Quote:
Originally Posted by Baz
Craig......if you want to surf (not SUP) then you'll be on the WRONG coast of Florida! You should look into my town...New Smyrna Beach.
You know, it's funny to see someone say they want to leave the Ventura area. I love California and except for the cold water....seems like Ventura would be an awesome place to live.
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Baz, we will stop by NSB on our way down from Amelia island. I'll PM you...But only cuz I want to meet your dogs
. I think we'll fly into Jacksonville and rent a car. We'll start in Amelia and make out way down to NSB, then cross over to Naples, working our way up to Tarpon Springs. We can fly back out of Tampa.
First...about surfing. 47 years of almost daily surfing and shoulders are toast (A/C Subluxation-no good surgical solution). Thats why I took up SUP surfing (Yes, I know you hate us...Heck, I hated them too until I couldn't paddle prone anymore...but it's a HUGE advantage when catching waves with a paddle). I'm doing a lot more endurance paddling and SUP fishing now and less surfing. Surfing in retirement would be a luxury, but not a necessity anymore.
Second...Ventura. We DO love it here. Awesome surf, great weather, avocado orchard, and we have a new Grandbaby five miles away. The problem is ITS TOO DAMNED expensive! Even if we downsize, a simple 3 bedroom house in my area is $850,000. My wife and I do not have pensions. We have nice equity in our house, but can't maintain our lifestyle here in retirement. It's a very expensive property to maintain. We can sell here, use the equity to pay cash for a house in SC or FL thats nicer than we have here, pocket some cash, and be completely debt free. Also, CA has 9% state tax, 8% sales tax, and taxes 401K, IRA's, and SocSec as regular income. Screw that.