out of my kitchen window I’m looking at a golf course.  No humidity, 10” of rain annually, no hurricanes and no tornadoes. I’ve not experienced any earthquakes.  
 

Evidently , it must be a desirable place to live because 2,000 people are knocking on our door wanting to enter. 

 

Make that 2,001. It does sound perfect.

[Keksie]

6 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

If I recall you live in the Panhandle? They have some of the nicest beaches in the country and I love the laid back southern feel. But being from the northeast I want nothing to do with winter (or as little as possible) when I retire so I’m looking at south Florida for my retirement, hopefully in the next 10 years. I’ve always been partial to SW Florida (Fort Myers area specifically)  as it was a second home to me growing up but I’m also considering the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area now because I want to make sure I have access to good health care as I get older. I’ll have to do my research before making any type of decision. Whatever I decide it will sure be nice to be in driving distance to several ports!

I do live in the Panhandle. The beaches are beautiful but there are cooler months when they are look don't touch unless you are a hearty soul.  South Florida doesn't have that problem but it is crowded.  We are driving to Tampa in June for a cruise.

[lenquixote66]

5 minutes ago, NHProud said:

My hometown’s slogan is America’s Finest City so it must be so . I’m 145 miles from Palm Springs and an almost equal distance from Big Bear for mountain recreation.  In essence on a winter day I could be snow skiing in the morning, lunch in Palm Springs and enjoying the beach in the afternoon.  The beach is 12 miles west of my home and if I look out of my kitchen window I’m looking at a golf course.  No humidity, 10” of rain annually, no hurricanes and no tornadoes. I’ve not experienced any earthquakes.  
 

Evidently , it must be a desirable place to live because 2,000 people are knocking on our door wanting to enter. 

A friend of mine moved from NY to San Diego 40 years ago.He said it was the best place to live.My wife and I have been there several times and it was great.Much to my surprise my friend and his wife relocated a few years ago to Oregon.

[NHProud]

1 minute ago, lenquixote66 said:

A friend of mine moved from NY to San Diego 40 years ago.He said it was the best place to live.My wife and I have been there several times and it was great.Much to my surprise my friend and his wife relocated a few years ago to Oregon.

Lower taxes .  

[Arzeena]

39 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Knowing me, I'll over-analyze things for a year or two, then decided I don't want to move too far from family & friends and since they don't seem to be going anywhere, I'll stay in NY and maybe move to a slightly less expensive county 🙂

Just follow your heart when you are ready.

[lenquixote66]

2 minutes ago, NHProud said:

Lower taxes .  

He did not tell me that. However,I googled the city and there is a large amount of snow 

[lenquixote66]

3 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Just follow your heart when you are ready.

I was surprised when I read that you and RJ were moving to Fla.In my opinion you live in a great town.

[A&L_Ont]

17 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

My old hometown sure looks beautiful in pictures.  

Those photos don’t show Hasting Street. 😢

[George C]

1 hour ago, voyager70 said:

If I recall you live in the Panhandle? They have some of the nicest beaches in the country and I love the laid back southern feel. But being from the northeast I want nothing to do with winter (or as little as possible) when I retire so I’m looking at south Florida for my retirement, hopefully in the next 10 years. I’ve always been partial to SW Florida (Fort Myers area specifically)  as it was a second home to me growing up but I’m also considering the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area now because I want to make sure I have access to good health care as I get older. I’ll have to do my research before making any type of decision. Whatever I decide it will sure be nice to be in driving distance to several ports!

I think prices have went down for homes in Ft Myer where my brother lives hurricane damaged or destroyed lots of them , my brother’s house is still a mess , I don’t want to live in a hurricane zone . 
   Only reason I am in Texas was my job made me a very nice. Offer to move everything is way cheaper than New York City, growing up in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn and now live in a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with a pool , when we bought our last two houses I told real estate agent to only show us houses with pools. 

[lenquixote66]

11 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you MJ.

