Didn't know Bisbee was at altitude, either... I've heard it's a cool town, along with nearby Tombstone. I believe it's similar to Jerome, which is further up north.

And a hangar & runway... makes fleeing the cartels a little more fun.

Rain, 111 with 10% humidity is far far better than 90 and 60%. I’m not shitting.

1/3 the size but my god, that house.

Good news is I’m notably closer to affording that one. (Think .07% of the way rather than .05% ROFL)

Bearcat will show up with actual figures on the mortgage and it will shit all over our dreams again

Right? ROFL

Just find 140 people or so and split it.

Actually, looking at the acreage that could work.

When I was in my 20s, I idly tried to recruit half a dozen peers to go in together and buy a mansion that was for sale. It would've been awesome to bring a date home. We could've worked something out where the other people all pretended to be the domestic staff if someone had a date coming over.

Man, that Bullhead City home. Love the idea of being 1.5 from Vegas as well. Decent size town with 40K but not sure I could live in a city run by Tom Brady.

Seriously though, that would be a definite contender for us.

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#6 through 10. See the picture for scoring.

Sample houses

6 – Tucson (AZ)
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-91851?view=qv

7 – Tampa (FL)
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-15527?view=qv

8 – Reno (NV)
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-74513?view=qv

9 – Sedona (AZ)
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-07846?view=qv

10 – Palm Bay (FL)
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...-34438?view=qv

Summary (in ascending order)

10 – Palm Bay (FL) – Very affordable, taking 1.5 years off my retirement schedule. Pretty much no winter. The summer is slightly hotter and notably more humid. The sample house is decent-sized, pretty nice, and inexpensive, but I took a quick google streets tour of Palm Bay and was not wowed. I know nothing about this area and selected it just because I saw it on a couple of “best places to retire” lists, but it didn’t seem like there was much to see or do and it didn’t seem very upscale. Anyone know about this region of Florida?

9 – Sedona (AZ) – Very intriguing. The summers are three degrees warmer with similar humidity, but the winters are 14 degrees warmer with very little snow. That’s a win. I was here once and thought the town was a souvenir shop wasteland, but I only saw the main street. The housing stock looks pretty decent and affordable. Overall, it’s only slightly more affordable than Denver, but it’s got some nice advantages in climate, and I once got the best corn bread I’ve ever eaten at a restaurant in Sedona. I also got a chakra massage, but she didn’t touch my first chakra or anything so it was wholesome. Sedona’s not a game changer, but it’s a really good change of pace option.

8 – Reno (NV) – I’ve never been to Reno, and I’ve heard more than one person say that it’s not a particularly pleasant town. But on paper it’s got a lot of nice features. The climate is not dissimilar to Denver, being a few degrees warmer in all seasons, but that translates into a lot less snow. The housing is a bit expensive for what you get, but the tax environment makes it a little more affordable than Denver. I’m not sure it’s worth the move, but it scores high and warrants consideration.

7 – Tampa (FL) – Very friendly tax structure, low-cost housing, and an indoor (or at least screened in) pool. What’s not to like? Tampa is notably more affordable than Denver in retirement (-1.5 years on the retirement schedule), and you can get through winter with a windbreaker. It’s muggy in the summer, but that’s the only real drawback. You get a lot of house for your money, too, and I’m a big fan of the sample house. I could have my own tiki bar. Humidity sucks, but this is a legitimate contender.

6 – Tucson (AZ) – I’ll note that I don’t have a scoring penalty for tarantulas and scorpions, but if you ignore that, Tucson is a very strong contender. It’s hot but dry in the summer, and the winters are little more than a cool breeze. The housing is affordable, and while the tax environment isn’t particularly friendly, the numbers still show that it’s a bit more affordable than Denver. It checks a lot of boxes.

That's my thought of Sedona as well, but have only been there once. Plus, the hiking and outdoors stuff can be very crowded at times, which is the opposite of what anyone should want when you're out in the middle of nowhere.

But, as you mentioned with that Alaskan town and cruises, there are benefits with all of the tourists as far as more retail and food options for the size of the town.

The finishes on that Sedona house :eek:

Heh. I intended to mention that. They put their signature style on the house.

I liked that both the Sedona and Tucson house had guest cottages, though. I'd like to have a guest cottage.

I've never lived in a tourist town and I'm sure there are some downsides, but it seems like the upsides are greater, especially if it's something like cruise ships where it's sporadic but not seasonal.

Here in Colorado the ski towns have that great disproportionate infrastructure, but it's so seasonal that a lot of it shuts down in the offseason, which does you no good as a resident. Tourism that's sporadic but regular like cruise ships seems like it would keep the restaurants and stuff open all the time. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but you'd think that they'd need to keep their staff in place.

If I was to relocate to a place under 50,000 people, I'm pretty sure that I'd want it to have either tourism or a college.

Lots of “off the path” hiking spots to avoid the crowds.

Only been once?!?! :eek:

Sedona is stunning.

I want to go back just for the corn bread.