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Where to retire?


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On 1/17/2023 at 4:14 PM, AlwaysOpen said:

At one point a trend was happening where gay guys were moving to east Tennessee, near Knoxville. College town, mountains nearby, decent medical. But again, it is TN, and the politics of the state are, eh! And the area is still well cinched in the Bible belt, and not without its share of homophobic residents and politicians. 

I grew up half an hour east of Knoxville. I went back to the old hometown last year for the first time in 20 years. The rate of uncontrolled development was eye-opening, but the nature of the place hadn’t changed. I can’t imagine East Tennessee becoming a gay magnet. It’s Appalachia, for God’s sake.

While I was there I thought, what the hell, and hosted in my hotel room. Pickings were as slim as I expected. They’ve also been dismal in the tourist hell of greater Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg.

And to my knowledge there is no bathhouse in K-town.

If you love mountains, Great Smoky Mountains National Park doesn’t disappoint, but East Tennessee is no sex Mecca.

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At the risk of making my neighborhood more crowded, anyone thinking about Florida might want to consider the Tampa Bay area, especially St. Petersburg. The local politics is center-left; the city is working on the housing crunch for lower income folks; the city is neighborhood focused, especially in the older parts of the city. The place is pretty welcoming to LGBT folks, especially since the city knows that it was the LGBT folks who turned 2 neighborhoods around in the ‘90s. Yes, homeowner’s insurance is insane (a topic for another time), but I only have to worry about tropical storms and hurricanes. (If the house blows away, the dog and I will likely be playing the part of Dorothy and Toto.) Property taxes can be eye-watering, but you get reasonably good public services. There’s a sub-Reddit about St. Petersburg and a separate one about Tampa if anyone is inclined to look further.

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1 hour ago, ejaculaTe said:

 

. Yes, homeowner’s insurance is insane (a topic for another time), but I only have to worry about tropical storms and hurricanes

Interesting when you mentioned insurance. People don't do their homework on that before they move somewhere. Like for instance my house is a half a foot higher than the majority of my neighbors, even those west of me. The ocean is east of me. My flood insurance actually has decreased over the years. All becuz I'm 6 in higher than the rest of the neighborhood.

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13 minutes ago, JamesL100 said:

Has anyone mentioned Gran Canaria? Horny visitors flying in weekly dropping their pants. Though I don't know about access to meds there?

That has been my dream for years, but now of course not so easy to achieve, reciprocal healthcare being one, as now you would need to purchase insurance to cover that, a visa for stays longer than 90 days would also be needed, leading to applying for residency. I also believe, but may be wrong, that you would need an annual income of EUR26,000 to retire there to pass all the checks (the figure changes), whereas before Brexit you wouldn't. 90 days every winter could be a good compromise, however. I'm still hoping @NLbear will ask me to marry him so I can get a Dutch passport, and then we could both move there! 😉  How about it @NLbear we could both spend our retirements going out cruising together! 🙂 

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3 hours ago, CumdumpDad said:

Interesting when you mentioned insurance. People don't do their homework on that before they move somewhere. Like for instance my house is a half a foot higher than the majority of my neighbors, even those west of me. The ocean is east of me. My flood insurance actually has decreased over the years. All becuz I'm 6 in higher than the rest of the neighborhood.

And don’t forget car insurance. I was surprised that it can be very expensive in parts of FL. 

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5 hours ago, RawUK said:

That has been my dream for years, but now of course not so easy to achieve, reciprocal healthcare being one, as now you would need to purchase insurance to cover that, a visa for stays longer than 90 days would also be needed, leading to applying for residency. I also believe, but may be wrong, that you would need an annual income of EUR26,000 to retire there to pass all the checks (the figure changes), whereas before Brexit you wouldn't. 90 days every winter could be a good compromise, however. I'm still hoping @NLbear will ask me to marry him so I can get a Dutch passport, and then we could both move there! 😉  How about it @NLbear we could both spend our retirements going out cruising together! 🙂 

LOL @RawUK!!! I'd love to retire to GC! I'll get you a Dutch passport 😉

There's a large British expat community there so you'll fit right in. And plenty of guys  to give us our daily doses of 'cream' (without the coffee). 

 

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12 hours ago, RawUK said:

That has been my dream for years, but now of course not so easy to achieve, reciprocal healthcare being one, as now you would need to purchase insurance to cover that, a visa for stays longer than 90 days would also be needed, leading to applying for residency. I also believe, but may be wrong, that you would need an annual income of EUR26,000 to retire there to pass all the checks (the figure changes), whereas before Brexit you wouldn't. 90 days every winter could be a good compromise, however. I'm still hoping @NLbear will ask me to marry him so I can get a Dutch passport, and then we could both move there! 😉  How about it @NLbear we could both spend our retirements going out cruising together! 🙂 

An early retirement in spain had been my goal too but I don’t think I’ll be able to afford it now- you’re right about the €26k per annum and if it’s in savings I believe you need double that for year 2 visa as that visa is for a 2 year period… currently looking into Portugal or Greece as possible more affordable options. We’ll see…

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7 hours ago, NLbear said:

LOL @RawUK!!! I'd love to retire to GC! I'll get you a Dutch passport 😉

There's a large British expat community there so you'll fit right in. And plenty of guys  to give us our daily doses of 'cream' (without the coffee). 

 

Marvellous! Well that's my retirement sorted @NLbear 🙂 The British expats would be ok, but I do prefer to mix it up a bit, and happy to host my own Eurovision 'Cream' Contest nightly, whoever has the best wins! 🙂  

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35 minutes ago, bouncybttm said:

An early retirement in spain had been my goal too but I don’t think I’ll be able to afford it now- you’re right about the €26k per annum and if it’s in savings I believe you need double that for year 2 visa as that visa is for a 2 year period… currently looking into Portugal or Greece as possible more affordable options. We’ll see…

Thanks for that @bouncybttm  I haven't checked the rules for a while but thought that was the case. I've 12 years to go before official state retirement, so who knows what the situation is by then. Good luck with your search, hope you find an option that works for you.

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For 22 years I traveled all over the U.S. on my job.  Every place I went I would ask myself if it was some place that I would like to live.  I ruled out the northeast and midwest because of cold/snow.  Southeast because of humidity/tornados.  My ideal would be the southwest,  Albuquerque NM was wonderful,  Tucson/Phoenix were great too,  but the one and only place I would ever want to live is in the Palm Springs area.  Sadly,  I should have bought a home there 10-15 years ago.  Now it's so far out of my price range that it will never happen.   

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