Looking to start planning on retiring when the daughter graduates from undergraduate college and possibly starting a second career. The wife and I have been researching ideal retirement locations. Between taxes and anti boom stick sentiment, we will NOT be staying in NY. As part of this search, we may have spotted a couple of small homes that we would like to move to. We are quarantined right now, so can't travel to go look at them, but will as soon as things look up. Does anyone have experience buying a home for future retirement in another state? How did you handle the maintenance and security? How about remote purchasing? House would see some visits from us during vacations so I don't want to rent it out. I've started looking on the net, and haven't come across any guides yet. Some good sites on evaluating retirement locations, but nothing about remote home purchase.

Buddy lives and works for Boeing in Everett WA. Been threatening to pull the plug and retire. 5 years ago he bought a 5 acre parcel on a small lake 20 miles outside Ft Smith AR for like $125,000 with two small houses. His taxes are low. He pays $10 an month for the local Sheriff's Coffee fund so they drive by every week and check the place for squatters. He had no issues buying and paying taxes. They love him.

EDIT Just texted him, he is laid off but due to go back to work next week. He does not want to so he is really thinking hard. And he said he paid $65,000 for that property and another $50K for a second vacant 40 acre section to hunt on.

I have another place valued at 1 million at this time.. I dont live there full time but pay for a security
service(on line stuff)... its been working fine since I started it.. I do have a buddy next door that does
keep a eye on.. being that he does I let he use my tractor.. works for me.. when I bought the owner
lived in NY and we never meet.. all the paper work was done through the real estate company..
it worked well for both parties

I live in Fl and we bought a house in WV. We found it on Zillow. We had been up here several times looking at places we had found on line. I would recommend finding a good realtor and sticking with them. Ours was awesome, she would even go out and preview properties for us and send us videos so we would know if it was worth coming up to look at. The place we finally ended up buying is 10 miles into the woods on a private road. We have two neighbors, one before our place and one after. They are real friendly folk and they keep an eye on the place for us but really, no one comes down this road. I also hired a handyman to check on the place once a month to make sure nothing happened like a plumbing, or roof leak. He charged $50/ month as it was over an hours drive for him. Which pretty much everything is an hours drive around here. Lol. Did all the financing and paper work on line and only came up for the closing. Your realtor is the key here, I can't say enough about how great ours was.

A good / GREAT realtor is key in those situations.

Before we decided to make the move from Ky to Arizona we talked to a couple realtors . Decided on a parcel of bare land , Thought we had a good one but he turned out to be a snake and after a few talks in person when I came out ahead of the family we ditched him and moved on.

We ended up meeting a super nice lady who had been in the business for several years and bought our house thru her with zero issues

I have bought over 30 different properties , bare land, cabins, and houses and a third were bought out of state. If you know construction and have good common sense, you can buy them from the owner pretty easy. I call a local lawyer and he does the recording and transfer of the deed for a couple hundred bucks and I don't even meet the sellers. For instance, the last 2 transactions, I had a small house in a 55+ RV community in south Texas. Put it on Zillow, and a buyer from Branson, MO saw it online, he drove down and I had a neighbor unlock it, he liked it, we agreed on a price. He sent me a deposit for $2000. I called a local lawyer, he charged $250 to record the deed. I sighed and sent him the deed and his fee and the buyer wired the money into my account. When I received it, I told the lawyer to record it. Never even met him. Everybody is protected and I don't pay 7% realtor fees. The last purchase was to buy a house in a 55+ community in Phoenix, AZ. Saw a house online, Golf at 55, called the agent, signed a purchase agreement online using DOC u sign. Have 10 days for inspection. Flew out the same day that I had the inspections. Met the realtor. House was fine. Flew home next day. 3 weeks later, Title company sent out to my house in Texas, a portable notary, couple days later we had the house. Never met the sellers! I have found that most realtors are not all that helpful if you know the buying and selling process. If you are newbys, then try to find a GOOD realtor.

Buying investment properties is one thing. Buying a place you want to spend the rest of your life in is something totally different. A good realtor that knows the area is invaluable in that instance. I am so grateful for ours. To the OP, if you are looking to move to western or central WV I will be glad to hook you up with our realtor. Despite the prevailing stories about WV there are some really nice places here. The countryside is beautiful and the people are the friendliest people you will ever meet.

Thanks all. Looks like I'll be hunting for a good agent. We are thinking farther south than WV, like Tennessee. But thank you for the offer. Boating is a big requirement, and there is a nice river system there. Also looking at South Atlantic coast. Or maybe even the Caribbean. Fortunately a couple of places were are interested in I have a few contacts to reach out to.

bestplaces.net is your friend, trust me.

We hope to do the same thing in about 5 years. That said, think long and hard about Hurricanes if you are considering the coast. That and the taxes are why we are planning to move.Also, take a look online at the tax situation for each state you are considering. The whole tax situation from sales tax, property taxes, car taxes, payroll, inheritance, etc. TN is a good deal if you are taking money with you but has a 9% sales tax.