Like I said, the money has to come from somewhere. There is no state tax on retirement income. Some states have high sales tax or property taxes or gas taxes or sin taxes. Seriously, why are you spending time complaining about taxes that don’t affect your community and you aren’t paying?
Don’t. We moved back to NM to be close to family and regret it completely. They tax everything, income, SSN, retirement, groceries, medical, feed, and wanting to raise taxes more. It’s a poor state, beautiful but poor, medical isn’t the best, good hospitals in ABQ but appointments with specialists take months, many go out of state for medical care. Everything is more costly then where we previously lived (also a poor state). A bit more of a horse scene in ABQ and Santa Fe for dressage and H/J, otherwise lots of rodeos, roping and barrel racing if that’s your thing. No big equine hospitals but we do have a good equine clinic where we are, they focus on the TB race farms in the area so sometimes busy. Don’t count on pastures most are dry lots unless you have irrigation, water in some areas is metered and limited. Established equine properties are expensive. Weather hasn’t been much to love other than its dry.
When I lived in Oregon years ago many of the Californians moved north to retire. West of the Cascades tends to be rainy and socially more liberal, especially to the north. East of the Cascades (high desert) gets some winter weather but is drier, more socially conservative. Lots of horsey things happening, especially toward the north in the Willamette Valley area. Loved every minute I lived there.
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I would consider the PNW - either Oregon or western Washington.
In particular I would consider Bellingham, WA. Bellingham is between Seattle and Vancouver, BC. It is a beautiful city with a thriving craft brewery seen, water and easy access to many awesome places. It is only 45 minutes from Thunderbird Show Park. San Juan islands, BC, Olympic National Park, North Cascades, Oregon, etc.
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The PNW does not have the steamy, hot, muggy weather of the SE or the severe winters of most of the eastern/central US.
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I have family in that area, and used to work in Louisville … nice place but the negatives outweigh the positives. The city’s approach is what can I tax next
Specifically my first interest was the affect this tax was going to have on Equine insurance for people outside the area as many policies are issued in Jefferson County Kentucky which is where Louisville is located. The answer appears to be yes the 15% will be applied to those policies since the product is sold in the city
So, yes it does appear that this tax may affect me.
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Louisville is currently lower than many other localities. http://insurance.ky.gov/Documents/taxschedule040918.pdf
I doubt that it is applied based on origination as opposed to location of purchaser or property. It would be contrary to constitutional law regarding the commerce clause. If you are truly worried about that particular issue, as opposed to making a political statement, I would suggest contacting an agent in Oldham County, although they are currently at 10% insurance tax across the board as opposed to the current 5% in Louisville.
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Interesting…will check it out. I love Bend, OR but I think I’m 20 years too late. The price of real estate there rivals what we pay in California. Is Bellingham as soggy as Seattle?
Nope, we are in the rain shadow from the San Juan Islands. We get plenty of rain in the winter, but never go a week without seeing the sun and it is very mild in the wind.
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I am planning on retiring in another year or so and was looking at places in Arizona. Does anyone have a good suggestion of an equestrian retirement community?
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It does not satisfy the tax requirement since it is in CA but where I grew up in Nevada City/Grass Valley is a retirement community. It’s in the Sierra Foothills and depending on where you are you can get no snow in the winter or two feet. A lot of people who like to trail ride and do endurance retire there since the 100 mile Tevis Cup goes through the high Sierra to Auburn which is below Nevada County.
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Central AL is home, and I’ll be here til I’m dirt.
Dislikes:
Alabama politics
Summer heat and humidity
mosquitos, carpenter bees, yellow jackets
lack of excellent trainers and show facilities of any sort.That will be changing- Chilton County was awarded the funding for a state-sponsoring horse facility.
Likes:
Access to excellent healthcare in Birmingham
Birmingham’s restaurant and activities scene has blossomed. It’s a great downtown now.
Access to Auburn University vet school
3 hrs to the beach
lakes and rivers- we have a place on the Coosa/Lay Lake
Good trail riding around the state
inexpensive bermuda and bahia hay
Relatively inexpensive property taxes (32 acres and 2500 SF home- 1800/year).
Excellent college football and lately, basketball
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If you can handle winters, I would suggest Bend, OR. For a small area, it has an active and strong horse community. Horse board is still reasonable there. It is hard to find small horse acreage with water/grass, but it’s possible.
My other suggestion would be Treasure Valley of Idaho. The horse community is a little smaller then Bend, but very close. There are shows in the area in all disciplines and great clinicians come to town. The weather is favorable compared to Bend.
Both Idaho and Bend have lots of California transplants.
Virginia near Charlottesville would also be nice, less humid then other parts of VA. Tons of horse stuff there.
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I adore Bend. My Mom moved there in the 80s, before it was “the” spot to be. But now the word is out, real estate rivals what we pay here in CA, and there are really no tax advantages. In fact, I think real estate tax is even higher. The only benefit is lack of sales tax, and inexpensive vehicle registration. I’m watching Idaho…
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If you want to go to Idaho, I think you need to go sooner rather than later. The Californication is happening there. Eagle looks like a Walnut Creek (East SF Bay Area) to me. And I say this as a priced-out member of a very old California family who went to the Southeast.
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Any input on Santa Fe NM? I find it odd that the properties I’m seeing listed that are 3+ acres rarely have any type of horse set up. Is that just not a horsey area, or do most people board their horses?
There aren’t that many boarding facilities, most keep horses at home and in the lower range budgets horse keeping at home is pretty basic, you won’t find many properties already set up for horse keeping. Santa Fe is an expensive area if you haven’t already noticed with the many million dollar listings. Taxes in New Mexico are not retiree friendly, they tax everything and are wanting to raise taxes again, property taxes can be high relative to where you might currently live but cheaper then some states.
We regret having moved back to NM, our costs have doubled on everything, car tags were $25 a yr where we previously lived it’s $170 or more here. Property taxes doubled and we have a 3.5 acre place here opposed to 10 acres at our old place. Went for dental cleanings, previously it averaged about $296 for two of us, here it cost $600+. Medical is good in ABQ but most travel out of state to see specialists as wait times in NM can be long. New Mexico is beautiful and I love the Santa Fe area (from there originally) but it’s expensive and not what it used to be growing up.
We purchased our first house in Oregon, 2014. Idaho is probably becoming more expensive then Bend now. It is the new “hot” thing.
I can’t help with the tax part because I honestly don’t know as we don’t pay taxes, but we moved to Southern Pines, NC in August of last year for 3 years, and we can’t believe we ever have to leave.
The riding community IMHO cannot be beat, we have riders well into their retirement competiting, volunteering , trail riding. The Waltour Moss Foundation is amazing for trail riding, but there is lots of other areas around too. From what we have been told, house and tax prices are higher in Southern Pines, but you can buy in Raeford for half the price and better taxes(different county). I have travelled through Aiken and Ocala, and they are gorgeous, but what I will say about Southern Pines is that as a military mbr, I have never felt like I truly lived in anywhere until here. It’s the first place I have lived since leaving my home that I feel like I am part of a community, I am accepted and desired to be here.
Granted we are from Ontario, Canada, but apparently this has been a 'tough winter’s and it has been nothing short of amazing for us.
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North Salem in Westchester County NY sounds heavenly. My friend bought a house there for summers and the riding community is strong. There are trails, great boarding, lovely community very close to NYC. Expensive? Well, yes. It would be my go to if I won the lottery! AND everyone there hates Trump so that’s a godsend.
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