Move, Where ?

[Bobby Hatfield]

The southern humid summer is too much for permanant retirement, so where will I go ? The nice widow lady I been courting doesn't do the severe spring weather here in Tornado ally either, so where to go is up in the air. Its gotta be cheap, you don't make much retirement in a cabinet shop, can't sell the tools and contents for more than 10 cents on the dollar, so that $1000 bucks wont buy much. Assisted living is to confining and too much Govment in my business for my southern blood. The temporary fix for winter cold is an RV in south Texas, which has been my idea for years, hope I get a second on that from the nice widow lady. Have been leaning toward WV mountain country for the permanant summer residence, anyone here live in that area and can advise me ? Bobby

[Ned Bulken]

Bobby,
I can't speak to retiring, but I can suggest that if you're going to RV full time (part time/snowbird) in south texas, or anywhere, be sure and find out all the info you can about regulations and using the Bureau of Land Management property throughout the southwest. "Boondocking" or RV'ing w/out hookups can be done on a shoestring budget, but you need to follow the guidelines for land usage.
check out the adventures of this couple: they're fulltiming in a converted Bus, and while it isn't the same as your plans, they have loads of good info in there. You will want to read their web-log (Blog) which chronicles several months on the road, the various equipment problems and more imporantly how to deal with the BLM on where to camp etc... their site is http://www.ourodyssey.us/ that is the main page, explore the site, lots of good info on there.
I used to live full-time out of a 5th wheel trailer when I was travelling for work, hope someday to go back to that, though putting down 'roots' and having a home base somewhere is the way to go. Hope this helps.

[Dennis Peacock]

Hey Bobby. I wish you the best no matter where you go. But, can't we Arkie's have a look and make offer on some tools in your shop? Maybe we can do better than $0.10 on the dollar?

[Jim DeLaney]

The southern humid summer is too much for permanant retirement, so where will I go ? The nice widow lady I been courting doesn't do the severe spring weather here in Tornado ally either, so where to go is up in the air. Its gotta be cheap, you don't make much retirement in a cabinet shop, can't sell the tools and contents for more than 10 cents on the dollar, so that $1000 bucks wont buy much. Assisted living is to confining and too much Govment in my business for my southern blood. The temporary fix for winter cold is an RV in south Texas, which has been my idea for years, hope I get a second on that from the nice widow lady. Have been leaning toward WV mountain country for the permanant summer residence, anyone here live in that area and can advise me ? Bobby

WV would be fairly good. Taxes are a bit high, but not too bad...

I'm originally from the Wheeling, WV area, but when it came time to retire (from very expensive Southern California), I looked around and ended up in the Youngstown, Ohio area. I'm maybe fifteen miles from downtown Youngstown. It's fairly convenient - not a lot in Youngstown proper, but 50 miles to Pittsburgh, PA and 60 miles to Cleveland, both of which have 'all the amenities.'

Cost of living is one of the lowest in the country. Real estate prices are almost sinfully cheap, and taxes aren't too bad. Coupl'a acres with a decent house on them ought to run you under $200K. Basic house on city lot for around $80~90K. Taxes on a $120K property will be about $2,300 per year.

I've got a fifteen year old, 1500 ft² ranch on 1½ acres, with an attached 2 car garage, and a separate 2 car garage/shop, gazebo with jacuzzi spa, and a small water garden/pond. Maybe 25~30 oak, maple and hicory trees. Paid way under $200K for it...

We've been here not quite a year, and have been through the full year's climate. Coldest day this past winter was -4°. Hottest day so far has been TODAY (!) at 94° Fall and Spring were both absolutely beautiful!

We're really lovin' our retirement here! Can't recommend it highly enough!

[Jim Hager]

Hey Hatfield how in the world you been doing? I haven't heard from you since that e-mail you sent when you were out to one of your kid's places. I've been hanging out here lately quite a bit, mostly readin instead of postin but I had to chime in when I saw your post. Jackson county too humid and way too many skeeters but I gotta say there is not a better place in the world or better people anywhere than in Arkansas.


Of course if you are determined to go I sure wish you luck. Let me know when you get ready to sell out and I'll come down to see what you might be able to get out of me. I know for durn sure that you have a good PM tablesaw and shaper. Oh, by the way was that power feeder you got a 3 ph or single phase. Mine went down the other day.

bonyfingers

[Bobby Hatfield]

Hey Bony, I got one of each, I had bought a new 220 1hp single phase feeder and the one I got from Don was three phase. I have never gotten the saw or shaper in running order, the saw had a bent shaft, need to replace that, the shaper needs an insert ring, its missing. I may save those HD Powermatic machines for the garage and get a new jointer, planer and bandsaw to go with them. Not sure yet, I may need everything to build a new house, or sell everything to buy a used Bluebird motorhome for those winters in south Texas. I am finishing up a sample tabletop for a resturant now, may have more work to do. Bobby

[Bobby Hatfield]

Dennis, all you guys would want is my good tools and I'd be left with the junk. No, really, I have to sell it all together, I come up with a all or nothing price of $24,000 (less than half cost) and it keeps coming down. I'm still using it, on a job today, in fact. Bobby

[Kevin Herber]

Give some thought to Wyoming. This summer is pretty hot, but it is dry and the heat lasts only for a few weeks. Lately highs have been in upper 90s and it can get to 100 but rarely.

