Freeat57, thank you for your post! First I do live in a nice town, good doctors and hospital and nearby other hospitals. My Hub and I are childless and really are not all that close to the few relatives he has in the area. I have no relatives here. We really need more social activities and my town really doesn't have much, in my opinion, for older adults. The senior center caters to mostly very old seniors and the activities are not my idea of fun. I am leaning towards a place that has walking trails and golf carts for transportation like Peach Tree City, GA. Not sure if that place appeals to me either. Seems like lots of traffic congestion.
Snow removal and lawn care are still done by the Hub for the most part but he had surgery in 2016 and radiation in 2017 and it has taken a bit of a toll on him. Plus, age is creeping up too (66).
I am not a fan of HOA communities due to the HOA constantly going up and special assessments. It makes it kind of difficult to prepare for the future with special assessments. I looked at Sun City in AZ and from what I read it was built mostly in the 1960's. They claim lots of houses have been renovated. It scares me to buy a home that is almost 60 years old! But HOA communities have activities, clubs, walking trails and a lot have the golf carts to go out to lunch, shop and just have some fun.
Since CT is the only State I have lived in since 5 years old, it is difficult to move. But I think it could be exhilarating too. We have vacationed all over the place and I had travelled extensively when I worked. We also used to own a timeshare in Aruba, went there 23 times and loved it. The hot weather in Aruba is a challenge but we loved vacationing there. Living in a place and vacationing are two different things.
We have a very pretty private park here in my town and it is perfect for walking. However, I have to drive around 7 miles to get there. I would like to walk out my front door and have a sidewalk and just go into my community and walk some trails. We have a lot of parks here but most are not really good for walking, they are more for hiking or picnicking and nothing paved.
Would like to be fairly close to a major airport. Right now it is about an hour and a half to a NY airport and one hour and 10 minutes to Bradley airport in CT. A 20 minute trip would be nice if we moved to a new location.
I am also concerned with driving in the future. I have glaucoma and find it difficult to drive at night. I am getting to the point I really don't like to drive much anyway with so many maniacs out there. That would be another consideration is a community that provided bus transportation to downtown, shopping, theaters, etc.
So with all of that, I guess I would boil it down to living in a place with an HOA with reasonable rates, fairly new, near doctors and a good hospital. Plenty of activities with walking trails, golf cart community near stores, restaurants, fun stuff. Near an airport and bus service to shopping.
LOL, am I asking too much!
What made you move to GA and what were your reasons freeat57?