My mother retired to Shell Point in SW Fort Myers. Great retirement complex. But the region to me is awful. I could not live there, after seeing the chaos and destruction of Hurricane Ian. Nearly broke her spirit. It destroyed her condo.

Anyway I hope you truly enjoy the search for the next home. I am doing the same. My current target is my hometown of Knoxville Tennessee. We may relocate there in a few years. Tellico Village is a retirement community on a lake.

My keys are taxes, freedom, weather, costs, and activities. I think East Tennessee has what we need.

used to go to Calverton to a gun range. No supervision what so ever. It was a free for all. But I do remember a lot of farms and an occasional F14 fly by. It was nice country but between the taxes and politics I would look else where.One of the reasons I escaped NYC..

There are plenty of other spots in FL to check out before moving back to NY. Have you checked out your options in a spot like Pinellas County? There's a lot more services available here than most areas in Florida. On-demand wheelchair transport is available through the PSTA and there are a number of programs for seniors living on a fixed income.

https://psta.net/programs/psta-access-paratransit/

FYI, I lived in Manhattan for several years when I was still single, and it was tough to make ends meet. I couldn't imagine moving to Long Island on a fixed income.

Remember, it snows in New York. No mater how much I hate yard work, shoveling snow sucks more, and actually kills a lot of older people every year.

My in-laws live in Florida, so I understand the desire to get out. I could never live, there, especially in the summer. But if your goal is a physically easier life in an urban environment, I'd probably looks somewhere like Nashville, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, Richmond, Birmingham, etc. over NYC or Seattle. Heck, even San Diego would be better.

quote:

There are plenty of other spots in FL to check out before moving back to NY.

For what it's worth, a lot of people look to FL for retirement:

Best and Worst U.S. Cities to Retire in 2024: WalletHub

WalletHub is out again with their latest ranking on the best and worst cities to retire to in the nation

One southeastern state is once again dominating WalletHub’s latest list of best and worst places to retire.

Four Florida cities came in at the top five, with Orlando ranking as the top U.S. destination for retirees as Miami followed second. Tampa—which claimed the No. 1 spot in 2023—fell behind at No. 4 while Fort Lauderdale placed fifth. Minneapolis was the only non-Floridian city to place within the top five, at No. 3.

WalletHub credits Orlando’s affordability, primarily due to a lack of taxes, for the reason why many seniors flock to the city. Retirees also enjoy zero estate, inheritance, and income tax, as the state of Florida does not tax on these.

https://401kspecialistmag.com/...cities-to-retire-us/

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:

OP: you should check out PA too.

This... Along with what is already mentioned, PA does not tax retirement income, up to and including IRA withdrawals. I lived in Suffolk Co, about 10 minutes from Calverton, for 20 years. It's expensive. Property taxes are through the roof as are utilities. I went from a 3 bedroom on 1/3 acre paying $11K in property tax and $400/mo electric bills to a 3 bedroom on 2 acres paying $2.5K in property tax and a $50/mo electric bill. Additionally, sales tax of 8.6% vs 6.0%. It's crowded and traffic is a nightmare. Mr Musk does not have enough money to get me to move back there. You can certainly do better for a retirement location IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by cyberphobia:
Yes Up State we have looked up as far as Albany across to Buffalo no lake effect snow for us, the Hudson valley south to Whiteplains nice areas.But except for the train into the city we still need cars we are museum, art and history people seen all the trees we need.

You are definitely thinking outside the box, but you have also reasoned this out. There are no perfect places, so the far eastern end of Long Island may be a great spot. I've been to that area; not Calverton, but the eastern portion of LI and it is different world there, a world away from Manhattan. And probably more conservatives living there than we might expect.


.

Again thank you for all the comments
We are still looking LI was not a certainty I was just asking about the area.
I need History, Museums old houses to roam around streets to walk, transit.... sidewalks would be a bonus.
An Indian Restaurant or two something thats has other food besides Fried Chicken, Catfish and Burgers.
We are still looking Connecticut and Rhode Island have been mentioned Im now looking into Groton, New London and Providence.
Have to up early tomorrow have an 8 hour IDPA match got to drive up to mid Florida.
Again thank you one and all.

You can get all of that in any minor metropolitan area from your place to Quebec.

You are 74, likely another 10-15 years of mobile life. Why don’t you sell, and rent something for a year in a place somewhere in the Carolinas? No snow, which will kill you.

You have one good asset, and a limited income. Don’t blow it in an ill-advised move, sell that asset and make smart decisions.

Calverton is known for Calverton National Cemetery, the former Grumman plant and a shooting range. (and there's another range next to the cemetery).

High cost of living. High taxes. Lots of congestion. I suppose if you HAD to live on long island and couldn't afford to REALLY live out east, Calverton wouldn't be a bad spot. It's right on the edge of what was once "the east end", farms and such, and the rest of the miserable over crowded mess.

The idea of people moving here on purpose (one's NOT moving out from "the city" (which to me is anything west of my house ) is just mind boggling though. People on fixed incomes don't move here, they move away from here.

