RVing during Pandemic and looking relocate

[Gnarley]

Thanks for your consideration!

My wife and I are in our early 60's, we hadn't planned to retire and are both unemployed, I have a little side income, and both plan to work into our 70's. We live in Sonoma County, CA and find the area great weather-wise, except for fires and very low humidity in the late summer. Finding suitable employment is the challenge! We have no children and enough equity to buy a home somewhere else. We never planned to be in this situation, did anyone? We could never afford to outright buy where we are with our equity, so why try restarting a career in this area, yet again!

We have a lot of reasons to move! We both like the ocean and milder temps and have considered the Oregon coast and maybe somewhere from Florence to Astoria. We also need to consider community and available resources and healthcare. I'd like to plan an exploratory drive for a 2 weeks and see what could work. I'm concerned about available places to camp and am looking for suggestions on how and where in our 1999 32' HR Class A, that's in very good condition!

I'd like to sell our home and move ASAP (60-90 days), we wouldn't need to buy right away and could even live in the RV for a while and it's that which I'm concerned about during COVID and if you can actually find a place to park for a while?

Please share your thoughts and questions respectfully,

Thanks!

[Gnarley]

Ok, to any of you in Oregon who may be reading this. We have a route planned and will be heading north in 2 days! We found quite a few CG's and were able with dillegent searching from my wife to get some nice places.

If anyone is up that way and has info or suggestions on what to see in any of those area, please let me know!

Dallas/Salem, OR – 9/5 -8 (3 nights)
Astoria/Seaside, OR – 9/8 – 11 ((3 nights)
Lincoln City, OR – 9/11/14 (3 nights)
Florence, OR – 9/14-16 (2 nights)
Coos Bay, OR – 9/16-18 (2 nights)
Brookings, OR – 9/18-19 (1 night)

[Gnarley]

Moderator wrote:
Moved from ATC

Ok, I'm good with this move.

Who has suggestions on various CG's along the Oregon coast, good, bad, outstanding, or stay away and why?



MOD'S EDIT: This thread has bounced from Roads & Routes to Around the Campfire, to Parks, Campgrounds, and Attractions. It's really a square peg that doesn't fit anywhere very well.

You're welcome to rephrase your question to something more specific and post it in the proper forum. Good luck.

[Moderator]

Moved from ATC

[Gnarley]

JAC1982 wrote:

Gnarley wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:
I'm wondering how this entire topic relates to "Roads and Routes"?

Have you suggested any roads and routes? I'm all ears. I'm also looking for information on where I can stay along the coast. There have been several contributors who suggested other areas to relocate to and I've responded. Others asked great questions regarding relocation having been in those areas. Tell me what you know...

Please contribute and make some suggestions if you have any, anywhere from Florence to Astoria, what to see from a retiree's perspective or possible places to live and roads or routes you may know.

I have zero input on where you should retire. I think your "wants" list in a place to live is entirely unrealistic if you want my opinion. I'm on this page to talk about RVing, not someone's retirement plans.

I didn't ask anyone where I should retire. I'm planning an exploratory RV trip during a pandemic to find a location I can retire. It seems like RV'ing has suddenly changed and there are lots of new owners trying to learn and as I've been reading helping fill up many of the CG's that are open. As an experienced RV'er I know planning and asking others can be really helpful.

I'm not familiar with the Oregon coast so I came here to ask others for suggestions that may be helpful.

[Gnarley]

dedmiston wrote:
So this thread truly doesn't belong in Roads & Routes, but there isn't a forum for "Hey, I'm Moving" threads either.

I'm moving this from Roads & Routes to Around the Campfire.

Good luck with your planning.

I understand, however I was looking for info and suggestions on what may be open or how to find CG's in Oregon and feedback about the coastal areas.

[dedmiston]

So this thread truly doesn't belong in Roads & Routes, but there isn't a forum for "Hey, I'm Moving" threads either.

I'm moving this from Roads & Routes to Around the Campfire.

