Retirement locations & Airstreaming

[basaltfan]

Originally Posted by Bobfrapples

My Wife and I just built a Casita in "Superstition Views" in Gold Canyon, Arizona where we will travel 6 Months and Hang in AZ 6 Months. Beautiful Location. RV Pad Next to House lot's of nice people and Snowbirds. Montesa, Canyon Vistas and Superstition Views all next to each other. All Price Ranges all RV oriented.
Getting our Globetrotter soon..
1/2 hour to Phoenix. 10 Minutes to Mesa.
Check it out!

just check out the Superstition Views site, looked interesting. Didn't see any info on property taxes on monthly dues. How are those costs?

[sac1gaa]

My advise, Stay out of California. We have state income tax, county sales tax, DMV just raised their tax. If you own something nice (boat) there is an annual luxury tax plus registration for both. they did come up with permanent trailer registration (Campers are excluded) but realized the loss of revenue so instituted a $10 registration fee. New Fuel/gas tax just sent our price per gallon to highest in the country. Property tax will be high but limited raises due to prop. 13. Good news though, soon we will have a really fast train that starts in the middle of nowhere and ends where it started and is only 20 billion over budget. Oh one more thing, they are trying to build a couple 40 foot tunnels to take the Sacramento river past its Delta area. That means crabbing season will now extend inland to include Sacramento. Fishing License is only $50, but that is just where you put the stickers for each variety of fish you want to catch, @$20 per sticker. Last but not least, I recently bought a hat (Stetson)at a sporting goods store on a trip to Reno, Nevada. I liked the hat and want to purchase a second one at the nearby Bass-Pro Shop. NOPE, my hat, I will repeat so you know I did get spell corrected, MY STETSON HAT is ILLEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. Really.
Why do I stay? My parents are in their 90's & grandkids 30 minutes away.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by sac1gaa

MY STETSON HAT is ILLEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. Really.

Well, of course! Authentic Stetsons are made from beaver felt, and the animal rights lobby in California won't let you use cute cuddly creatures like beavers to make items of apparel. You have to use ugly creatures, like cows.

[CruizinDux]

Funny the timing of things...this topic has been on our minds of late. Saw this recent article

https://tinyurl.com/y962rcsj

with OR almost closing in on the worst places between CA & NY and AR 2nd from the best, we started to re-think things. As two CA ex-pats...sac1gaa is spot on and we suspect OR is hot on the scent.

State How long $1 million lasts in retirement
Mississippi 25 years, 6 months
Arkansas 25 years
Tennessee 24 years, 5 months
Kansas 24 years, 5 months
Oklahoma 24 years, 4 months And these are the 5 worst states:

State How long $1 million lasts in retirement
Hawaii 13 years, 1 month
District of Columbia 14 years, 2 months
California 15 years
Oregon 16 years, 7 months
New York 16 years, 7 months

[McDave]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Well, of course! Authentic Stetsons are made from beaver felt, and the animal rights lobby in California won't let you use cute cuddly creatures like beavers to make items of apparel. You have to use ugly creatures, like cows.

Evidently nobody has told this to the farmers and duck club owners around Sacramento. They exterminate beavers like they were rats when they get into their fields, ponds, dikes and levies.

[n2916s]

On the other hand, much of, if not most of, California is amazing. You have had the great good sense to protect most of that beautiful shoreline from overdevelopment. There are city, county, state and National parks that are unique and spectacular.

Tired of salt water? Try one of many gorgeous lakes. Get up in the mountains. Out in the desert.

Even your metropolitan areas are world-class. SFO and LAX give you inexpensive access to the world. Your economy is adaptive and resilient.

It is, clearly, an expensive place to live, tax-wise and realty-wise. But look what you get.

If I could ever cut loose from family obs here in Florida, I'd move in a heartbeat.

[kscherzi]

California fish and game regulations permit beaver trapping in most areas of the state between November 1 and March 31. No bag limit.

[markdoane]

California won't allow beaver fur hats because their state mammal is a beaver. A really big beaver that looks like a bear.

Look at their state flag, it has a really big beaver on it. Or maybe Oregon.

But Oregon is really just a better situated California.

Go Vikings.

[HHPJ]

We live in Sungate Country Community, 55 and over. Palm Springs area. Right next to Rancho Mirage, Gated, lot cost 28,000. HOA about 250 a month.

Free water and trash. Property tax 319 a year. Can put a tiny house on property if we ever give up the AS.
Pools, spas. Here for the season, gone for the summer. Can rent out my space while I’m away. The cost far outweighed the 350k house option in our area. Let me know if your interested, I have another option on a lot across from clubhouse, one lot is all we need.

Eisenhower Medical center and the largest inland base 29 palms in the United States, all very close. Residency issues can be adjusted since we are away part of the year.

[RamRider]

Time to move to Central Texas, we Have Fort Hood and 3 VA hospitals nearby. We park our Airstream at the end of our drive way and travel about 1 week per month - except for January.

[Endodoc]

Originally Posted by slowrider

My wife and I looked for many years to find what we felt like would be the ideal spot to retire. Bella Vista, AR fit all our requirements for a place to live part of the year and travel in our Airstream much of the rest of the time. While there is storage facility available through the POA, we opted to build the garage large enough to store ours. If you enjoy hiking, fishing, golf, you might want to check out Bella Vista. It has been listed in several publications as one of the best areas to retire in.



Rich Karl

WBBC #5663

Hi Rich. My wife and I live in Shreveport and have been planning a trip to check out Bella Vista for some time. Many trips we have made to Eureka Springs and taking our now-grown children to summer camp near Branson. Is having the POA there in Bella Vista an issue in any way?

