[masraum]

Originally Posted by MRM

Florida and Texas have no income tax and no estate tax. Both have places you can live cheaply if you're willing to drive a long way and live in a relatively isolated area. As far as I can tell both have places that can be pretty nice and still be reasonably priced. The panhandle of Florida is beautiful. You can buy something close to the water anywhere between Destin (expensive) and Pensacola (also expensive) with everything in between being reasonable. We have family in Ft. Walton Beach and visit every year or two and absolutely love it. It's very red because of the Air Force bases in town. Beautiful beaches, nice weather, easy access to an airport. Not a bad deal all in all. Ft. Walton Beach is about half way between Panama City and Pensacola. There's a good airport in FWB and Pensacola is about 50 miles away. Panama City is a little farther but still an easy drive. When we fly in we price FEB and Pensacola and take whatever is cheapest.

My parents retired to a very small town outside of Pensacola, Milton. It was a very nice, small town. The biggest problem with the panhandle of FL is that it seems like the area that is most likely to take a direct hurricane hit after the Atlantic coast of South Florida. Anywhere between Gainsville, FL and Port Arthur, Texas.

My parents lived just north of I-10 in Milton very near the blackwater river. THe only thing that they really worried about where they were was falling trees because their house was pretty much in a forest.