Cape Coral

We spent Tuesday morning looking at homes in Cape Coral. The area is well located near Ft. Myers.

While we found several very reasonably priced - $75,000 to $89,000 - older homes in good shape, I decided that the area just felt too "old". Even with me being retired, I would not want to be in an area where the average age looks to be about 75 and where I couldn't find big name entertainment.

Cape Coral's economy is severely depressed. But if you have a retirement income or can get a job in the health care industry, consider looking here as there definitely are some great housing bargains!

CIAO Ristorant

To celebrate my sister Ginny's birthday we drove to Naples last night and had a fabulous dinner at Ciao Ristorante, located near the famous 5th Avenue South Shopping District.

Italian born restaurant owner, Chef Gianfranco Loreti prepared a scrumptious meal. Ginny had a fresh shrimp and lobster pasta dish and I tried the pasta filled with ricotta cheese and black truffles, served with Alfredo sauce.

I'd highly recommend this restaurant not only for the food, but the ambiance and friendly waiters.

http://www.ristoranteciao.com/about_us.phtml

After dinner, we met Chef Loreti and talked about our love of Italy as our paternal grandparents were born in Sicily which we visited in September 1995.

That was definitely my favorite trip as we met many Sicilian relatives, but best of all we actually found the home my Grandma Rosa was born in.

Cape Coral, FL

Traditionally, Florida's been one of the favorite states for BOOMERs to relocate to in retirement. In the past few months, I've seen real estate expert, Barbara Corcoran, several times on the TODAY Show just raving about the fabulous home deals in Cape Coral, FL.

She bragged so much about the area that I just had to see for myself if the bargains were real....so, my sister, Ginny, and I are spending the week here checking out the area and homes.

Being a retired BOOMER, I wanted a reasonably priced hotel; but of course, right on the beach! I love it when there's "truth in advertising" because the Neptune Inn -http://www.neptuneinn.com/ delivered everything that was promised on it's website and more. It's right on the ocean with breathtaking views, clean beach area, spacious rooms and friendly help!

Tomorrow we're spending the day looking at homes in Cape Coral. I've spent hours researching properties here and the 2 most important factors should you decide to consider the area are:

possible problems with Chinese drywall in homes built after 2003 and extremely high unpaid assessments for water and sewer.

For more buying tips from Barbara: http://barbaracorcoran.com/

Low-Tax Retirement Locations

Our parent's worked hard their entire lives and dreamt of retiring to MECCA -- which for them meant either Arizona or Florida.

Today, Boomers are considering more than just warm weather and a beach when exploring retirement cities. A primary consideration nowadays is low taxes. Frankly, I'd love it if our pensions were tax-free, but that'll never happen. Wouldn't you agree that by the time we've reached 60 we've paid enough in Federal Income Taxes?

While you can't control what you have to pay in Federal Taxes, you certainly can reduce your cost of living by moving to a State where there are no income taxes --Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. Two others, New Hampshire and Tennessee, tax only dividend and interest income.

You also can reduce your tax burden by moving to a state with low sales taxes and reduced property taxes because you're living in a community without schools.

An excellent article can be found at: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/10-great-low-tax-places-to-retire.html

After all, if you can find a way to reduce your tax burden, it's the same as giving yourself a pay raise!!

Relocation - Health Care

Competent health care provided by doctors and hospitals covered under your insurance company is a primary consideration in retirement. Before you seriously consider relocating to another state, you should confirm that you can transfer your insurance coverage to that state and determine if there will be an increase in your rates. It's even more critical to check this out beforehand if you are covered by an HMO. I found out from some of my neighbors that coverage by their previous HMO was not available in Colorado. So they had to immediately find another HMO and for some, the cost increased as much as $150 per month. With so many people entering retirement without the benefit of health coverage, you might even want to consider relocating to a state with low health care costs. You can check out www.bestplaces.net/COL which will give you a total overall health cost comparison between your current city and the one you plan to move to. In my search for a retirement community, I seriously considered moving to active adult communities in Florida, South Carolina and Texas. One of the first things I did when visiting a community was to find out from the salesman how close were the nearest hospitals. Then I would call the hospital to find out if they had specialists in the health care area that I needed. For example, if you had heart problems, you'd want to live in close proximity to a hospital with a well-established cardiology department. Then I spoke with some of the people living there and asked about their doctors - were they satisfied with them; did they meet or exceed the care of their previous doctor; and most importantly, would you recommend them? Some of the active adult communities are so pro-active in health care that they have a small medical clinic in their community as well as their own EMTs and ambulance service. That's essential if a hospital is not nearby. If you're really concerned about the health care facilities in your area or where you're planning to move, you can get a hosptial report card http://www.healthgrades.com/ for less than $20.

Relocating in Retirement

Where do I want to live? That's one of the top questions facing most people when they retire. Florida was the Mecca for our parents and older retirees; so like me, I'm sure that most of you have thought about retiring there at least once. In July 2005, I began searching for my ideal retirement home. I visited Florida (Ocala, Miami, Leesburg), South Carolina (Del Webb Hilton Head) and Texas (Austin, Dallas). It was just too humid for me in the summer in those southern states, so I decided to stay in Colorado. Before calling the moving van, some of the things you should consider are: cost of living; taxes; health care, eduational and job opportunities; living near children & grandkids; leaving family & friends; moving out of the 'family' home; climate, quality of life (theater, churches, sports) and one of the most important, if married --- where does my spouse want to live. I'll be covering those topics in more detail in future blogs. Any questions bugging you about retirement ---- send them to me at Retired.Rosie@gmail.com