Jim Brady

[FCStreamer]

I'm a few years from retiring myself, but am planning for it. And my plan is to retire at River Ranch, FL. That will be "homebase". And from there, I will travel the US.

[CruizinDux]

Originally Posted by CruizinDux

Funny the timing of things...this topic has been on our minds of late. Saw this recent article

https://tinyurl.com/y962rcsj

with OR almost closing in on the worst places between CA & NY and AR 2nd from the best, we started to re-think things. As two CA ex-pats...sac1gaa is spot on and we suspect OR is hot on the scent.

State How long $1 million lasts in retirement
Mississippi 25 years, 6 months
Arkansas 25 years
Tennessee 24 years, 5 months
Kansas 24 years, 5 months
Oklahoma 24 years, 4 months And these are the 5 worst states:

State How long $1 million lasts in retirement
Hawaii 13 years, 1 month
District of Columbia 14 years, 2 months
California 15 years
Oregon 16 years, 7 months
New York 16 years, 7 months

Forgot to add....Initially Bella Vista was the draw, but we're now focusing on the Rogers/Bentonville area, a few miles S of Bella Vista.

[pdavitt]

Originally Posted by n2916s

On the other hand, much of, if not most of, California is amazing. You have had the great good sense to protect most of that beautiful shoreline from overdevelopment. There are city, county, state and National parks that are unique and spectacular.

Tired of salt water? Try one of many gorgeous lakes. Get up in the mountains. Out in the desert.

Even your metropolitan areas are world-class. SFO and LAX give you inexpensive access to the world. Your economy is adaptive and resilient.

It is, clearly, an expensive place to live, tax-wise and realty-wise. But look what you get.

If I could ever cut loose from family obs here in Florida, I'd move in a heartbeat.

That's why I live in Texas. So I have the money to spend to visit all those nice places in California.

Pat

[Adiredneck]

My $0.02 worth...
Airstreams are good three-season campers; and which seasons those are depends on where you are. As you can imagine, it's too cold to camp in winter up where you are in New England. Conversely, you won't like camping in summer in TX, AZ or the Deep South. So, you can "brick and mortar" it up North and become a snowbird in the Airstream down South in the winter; or buy/build a place down South and spend summers camping in the North, Northeast or Rockies.

When it comes to taxes, do not just consider income tax. Some guy just posted on one of the Airstream Facebook groups his $2,400 personal property tax bill on his Airstream in "tax friendly" South Carolina. Mississippi, Virginia and several other southern states tax personal property and vehicles (In Mississippi, we would've paid more taxes on our Airstream and Ram 3500 than we do on our 3000 sq ft house!) We avoided that by registering both to the address of our property in New York State, which does not tax personal property. Speaking of NYS; if you like the Northeast, rural upstate NYS has relatively cheap real estate prices (and no HMOs), beautifuk countryside, and does not charge income tax on military or civil service pensions. Downside is rather hefty real property taxes.

Lots of things to consider...

[Adiredneck]

Our solution, for now (I just retired last year) is to keep our primary residence in Mississippi, and use that as "winter quarters" and base-of-ops for camping in Spring and late Fall. We also own a two-family house in NYS up on the Vermont border. We are renting out half - which pays all taxes and heating bills, maintenance, etc.; as well as provides a tenant to keep keep an eye on the house in winter - and use the other half as our "summer quarters" and basecamp for camping in the Airstream throughout NYS, New England and eastern Canada. The "plan" looks good on paper so far...

PS - I'm retired USAF as well; and my wife and I are retired National Park Rangers.

[tkb2041]

Thank you Dex & Kelly for your service. My advise to you....don't come to California.....you'll be taxed to death!

[gypsydad]

Even though we summer in MT and winter in TX, we are always looking for that perfect solution/combination for retire and relaxation. We are going to give up our cabin in MT this summer, after 17 years on the Blackfoot river outside Lincoln. Last few years, we found ourselves using the AS more and more while up there, more than using the cabin. No need to have 2 places. TX is home to the grandkids mostly, so need to keep that proximity for winter. Many friends have moved to AZ and FL. We keep thinking about looking closer at AZ, but wondering why we keep thinking about that one...cheaper here in TX. Looked at the Superstition Views in AZ from earlier post...looks very interesting, but when you price it out, you could probably find a larger home with property in same area for less money then they are asking for those 600 sq. ft. casitas. Perhaps even build your own version on some land... anyway, seems like were not all ever satisfied with life...that's what makes it interesting to keep checking places out with the AS and talking with fellow streamers!

[markdoane]

Suggest you stay out of Minnesota. Sky high taxes. Military and Civil Service pensions taxed at same high rate as regular income and pensions. Cold in the winter.

Lots of crime. Remember the movie Fargo? Yep, it's like that.

We have a couple of VA Hospitals, but they're nothing fancy. I think we have a Army Reserve post up north, mostly for deer hunters.

So I'd recommend you stay in Texas or Florida or Alabama.

[Protagonist]

The ideal retirement domicile state— for me— has these key features:

1 - No state tax on my pension (presently only 13 states fit that requirement);
2 - Relatively low cost of living for when I'm not on the road;
3 - Good access to healthcare (though this is more of a city issue than a state issue);
4 - Warm enough climate that I can go Airstreaming year-round;
5 - An Airstream dealer within reasonable driving distance; and
6 - Since I own an Interstate, a Mercedes Benz Sprinter dealer within reasonable driving distance.