Need Help: Selecting A Retirement Location For A Coz-Aholic

[sinistar]

Are in love with Cozumel because of the drift diving, high viz., varied topography, some big animals, etc...in other words, what's distinctive about Coz., or is a big part of the appeal the relatively cheap total cost of Cozumel trips enabling more dive trips?

If the latter, and you relocate to Texas, would you be interested in heading down to Freeport, TX and joining some short live-aboard trips to the Flower Gardens via the Fling? If you're fairly close, you could save airfare and probably get in a lot of diving.

Does topside topography matter? Some parts of Texas are flat as a pancake; coupled with bright sun, the look gets old. I found the relatively flat, broken terrain I saw at a family reunion outside El Paso many years ago to be bleak and dull. Some parts of Texas are drier, but some are really humid. Heat in high humidity is far more miserable than arid heat in the summer.

Psychologically, will 'escaping' to Mexico during winter mean nearly so much to you if you move to a hot climate, and even the winters are pretty warm?

Richard.

To sum it up, Cozumel has always been such a excellent retreat, excellent diving, wonderful weather in the winter, the people are great and its pretty much my ideal escape and recharge location. I'm just happy being in the water and I do enjoy bring the camera with. So to be able to get down there for 2 or 3 4 stints of 2weeks or so would be ideal. I don't need to spend the whole winter there. But several quick escapes there would be perfect. And if we're feeling up to exploring, I would then swap out a Cozumel trip or two for something new or other favorites. And so far (who knows anything 10yrs from now) the Cozumel flight + hotel + diving + food costs have been great.

As for topside topography, yeah something flat as a pancake and really hot isn't my first choice. We like the topography of the Tucson and Phoenix area. So it would be nice to find a place a with some hills and trees and not quite so hot as the Phoenix area during summer.

---------- Post added January 3rd, 2016 at 04:36 PM ----------

Let me put in some of the reasons you might want to pick Houston. ( I am a native Californian who migrated to Texas to avoid capital gains tax in 1992 and would never think about going back, tax or no tax).

1: No state tax on your retirement income
2. Best Medical Care in the world
3. Choose United from IAH direct to Cozumel 2 hours
4. Choose Southwest from Hobby (HOU) direct to Cancun. One way $202 for me next Thursday and no change penalties which allows great flexibility . The bag drag is not that bad even smuggling all the stuff I do.
5. Houston has more cultural activities than any other city mentioned.
5. You get used to the weather, this Californian did.

I do spend most of my time in Cozumel but have young children with my ex. and go back and forth every other week. We live in North Galveston County, League City which is on the water and only 25 minutes to Hobby, and using the beltway toll road only 55 minutes to IAH. Been doing this for 20 years and I doubt if there is anyone who has more experience. That is just my 2 cents.

Dave Dillehay

Aldora Divers

ALDORA DIVERS

PS For some years I lived in the Texas hill country 1 hour from San Antonio. San Antonio is a very nice choice but NOT convenient for flights to Cozumel. Since HOU opened for Southwest they no longer fly direct to Cancun from San Antonio (as best I know).

Thanks for chiming in Dave! Wow, you've been doing this for years!!! I really appreciate all of the points you took the time to explain. We know many decisions will play a role in where to retire. Being able to escape to Mexico for frequent dive trips is just one part. Being safe [that's a whole topic], good health care, decent climate, friendly taxes, etc all matter.

I am learning a lot about Texas!!!!

 

[scorpiofish]

We live in Dallas. Yes, it is easy. Houston is easier and warmer, as I froze my butt off when leaving the house yesterday (32 out). Much depends on what you are used to and what weather and attractions you want when not traveling to Coz. You now know the best places to live in order to get to Coz, but now you have to factor all those other things in.

Overall, taxes are lower in Texas than most other states. But, since there is no income taxes, other taxes will be higher. So, if you retire and have little taxable income, then the tax advantage disappears. Property taxes and home insurance run roughly 3% in our metroplex. That can be a lot of money for a retired person in Dallas proper. If you are in the burbs, then a decent house can still be had for under $100 per square foot.

You have to do some serious comparisons on where you can get the most bang for your buck based on your income stream and tax situation. Also, consider what you like to do when not diving in Coz, although you are likely good in any of the locations mentioned.

 

[diversteve]

Assuming you're not only going to dive in Coz the rest of your life, I've personally dove a lot of the best diving in the Caribbean. To get to most of it, I've been connected thru Houston over a dozen times, Dallas only once. Southwest just started flying to Belize and somewhere else not as good for diving in Oct - I'm pretty sure out of Hobby since it has a new Int'l terminal now.

Planning to local dive? From Houston you've got the Fling in Freeport. Flower Gardens/Stetson Banks is supposed to be excellent diving also.

My friend has a center console boat on a lift in his backyard (He lives in Hitchcock near Galveston) and he can be diving the rigs in about 2-3 hrs. He told me the gulf is too cloudy just offshore to even bother with shore diving.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

In addition to Houston, one hour to the north of IAH is Huntsville and Lake Livingston. IT is rolling heavily wooded hills. Or if you really want topography look at west of San Antonio, the REAL Texas hill country and cheap plus great weather. But given you interest in other Caribbean dive locations Southwest out of Houston Hobby is really a great option.

Dave Dillehay

Aldora Divers

PS There are some states that tax the heck out of retirement income.

 

[judydivescoz]

We are looking into the LaGrange, Round Top area in Texas. It's fairly close to Houston, taxes are low, and we have family in the area. Retiring and living here in New York is completely out of the question!

