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Best Place for an Old Car Guy to Retire?


63RedBrier

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Mercer09 you have a point, yes some communities that are nearer to big cities are more expensive, have more people, traffic, etc etc. all the "negative bad" things we want to get away from and live in a place that is cheaper, peaceful, safe, convenient, the "right" climate, etc etc. No place it totally ideal , especially temperature/weather and cost wise. I am glad to be living where the closest top class hospitals are only about a 10 minute or sometimes less ride away . They and their staff are the  reason I am still here and able to be typing this now. Yes, it is expensive to live on long island, especially in an incorporated village that has its own police dept., public works dept . to take care of the roads/snow etc, etc. but what price can you put on quality of life ( not luxury ) or even life itself?  How do you "try a place /area out" to see if it works , hard to tell that from a brief stay .

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We were 25 miles SE of Syracuse NY (with 3 modern hospitals)  all 2 lane rural 55 mph lightly traveled roads. Our Fire Rescue was less than a mile from the house. Our volunteer ambulance service was 6 miles away and was always staffed and backup called when one ambulance  went out. They had 2 full life support ambulances. When I had my heart attack in 2003 at 3 in the morning a neighbor (volunteer FD) was at my door in 3 minutes followed by the rescue truck less than a minute later. The life support ambulance ETA was 8 minutes after my call. ETA at the hospital was 45 minutes after my call.

 

I now live in a large suburb of Rochester NY. I live about 10 miles from a large modern hospital. The last time I called an ambulance it took over 20 minutes to arrive. That 20 minutes would be pretty critical with no medical personnel in the event of a heart attack..

 

Small town does not have to be remote in the Northeast. One mile to the East of us there are no suburbs - only farms, vineyards and open lands.......

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99 percent of the things you worry about never happen.............

 

Get busy living........ ...........Cars, Women, Booz............is there anything else?

 

Drive it like you stole it.................

 

When in doubt.........give it gas.............

 

I spent all my money on booze, women, and cars........never wasted a penny!

 

I like to spend time talking to myself.........I like dealing with a better class of people.

 

He who has the most toys when he dies wins!

 

I sure have a neat pile of junk in the garage............

 

Its time to drive my Ossa.......Cadillac, Pierce Arrow, Model T,  Packard, Auburn, ect.............😀

 

 

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When I considered retiring I wanted some place with an active antique car culture, top notch hospitals and near several cities for the occasional  cultural day trip. I finally realized that that place is where I grew up and currently live. 45 minutes to Hershey, 100 miles to Philly, 45 miles to Baltimore and 90 miles to DC. Other than the sometimes harsh winters what more could I ask for?

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I moved from the DC area to N.Myrtle Beach SC. Weather is great, old cars are everywhere you can drive them all year. Yea occasional hurricane, but taxes are low, except restaurant food. Housing price is good, and car insurance is half that in the DC area. They don't tax SS, and you get homestead exemptions on Real Estate. Car repair for antiques is a problem, but I do all my own work anyway so not a problem. The best thing, no snow shovels needed.    

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Definitely do not come to Texas!

Very high summer heat.... very dusty roads... horse n' buggy traffic jams roads... taxes outlandish... expensive brick/stone houses with only one-car garages, if any... but, one redeeming feature, is that, for winter, we have self-shoveling driveways.

 

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Depends where the tourist are from.

 

 

I over tipped in Germany many years ago and got a very nasty look from the waiter.  just a misunderstanding.........

 

many countries pay their employees well and tipping isnt necessary, as here in the US.       different customs.

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On 9/19/2019 at 10:02 PM, alsancle said:

Find me this:

 

1.  Within 1 hour of a major airport

2.  Within 30 minutes of a real hospital

3.  Moderate climate

4.  Low to moderate tax state

5.  Limited number of frequent natural disasters.

 

I'm thinking Ashville NC.

  Asheville, they even have a 5 Star VA Hospital.   Good choice, but you better come quick, the woods are full of new residents and a few bears.

Edited by Paul Dobbin
added VA Hospital (see edit history)
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7 hours ago, Paul Dobbin said:

but you better come quick, the woods are full of new residents and a few bears.

 

Are you warning us about the new residents or the bears?

 

Around here we fear the new residents, as they bring increased traffic on a narrow rural road. The bears are friendly😉

 

 

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On 9/26/2019 at 7:42 AM, TXSearsGuy said:

Definitely do not come to Texas!

Very high summer heat.... very dusty roads... horse n' buggy traffic jams roads... taxes outlandish... expensive brick/stone houses with only one-car garages, if any... but, one redeeming feature, is that, for winter, we have self-shoveling driveways.

 

How is it that taxes are outlandish? Texas doesnt have state taxes. 

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3 hours ago, bryankazmer said:

asheville has a lot of pluses, but doesn't meet the one hour to major airport criterion.

  Asheville Airport served one million passengers last year and has been growing rapidly.

  125 road miles to Charlotte International Airport. Also served by connector flights to the

  Giant air hubs if you need them.

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Whatever you do, stay away from Florida.  We have oppressive heat, hurricanes, alligators, pythons, mosquitos, lustbugs, lightning, sink holes, Rainbow People, HOAs from hell, tornados, red tide, citrus greening, oppressive humidity, plague and pestilence.  Where ever you are, you're better off staying there.  Oh, yeah, and sometimes, even earthquakes. 

