My parents strenuously recommend Arizona (although they chose Yuma rather than Tucson or Phoenix). The weather is great, the air is fresh, there are a lot of year-round activities. The cost of living isn’t bad (although, as I’m currently comparing it to NYC expenses, not a lot looks bad to me at the moment - $1,200 bucks a month tax on my place, for the love of Pete). There are good shopping spots (for groceries and other things), there’s good access to healthcare (a lot of snowbirds and resident retirees = great health care availability).
My husband and I are probably moving to Phoenix in the next year.
The Research Triangle area of North Carolina. Specifically Chapel Hill/Carrboro but the others are OK also.
Weather: Bit hot in summer, but tolerable. Not too awful in winter. So you get varieties of weather but nothing hideous.
Cost of living: Well, I moved from there to the Washington DC metro area and skewed my sense of proportion but it was certainly cheaper than DC
Air connections: RDU airport. Not too many international flights (any?) but you can connect to anywhere.
Hospitals: North Carolina Memorial and Duke.
Shopping: Groceries were fine when I was there (I lived in Chapel Hill). I usually had to go to Durham or Raleigh for more major (suits etc.) clothes shopping. Carrboro has a nice Farmer’s Market also.
College: check (UNC, and for those who couldn’t get into UNC, there was always NC State or Duke [seriously. Out of staters could get into Duke more easily than Chapel Hill. I went to UNC, my brother went to Duke. 30 years later, this still pleases me :)])
Culcha: UNC gets some pretty decent theatrical productions.
I’m sorry, I got stuck on this one. What is your definition of “nice.” Does it include “Second fewest sunny (ie non-overcast) days in the US.” How about “Lake effect snow from 3 different lakes (avg snowfall at least a foot per month with an average 4” expected in April).
I used to live in Michigan, in the SE where the winters are much milder. The relentless cloudiness really gets to you. SAD is a common problem throughout the state.
People leave Michigan to go retire places where the weather isn’t such a continual pile of ass. Just saying.
Is it rude to vote against a place? With all due respect to all the posters above, of course!
I hate Phoenix. It’s one of my least favorite cities. My parents live there, in one of the outlying 'burbs, and overall I don’t think it has much to offer as a town. Hot as the surface of the sun for much of the year – though that might not be a deal-breaker to someone in Saudi. Lots ‘n’ lots of old people, who drive like old people, kvetch like old people, and eat at 4 p.m. A downtown that is deader than a sack of doornails. Huge sprawl, and I mean huge. Yes, U of A is in Mesa, but that’s to hell and gone from a lot of the rest of the city. Bad traffic. Artistic offerings that can best be described as “eh” – a not-bad museum, a not-bad symphony, etc. Lots of smog. Lots of people. No “soul” or identity like, say, San Francisco or Seattle or Chicago. Just a big sprawling strip-mall filled, white middle class town. And did I mention it’s hot? I must admit my parents really like it, though, but they rarely leave their bedroom community, with the Outback Steakhouse and Red Lobster and WalMart right down the road.
For Arizona, I much prefer Tucson – very hot, but close to Mexico, better scenery and a better art scene – and Flagstaff. You might also check out Bisbee, which is a very quiet but nice historical little town right on the Mexico border. Middle of nowhere, of course.
Decaying old industrial city, with quite a few plusses!
-South Street: crack and whores are readily available
-cheap prices: old 3-family for 200K
-awsome weather-Fall is Oct-Dec; winter is Dec-May
-the main benefit: time slows down here-one month is like a YEAR in Las Vegas. So you can extend your retirement!
By brother lives in Glen Arbor (which is sort of near Traverse City) and loves it. Real close to Sleeping Bear dunes. But not sure if it is a good retirement place.
My employer’s HQ is in Phoenix, and this almost exactly matches my impressions of Phoenix. It seems you can drive for hours without leaving town, and all of it is repeated big box stores and nationwide chain restaurants. The subdivisions with a hundred houses but only about 5 floorplans, all of them having 8" tall walls around their yards really turn me off too.
I agree. I spent a summer there and only one day was it below 100 degrees. It was over 110 degrees for 3 weeks in a row.
I think it’s almost immoral to build a city in the desert like this. With the cost of water and electricity rising to an unpredictable level, I’m not sure it will be cost effective to retire there.
Everything is air conditioned. You can’t touch your steering wheel after your car has been sitting at the mall for a few hours. If I recall correctly, sometimes the LOWS are in the 90’s.
Twenty some years ago I used to vist here on a regular basis. Very laid back and inexpensive. You can’t own property, but you can get a long term lease. Many snowbirds used to spend the winter months in their trailers, parked on the beach, w/ hookups. I’m sure it’s built up since my days there, but it seems to still be a pretty serene place. Short trip to the U.S. for supplies and visiting. I think it’s a great place. Good fishing too.
Well, my ex is there and her family is still rather ‘upset’ (in a crazed Latin-American sort of vendetta way) with me. By the way, want to buy an island off the coast?
The Carolinas sound very nice, but what about the hurricane risk? (Of course hurricanes sometimes happen. Michigan winters always happen.) Cuba after Castro might be very nice, but again with the hurricanes.
The very destructive freak hurricanes come along maybe 1-2 times a generation and they are warned about days in advance. They dont’ sneak up like tornadoes do. Homes built in the Charleston area have strict code requirements to withstand gale force winds +. Hurricane evacuation routes are clearly marked in the highly unlikely instance they’d be needed.
Inland is nice, too, with plenty of access to the peninsula if you would feel more safe. Look at Summerville, Goose Creek, etc. Only about 30 minutes to a parking spot downtown at the Aquarium!
It’s not bad. The El Paso airport is about 50 minutes away. Southwest Airlines can get you many places in the US from El Paso; Delta, United, and American can get you to their big hubs for international travel. US Airways, Continental, and Frontier also fly out of there.
It’s not like other places in NM where you might be a 2 or 3 hour drive from a major airport.
