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Amusing myself with thoughts of a retirement/ vacation home


homefree3
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In the US?  We love the St Petersburg, FL area.  There's water all around and the city keeps itself up nicely with plenty to do nearby including our favorite beach (Ft Desoto's North Beach).  St Pete Beach could also be an option - the whole area would be on my map to consider.

 

Outside the US?  Well... we're looking at Caribbean Islands ourselves mainly to ditch the rat race a little bit more.

 

We have a couple of years yet before we're ready.  At the moment we're watching the weather due to all the mild/warm winters, etc.  We want to make sure where we pick isn't too hot in the winter.  Southern FL is starting to get that way (by our standards).  St Pete has the advantage of being practically surrounded by water dampening the extremes in temperature.

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Martha's Vineyard. No question.

Sadly, the OP will need a lot more than $600k to afford what she wants in Martha's Vineyard.

 

 

Edited to add that whitestavern already posted the same thing I just posted. Serves me right for not reading the entire thread before responding!

Edited by Catwoman
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BUT where??

 

If you had a budget of 600000. Where would you live? It needs to have 3+ bedrooms, fishing and water access for a pantoon boat. It would be within 45mins to a major airport and potential rental is a bonus.

Would you be looking for waterfront or water views? Either of those requirements would limit what you could afford with a $600,000 budget.

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My parents had a condo on Newfound Lake in NH and it was lovely. About an hour from Manchester airport but that would depend on traffic. The downside is that it was very cold in the winter (though it was fairly close to skiing) and property taxes were crazy high. That's why they ended up selling it- between the condo fees, routine maintenance, and the property taxes it was costing them $28k/yr to keep :(

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I agree with creekland on the Tampa/St Pete area. It gets you relatively close to a major airport. If you are considering using it as a rental, a southern location will give you an extended rental season and still be warm enough in the winter for you to enjoy snowbirding. It's proximity to central Florida attractions make a good itinerary stop for those doing the mouse house, etc, who want a few days at the coast on one end of the trip (though you could also look on the space coast side, I'm just partial to the gulf side).

 

Personally, if near large airport weren't a factor, I'd go on down a little farther to Amelia/Captiva/Sanibel islands.

Edited by Seasider
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In Aus, Somewhere up round Ningaloo reef? I don't know if you'd get water frontage though. 600k us would be more like $1m Aud so that would help. Otherwise kangaroo island has some gorgeous blocks for sale, only problem is the only way on and off is via a very expensive ferry. And definitely not within 45 mins of a major aircraft.

Edited by Ausmumof3
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Lake burton in Georgia or Lake Lure in North Carolina. I have a soft spot for mountain lakes.

 

Lake Lanier is much bigger and meets all your criteria, except probably an hour and 15 to the airport. But it's Atlanta, so a big airport. Lake Oconee would work, too, but borderline too hot for me.

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When I worked on a temporary contract assignment in DE, I rented the Summer Home of a family who lived in IL.  It was near the town of North East MD.  On the North East River, just North of Chesapeake Bay.  That was the only place I ever worked that I had a hard time leaving and going back to TX.  It's about half-way between Baltimore and Philadelphia and I suspect the time to those airports would be above your 45 minute requirement. Probably closer to the Baltimore airport.

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Twain Harte, CA.  It has its own little lake, plus others are reasonably nearby.

It's about 2 1/2 hours from SFO, but regional airports are closer.

Climate is mildish--a little snow most years, but not harshly cold.  

Not far from good downhill skiing and tubing, rentable, decent restaurants, good foodie grocery store in town (but pricey), and the general big stores 15-20 minutes away in Sonora.  Great hiking in the area, plus gold panning, craft guilds, etc.

Reasonbly rentable.

600K would buy you a nice place.

 

 

The only drawback for a retirement home is that there is no good hospital in the area.  But it's a great vacation home area, and there IS local medical care, but really unusual emergencies are airlifted.

Edited by Carol in Cal.
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Where?

 

We are thinking about moving out of state and the south could be an option.

 

Lake Lanier or Lake Oconee are the ones within 90 minutes of the airport.  WIthin about 2 hours of the airport, you've also got Lake Martin in Alabama or Lake Burton in the GA mountains. Also Lake Sinclair more in middle Georgia.

 

Lake Hartwell would be about 2 hours north of the airport, plus it's about 90 minutes to Greenville-Spartanburg.  Lake Keowee is also about 90 minutes to Greenville-Spartanburg, if a small airport is okay.

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Well, I had an answer until you said "has to be within 45 minutes of a major airport."

I already live about that distance away from a major airport and it's too close! Not that I mind being that

close to an airport, I just mind the amount of people in this very urban area.

With that kind of budget, I would buy a LARGE plot of land somewhere in the mountains, near a lake.

Seems the older I get, I want more of a choice in WHEN I'm actually around people. Mostly, I just want to be 

somewhere I can just be outside to explore on my own.

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Where?

 

We are thinking about moving out of state and the south could be an option.

Hot Springs AR Lake Hamilton has some good deals too. Just over an hour to LR airport. Hot Springs is a beautiful part of the state. My best friend has a lake house there. The lake is gorgeous. 600k would go a long ways there.

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We're looking at the Lake Oconee area. My folks and sister live on Lake Lanier and while it's beautiful, traffic up there is getting pretty bad. And going down 400 to the airport is like driving in a NASCAR race.   

The Lake Oconee area is more rural so it might not be the best choice for rental. Lanier has the added bonus of being near Dahlonega and the mountains.  But yeah, $600k would buy a decent place!

 

Warning to people moving/traveling to Atlanta area: locals think everything is 30 minutes away.  That is not true- it wasn't even true when we lived there a couple of decades ago. 

Edited by Annie G
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Gulf Shores Alabama looks beautiful with closest airport 45 minutes away in Mobile. I am a sucker for white sand beaches ! We have stayed in Destin with similar beaches, but only seen photos of GulfShores/Orange Beach.

https://www.google.com/search?q=photos+of+gulf+shores+alabama&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=2D4Ji43-lk_LBM:

Edited by Silver Brook
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We're looking at the Lake Oconee area. My folks and sister live on Lake Lanier and while it's beautiful, traffic up there is getting pretty bad. And going down 400 to the airport is like driving in a NASCAR race.   

The Lake Oconee area is more rural so it might not be the best choice for rental. Lanier has the added bonus of being near Dahlonega and the mountains.  But yeah, $600k would buy a decent place!

 

Warning to people moving/traveling to Atlanta area: locals think everything is 30 minutes away.  That is not true- it wasn't even true when we lived there a couple of decades ago. 

 

Haha!  So true!

 

I leave for every.single.place 30 minutes ahead of time.  Admittedly, when it's intown, that is usually about 8-9 miles, but it's totally my frame of reference.

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In the US? We have our eyes on a three bedroom, two bath, fully furnished with dining/entertaining on the roof. It is on Elephantine Island, the Nile River, Aswan.

 

In the US though, I would love to be ocean front near Booth Bay Harbor, Maine.

Oh, it that on Zillow or Trulia? I'd love to see it.

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