Good luck with your planning.

[JAC1982]

Gnarley wrote:

JAC1982 wrote:
I'm wondering how this entire topic relates to "Roads and Routes"?

Have you suggested any roads and routes? I'm all ears. I'm also looking for information on where I can stay along the coast. There have been several contributors who suggested other areas to relocate to and I've responded. Others asked great questions regarding relocation having been in those areas. Tell me what you know...

Please contribute and make some suggestions if you have any, anywhere from Florence to Astoria, what to see from a retiree's perspective or possible places to live and roads or routes you may know.

I have zero input on where you should retire. I think your "wants" list in a place to live is entirely unrealistic if you want my opinion. I'm on this page to talk about RVing, not someone's retirement plans.

[Gnarley]

JAC1982 wrote:
I'm wondering how this entire topic relates to "Roads and Routes"?

Have you suggested any roads and routes? I'm all ears. I'm also looking for information on where I can stay along the coast. There have been several contributors who suggested other areas to relocate to and I've responded. Others asked great questions regarding relocation having been in those areas. Tell me what you know...

Please contribute and make some suggestions if you have any, anywhere from Florence to Astoria, what to see from a retiree's perspective or possible places to live and roads or routes you may know.

[Gnarley]

SteveAE wrote:
Gnarley,

Maxifi costs about $100 per year. As you can see on their website, it helps determine your lifetime discretionary spending (what you can spend, not how much you actually do spend) for the remainder of your life based on your assets (present and future earnings included). Compare the pro's and con's of various scenarios (i.e.; when to take SS, when to retire, how much you's save/spend each year if you move to a different state, taxes, effects of inflation, and so much more). It's all on their website. I have found it a very valuable planning tool. But, of course, you may not agree. That's fine with me as I have no skin in the game.

Yes, Oregon has an Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) program similar to Cover California. I don't know the details of it as I choose to purchase my health insurance on the open market (61 YO male, $741/mo., ~$8K deductible for those who are curious) even though I could very easily qualify for a subsidy if I wished.

If you don't have well in excess of $2M (including anticipated SS and/or other retirement earnings), don't even consider Bend. A friend has a old (early 1900's) 751 sq ft house on a 50 x 100 ft lot that is worth at least $400K. A new 1800 sq ft house on the same size lot goes for ~$600K. And large properties..........well, you won't find much for less than $1M. So say you need 1.5M over the remainder of your life to maintain your present standard of living (probably a pretty reasonable amount for a frugal couple in their 60's in Bend) and you pay 500K for a house on a postage stamp lot. Well, then you will need ~2M over the remainder of your life. I can't speak for other areas in Oregon, but you can easily find prices on Zillow if you are curious.
The Eastern Oregon towns of Burns/Hines, for example, would be A LOT less expensive (at least to purchase a house), but you may may not wish to retire there??????? So it might be wise to take a road trip through Oregon before you commit to any one area or even the state. If you do travel through, send me a PM maybe we can get together for a beer.

Look. I'm not trying to discourage you and I might be totally wrong on all this (though I doubt it). And, of course, you are free to do what you want. I was just trying help you (and likely many others reading this) by sharing my experience (I have been studying this for the past 5 years) with you. '

Hopefully you have found my comments somewhat helpful, but I think this thread has gone way off topic for this forum so I won't be following this post any further. If you have a specific question, feel free to send me a PM.

Good luck and best wishes.

Thanks, your info is helpful. I've done some preliminary searches and none of the areas you noted were ever on my radar. We do not want to be in the middle of the state and as I've noted believe that the coast is very possible.

[Gnarley]

4runnerguy wrote:


They finally ended up in Sequim, WA. It sits in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains so they average 16" a year. A much more tolerable amount. Sequim is full of retired, active people from all over. You see lots of people out walking every day. The median age is 58 years old. Close to the Strait. Maybe not the ocean, but a salty body of water that you can take a boat out on and see whales and go fishing. Easy day trip access via ferry to Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. Close to Olympic National Park. A couple of hours via road and ferry to Seattle when you need a big city experience. Pretty affordable housing compared to what we're used to here in CO. Lots of homes available with acreage if that's of interest to you. Definitely suggest spending a few days there to see how you like it.

