Point Roberts is a great place to retire - until your health starts going downhill.
I have friends who live there and I have visited.
Medicare and US health insurance is not accepted in nearby Canada. You wouldn't want to go there in an emergency anyway, as the local US hospital offers far better treatment.
The drive to Bellingham where the hospital and all the US doctors are is 1.25 or more hours away, even with a Nexus card to get you across the border quickly. 50 miles each way. And when you are in poor health or tired with caregiving for your spouse, driving 2.5 - 3 hours in one day just for medical appointments is exhausting.
There is an affordable subscription for helicopter Medevac transport for medical emergencies. But the emergency must be dire for the insurance and subscription to kick in.
Over half the population of 1,300 is over age 65. There are few jobs in town and almost all are minimum-wage sort. So while a nice place for telecommuters and work-at-home types (writers, etc) to raise their children, there are few people of working age to hire for gardening, home repair, and caregiving when you become unable to do these chores yourself.
And because of high demand and low supply, those services are expensive. (Lawn mowing at $50 an hour and up.) I spoke to a friend there last month: there are 2 caregivers total in Pt Roberts.
Pt Roberts is like an island but attached on the northern side to mainland Canada. Canadians can't live there more than half the year or they lose their health insurance. So it's a great place for a very small number of people.
This means it takes 3+ years to sell your house when it is time to move closer to medical resources. 2 years if you reduce the price hugely. Buyers must want to live in this beautiful area with very odd demographics. Home price doesn't matter so much.
Summers are glorious. Many Canadians have beach cottages in Pt Roberts and around 3,000 come down for the summer. It's lots of fun without the usual noise of a beach resort town. And Vancouver is close by several huge firework shows and great activities in the summer.
If you want to retire there, make it your summer cabin location.
Smart retirees move there before age 60, knowing they will put the house on the market by age 70 so they can move to an area with resources for seniors a couple years later.
This post is just to complete the picture of what life is like for Pt Roberts retirees and to hopefully warn others how tough life can become when living in a rural area far from medical resources and a young workforce for affordable home help.