If you're after "coast", don't let the "island" part fool you, unless you're buying a boat. I've always said it's an island, but you wouldn't know it. Unless you have millions in the bank.

I won’t at your request get into the gun law stuff or other political stuff which is detestable

Even back in the 70’s when my brother was first assigned there when working for the state university system as a police officer, to have a place to live he was sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with 5 other cops to squeak by. It has only gotten worse

When I was deployed to Iraq (04-05) most of my unit was people from the NYC region. At the time a nice house in my area of western NY state ( Buffalo) was going for about 150k in a nice neighborhood- one of my troops was talking about what a great deal he got on a house- a decrepit handyman special he would have to do massive amounts of work on wiring plumbing hvac roof etc. a 1500 square foot he got at the bargain price of 300K
Remember superstorm Sandy that destroyed massive regions of NYNJ? Long Island is not the answer for these reasons alone.

I like the idea of renting a bit, to get a feel for a new area. If you limit things moved, costs could be reasonable.

Some roots are important. My long retired Mom is in rural N MI. It’s not a ‘normal’ retirement area, but she knows nearly everyone and is surrounded by relatives.

If in a Northern area, I like the idea of bugging out for a few months during the heart of Winter. There are options without ownership, lower cost, varying destinations.

Really need more direction on what you are looking for--so far it's public transit, proximity to NYC, History/museums and sidewalks.
The Wall Street types want the same thing-commute to Manhattan but live in CT.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
I think if it were me I'd rent an apartment or something in Calverton for a year or so before I put down the big bucks for a fulltime home, just to hopefully avoid making a mistake and regretting.

You have time, sell your Florida place, bank the money.

Don't let anyone rush you.

If the area makes you happy then go for it.

Just take a little time before the big commitment.

Best wishes to you.

When I saw this, I recognize it as the best advice yet (outside of the location specific posts).

It was my wife's idea that we should rent first and get to know the place and the different neighborhoods.

She also had the idea we should vacation for a week or two first before making a final decision. It was me, who after doing my google searches, triumphantly declared, "We're going to Prescott, AZ!" She didn't buy my justification that I already googled it and google can't be wrong.

It might end up costing you more money to rent for the first year but it could also save you a lot of headaches and bigger money.

I don't fault you for wanting to move - avoiding places with natural disasters was one of my criteria. And when we drove through Florida, I was happy we didn't decide for FL because of the heat AND humidity.

Where we are now is just a few degrees more than what we're used to in the Bay Area in summer and winter.

Another criteria you may want to consider is access to healthcare to wherever you're going to.

quote:

Originally posted by valkyrie1:
used to go to Calverton to a gun range. No supervision what so ever. It was a free for all. But I do remember a lot of farms and an occasional F14 fly by. It was nice country but between the taxes and politics I would look else where.One of the reasons I escaped NYC..

When did you go to this range? I used to live in the north shore of Nassau County and occasionally shot there in the early 1980s.

I wouldn't retire to LI. If I had to move from where I am now in NC I'd think about VA, SC or possibly Delaware. My sister has a house at the Delaware shore. I don't know what the rest of the state is like but there doesn't seem to be a lot to do, probably because I'm not a beach person.

As a former Ny resident ( Buffalo area) I moved 9 years ago to Arizona. One of my best decisions ever.
When deciding to leave NY I looked at all options applicable ( wife wanted mild to moderate year round weather, we both needed good business climates for our professions, and I wanted a better 2A environment.) I considered everything from North Carolina south to Florida, and west to AZ
Once I sorted things out in my personal circumstances the best options were AZ and TX
Wife’s health does better in the low humidity southwest and you can’t get better in regards to the 2A.
Not all of AZ is fry an egg on the car hood like Phoenix metro.
We live at 5000+ feet elevation, and rarely does it get above 95 degrees and we get a handful of days in the winter with a dusting of snow, melted by noon. Every few years we are good for a snow storm ( 6-10” which shuts down everything for a few days)
Nice thing about AZ with its varied elevations is if you are in the valley and hot, it is a 90 minute drive to cool high elevations and vice versa.
We have a surprising amount of water, and if that is your thing boating and fishing opportunities abound. When I first got here, I was perplexed seeing so many people towing boats. We have several very large lakes popular for boating and fishing and tons of small lakes and streams for fishing and kayaking.
If I was committed to staying east coast, I would be thinking Carolinas probably

quote:

Originally posted by cyberphobia:
Have to up early tomorrow have an 8 hour IDPA match got to drive up to mid Florida.

There's no IDPA on long island. USPSA, yes, but no real IDPA.

Sounds like you have your mind made up. But if it were me I would definitely chose the Puget sound area over anywhere in NY. Yes, Wa. State has its issues. But the area along with climate and access to other things. Wa. wins hands down for me.
Unless age for driving is an issue. Mass trans would not be a reason to land in NY state. Ymmv.

I'm tempted to say "there's no mass transit on LI."

That's not true, there are county busses, that in large part seem to run more to/from the lower income areas. And the LIRR does run from "the city" out to the south fork of the island.

My first thought was that you will be trading shoveling snow for mowing. With bad knees I would think ice would be a real risk to your hips with a slip and fall.