Best place to live, 2020 edition

[tahoebum]

I regularly spent time in Florida mostly in the Jenson Beach to Palm Beach area. A couple of friends lived there, and I would visit frequently. But for some reason I have a block against Florida. It was a fun place to visit, but nothing ever said to me come live here. Honestly I don't know why.

Growing up my parents had a place in Pompano Beach and as my wife and I got older we realized we are not big fans of the East coast of Florida. My wife was born in Pensacola and lived the first 10 years of her life in the panhandle, has a bunch of Florida relatives and has vacationed all over Florida each year since the 70s.

After we got married we searched for a retirement spot by vacationing all over Hawaii, California, coastal Florida, and Mexico. We fell in love with Naples about a decade ago as the best compromise as Hawaii and Mexico have pros and cons as well(CA is mostly cons, lol). It has a lot of the things we love including the ocean, boating, golf and the sunniest and warmest winters outside of Hawaii. Key West and Miami are about 0.5 degrees warmer in the winter but we like Naples better. My wife's mom also lives there and some of our very best long time friends have a condo 100 yards from ours in the same complex. Another couple that is also in our tight circle of friends going back to the 1980s is closing on a condo just 0.5 miles north of ours on May 8th.

It will be fun to have great friends close by in retirement and believe it or not, all three of us belong to the same CC in Minnesota so it will be year-round golf together us just as soon as we can get our high school kids out of the house! For all of us that happens in the next few years and in the meantime, all three of our families will enjoy Christmas and lots of other Naples vacations together escaping the MN winters.

 

[#troy]

Northern WI in summer and fall is where I'd like to be as well. Leaning toward AZ for wintering at this point but i could be persuaded otherwise.

AZ would be nice, but family reasons put me in FL.

 

[Scorp]

Wherever it is, it's not SC. I've been here since 1992. I've thought about it once in a while where I'd like to live... FL's out... my family's vacationed there a few times in the Orlando area... the last time we were torn up by no seeums. That's not the real reason though. My wife put the NO on FL. She doesn't want to.

GA would be nice but again, my wife said no. Same thing for NC.

She mentioned several times PA... I said you're going alone up there. I'm not living North of the Mason-Dixon line... we'll probably settle in TN close to her daughter somewhere... or just stay in SC and continue to complain.

 

[Mark_UK]

I live just outside Monterey in California. I can hear the ocean from my house (although can’t see it unfortunately), great golf, good restaurants, a food omicron brew scene, chilled atmosphere, what’s not to like. I can’t think of anywhere else I’d rather live. San Diego possibly.

 

[OGputtnfool]

Where’s your ideal place to live in a transformed world post COVID-19? What’s driving your choice: golf, weather, health security, employment, family, birds of a feather, etc.? Or are you there?

Somewhere in the good ol' USA. That's for sure.

 

[G-Man]

If it weren't for politics and taxes, San Diego would be my choice.
Why?
1. Weather
2. Golf all year
3. Ocean
4. Did I say weather?

visited there last year for the first time and man I was sold! Things are pricey, so in my current profession could not afford it. However, checks all the boxes.

My answer would probably be the carolinas. You get the seasons but not as devastating.

 

[stcjones]

love Naples....by far they get some of the best sunsets on the planet!!!

We have both our retirement spots locked down. Naples Florida from Halloween through about Memorial Day and northern Minnesota for the other 165 days. A big part of the appeal is we both love water and being outside much of the daylight hours. We will be mostly in 70-85* weather for the entire year wich is ideal for our hobbies of golf, boating, and outdoor exercise. We both love sitting on the beach and/or taking a sunset cruise in the boat a couple of hours each day. We also love the people in Minnesota and the fact that Minneapolis is just 2 hours away if my wife needs her shopping or city fix or just to visit friends or family. Our youngest is in high school so just three more Minnesota winters to survive!

I hope we have a lot of these sunsets and sunrises left to enjoy with family and friends! The first one is from February with my youngest and I enjoying another sunset and the other is just a few weeks later of a winter sunrise.