Because of the altitude and dry air, nights typically drop off about 35 to 40 degrees. Summer nights are 60s, even 50s. Great sleeping temps!!!

No state income tax. Extremely low property taxes. Few people. Small towns are very inexpensive to live in.

Although I now live in Texas, the rest of my family is still in Wyoming. I plan to retire there in about six years.

Cheyenne is the largest city, approximately 60,000 folks. I was up there three weeks ago and the city is looking terrific. It is going through a bit of a boom now. Very clean and prosperous looking.

50 miles in any direction to the next town. Denver is 100 miles south so if you need a "Big City" fix, it's an hour and a half away.

Winters are brutal, don't take them lightly. But if you are going to RV south, not a problem.

Wyoming is half the size of Texas and has less than 500,000 people; the least populated state in the country, even less than Alaska.

Take a look at this link: http://www.50states.com/wyoming.htm

The one drawback is it is windier than heck. I've seen it top 100 on many occasions. Summers are pretty calm, winters are the killers.

Consider it and good luck!!

-- Kevin

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Bobby....have you considered Idaho? IF you stay out of the "trendy" areas it's not too expensive to live here. Around Boise and Coeur d'Alene housing is expensive but elsewhere in the state housing is relatively cheap. Does have a state income tax and property tax but not much worse than other states. Some of the mountainous areas are very cool in the summer with day time temps seldom getting above 90, night time temps in the 40-50s range and humidity in the 30-40% range. In some of the lower elevations areas (Like Lewiston) often from mid-July to mid-August temps will be from 90-105 F. Nights will cool down into the 60s. The low lying areas like Lewiston are considered "retirement" areas by the local farmers. They farm on prairies that are 3800-5000' above sea level. Winters there can be brutal with low temps and lots of snow. Here in the Snake River Canyon, our winter temps are generally at around freezing with only occasional dips below same. We have snow but not every year. Our state's population just went over a million in the last census.
Sorry to see you're selling your shop but good luck with your future plans what ever they may be and......stay in touch!

[Chris Padilla]

Personally, growing up in the Boulder-Denver area of Colorado, I cannot handle living too much further East than Eastern Colorado. Just draw a line up from the eastern border of Colorado and anything west of that will be humidity that I can handle. Denver has gotten vastly overpopulated and traffic is a nightmare. However, you can find all sorts of little podunk towns in the Rockies that might work. Still, you have to learn to deal with real cold and real snow! :)

On a trip with my then girlfriend (now LOML) to the southwestern corner of South Dakota (i.e. Mt. Rushmore area), I found myself quite impressed with the whole area. Nice and woodsy, clean and cheap I'm guessing. I definately was thinking that retirement there might work but I'm sure the winters are pretty rough but no problem for me...I'm used to that although I'm getting wimpy now living in the Bay Area of California (San Francisco) where we have two seasons: dry and wet.

On that note, Central and Northern California is also nicely wooded and the humidity is very nice. I dunno about costs but NoCal has plenty of small towns that might work. I think the heat of Central might be too much but as you go further north, you leave some of that heat behind. Oregon, no taxes!, is also a nice area.

Best of luck whatever you do, Bobby! Maybe with your RVing, you can take a serious trip of the United States and experience the various areas and see for yourself where you might want to put down roots....

[Don Baer]

I don't realy wind the heat so much as the humidity. Neither wife nor I want to have anything to do with Snow.LOML and I are looking to move to AZ from over priced and Over crouded California. WE can sell our home here and pay cash for a new one over there and still put money in the bank.
SWMBO doesn't care for camping, her idea of ruffing it is room service at the Holiday Inn.

[Joe Mioux]

O.K. how about the ST Lous area. Humidity routinely over 85% in the summer with the temps around 95 degrees. We grow some monster mosquitoes and if one bites you, you better head to the hospital for a blood transfusion.

When the corn is tasseling, it stinks outside.

If you live on God's side of the river (AKA Illinois as opposed to the MO side) you get to deal with some pretty pathetic property taxes (on the MO side you deal with personal property taxes on your vehicles and inspections ((more fees!!)) ).

On the bright side you get to listen to 180 something games of Cardinal baseball.


Joe

P.S. I just thought of something....this pretty much describes your current living conditions! Never mind.......:D

[Arnie Grammon]

Oregon, no taxes!, is also a nice area.


A few amendments to this thread.....

Chris has a slightly different view about taxes in Oregon than I......we have no State Sales Tax, but have local property taxes and a State Income Tax, which may translate well for a retired couple.

Also......I've seen the "mountains" of WV. We call those little fellers foothills around these parts :p . These are mountains......
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albus48/kidpics_001.sized.jpg
This is a shot of the Halfway, Oregon area and the Eagle Cap Wilderness in the background. Purshia tridentata, or bitterbrush, is in the foreground.

I took this about a month ago.....snow is mostly gone from the south-facing slopes now. This is a very nice area of Baker County, although the winters can be a bit harsh.....five feet of snow is not uncommon.

Bitterbrush is a favorite fall-winter-spring food for deer, elk, and bighorn sheep......all very common in Baker County.

Arnie

[Michael Stafford]

IMHO, the best of both worlds would be a winter home in Florida or Georgia and a summer home in the mountains of North Carolina. I know quite a few people in that circumstance and they love it. Milder winters and somewhat milder summers.... The two are not that far apart if you choose your Florida home wisely....