How to retire in USA being citizen.

[Damrongsak]

17 minutes ago, Number 6 said:

Some years back I'd read about Tampa and Thai temple. Really had my eye on it but the neighborhoods looked dubious. Could on!y see renting, not settling. I think the east coast cooler, better people. Tampa is quite sketchy. Personally I have completely eliminated Tampa from possibilities. It's not the FL of my dreams.

 

The fishing seems to be better in the gulf. Wife loves idea of free seafood. Loves crabbing in MD - free big crabs!

 

At least her friend got out of jersey.

Yeah, pretty sketchy.  I worked with a guy who said I wouldn't like FL because the people were pretty scummy.  He knew, he was one of them.  That's why they have gated neighborhoods and all that.  At least way up in the north, folks who can't manage freeze to death in the winter.

[GinBoy2]

3 minutes ago, moontang said:

Nice 1899 bungalow in Centerville, SD...detached garage on a quarter acre..natural gas service.  Under 30k.

Well we live in Rapid, which is a far cry from, as we would say in Thai, Ban Knock.

 

Also Western SD tends to be more expensive than over in the Sioux Falls area, or anywhere east of the river

[Number 6]

2 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Yeah, pretty sketchy.  I worked with a guy who said I wouldn't like FL because the people were pretty scummy.  He knew, he was one of them.  That's why they have gated neighborhoods and all that.  At least way up in the north, folks who can't manage freeze to death in the winter.

I looked on Google maps for weeks and then realty sites. Then citydata. It's not for me. Every single man (3) I have met here in South East Asia (Thailand) from Tampa was a methamphetamine user. Two in Pattaya, one guy down in Penang. Penang freak I met in a GH perfectly normal until night fell. He went out into the street hunting Ice (in Malaysia!!) and returned high as a kite with a really scary ladyboy.

 

You do need to be very careful where you live in Florida not just your safety but property values. I'd never want to live in a gated community personally.

 

I think even St Pete would be a step up.

 

Who knows how Tampa will shake out after this financial and health crisis. Not well.

[moontang]

3 hours ago, moontang said:

Nice 1899 bungalow in Centerville, SD...detached garage on a quarter acre..natural gas service.  Under 30k.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/330-Broadway-St-Centerville-SD-57014/123299041_zpid/

[GinBoy2]

5 hours ago, moontang said:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/330-Broadway-St-Centerville-SD-57014/123299041_zpid/

Thats pretty damn good. But it's been on the market for a long time, sorta suggests it might be a fixer upper. But it's a great example of what's out there, especially if you're adept at swinging a hammer to fix a place up.

 

I however am painfully aware of my limitations in that department. I have probably paid more to contractors over my lifetime to 'fix' my botched home 'improvement' projects than I would have done had I just hired them in the first place

Edited April 9, 2020 by GinBoy2

[olfu]

^{How to choose place for settling down in USA?--you don't--available money will dictate.}

^{Every state has pros and cons and I moved to Florida, Miami area because of climate. At the time I didn't realize US is in the middle of soft invasion but 20 years later Miami's dominant language is Spanish. Nice. Everything is nice in US if you don't pay attention-unfortunately internet let some people move their brain and results to be seen.}

[Cryingdick]

The USA is a great place to live if you own your house and car. People who prefer to ride baht buses probably aren't a good fit for the USA. If you don't drive here you aren't even a human. For those that say well in the cities you get great public transport... take a look at what it costs to live there. 

 

Almost any of the 48 continental states you can find something cheap to buy.The guy who mentioned coastal Maryland I could see that being pleasant. I was looking at Airbnb rentals on Chesapeake Bay and surprisingly cheap. That led me to Zillow and you can get a cute little house near the coast for not too much. I ws surprised. I am suspicious of Maryland as it could be a horrendous tax trap. 

 

I live just across the line from Pittsburgh in West Virginia. Pennsylvania is another tax trap. Literally everything there is slightly or much more expensive than here. 

 

Florida is a state probably closest to Thailand, the weather, the weirdos, low cost of living. Not sure I could hack it there year round. Hurricane season? No thanks. I know you can build for it but being stuck in flash flooding and hunkered down in that heat... not for me.

