Friday, November 18, 2011

Where Not To Live

With my kids out of the house and my husband's recent month and a half with me my mind has wandered to retirement and where we should settle in our golden years. In looking around I found a list of the 5 worst places to retire.


1)Lake Las Vegas, Nevada
This was a golfers paradise dreamed up in 1972 but the crash of the building boom in 1990's has caused this dream to become a nightmare. The once exclusive clubs in the area which had initiation fees of $175,000 are  non existent they all went bankrupt and only one reopened. Now anyone with $600.00 a year can join I am wondering how the investors are feeling about their choice of investments.
2) Greater Pheonix
Pheonix was one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. and they overbuilt. Now, after the bottom was knocked out of the housing market 40% of their mortgages have gone belly up. This means they have a bunch of houses sitting empty and the prices are plummeting. Not too good as an investment unless you get in on the basement and ride the elevator back up.
3) La Cresta Community, Davenport, Florida
This one is pretty scary Webb construction with 50 years behind it was building this retirement city. They got in a dispute with the land owner and pulled up stakes, boarded up buildings and abandoned the town, leaving half of the buildings unbuilt. Pools , rec hall and all. The residence there are stuck in this Webb built ghost town. Bad juju Webb. Not only that but Florida is cutting back on it's aid to retiree's, Where is my list I am crossing off Florida...
4) Laguna Woods Village, Orange County, California
Okay, I can see some of my friends heading down to this place to check it out... just sayin... This retirement community grows marijuana legally by state law for their own consumption claiming it is medicinal.Still it is illegal under Federal laws and the Feds have been giving them a run for their medicinal herbs money. Who needs that hassle.
5) Clark County, Nevada...(Vegas made #1 and #5)
Clark County is home to Henderson and Las Vegas, not only are the crime rates soaring (3rd highest in the nation) but there is also a little over 71% of all mortgages that have gone belly up. Their cost of living is at 105% in the nation and unemployment is way up also. Yeah... Vegas, Off the list.


I went ahead and checked a couple other lists to see the best and the worst in America
Here is the worst places to live...if you live in one of these places you probably already know it may be on this list, however you have my condolences anyway.
Top 10 Worst By                
                CNBC                                                                                  Stollerderby
 1)    El Centro, California                                       1)Stockton, Calif
 2)    Cleveland, Ohio                                               2)Memphis, Tennessee
 3)    Detroit, Michigan                                             3) Chicago, Illinois
 4)    Las Vegas, Nevada                                         4)Cleveland, Ohio
 5)    Oklahoma City, Oklahoma                              5)Modesto, California
 6)    Los Angeles, California                                   6)Flint, Michigan
 7)    Phoenix, Arizona                                             7)Detroit, Michigan 
 8)    Newark, New Jersey                                       8)Buffalo, N.Y
 9)    Miami, Florida                                                    9)Miami, Florida
10)   Memphis, Tennessee                                     10)St. Louis, Missouri


              Forbes
1)    Cleveland, Ohio
2)    Stockton, California
3)    Memphis, Tennessee 
4)    Detroit, Michigan 
5)    Flint, Michigan
6)    Miami, Florida
7)    St Louis, Missouri
8)    Buffalo, New York
9)    Canton Ohio
10) Chicago, Illinois


I checked three lists and all of them had differences although some cities were repeated they were never in the same order.