 

[stcjones]

I know Mexico isn’t all poverty and drug cartels
but aren’t you nervous living there safety wise?! Just curious! Thanks

We left Mexico to move back to Houston so we could care for my in-laws (cancer and other health issues). Before the virus, we would spend every evening with them and could help out with various things. Now we're stuck in Houston and can't even see our in-laws as the doctors have them quarantined from everyone.

My friends back in Mexico are social distancing and taking sensible precautions, but they aren't on lockdown. It would sure be nice to have our Sea of Cortez views each morning, get out for our beautiful walks again and yes, even go out to eat again!

At some point we'll move back to Mexico permanently (assuming the whole worldwide economic system hasn't **** the bed...), but I sure wish we were there now during this COVID crisis.

 

[Nate<80]

We have both our retirement spots locked down. Naples Florida from Halloween through about Memorial Day and northern Minnesota for the other 165 days. A big part of the appeal is we both love water and being outside much of the daylight hours. We will be mostly in 70-85* weather for the entire year wich is ideal for our hobbies of golf, boating, and outdoor exercise. We both love sitting on the beach and/or taking a sunset cruise in the boat a couple of hours each day. We also love the people in Minnesota and the fact that Minneapolis is just 2 hours away if my wife needs her shopping or city fix or just to visit friends or family. Our youngest is in high school so just three more Minnesota winters to survive!

I hope we have a lot of these sunsets and sunrises left to enjoy with family and friends! The first one is from February with my youngest and I enjoying another sunset and the other is just a few weeks later of a winter sunrise.

The Mercato in Naples, is enough to make the move.

The company I work for (Arthrex) has its HQ down there. I also used to Caddie at Calusa Pines!

 

[pattyboy21]

I know Mexico isn’t all poverty and drug cartels
but aren’t you nervous living there safety wise?! Just curious! Thanks

We lived there most of the past 3 years (La Paz and Los Cabos) and drove all the way down the Baja and back this last time. We actually feel safer there than we do in Houston where violent crime is plentiful and random.

Generally and statistically speaking, expats are very safe in many parts of Mexico as cartels tend to target each other as well as police, military, journalists and politicians who are either in the drug trade or actively trying to thwart it.

 

[Danimal]

I would love to move West where there is warmth year round. I have always had New Mexico, Utah and Arizona on my wish list. I am concerned about the water issues in those areas though.

 

[Flipit]

Perhaps something I need to rethink under the current circumstances. Living in the Bay Area has a lot to offer. However its not a place for retirement as far as Im concerned. To busy and too expensive. The weather is hard to beat and will be a requirement where ever we decide to go. Golf and fishing will be considered as well as proximity to family. So most likely Auburn California, although Id like to explore Arizona as well.

 

[ArmyGolf]

Since moving to the USA isnt an option for me, this question is a lot easier.

I currently live in the only area of Canada that doesnt experience winter, in its truest form. We get maybe 1 or 2 weeks a year of snow.
There is nowhere else in Canada that interests me, except perhaps the Maritimes. The BC Okanagan is heaven on earth in the summer, but the 5-6 month winter is just too much.

 

[Scorp]

I was over in Catania (I think that's where it was) Sicily one time for a couple of days. Simply gorgeous. That might be a good place to be... for a while anyway.

And the sea off of the coast of Djibhouti... colors I had never seen in one place before... aquas, teals, whites... but not somewhere I'd call home.

 

[Scorp]

Since moving to the USA isnt an option for me, this question is a lot easier.

I currently live in the only area of Canada that doesnt experience winter, in its truest form. We get maybe 1 or 2 weeks a year of snow.
There is nowhere else in Canada that interests me, except perhaps the Maritimes. The BC Okanagan is heaven on earth in the summer, but the 5-6 month winter is just too much.

How is that possible? No winter? In Canada? I thought Canada had winter with feet and feet (or meters and meters) of snow and cold... I'll be honest, I'm ignorant of a lot of Canada's geography.