I'm guessing PA is out based on your weather criteria, though we've had pretty mild winters lately. I live near a beautiful lake in Central PA (not going to type the name but you can Google lol) but it has no lakefront homes, if that's a prerequisite. Plenty of beautiful homes close to the lake, just not lakefront. Two marinas, each with restaurant, though the wait list for boat slips is long. But plenty of boat launches. It really is beautiful, and not terribly crowded. The lake is about 20 minutes from a cute little downtown with shops and restaurants. This is probably a stretch for you based on what you want but figured I would mention it!
I was thinking PA would be a fantastic choice, specifically the Poconos. I'm sure it'll be way warmer in 15 years too...
Georgia is a good choice or almost anywhere in the South if you are concerned about drought and water resources. Here in north Georgia (Lake Lanier, Lake Allatoon, Lake Chatuge-gorgeous mountain lake) we are a subtropical rain forest with more rain than Portland.
Of all the options with that criteria, that would far and away be my top choice.
ETA: Oh, and they have options for living on a lake! My great-aunt and -uncle retired to a gorgeous house on a lake that was in the greater Vegas area (no clue what it’s called though!)
I forgot Nevada is purpley blue.
I am most interested in AZ and hope it keeps tipping blue but also..... Water (same problem as NV and many other western states).
Don't hold me to this, but I hear New Mexico is pretty good? I think they are a blue state (or at least very purple) IIRC?
I feel like these threads have been posted a lot lately, so here’s my usual reminder that taxes are important and fund necessary things like services, education, infrastructure and, super important for retirement, healthcare! I guess to each their own, but I’d think long and hard about what your retirement would look like in places like those mentioned that may have seriously underfunded government programs.
I saw a few news stories recently about medical students not wanting to train at hospitals in states that have outlawed Roe v. Wade. So that’ll be just great when we’re retirement age and local hospitals in those states haven’t been able to recruit a pipeline of doctors.
I’d prioritize a progressive state over no taxes any day. Taxes generally support social programs and the public good, even when I don’t directly benefit.
I also agree with you, but a reminder to us all that everyone is just one governorship, one school board, one election away from no longer being in a progressive state. 😓
Well I was going to recommend the area we just bought our vacation/future retirement home in but then I got to “warmer state”. I’m no help, good luck in your search!
Same. My plan is Maine. I'm sure the winters there will only be 40 degrees in 30 years anyway.
We just bought our retirement home and moved in October 2021. We are 52/54 and moved permanently back to Michigan. H is a native and I lived here 14 years before we got married. This was not our plan, but it worked out.
We chose a home on an Inland Waterway, I can see the lake but we are on riverfront with deep water dock and can be in a Great Lake within an hour. We wanted unlimited boating opportunities and we truly lucked out. I hated winter when I lived here, but now I find it amazing. We have tons of wildlife in winter and spring. I only leave the house when I want to, since I am retired and H is still working. He loves winter and ice fishing so he is thrilled. Lol. Truly, the four seasons are perfection for us.
We have family in Texas (we lived in San Antonio, Houston and east TX the last 18 years) so we will be down there for short winter visits. Summer is absolutely miserable there, to us. I saw lakes either flood or dry up near us in San Antonio and the other lakes we lived near had gators. Most all lakes there are manmade and not so nice (IMO compared to Michigan). For political reasons, we are thrilled to have left.
Michigan lakes we looked at: Torch Lake, Lake Leelanau, Crooked Lake, Walloon Lake and Burt Lake. We didn’t end up on any of those, but waterfront is in short supply. It is busy in the summer but not overly touristy all the time, IMO.
With climate change looming, Michigan, Vermont, etc. seemed like a good choice, in our view. Good luck with finding your dream location.
Post by iknowthismuchistrue on Apr 3, 2023 16:19:27 GMT -5
Thanks all. Lots of fun places to check out.
Kinda bummed that the general consensus if we have to just leave all the warm, nice states to the idiots and the normal people just have to live in the frozen misery of the rest of the country. Definitely something to think about when I house hunt.
Are there any warmer places to retire that don't have big LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, and Medicaid/state service issues other than California?
I want to winter somewhere south eventually and it feels like there is nowhere that fits the bill other than southern California.
Nevada?
Of all the options with that criteria, that would far and away be my top choice.
ETA: Oh, and they have options for living on a lake! My great-aunt and -uncle retired to a gorgeous house on a lake that was in the greater Vegas area (no clue what it’s called though!)
I feel like these threads have been posted a lot lately, so here’s my usual reminder that taxes are important and fund necessary things like services, education, infrastructure and, super important for retirement, healthcare! I guess to each their own, but I’d think long and hard about what your retirement would look like in places like those mentioned that may have seriously underfunded government programs.
I saw a few news stories recently about medical students not wanting to train at hospitals in states that have outlawed Roe v. Wade. So that’ll be just great when we’re retirement age and local hospitals in those states haven’t been able to recruit a pipeline of doctors.
I’d prioritize a progressive state over no taxes any day. Taxes generally support social programs and the public good, even when I don’t directly benefit.
This article made me think of your post and inequalities in healthcare by state.
"Life expectancy is hugely unequal across U.S. regions, with major coastal cities not looking much worse than Europe but the South and the eastern heartland doing far worse."
