12 Places Retirees Chose: an Old Farmhouse in Hungary, a Mountain View in Oregon and a Town of Under 1,000

In 2018, after a holiday to see my brother in Hungary, we bought an old farmhouse in a small village called Bögöte, it was to be our holiday home. We retired and lived there most of the time. We transformed it. We knocked down the old outbuildings and built a terrace to enjoy the long summer days.

We sold it a couple of years ago. We sold to 2 of our Hungarian friends. They send me pictures of our garden now and again to show how much our plants have grown. Lovely to see them mature.

“My parents just retired and moved to a small country town in Australia: this is the view from their front yard.”

The hammock is the best part.

Retired after 36 years of teaching, sold a house, bought a house and moved (by myself) 2 states away to a town where I didn’t know a soul, all within a 3 year span of time. Incredibly hard process but now, I can’t imagine any other way I’d want my life to be.

“I retired 3.5 years ago and moved to the mountains. I took this picture from my bedroom window this morning.”

This is in Eastern Oregon near Baker City.

It took me two years of searching to find a place that was secluded, had a view and was within my budget. Patience was the key.

The house came with the land... 1.5 acres with a creek running behind the house and a small river about 100 yards out front.

I feel happy for the first time in my life! I’m finally content.

We moved 150 miles the day I retired. We’d lived in the area for 35 years and wanted a change. We loved the town my sister lived in, so we were happy to find a house there and it’s worked out well.

It’s a university town so there are (non academic) adult education classes in which we’ve met people. We also joined the local gym, and one sister especially has met a ton of people through pickleball — that seems to be widely popular and a good way to meet active older adults.

I’d recommend looking for a town with a large college or university to keep your life interesting.

We retired a while back but just recently re-located to a small town in the Texas Panhandle.

It’s the town where my wife grew up and I’ve visited a lot over the years but I didn’t know it really well. We’ve lived here since November and I’ve grown to love it. It’s peaceful and quiet and the people are very friendly.

It’s nice to be able to go to the grocery store, get a few things and be back in 10 minutes. We really only have one restaurant so we cook a lot more.

I walk thru the neighborhoods every day and at least once a week, someone will stop as they drive by just to talk, most of the time because I’m a stranger.

Retirement finally gave me the freedom to just go wherever I want and I’m loving it.

Wife and I retired, sold our house where we had lived for 32 years and moved 1500 miles away a year ago. We bought a little cottage on a lake.

We have made a few new friends. Our neighbors are super nice and know everyone in the area. They have introduced us to a lot of people.

My wife goes to a lot of the exercise classes offered and has made friends doing that. I pretty much go fishing by myself almost every day and I’m perfectly happy with that. We are glad we moved. We miss seeing the kids (grown) as often but we are very happy here.

We moved from Massachusetts to upstate New York (we are both from the area originally). As with most things, planning and preparation is key. Plan on several trips to look at real estate if you are buying a house. Plan on spending a lot on a moving company.

We were prepared to spend a lot of alone time at first but we made friends quickly which has been great. No regrets whatsoever.

Moving back to my hometown, I wasn’t prepared for the likelihood that wherever I went I’d meet someone I knew. Had to start making sure I looked at least half way presentable before I left the house.

Similarly, I had to adjust to the fact that I couldn’t randomly criticize someone I’d run across because there was always a good chance the person I was talking to was the nephew, or cousin, or next door neighbor of the person I was speaking badly about.

We moved from S.E. Michigan back to our hometown in the U.P. when we retired at 60. We went from a 5 bedroom/3 bath house to a 3 bedroom/2 bath cottage.

We had always wanted to go back ... so we decided to move back to reconnect to our roots. We stayed there for 10 years. We loved living there.

My husband is a retired fire captain and was on the board of directors for our small town and I was put under a microscope for many years being scrutinized by people I didn’t even know but who knew me.

We moved to a small town in Oregon. Only my daughter knows us. I’m now 73 and I’m telling ya, it feels good to not worry about what people think or who is talking about you.

We moved to a small (<1000 people) touristy mountain town in Colorado. It’s been great to be in a tiny little town where everybody knows everybody. What I hated as a teenager, I now love as an old lady. I have more, and better, friends than I’ve ever had in my life.

The place is beautiful, has tons of outdoor activities and facilities for tourists, but it also has little community suppers to raise money for the school and many other community things that tourists aren’t involved in. Best decision we ever made.