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Help me choose a place in NM/AZ to retire

Beau Vine

By Beau Vine
in Can You Help Me With This?

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54381

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After thorough research, I am down to 4 towns that fit what I'm looking for:

1.  Ruidsoso

We spent a month there earlier this summer, and even looked at houses, so this is the one I need the least info on.  Biggest disadvantage: distance to airports/large cities

2.  Los Alamos

Housing prices are kinda high, but I'd love to live in a place where the average resident is not a moron.

3.  Payson, AZ

Looks like it has everything we want, but the big wildfire this summer scared my wife.

4.  Bisbee, AZ

Kind of a longshot.

Any info/experience on these would be appreciated.

Would also consider Ashland, OR but they'd need to have a housing crash for me to afford it.

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rage-a-holic

rage-a-holic 4453

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11 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

After thorough research, I am down to 4 towns that fit what I'm looking for:

1.  Ruidsoso

We spent a month there earlier this summer, and even looked at houses, so this is the one I need the least info on.  Biggest disadvantage: distance to airports/large cities

2.  Los Alamos

Housing prices are kinda high, but I'd love to live in a place where the average resident is not a moron.

3.  Payson, AZ

Looks like it has everything we want, but the big wildfire this summer scared my wife.

4.  Bisbee, AZ

Kind of a longshot.

Any info/experience on these would be appreciated.

Would also consider Ashland, OR but they'd need to have a housing crash for me to afford it.

WTF was your criteria?

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54381

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13 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Earlier this summer I visited Payson and Prescott. I didn’t really care for Payson but liked Prescott quite a bit.

What’s Los Alamos like? High desert?

What didn't you like about Payson?  It is kind of Wal-Marty with chain stores, but there are two very small close-by small towns, Pine and Strawberry, as an alternative.

Have looked at Prescott and it looked pretty good, but larger than we wanted.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54381

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2 minutes ago, Radical Larry said:

I've been through Payson, Pine, and Strawberry, and liked the area. Sedona is gorgeous and is not that far away.

 

 

Sedona is kind of an overrun fake town that's hilariously overpriced.  But yeah, it's gorgeous.

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XYZ

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It’s not that I didn’t like Payson. It was OK, just kind of unremarkable and like you said, Walmart-y. In general I didn’t get a good vive from Arizona. I’ve been to New Mexico and Colorado several times, and I’m seriously considering either moving to one of those two states, or buying a summer house. I wanted to like Arizona, but it was just kind of, don’t know how to explain it, dull.

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ztejas

ztejas 43528

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9 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Not to derail the thread, but I’m looking to do the same and wanted peoples input. I’m considering: 

Gary, Indiana

Silver City, NM

Paramus, NJ

Barstow, CA

Sorry we can't all live in Cypress Creek. My daughter has awful allergy problems.

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ztejas

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15 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

My best friend at work has a place in Taos.  Property crime has gotten out of hand there.

Yeah - I feel like a lot of those are people that don't live there, though. I would think if you were at home most of the time and had a gun for safe measure it wouldn't be that bad. Probably depends on where you live, too.

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23114

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10 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Not to derail the thread, but I’m looking to do the same and wanted peoples input. I’m considering: 

Gary, Indiana

Silver City, NM

Paramus, NJ

Barstow, CA

Might as well add College Station, TX to that list. I've been to Barstow, CA. If ever I wanted an HQ for a meth empire, Barstow would be my first choice.

 

11 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

 

2.  Los Alamos

Housing prices are kinda high, but I'd love to live in a place where the average resident is not a moron.

 

In the nuclear war to come, in the first initial volleys you would be vaporized and not have to go through rebuilding, so there's that.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54381

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36 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Yeah - I feel like a lot of those are people that don't live there, though. I would think if you were at home most of the time and had a gun for safe measure it wouldn't be that bad. Probably depends on where you live, too.

Staying home and arming myself is not really how I want to enjoy retirement.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54381

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6 hours ago, kevwun said:

We stayed in Alto once which is right outside Ruidoso, but higher up above the bugs.  We stayed in an adobe house and slept with the windows open.  It was amazing.  I vote there.

That's how all 4 of these towns will be -- that was a big part of the criteria.

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BevoSwag

BevoSwag 272

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LOL.  We took an anniversary trip to Oregon in the summer of 2017.  It was 115 degrees in the interior of Oregon and well over 100 in Portland.  Biggest surprise in my many decades of travel.  Unusual.  Of course.  But it can happen.  A lot of folks never realize how hot it gets in Denver in the summer.  They only think mountains.

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ztejas

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1 hour ago, markstanco said:


A hot and hotter state. OP is a yankee.

Oregon coast for me in 15 years. Yep cloudy for 7 months but the high of 65 each day will make me pay those taxes.

None of those places are hot but okay. Unless low 90s with 15% humidity for a couple of months is hot to you. And that's only in Payson.

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Hefeweizen

Hefeweizen 5328

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On 8/6/2020 at 12:04 AM, Hank Scorpio said:

Not to derail the thread, but I’m looking to do the same and wanted peoples input. I’m considering: 

Gary, Indiana

Silver City, NM

Paramus, NJ

Barstow, CA

I'd like the cut of your  jib but hard to sail in those places.

Barstow is particularly awful.  All of southern inland Cali  is terribad.  I'll never go back to Palm Springs between March and October.

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Hefeweizen

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2 minutes ago, Upgrayedd said:

If I would have stayed in AZ, I would have moved to Flagstaff.  College town.  Mountain town.  Historic.  Close to Grand Canyon, Sedona, Powell.  Phoenix in 2 hours.

Flagstaff used to be my number one retirement destination, but the last couple of times i was there I got a bad vibe from the increasing homeless population.  I may just be getting old.

 

If I could convince my wife I think I’d pick Santa Fe or Taos.  But I think we’ll be in Austin until they bury me.

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Beau Vine

Beau Vine 54381

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3 hours ago, Upgrayedd said:

If I would have stayed in AZ, I would have moved to Flagstaff.  College town.  Mountain town.  Historic.  Close to Grand Canyon, Sedona, Powell.  Phoenix in 2 hours.

Massive amounts of snow and high housing prices.

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Fattersons FUPA

Fattersons FUPA 16

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My mom's family are pretty much all in Payson and Star Valley. I spent every summer and a few winters as a kid out there at my grandparents place. That's where we plan to retire as well. You could definitely do worse than that area. Both of my grandmother's sisters still live there. They're 99 and 94 and are still getting around like mountain goats. There's something to living in that clean air, elevation and terrain that leads to long life. And no pics, you nasty motherfuckers. 

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