 

[mstevens]

2. Best Medical Care in the world

Not even in the US, and the US is nowhere near as good as many of the people I know seem to keep telling themselves. Houston does have some very good care in some fields and for some things. Despite what they may think, there is no city, hospital, or medical school that's "the best" in everything. There's some really good care available in Boston, for example - you may have heard of Harvard Medical School? - and there's some really awful care there. There's this place in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins, that literally invented medical training the way anyone thinks of it nowadays. They're really, really good at some things. Not everything, and even if they were I'm not convinced that would be a big reason to live in Baltimore. The best place in the world to get your inguinal hernia fixed is a clinic in Canada. I'm pretty sure that clinic literally doesn't do anything else, so not where I'd go for glaucoma or for a sports physical. I spent a couple of years on the medical school faculty in Galveston in charge of a clinic where a significant part of my career consisted of trying to mitigate the awful care people had gotten in my specialty in Houston. I took my baby daughter to M. D. Anderson because they had a better chance of being able to treat what she had than anyplace else, in my opinion. I could go there now, but it's at least second-best for what I have.

An additional issue is that the very best care available in Houston is not necessarily, or even likely, available to me. My overall access to the parts of the healthcare system I want to access is, for a number of reasons, likely to be significantly better than average and there are some reasons why that might be particularly true in Houston compared to most of the rest of the US. Healthcare that someone can't take advantage of is of no use to that person. Even back in the late 80's when most Americans could be said to have had better healthcare access than now and when he and I were members of the same state medical society and occasionally at the same meetings, and even with a couple of work colleagues who were old buddies of his, my personal chances of getting my ticker treated by Mike DeBakey, no matter how badly I might have needed or wanted it, were exactly zero. It didn't make any real-world difference how good he might have been.

If you live in Houston and your only realistically accessible option is Ben Taub, you can't seriously think that's superior to a Montrealer who can routinely get treated at McGill, can you?

This isn't like arguing about whose team is best, what kind of BBQ is superior, Ford vs. Chevy. When we gauge our healthcare system by its absolute best without considering whether that's really available to anyone, and especially when that blinds us to the fact that what's routinely available to the broad majority of the population is distressingly inadequate, consistently fails to meet our own standards and goals, and would clearly be deemed unacceptable in most countries with functioning societies based on appalling shortcomings in a range of basic measures such as infant mortality, life expectancy, functional quality of life in late adulthood, or rates of disability attributable to failure of prevention or treatment, then we end up doing the equivalent of devoting all our resources and effort into paying for and polishing a Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament bolted on a rusted-out '63 Dodge Dart that's up on cinder blocks and convincing ourselves we have "Rolls-Royce transportation".

If you'd like, I'd happy to share my thoughts on the matter...:cool2:

 

[MMM]

You are so right! I also think too many people focus on acute, episodic health when the factors that really affect life expectancy, child mortality etc. are rooted in much more basic, primary and/or population health care. Things like vaccinations, mental health, addictions, infant/child clinics, dental care, nutrition, good water, fitness, physiotherapy etc. etc.

This isn't like arguing about whose team is best, what kind of BBQ is superior, Ford vs. Chevy. When we gauge our healthcare system by its absolute best without considering whether that's really available to anyone, and especially when that blinds us to the fact that what's routinely available to the broad majority of the population is distressingly inadequate, consistently fails to meet our own standards and goals, and would clearly be deemed unacceptable in most countries with functioning societies based on appalling shortcomings in a range of basic measures such as infant mortality, life expectancy, functional quality of life in late adulthood, or rates of disability attributable to failure of prevention or treatment, then we end up doing the equivalent of devoting all our resources and effort into paying for and polishing a Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament bolted on a rusted-out '63 Dodge Dart that's up on cinder blocks and convincing ourselves we have "Rolls-Royce transportation".

If you'd like, I'd happy to share my thoughts on the matter...:cool2:

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Look here, in Houston's Medical Center there are 15 major hospital groups that can take care of anyone's specialty or needs. I know for a fact that people all over the world come here for the best Medical care possible. I also know that most of them handle the majority of health plans. Yes, Mayo, or Boston's few hospitals may be great but they overall don't compare to the overall availability of Houston

I don't sell medicine, just trying to set the record straight.

Dave Dillehay Aldora Divers

 

[simcoediver]

Thats $450 one way from Toronto, can you show a link please that shows $450 round trip? I would grab that !

West jet from Toronto non stop seasonal 450 round trip canadian$

 

[mstevens]

Dave, I hear what you're saying. It's just that those people going to Houston from all over the world for the best care possible may not necessarily be getting that best care possible. If those people are foreign political leaders or very wealthy, they'll probably get care that made the trip worthwhile. Many of the people that live in Houston can't get particularly good basic healthcare.

Texas usually ranks dead last on healthcare delivery of all US states. The only real argument from year to year is whether Arkansas or West Virginia might be worse, not whether Texas has even zoomed into the top 3/4. Some years one or more Houston hospitals will be rated "best" at something, but this is by no means true every year - some years not a single one is rated at the top.

I started my medical career in Texas at the oldest medical school west of the Mississippi, a pioneer in several fields. I am proud to have trained and taught there. My wife and child are Texans, as are many other people I love. You will never convince me that Texas isn't the best in the world at a number of things (BBQ, Tex-Mex food, weird bat-laden capitol cities, etc.). However, Texas healthcare is hurting, and has done so for a long time. Houston is not the worst in a very bad state when it comes to healthcare. It's better than Cozumel in most respects. In terms of choosing a place to live based on healthcare, there are better places in the US, and LOTS of them. Some of those are cities from which one can get non-stop flights to Cozumel.

Wishing something were true or saying something is true does not make it true.