 

I have 27 acres in a recreational area in Maine near thousands of lakes. I hope some day to spend my summers there. Winter too cold, early summer too many bugs. So why not do the winters in Florida? Coastal Maryland would be a great summer or even year round spot. Check the weather and if cold is coming go down further south a week and come back when it's reasonable.

 

Since I already have land here in WV., close to a major city with cultural attractions and a nice sized tract up in the lake country I am thinking of buying a piece of land where winter is mild.

 

South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, heck even Alabama are possibilities. You can get a few acres down there for nothing $10,000 even less. $30,000 gets a spread that's nice.

 

The best deals going I have found here are mobile homes. Particularly dilapidated ones. They often make the land less valuable. Nobody likes an eye sore of a double wide with caving roof. The benefit is you get all of these already installed if you are lucky. Well, septic tank, electricity driveway, internet, possibly even city water or gas. Although I prefer my own propane tank and a well. I also prefer less neighbors so the two go hand in hand.

 

For less than the price of putting those improvements in you can generally buy a piece of land with them already there. Okay so you have to pay for the trailer to be removed. 

 

If you live outside of areas with heavy zoning laws you can build whatever you want. To build a smallish cabin made for a temperate climate is cheap and easy to do. You can literally build a 1,000 square foot bungalow in two weeks. I went to get a building permit here and asked if it needed to be inspected and they said no do whatever you want. Asked me the square footage and I just guessed and they wrote it on the permit with the word around 1,200 square feet. The fee was $3. Taxes on two acres here are around $250 probably $500 when I finish building this summer. 

 

So you can have a reasonable place with in a short drive of a medium sized city for $50,000 and that's modern and finished on a coulee of acres with in a 20 mile drive of somewhere decent to shop see games, etc.

 

For a car I paid $15,000 or so for a CUV as I like to camp. Furnishings for a house TV, beds, and all the tools, machines, I did for around $15,000.

 

Get a few thousand dollars of tropical plants and you can turn wasteland into paradise.

 

So my take on it is you have a wide variety of options if you have around $100,000 all in. It could be less but $100k and you won't be slumming it. 

 

The expensive part is hiring people. If you can't drive, cook, go on youtube to learn how to fix something simple the USA isn't the place for you. If you insist on living only in places that you agree with politically and you lean left the pickings are thin. However if you just want nice land near conveniences with decent weather that is easy to do.

 

Ugh sorry for the length.

 

TLDR

 

If you are somewhat capable of doing simple things for yourself the USA has some of the cheapest land in the world and offers a wide variety of choices. 

 

[Cryingdick]

Not sure about the colors but that's the house I just started. 1,200 sqf, oversized master bedroom, huge ensuite, dining room living room. Top is the back deck and lower is front entry side. Cost around $30,000 finished.

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Cryingdick

[moontang]

7 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

The USA is a great place to live if you own your house and car. People who prefer to ride baht buses probably aren't a good fit for the USA. If you don't drive here you aren't even a human. For those that say well in the cities you get great public transport... take a look at what it costs to live there. 

 

Almost any of the 48 continental states you can find something cheap to buy.The guy who mentioned coastal Maryland I could see that being pleasant. I was looking at Airbnb rentals on Chesapeake Bay and surprisingly cheap. That led me to Zillow and you can get a cute little house near the coast for not too much. I ws surprised. I am suspicious of Maryland as it could be a horrendous tax trap. 

 

I live just across the line from Pittsburgh in West Virginia. Pennsylvania is another tax trap. Literally everything there is slightly or much more expensive than here. 

 

Florida is a state probably closest to Thailand, the weather, the weirdos, low cost of living. Not sure I could hack it there year round. Hurricane season? No thanks. I know you can build for it but being stuck in flash flooding and hunkered down in that heat... not for me.

 

I have 27 acres in a recreational area in Maine near thousands of lakes. I hope some day to spend my summers there. Winter too cold, early summer too many bugs. So why not do the winters in Florida? Coastal Maryland would be a great summer or even year round spot. Check the weather and if cold is coming go down further south a week and come back when it's reasonable.

 

Since I already have land here in WV., close to a major city with cultural attractions and a nice sized tract up in the lake country I am thinking of buying a piece of land where winter is mild.

 

South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, heck even Alabama are possibilities. You can get a few acres down there for nothing $10,000 even less. $30,000 gets a spread that's nice.