 

Cheers,

Grog

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8 hours ago, capngrog said:

 

Whatever you do, stay away from Florida.  We have oppressive heat, hurricanes, alligators, pythons, mosquitos, lustbugs, lightning, sink holes, Rainbow People, HOAs from hell, tornados, red tide, citrus greening, oppressive humidity, plague and pestilence.  Where ever you are, you're better off staying there.  Oh, yeah, and sometimes, even earthquakes. 

 

Cheers,

Grog

You left a few things out but all in all it is still much better then New York metro area to retire, and NYS for that matter

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All depends on where you live (and you left out the yellow flies - a bite will stay with you for months). Am thinking more about moving about 20 miles west but even if I found a suitable place (bigger garage than house) it would probably cost 50 large just to move.

 

I do have 22ga screens instead of 20.

 

Guess the real bottom line is a place where you feel at home.

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On 9/20/2019 at 9:36 AM, Pfeil said:

Prescott at 5,000 feet IS surrounded on THREE SIDES  by forest!  I have 27 trees on my property! We might or might not get 95 degrees a few days a year Like Seattle or L.A. did this year. And early this unusual year we did get a record 12" of snow that lasted a hole of two days. 

Three sides of this;

Image result for pictures of prescott national forest

and on the other side;

See the source image

See the source image

 

 

 You guys are wasting your time in Florida

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16 hours ago, capngrog said:

 

Whatever you do, stay away from Florida.  We have oppressive heat, hurricanes, alligators, pythons, mosquitos, lustbugs, lightning, sink holes, Rainbow People, HOAs from hell, tornados, red tide, citrus greening, oppressive humidity, plague and pestilence.  Where ever you are, you're better off staying there.  Oh, yeah, and sometimes, even earthquakes. 

 

Cheers,

Grog

About five years ago, my brother moved down to the Lakeland-Tampa area, as soon as he got there, he was bragging to me about how great it was, about a year later, he couldn't wait to get out. He's a welder, he took a job down there in some big fab shop, everything mentioned above, plus, he said the drug problem is really bad there, guys were smoking meth or crack right in the shop and nobody cared. Lot's of burglaries etc.

 

Back in the late 70's, my wife and I went down to Daytona, I pulled up to a stoplight like I always did in Detroit, cop gives me a whoop on the siren, I look over and he's pointing at my front tires, I thought I was getting a flat, nope, he was telling me stay behind the wide line at the light. A lot has changed apparently.

 

-Ron

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  • 1 month later...

You might look in to pension plans.. FYI - may be cheap to live but they need money down the road..

 

Some states are under water..

 

Massachusetts, $76.9 billion, more than Egypt

One unique reason for Massachusetts’ unfunded pension debt is that it is one of a handful states to allow public employees to cash out unused sick and vacation days at retirement. Local media reported that 1,000 state retirees earned $100,000 or more in pension pay last year. Massachusetts has more debt than Egypt's $75 billion.

 

Michigan, $33.7 billion, more than Tunisia

The majority of Michigan's debt stems from unfunded pension and health-care benefits. Yet it's an issue that varies widely across the state, with some municipalities' pension systems fully funded while others are just 50% funded

 

 

Edited by nick8086 (see edit history)
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11 hours ago, nick8086 said:

You might look in to pension plans.. FYI - may be cheap to live but they need money down the road..

 

Some states are under water..

 

Massachusetts, $76.9 billion, more than Egypt

One unique reason for Massachusetts’ unfunded pension debt is that it is one of a handful states to allow public employees to cash out unused sick and vacation days at retirement. Local media reported that 1,000 state retirees earned $100,000 or more in pension pay last year. Massachusetts has more debt than Egypt's $75 billion.

 

Michigan, $33.7 billion, more than Tunisia

The majority of Michigan's debt stems from unfunded pension and health-care benefits. Yet it's an issue that varies widely across the state, with some municipalities' pension systems fully funded while others are just 50% funded

 

 

California 1.5 trillion debt,  and something like 49% above the national average cost of living. Only Hawaii higher at 50%. Depending on where you are living in Ca. gasoline is around 4.50+ and rising for a gallon of regular 89. I think it's called paradise tax. Certainly a lot of Tesla's in L.A. county especially where I'm at right now in Redondo Beach. I've never seen so many.  Leaving for home in Prescott AZ. a few minutes. Will be nice to be back in America again.

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I paid 6.49 a gallon in California last week in the boondocks.

 

I also got to see the start and middle portion of the Kincaid fire in Sonoma and Russian River Vally. 
 

The blackouts to prevent fires didn’t work.....they started five fires, burned half the valley, and with no power, getting gas for a 80 year old gas hog was interesting.

 

California is a third world country...........and it’s a shame.

Edited by edinmass (see edit history)
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3 hours ago, edinmass said:

I paid 6.49 a gallon in California last week in the boondocks.

 

I also got to see the start and middle portion of the Kincaid fire in Sonoma and Russian River Vally. 
 

The blackouts to prevent fires didn’t work.....they started five fires, burned half the valley, and with no power, getting gas for a 80 year old gas hog was interesting.

 

California is a third world country...........and it’s a shame.

 

I don't know what to say. Born and raised here. After my mom passed I moved back into my childhood home and sold my small place in Southern California. I was without power for the better part of a week, and no water since I have a well. I did not buy a generator because I was expected to NOT be in the blackout area.

 

We've had some very dry Octobers the past few years, and crazy strong winds from the east. That is mainly coincidence IMO.

 

The fire was started by a failed high voltage transmission line. 10,000 volt - plus maybe. Those are supposed to be fool proof. And all vegetation under and around them is clear -cut.

 

 

 

Edited by mike6024 (see edit history)
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