I'm happy to hear you and your husband have a good life filled with love.

You are a lovely couple.

Graham.

Summer has arrived.It is 80 degrees now.We have several show business people living in our Condo complex . One a singer ,is outside rehearsing with his band .

[jagsfan]

2 hours ago, voyager70 said:

If I recall you live in the Panhandle? They have some of the nicest beaches in the country and I love the laid back southern feel. But being from the northeast I want nothing to do with winter (or as little as possible) when I retire so I’m looking at south Florida for my retirement, hopefully in the next 10 years. I’ve always been partial to SW Florida (Fort Myers area specifically)  as it was a second home to me growing up but I’m also considering the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area now because I want to make sure I have access to good health care as I get older. I’ll have to do my research before making any type of decision. Whatever I decide it will sure be nice to be in driving distance to several ports!

Jacksonville has Mayo Clinic (hospital) and MD Anderson is affiliated with Baptist Hospital. 
Miles of beaches, and enough winter when we have some days in the 60’s, to make us feel we have 4 seasons. 
Easy drive to all 3 Florida ports. 
And not a tourist area!

[grapau27]

23 minutes ago, lenquixote66 said:

Summer has arrived.It is 80 degrees now.We have several show business people living in our Condo complex . One a singer ,is outside rehearsing with his band .

It sounds like a very interesting condo complex Lenny.

I hope you are both well and looking forward to the weekend.

[lenquixote66]

9 minutes ago, grapau27 said:

It sounds like a very interesting condo complex Lenny.

I hope you are both well and looking forward to the weekend.

Thanks,Graham.The condo complex has more amenities than any I have ever been to .Three outdoor pools ,six tennis courts ,two basketball courts,outside volley ball,bocci ,a two room health club,library,movie theater,entertainment room for live shows,three playgrounds with all kinds of activities,jogging path and a dog run. Nearly everyone living here either has a dog or a cat.Nearly every person on the street I live on is an avid cruiser.

[BonTexasNY]

I checked quite a few different online sites and all had different lists for "best places to retire".  One had NYC listed as #10.  No, I personally don't think so.

 

We would never have moved to TX 19 years ago had it not been for the fact that my sister and her married kids live here.  We got tired of celebrating holidays without family. It's the best move we ever made.  We love it here.  Slower pace lifestyle, clean and beautiful, state of the art medical care, is in the middle of the country so flying anywhere is just a few hours.  Most polite people I ever met.  No state tax.  We were able to buy a 3500 sq ft house with lower taxes for half the price of the 2500 sq ft house we sold in NY.

 

No mountains, no beaches (we have large lakes) but those were never deciding factors.

 

The vast majority of people we met here, moved to TX to be near family.  That was the deciding factor for them as well as us.

 

Having said that, we are loving our visit to rural NJ being with our daughter, SIL and grandkids. Gorgeous low 80s.  Just came in from relaxing outdoors and going with the kids on what we call "a nature walk" enjoying all of the flora and fauna.

[voyager70]

1 hour ago, George C said:

I think prices have went down for homes in Ft Myer where my brother lives hurricane damaged or destroyed lots of them , my brother’s house is still a mess , I don’t want to live in a hurricane zone . 
   Only reason I am in Texas was my job made me a very nice. Offer to move everything is way cheaper than New York City, growing up in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn and now live in a 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house with a pool , when we bought our last two houses I told real estate agent to only show us houses with pools. 

Prices have definitely come down in the Lee County area since Ian hit last fall. I have a couple real estate apps on my phone which I play with frequently. It’s very sad to see how many people are selling their storm damaged homes “as is” but there are many homes on the market that suffered only minimal damage which has since been repaired. Being quite familiar with the area I pretty much know which areas to avoid as far as flooding/storm surge issues although no place is immune from natural disasters. And yes, when the time comes, a pool is a must have! I actually prefer pools without a cage. I know they keep the bugs out but I like the open air feeling much better.