 

The best deals going I have found here are mobile homes. Particularly dilapidated ones. They often make the land less valuable. Nobody likes an eye sore of a double wide with caving roof. The benefit is you get all of these already installed if you are lucky. Well, septic tank, electricity driveway, internet, possibly even city water or gas. Although I prefer my own propane tank and a well. I also prefer less neighbors so the two go hand in hand.

 

For less than the price of putting those improvements in you can generally buy a piece of land with them already there. Okay so you have to pay for the trailer to be removed. 

 

If you live outside of areas with heavy zoning laws you can build whatever you want. To build a smallish cabin made for a temperate climate is cheap and easy to do. You can literally build a 1,000 square foot bungalow in two weeks. I went to get a building permit here and asked if it needed to be inspected and they said no do whatever you want. Asked me the square footage and I just guessed and they wrote it on the permit with the word around 1,200 square feet. The fee was $3. Taxes on two acres here are around $250 probably $500 when I finish building this summer. 

 

So you can have a reasonable place with in a short drive of a medium sized city for $50,000 and that's modern and finished on a coulee of acres with in a 20 mile drive of somewhere decent to shop see games, etc.

 

For a car I paid $15,000 or so for a CUV as I like to camp. Furnishings for a house TV, beds, and all the tools, machines, I did for around $15,000.

 

Get a few thousand dollars of tropical plants and you can turn wasteland into paradise.

 

So my take on it is you have a wide variety of options if you have around $100,000 all in. It could be less but $100k and you won't be slumming it. 

 

The expensive part is hiring people. If you can't drive, cook, go on youtube to learn how to fix something simple the USA isn't the place for you. If you insist on living only in places that you agree with politically and you lean left the pickings are thin. However if you just want nice land near conveniences with decent weather that is easy to do.

 

Ugh sorry for the length.

 

TLDR

 

If you are somewhat capable of doing simple things for yourself the USA has some of the cheapest land in the world and offers a wide variety of choices. 

 

What are your thoughts on Huntington?

[Cryingdick]

8 minutes ago, moontang said:

What are your thoughts on Huntington?

There are a few Huntingtons around here? Which one do you mean?

 

[moontang]

59 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

There are a few Huntingtons around here? Which one do you mean?

 

The city of Huntington WV...I heard the opioid crisis was bad there, but kind of like the meth problem, it is almost everywhere.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

On 4/6/2020 at 5:10 AM, ThailandRyan said:

I retired in California at the age of 53, and thanks to many investments throughout my adult years, I managed to put 3 kids through the University Systems, paying as they went so that they never ended up with Debt.  Luckily, I also have a defined benefit pension, and have been fortunate to not live under a bridge, or become homeless.  With the State of California being run into the ground, I moved to Thailand permanently.  I consider myself to be fairly fortunate. If I were to try and live in the US, and based upon income, States such as Ohio, Tennessee, Arizona, Texas, and even Florida would be very doable to sustain the life I live.....However, I have no intention of moving back to the US.

you forgot to mention your net worth - or the amount that made you retire at 53.

only than we can judge your success.

[Cryingdick]

Just now, moontang said:

The city of Huntington WV...I heard the opioid crisis was bad there, but kind of like the meth problem, it is almost everywhere.

Okay surprised as I thought it would be Huntington Beach or somewhere else. I have never been to Huntington. It supposedly has the most going for it economically in the state. However this is WV so that means very little. 

 

I haven't noticed the opioid thing as much as meth heads after coming back to the USA. Seems people on opioids sort of stay shut in and die quietly. With meth it's the guy who gets naked screaming in the street and pokes his eye balls out with a scissors before being tased. You will find areas in WV with the nastiest shacks and trailers. You can feel something is wrong if you drive by or through such places.  You have to go into hollows where the sun never shines to find such places. 

 

In cities like Morganstown which is probably the other city in WV that is a real city as the university town I haven't noticed more drug addicts than anywhere else. Same for Wheeling the former capitol and Charleston. Charleston has maybe 65,000 people and that's the biggest city in the state. 

 

So crime is really not readily apparent anywhere I have seen in WV. Drunk driving, stealing 4 wheelers, wife beating, meth. That's what the gen pop of a county jail would be. 

 

WV has very few people and if you cross it on the freeway it seems the state is complete wilderness. Just hill after hill. I think Huntington wouldn't be that ideal because it's location is sort of near nothing. Here you have Pittsburgh, even Cleveland is not that far, some nice beaches on lake Eerie with in a day drive, NYC, DC and all points east are a half days drive.

