Where do you want to live?

[Lainey]

This is a cool idea, and in my opinion, when done well, it can be another form of social security.

It is evasive and elusive though. Here in ColumbOhio I was part of, and in some senses a leader, in an group that was trying to put together a co-housing, cooperative living community. We met for a year, watch documentaries, had guests speak about there time on communes, and we checked out big houses in neighborhoods, old hotels, old apartments, etc.

What I came to realize is this:
1. It usually takes some cash! And the more complicated your dream, the more cash you need.
2. Most people come in with some wild-eyed pipe dreams about 10 families buying a city block and turning it into an ecovillage. This, in my experience, goes nowhere.
3. The other issue is that everyone is very finicky about their living space, so finicky that no one wants to live with them and they don't wanna live with no one either. All this despite their desire for communal living.

What I kept advocating for was something realistic and doable on a budget.
We find a big house, rent it, then live together with a mission statement and some reasonable ground rules. And we make a focus of the whole thing saving money and being there for each other for support.

Again: Went nowhere but Nowheresville.

Ultralight,
reminds me of a true story of an older cranky bachelor engineer. Years ago he worked for the same Megacorp that I just retired from and I didn't know him, so this is second-hand.
He owned a house in a cul-de-sac in a decent neighborhood. When the house next door came up for sale, he bought it and rented to a family he liked. Then proceeded to do the same with the remaining 5 houses in the cul-de-sac, so he owns all of the property and the only people who live around him are those he hand-selected. Closest thing to an intentional housing situation that I'd heard about that was actually successful

[Geila]

If money was flowing freely, I would choose something like Carmel Valley, La Jolla, Old Town San Diego, Up Country Maui, NYC or Paris. I think if I could find someplace cheaper with really nice weather I would be tempted (no humidity, not too hot, not too much snow) to leave the SF Bay Area. Oh, yeah it has to be diverse. That's a must. But so far, I haven't found it.

I really think that in retirement it would be nice to move somewhere else and leave this place for someone who needs it and can make use of the amenities it offers (good school half a block a way, plenty of jobs, etc). A young family. But I don't know where we would go.

[Teacher Terry]

Co-housing seems like a nightmare to me. It would be like having kids again except I would not be in charge

[ApatheticNoMore]

people feel leary of buying property with anyone but their spouses (and why they trust them I'll never know, I'm of the trust no one but yourself with your finances opinion). Renting a big house could certainly work though. In the best case the buying a cohouse with others would be like buying a condo, you might not like the neighbors but that's the deal and plenty of people take that on anyway. At the worse much worse because at least you haven't taken out a mortgage with your condo neighbors, you only owe for your unit. But renting could work ...

[JaneV2.0]

Co-housing seems like a nightmare to me. It would be like having kids again except I would not be in charge

Amen to that, a thousand times. I suppose I could see a cooperative neighborhood, on my more tolerant days...

[bae]

Co-housing seems like a nightmare to me. It would be like having kids again except I would not be in charge

In the late 1980s, some friends of mine and I tried to develop a co-housing community in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California. The basic idea was a cluster of small houses/cabins, each fully functional with bathrooms/kitchen/whatnot, and a collection of shared facilities: larger communal kitchen/dining space, a workshop, storage buildings, entertainment facilities, and so on.

We had the funding to accomplish it, but the county's land use/zoning/building codes at the time would not allow this style of community to be constructed. Pity - it would have been much lighter impact on the land than what ended up going in there.

[awakenedsoul]

I really like Healdsburg, in Sonoma County. My friend's family owns a house on the Russian River, and I would love to live there. I was talking to a realtor today, and she was telling me that in certain counties of California, if you are 55 or older, you can move in state once and qualify to pay the same amount of property taxes. If that applied, I would move to a small, older home in Healdsburg, Cazadero, or that area. I've been researching it.

I like my cottage here very much, but the hot summers really get to me. I love all of the other seasons. My father says that wherever you move, you take your attitude with you. I think that's true. I know of many people who have left this part of Los Angeles, and then have moved back because they weren't happy in their new locations. I think we get pretty spoiled in California.

My current location is very convenient. I'm close to everything I need. I love my garden and home, and have some nice neighbors. I go to a few knitting groups a week, can hop on a train, or go see a show once or twice a year. I like working from home on my blog and Etsy shop.

It's hard to say. You never know how you will feel until you get there. I can live VERY inexpensively here. I am apprehensive to risk that security. Time will tell. I love hearing from the people who have made the move, and how they feel about it. I think I'd also like to stay here and travel, take a couple of trips a year. I loved Vienna, Santa Fe, Carmel, and Sedona. Maybe someday...

[Gardnr]

Idaho. Central. Mountains. Lakes. Rivers. White water. "Big" city and small town rural. Skiing with lots of snow and 4 truly varied seasons. Rivers with lots of heat and sun. we'll be keeping both our home and cabin for the long haul. No moving for us.

If I did move and money were no object? Boulder. CO. Same bang for the buck we have here at 4x the cost!

See a theme?

Now I do love to visit: Kauai, Sante Fe, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Western MA, Portland OR, Big Sur, Phoenix (Oct-April) .....need I say more? Couldn't move to any of those permanently.

My heart and soul belong to the mountains of the northwest!

[Yppej]

There are so many things I like about Missouri, my adopted state.

Recently I was poking around the internet looking for future vacation ideas and saw several recommendations for Kansas City in the underappreciated/undervisited type categories.

[SteveinMN]

Recently I was poking around the internet looking for future vacation ideas and saw several recommendations for Kansas City in the underappreciated/undervisited type categories.

Indeed. I like that KC (MO; there really is very little to see in KC, KS) is not one of those places where you can't get a feel for the place in less than a week or two. Kansas City has some fine gardens, a great art museum, very good barbeque (I'm sure others who live elsewhere will challenge that ), the history of the Missouri River, isn't hard to get around (aside from rush hours). I have relatives who live in the area and visiting KC and its environs always is a pleasure, with something new to see each time.