Florida property insurance rates set to jump up to 60%
The state has also passed several laws to limit the ability of homeowners to sue for claims while also curtailing the assignment of benefits and one-way attorney’s fees. The plan from state leaders was to create an environment where large private carriers, who have all but abandoned the state, would return.
Of all the options with that criteria, that would far and away be my top choice.
ETA: Oh, and they have options for living on a lake! My great-aunt and -uncle retired to a gorgeous house on a lake that was in the greater Vegas area (no clue what it’s called though!)
Lake Mead? Which is running dry?
No and anyway they’re long dead now.
And, yes, the southwest is running out of water. Lake life is probably not what you should be looking for in the desert.
But in terms of warm weather states that are protecting abortion and LGBT rights, Nevada has tried to address both.
Now warm weather + liberal politics + protected from climate change? That’s a tall order. Mayyybe Hawaii. But then you get into other issues about white people buying up land and making it unaffordable for indigenous people. Basically all our options are problematic AF.
goldengirlz, 15-ish years ago, we did thei great kayak float trip down from the Hoover Dam. It amazed me that I was in the desert. But yeah, unlike most of what you worry about with lake life and rising waters, Nevada lake like is going the other way.
Not 5 years ago, we were contemplating property in St Augustine, and now… I think I’ll die here in Maryland. But hey, I have a bitty “lake” (in name only, it’s a pond) out my back door.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Apr 4, 2023 6:55:59 GMT -5
I don’t have any personal recommendations because our goals are different (we’d probably get an apartment in a city like Chicago), but as you’re considering, I’d, as others have pointed out, really take climate change and healthcare into perspective.
This looks like a voting map, but it’s actually a life expectancy map.
goldengirlz , 15-ish years ago, we did thei great kayak float trip down from the Hoover Dam. It amazed me that I was in the desert. But yeah, unlike most of what you worry about with lake life and rising waters, Nevada lake like is going the other way.
Not 5 years ago, we were contemplating property in St Augustine, and now… I think I’ll die here in Maryland. But hey, I have a bitty “lake” (in name only, it’s a pond) out my back door.
I mean, there's a very nice beach house for sale right now in Vilano, just north of St. Augustine. I posted about it on CEP, lol
I went to school there 20 years ago and we were just there 2 weeks ago. I know it was spring break, but there were people EVERYWHERE. It had never been so busy, not during spring break, nights of lights, summer, never. Out of the three apartment complexes I lived in, all are condos now. I have NO clue how these college kids are affording the massive tuition increase or any of the rents there now. I'm sure that's not only there, but it broke my dreams of my kids going there. Well, DeSantis actually did that, this just confirmed it.
jlt19, yup. Read that. And, thought about the neighborhood in Villano we had been looking at. I do still look at dream occasionally, but yeah, $1.2mil + repairs is not my budget 😂 So much the past 5-8 years has me thinking no way. I have ~10 years to go, who knows where the winds will take the politics side of things.
Virginia? Purple, trending blue, beautiful and with a very nice, 4-season climate. Never got much snow, and now winters are also trending warmer, thanks to climate change. I’m not really a lake person, but there is Lake Anna, Smith Mountain Lake, etc.
I’m from Texas originally (grew up near Lake Texoma, in fact) and you couldn’t pay me enough to get me to move back there.
As someone who lives in Texas, I welcome anyone who will help us turn this state blue. Remember, Texas is red because of gerrymandering, not because everyone is conservative. That said, rural lake areas ARE the conservative areas. Texas lakes are all man made with a single exception, so you also have to figure out if the lake is a fishing lake with lots of stumps just below the water or a boating lake. The best lakes that have amenities and are close enough to cities to access quality healthcare (rural healthcare here is an abomination and should be avoided) are going to be extremely expensive to live on.
As someone who lives in Texas, I welcome anyone who will help us turn this state blue. Remember, Texas is red because of gerrymandering, not because everyone is conservative. That said, rural lake areas ARE the conservative areas. Texas lakes are all man made with a single exception, so you also have to figure out if the lake is a fishing lake with lots of stumps just below the water or a boating lake. The best lakes that have amenities and are close enough to cities to access quality healthcare (rural healthcare here is an abomination and should be avoided) are going to be extremely expensive to live on.
AKA op - if you do find a spot you're interested in, do a google search on the lake + climate change to see how things are being impacted now. There's not a lot of manmade lakes that are going to stay the same unless they're in northern states.
As someone who lives in Texas, I welcome anyone who will help us turn this state blue. Remember, Texas is red because of gerrymandering, not because everyone is conservative. That said, rural lake areas ARE the conservative areas. Texas lakes are all man made with a single exception, so you also have to figure out if the lake is a fishing lake with lots of stumps just below the water or a boating lake. The best lakes that have amenities and are close enough to cities to access quality healthcare (rural healthcare here is an abomination and should be avoided) are going to be extremely expensive to live on.
AKA op - if you do find a spot you're interested in, do a google search on the lake + climate change to see how things are being impacted now. There's not a lot of manmade lakes that are going to stay the same unless they're in northern states.
Yes, and infrastructure is aging so dams are vulnerable. Lake Dunlap had a dam failure not too long ago. I love the idea of a lake house for retirement but not the realities of it here in Texas and in other states that severely underinvest in infrastructure (plus climate change, etc.) make it not an option for us.