 

I live here because my husband has a high paying job in a low tax/COL state. The hills are beautiful. If you love mountains it is great. Stunning countryside, tons of historical sites, passable weather with around 2 months in the winter being a time I would prefer to go south.

[elgenon]

On 4/8/2020 at 3:03 AM, TGIR said:

$3k three blocks to the beach.......not in California!  How much you think that house would cost you?  Even if you and the wife are over 65 you still have to have additional health ins. on top of Medicare, property tax up the wazoo, a lot more than here for gas & electric, insurance, more for food.......I don't think it can be done.  Maybe if you live a very quiet life and your hobbies/entertainment is at home...

 

I've got a good 3 br 3 bath condo actually ON the beach here, brand new SUV, playing cheesy Palm Hills 5/6 times a week and can do it for about 90K baht (60K a month for the golf).  Could maybe do that in Kansas or Okla. but not Ca.  Of course there is the cost of golf as noted......but I've got nothing else to do but read and watch TV so what would be the sense of living like that?  

OK so you know my situation better than I do. Amazing. Since you know everything, what day will the emergency be lifted in California? I should have asked you about my situation before I said anything. So sorry. I bow to your omnipresence.

[Cryingdick]

Back to the point. If you have $3,000 a month you can live almost anywhere in the USA. $100K to start and three thousand bucks a month if you have that you are golden.

[olfu]

Lets see today Florida.

Florida don't care much about rest of the country as millions from up north take vacations here and, as a result, we don't have state income tax. Now supposedly all country under lockdown except Florida--yes, we don't care about virus-I am not required stay home or wear mask and supermarkets have everything I need and all transactions are online anyway. Sure government offices closed and police stay away from chasing idiots and giving tickets.

Florida is the best!

[john_bkk919]

The wife and I looked at a bunch of remote towns.  Here are some things to consider:

 

-- the houses always look better on Zillow than in real.  So if it looks dicey on Zillow, but you think you can handle it, you may be unprepared for the reality.  Definitely look at google earth and see what's around the house - make sure it's not 10ft from the one busy rd through town, etc.

 

-- most houses that are cheap are that way because there are no jobs.  this might not matter to you but you might find that there are no businesses to service you either.

 

-- in remote areas your bargain house may, probably will, have a lot of 'deferred maintenance' from the previous owner(s).  Here's the kicker: You may have to do that rehab work yourself.  There may not be anybody in that town or the next few towns who will do the work or do it adequately in any kind of normal time frame if ever.  Yes, that can happen.

 

-- crime.  things may look superficially fine but property or other crime may be off the charts.  see next item, below

 

-- some towns are not that welcoming of newcomers, some are.  if you're interested in a place I would try to find out more about this aspect.  It can be very important to your quality of life.  i was initially dismissive of this but grew to appreciate it as we traveled around the country for half a year and met and talked to a lot of people, good and bad.  

 

-- taxes.  always check 'em.  they can vary widely just a few blocks in any direction in some towns depending on school district.

 

-- medical care.  Your access to medical care might be very compromised in even a semi-remote location esp. if there are seasonal problems with roads, etc.  This isn't a hypochondriacal concern.  The wife and I live in a large-ish US small town.  Should be fine, right?  Well, care for even basic things isn't great and if you have a condition where driving a hundred miles to a better hospital becomes problematic things can get uncomfortable or worse.  I would rate healthcare (incl. dental) options in this town much worse than some rural areas of Thailand I lived.  And yes, that's with good insurance. 

 

-- finally, only some Thai wives will cope with living someplace really dead and cold and alien.  If they're a lot younger than you, you'll be denying them arguably beneficial educational and job opps by moving even a few clicks away from relative normality. 

 

 

 

[olfu]

^{Crime in USA.}

^{Part of real life situations is crime especially if you have a house. In a city you feel more protected in high rise with secured access but it became way of life to have security cameras with iphone access especially if you have expensive valuables. Criminals also getting more smart like they scouting properties to establish when you are not home. In rural areas its impossible to protect yourself 100% as police only worry when something serious is in progress. Yes, you have to understand local situation and consider state laws as in some states you not allowed have guns or, as in Florida, law makes distinct separation between criminal on your property or inside your house.}