That's a great area! We have friends in Paulsbo. The reason I want to stay farther south is the ability to drive back to a client I have where I'm on-site once a month. I can make the drive from northern OR in 10 hours or a long day drive, farther than that changes the expenses and time away.

[dedmiston]

JAC1982 wrote:
I'm wondering how this entire topic relates to "Roads and Routes"?

It doesn't even relate to RVing anymore.

[JAC1982]

I'm wondering how this entire topic relates to "Roads and Routes"?

[SteveAE]

Gnarley,

Maxifi costs about $100 per year. As you can see on their website, it helps determine your lifetime discretionary spending (what you can spend, not how much you actually do spend) for the remainder of your life based on your assets (present and future earnings included). Compare the pro's and con's of various scenarios (i.e.; when to take SS, when to retire, how much you's save/spend each year if you move to a different state, taxes, effects of inflation, and so much more). It's all on their website. I have found it a very valuable planning tool. But, of course, you may not agree. That's fine with me as I have no skin in the game.

Yes, Oregon has an Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) program similar to Cover California. I don't know the details of it as I choose to purchase my health insurance on the open market (61 YO male, $741/mo., ~$8K deductible for those who are curious) even though I could very easily qualify for a subsidy if I wished.

If you don't have well in excess of $2M (including anticipated SS and/or other retirement earnings), don't even consider Bend. A friend has a old (early 1900's) 751 sq ft house on a 50 x 100 ft lot that is worth at least $400K. A new 1800 sq ft house on the same size lot goes for ~$600K. And large properties..........well, you won't find much for less than $1M. So say you need 1.5M over the remainder of your life to maintain your present standard of living (probably a pretty reasonable amount for a frugal couple in their 60's in Bend) and you pay 500K for a house on a postage stamp lot. Well, then you will need ~2M over the remainder of your life. I can't speak for other areas in Oregon, but you can easily find prices on Zillow if you are curious.
The Eastern Oregon towns of Burns/Hines, for example, would be A LOT less expensive (at least to purchase a house), but you may may not wish to retire there??????? So it might be wise to take a road trip through Oregon before you commit to any one area or even the state. If you do travel through, send me a PM maybe we can get together for a beer.

Look. I'm not trying to discourage you and I might be totally wrong on all this (though I doubt it). And, of course, you are free to do what you want. I was just trying help you (and likely many others reading this) by sharing my experience (I have been studying this for the past 5 years) with you. '

Hopefully you have found my comments somewhat helpful, but I think this thread has gone way off topic for this forum so I won't be following this post any further. If you have a specific question, feel free to send me a PM.

Good luck and best wishes.

[4runnerguy]

When my dad met the right woman (his third wife), they moved out to her house on the Oregon Coast. First year, it rained 180". Yeah, above normal, but still, it rains a LOT on the Oregon Coast. That also means continual upkeep on a home due to all the rain. And lots of gray days in the winter.

So they started looking for somewhere else to live near the coast. When they found an interesting place, they'd subscribe to the local newspaper for a few months. You can get a pretty good idea about a place from the newspaper.

They finally ended up in Sequim, WA. It sits in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains so they average 16" a year. A much more tolerable amount. Sequim is full of retired, active people from all over. You see lots of people out walking every day. The median age is 58 years old. Close to the Strait. Maybe not the ocean, but a salty body of water that you can take a boat out on and see whales and go fishing. Easy day trip access via ferry to Victoria, BC on Vancouver Island. Close to Olympic National Park. A couple of hours via road and ferry to Seattle when you need a big city experience. Pretty affordable housing compared to what we're used to here in CO. Lots of homes available with acreage if that's of interest to you. Definitely suggest spending a few days there to see how you like it.