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

[DeputyDan]

A big concern is health care where ever you decide to relocate to. Make sure that you take that into consideration.

A place I suggest that you look into is northern South Carolina. Charlotte, NC is close to the South Carolina line and there is a lot a access to Cozumel through Charlotte. I live in NC but suggest SC due to the significant lower cost of living ESPECIALLY sales and income taxes.

There are some old threads here on people's decisions to relocate to various destinations (outside the US - which are good reads).

Let me know if I need to look up some links.

 

[diversteve]

Not Chicago and [-]Miami[/-]?

Edit edit: Or, seasonally, Denver, Toronto, Minneapolis, Calgary, or Milwaukee?

Except there's this little consideration..

in the southern US where its warm in the winter

 

[drrich2]

One of the first things that comes to mind is finding a place in Texas and somewhat near Houston (say 2hrs max drive time). We don't feel any need to be near the gulf. So being inland is fine with us.

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.

 

[lthomas132]

You might want to consider Austin or San Antonio, TX. Southwest (https://www.southwest.com/flight/routemap_dyn.html) flies directly to Cancun from both. They both have your warmer climate but both are fairly large cities but not as big as Houston or DFW.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

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).

 

[PaloPinto]

You might want to consider Austin or San Antonio, TX. Southwest (https://www.southwest.com/flight/routemap_dyn.html) flies directly to Cancun from both. They both have your warmer climate but both are fairly large cities but not as big as Houston or DFW.

Austin is a great place to live, but for air travel (from tx cities) you cant beat DFW or Houston.

 

[mmmbelows]

Not Chicago and Miami?

Edit: Or Charlotte?

Edit edit: Or, seasonally, Denver, Toronto, Minneapolis, Calgary, or Milwaukee?

Could be, like I said "that I know of"

If Miami offers non-stop all year round that would be a consideration, however if I lived in Miami I'd have a tempered desire to be going to Cozumel all the time with all the great diving in your back yard so close from Jupiter to the Keys. If the OP opens up his criteria to include flights to Cancun I'd guess they will have a lot more choices of places to choose from.

 

[Charles2]

I can vouch for what Dave said. Since retiring, my wife and I live on the Northwest side of Houston, in Montgomery. It's still pretty relaxed out here in the country, but we can be in the city easily. No state income tax. Best medical care in the US - maybe the world.

Since the city opened the new international terminal at Hobby airport, the airfares from United have fallen because of Southwest's competition. My wife and I travel to the western Caribbean three or four times per year. Direct flights abound for the Caribbean - Cozumel, Cancun, Belize, Roatan, Aruba, Bonaire, Grand Cayman, Montego, Nassau, to mention a few.

Come on down, the weather is great!

 

[sinistar]

We were in the same situation two years ago. We received an offer for our home in Bismarck, ND and moved to St. George, Utah in August of 2014. We have shuttle service to the Las Vegas airport 14 times a day which was important to us. St. George is about 15 degrees cooler than Phoenix which is nice. If you like to ski, Brian Head is about an hour away. We do not get snow in St. George. Property taxes are 1/3 of ND, house insurance is about half. Housing prices are also lower than ND. People are so friendly and there are also numerous activities for retirees including the Huntsman World Senior Games in October plus numerous course offerings at Dixie State University for seniors. Red Mountain is in our backyard and Zion National Park is 40 minutes away. If you have questions, please email us.

Wow thank you for your information regarding St.George, Utah. I love the economics and the general location. Obviously we are thinking farther south but we'll be talking about this area now too.

---------- Post added January 3rd, 2016 at 03:32 PM ----------

I live in Phoenix and we can't get to Cozumel non-stop from here. And connections are long - 10+ to 20 hrs. usually thru Denver. Tucson is worse - my sister lives there and drives up here to fly often.

I did some quick checking and currently Houston or Dallas/Ft. Worth seem to be about the only southwestern cities with direct flights to Cozumel.

I have never flown to Mexico from Phoenix and suspected it would not be quite as convenient however I didn't expect the +10hr or overnight layovers going back east again. We really do the like the Tucson area. Think Sierra Vista. But that's quite a haul from Phoenix airport.

---------- Post added January 3rd, 2016 at 03:38 PM ----------

A big concern is health care where ever you decide to relocate to. Make sure that you take that into consideration.

A place I suggest that you look into is northern South Carolina. Charlotte, NC is close to the South Carolina line and there is a lot a access to Cozumel through Charlotte. I live in NC but suggest SC due to the significant lower cost of living ESPECIALLY sales and income taxes.

There are some old threads here on people's decisions to relocate to various destinations (outside the US - which are good reads).

Let me know if I need to look up some links.

Thanks for responding Dan, if you can easily recall where the older threads are I would love to look at them?

Ironically, my wife's first suggestion was SC or NC. So I appreciate the information and it so awesome that people are not just indicating easy of access to Cozumel but also listing the other much more important points regarding taxes, medical, etc.

 

[thibert]

Not Chicago and Miami?

Edit: Or Charlotte?

Edit edit: Or, seasonally, Denver, Toronto, Minneapolis, Calgary, or Milwaukee?

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