DnvrFox

(Well, I have screwed this thread/poll up twice. I think this is OK!)

What are the factors one might want in a retirement mode?

My wife and I wanted a community with a broad age range mix - someplace where we could see kids playing and growing, stork signs on the lawn that proclaim, "It's a boy" and younger and older folks with whom to interact. We have about 400 houses in our "enclave" with 55 acres of open space, and internal trails connected with the main trail system of our town. I can bicycle 40 miles out and back while only crossing 4 streets. This is part of our open space area:



Another requirement was that we be directly on a bike path (of which we have many around here) and that we could walk, not drive, to the store/restaurants/barber shop, etc. So we are exactly .98 miles from all of the above, and .9 miles from the local recreation center. We are also very close to medical care (it got a bit more important to us recently!), and I have a great LBS also just off one of the bicycle trails, 3 miles away.

We have been here 5 years next month, and everything is working out just fine as we had planned. We know all of our neighbors on a first name basis. I believe we are something of a "physical activity" role model to many of them. We have also found a wonderful church where we are active (and, yes, it is five miles down the bike path, and we bike there), and I have discovered I can sing, so I also have found a great voice teacher, I am active in two choirs, and have just recently formed a male singing group which is going to do its first performance in 4 weeks.

I am assuming we all want someplace near easy bicycling activities!

So, what is important to you?

jazzy_cyclist

I'm "only" 55, so things may change. All I know is that my wife (a native New Englander) has proclaimed that "I'm not going to live in the cold when I'm old".

FarHorizon

As a former coworker of mine once said: "As I grow older my goal is to live closer and closer to the equator." Obviously, he didn't like cold! Although I'm the same way. I'm happy where I am so far as climate.

Medical care and transportation are my biggest issues for retirement. I want a location that has good, close medical facilities and that I don't have to drive everywhere I go. I'd prefer a well-done public transportation system with elevated rail and bus combos, but that's hard to find. I'd settle for good bike paths.

I'm hoping that as the baby-boomers retire and that as demand for elderly accommodation grows, new cities will be built FOR retirees with ground-up design for non-auto transport and lots of green space. Barring my finding such a "designed community," my only hope is to push my existing city for the designs that will be needed for the future.

HiYoSilver

Your poll is good but I have other factors also:

1. lower heating/cooling costs
2. low to medium humidity, not high humidity
3. within 1 hrs drive of major airport [kids are scattered]
4. seasons would be good
5. water costs are not too high
6. taxes are lower
7. cost of living is lower
8. elevation between 500 and 4000 feet [humity too high near coast and UV too high at elevations]
9. non thorough fare roads available for biking
10. low fog incident
11. not as rainy as Portland or as overcast as Seattle

There may be others, we still have some years to figure that stuff out; but interesting question. Biggest problems with CO are:
1. heating costs
2. water costs
3. high UV
4. taxes are not low

But if biking is your passion, it's one of the better places to live.

Nightshade

Sorry, but your poll best discribes where you live than many
small towns, viliages, or cities than anything else.

I live in a small rural town in the center of the midwest
and couldn't be happier as a retired person.I have no
doubt that these small quiet havens exist all across
the land so they too are great choices for the retired
set.

It's true that as we age the support systems for our aging
bodies is close by,but, I never have believed that a planned
communities offered near the spice of life that a small town
or viliage can. I can drive 20 min in all directions to medium
sized cities for anything I need or want. That's close enough
for me.

DnvrFox

As always, I welcome others to develop any poll they would so desire in any way they would like to state or ask about things - or to ignore any poll that doesn't use the approach they so desire.

In developing a poll or a discussion, one has to start somewhere, which is usually with the things they know. It is difficult to discuss things about which one does not know.

As you can only ask 10 questions in a poll, there are many areas that have to be left uncovered.

But it is a starting point for discussion.

Thank you for your feedback.

Nightshade

Easy, mate. I was NOT being the least bit critcal. I only pointed out that I couldn't respond
to the poll. Hopefully, this post will lead to a well rounded discussion of places that are
both Retiree & Cyclist friendly. My small town is both.

DnvrFox

Sometimes it is difficult to get the meaning without hearing the tone of voice and seeing someone's face. My apologies.

Blackberry

Green acres is the place for me.

Trsnrtr

Sounds like where I live. Small communities within a short driving distance of bigger urban areas, extensive paved rural network, four seasons of weather, low cost of living yet high quality, relatively low crime...

My wife and I have talked of moving but can't figure out anyplace that we'd rather live.

-Dennis

Dogbait

I like where I am. I moved here from Portland, OR in 1990 with the intention of retiring here, which I did in 2003. It is rural, outside the urban growth boundary of Scappoose, OR (pop.5700), but without acreage. It is a 3 or 4 mile bike trip, depending on the route, to the center of town. The nearest big city, Portland, is close enough for advanced medical needs but far enough away to not interfere with the small town way of life. There is no traffic noise except for train whistles and fog horns on the Columbia River. I consider the climate mild even though we suffer a week or two of below freezing weather almost every year.

Dogbait

linux_author

- used to live in Virginia, but now on the Gulf of Mexico... can ride a bike anywhere (food, bank, medical, shopping, etc.)... extensive bike trails, with and a planned doubling of the system in next few years...

- was worred about hurricanes, but for $0.82 a day for flood insurance we have peace of mind...

webist

I plan on staying right here in S AZ. In fact, there is a new veterans cemetery nearby.

zonatandem

Ditto! Will stay in southern AZ.
Although I'm a K-vet, don't give a hoot about cemetieres as body has been donated to science.

Thrifty1

I put my For Sale sign out yesterday.....will be moving close to my son in Oklahoma City as soon as the house sells. Living and riding in North Dakota is excellent but the winters are excessively long. After traveling 30 miles in freezing fog and snow for emergency surgery (New Years day), I need to be closer to relatives (Kids).

stapfam

Britain is a small area but there are a great number of changes within the various regions of it. I live in the South East but there are parts of Yorkshire I would love to go to. There are parts of England that I would not even think about visiting let alone living in. I think the only reason for me to move to another part of England would be financial, but then I would have to take into considertaion all the factors in your survey. At present- the only place I would contemplate moving to is about 4 miles South- to put me closer to the hills that I ride every week, without having the hassle of trying to negotiate a couple of major roads that I am convinced are out to get me.

greywolf

We live in a great place , good climate & good facility's but I would like a house with more a managable ,smaller garden as I find spending 2hrs cutting the grass a complete waste of time & effort as is pulling weeds ect.

GrannyGear

Perhaps my chief retirement requirement is that it be "above ground" if you get my drift. Deal with more exact GPS coordinates later.