My wife and I are stuck in the Loss Angeles/HELL A area due to my comfortable job with great benefits, a pension, minimal stress, and a lot of free time (and also elderly parents). I was born and raised here, but we lived in the San Francisco Bay area for over ten years, and in Vancouver BC for about 4. I hate and detest SoCal with a passion (I viscerally hate it!). I miss the Bay Area a great deal! (Yeah, I know, you hate it because of the high cost and all the Hyundai-driving hippies, whatever)
Nevertheless, the *first* order of business after early retiring (maybe 10 - 12 years) is to get the hell out of HELL A asap!
We are scouting out places to retire. I am also an Irish/EU citizen, so we were looking around Ireland a few years ago (Yes I know central Dublin is now the most expensive place in the history of mankind--wouldn't want to live there anyway), and France-esp. Brittany in 2019. Still, being a California dude (SoCAL is not California IMO), it would be easier to retire here. And, we LOVE the Bay area.
Still, I would not really want to live in the City, and we could not afford that in any case. We love Berkeley, but it is not really a place I would want to live in--you have to be kind of a local to appreciate the place. We also love HMB and the environs--heaven! That might be a possibility--maybe halfway between HMB and Santa Cruz.
We scouted out some areas in Sonoma and Marin a couple years ago. We LOVED the Guerneville/Cazadero area, and also Jenner and Bodega Bay--absolutely fabulous places. Redwoods, beautiful uncrowded beaches, fresh air, great wine and food everywhere, and lots and lots of character everywhere (would be squashed to oblivion in SoCal in a picosecond). It felt like home. We also loved Mill Valley and Sausalito, but $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
We do not own, and would not buy a house in So Cal. We could not afford it in any case. We will have to buy a place after we retire. We will have a good down payment, my pension, our social security (haha), and a substantial retirement savings. Plus, I plan to do some work on the side here and there for extra income. Nevertheless, we would like to keep any hous purchase to 300-500K$. We do not want a very large place--single level, maybe 1200-1500 sq feet. We did not see all that much in that price range. Am I crazy?
Should we keep looking, or maybe go further north?
Are you going to tell me that these places are really hell-holes and I only saw the good side of them? (No matter which place I mention, someone ALWAYS says this.)
Will it be possible to buy anything in ten years from now if you are not Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk?
Any general advice about these areas and retiring in them?
Thanks!