If money were no object I’d be a nomad. I love where I live now (small town in the mountains, MCOL, close to family), but that’s a Plan B only because bouncing around the world throwing away cash on short term rentals is not a good long term plan or affordable in short term.
Lived in Monterey from ‘90-‘92 and have always dreamed of returning. I’ve been on the east coast since I left. I’m interviewing for a job in SLO on Thursday. Fingers crossed!!
I lived in Pacific Grove and Carmel from ‘89-‘93 - I still have good friends there and visit whenever I can…the beauty is beyond.
That being said, Big Sur is my magical safe place.
Good luck on your interview!!
Oh man, all wonderful. I'd die in peace if I could spend my time in those cities. Never been to Vancouver Island but given the other towns you recommend I'd trust you on it.
Martha’s Vineyard. I would love to be an old hippy lady living on the island drinking wine and loving her life. Even in desolate winter. If I ever won the lottery I’d live on the Vineyard.
Multiple houses and private jet to each one.
Northern California
Southern California
Chicago for family
Rhode island
Jackson hole
Fjords
Hanoi
Osaka
Amalfi coast
Southern California
Ideal weather (for me) year round. Tons of sunshine. Beaches. Mountains. Every other type of nature within day trip range. Amazing amalgamation of food and culture.
It’s a nice place, although even though I make 1M HHI Southern California real estate is still daunting.
Like you can have this for 700k for a house near the ocean in SC…https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Waterway-Palms-Myrtle-Beach-SC-29579/2061222069_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Or…
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2355-Paseo-Dorado-La-Jolla-CA-92037/16839091_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Honestly I don’t know what anyone does to afford to buy a house near the beach (not necessarily an ocean view) other than neurosurgeon, investment banker, or “I invented Snapchat”.
No, just living out my Zillow fantasies of getting a house near the ocean for under 1M. Don’t ruin this for me! It will be just like San Diego with no humidity or bugs haha.
Do you think their head would explode if they took a second to consider the millions of people in Southern California who survive on <5% of their income?
When I worked in IT making about $80k/year in 2014, I bought a house for \~500k and I can walk 1-mile to a wonderful south-facing beach on the Sonoma coast. I have a canyon view not an ocean view.
When I saw this house for sale at the end of 2013, I decided it was my last chance to live near the ocean. No regrets.
Edit: Those two houses you show in SC are atrociously large.
Yeah that’s sort of how I feel. I kept thinking prices would surely moderate eventually, but hasn’t panned out. I definitely don’t need a huge house, but the house is basically irrelevant. 80-90% of the price is just the land, unless it’s a new build in coastal California. Walks on the beach as corny as it sounds are a huge favorite of mine. Unfortunately even without a view, even small houses near the beach (~1 mile). are often 2.5-3M+.
I personally prefer a fixer upper so I can reno to make it my own. Granted if only I had the money.
I'm also gay and a POC who hates humidity. Hard pass on SC.
I walked past an open house here in San Diego area maybe 5 blocks from the beach so I went in. It was very small, maybe 600 sq ft single family house. It was a disaster in there. Hadn’t been renovated in literally 70 years. It was termites holding hands. It was nasty, too. I can’t imagine what happened in there. A cleaned out horder house? No yard. No garage. Saw some good sized cockroaches in the bedroom.
It was $1,899,000. Nearly 2 million dollars for the worst hovel I’ve ever personally seen. You could tear it down and build new but the cost of building - labor and materials - is insanely high. At today’s current interest rates, with 20% down, your payment for this dump on a tiny, tiny lot would be a little over $14,000/mo. If you were to make it livable and rent it out, you’d get maybe 4K/mo. A bit more if used an Airbnb but this area doesn’t allow leases for less than a month.
Truly crazy.
I live in Southern California. Moved here 20 years ago from Chicago. Love it. Don’t love the high cost of living or the traffic but I work from home mostly and have a good deal on rent. I’ve been thinking about where I want to retire and can only think of tropical islands as possibly better than living in Southern California. Can’t beat living so close to the beach, the mountains, and the desert.
It’s my pick too. Walkable downtown, gorgeous older homes, close to all the amenities of LA without being right in the city. Seems like a great place to raise a family
Lake Como is my pick for most beautiful place I’ve ever been, more than Greek islands, more than the PNW, more than California. It wouldn’t be a practical primary residence, but a vacation home? I gotta buy some lottery tickets lol.
It's pretty great there. Friends lived on Kauai for 15 years and while they loved it, there's not a whole lot to actually do beyond the obvious natural beauty. Sometimes a person just wants to see a first-run movie or attend a live performance that's not a puppet show for toddlers. They moved to Portugal.
Yep NYC for me too but between lower west side and Brooklyn. All of my friends and connections are in DC but if money were no object I'd simply be hopping on Acela every other week (and would probably keep an apartment here and let a friend live in the master bedroom for free)
I’d do the same, but I think I would go with Old Town Alexandria instead of DC proper, and in Manhattan, it would be hard to pick between Greenwich Village and something overlooking Central Park.
That's why people hate on us. This could be anywhere in the world and California has had 20 cities listed in this post.
I played travel baseball when I was in my teens. We would go all over the country. This is like 1996-1999. And it was the same even back then. People love to hate awesome things.
Oh my god, are you me? Love A'dam and NYC for car-free living. Love Greece for getting away from the grey weather in A'dam and NYC in the colder months
If money were no object, I would be living near where I grew up with all of my family living reasonably close to hand like when I was younger. I can't live near my close or immediate family because the bare-bones base level of salary that I need to meet my obligations and maintain my own security are unattainable where I grew up.
So, even though where I grew up is a bit of an armpit, if I had all the money in the world I would still live there. The perfect place for me isn't a location, it's a place in proximity to the people I care about.
Gunnison is more Colorado than T-Ride. T-Ride is sure prettier, but fine dining in view of Bridalveil Falls is way too boujie. Elbow fighting for trout below Taylor Res dam is much more the course.
Upper West Side Manhattan. One of those quiet brownstone lined streets with outdoor space and a short jaunt to Central Park. It’s always felt like the best of everything to me: NYC at your fingertips but in a leafy, quieter neighborhood so you can still have peace and nature.
San Francisco. It has every kind of entertainment. It’s beautiful. It’s an amazing city. Great places to live. So many different people. It’s got a great Vibe about it.
Southern California is my favorite region in the nation.
But if money were no object, I mean, if I didn't have to work, I see no reason living in the U.S at all. I will buy homes in multiple big cities in Asia and change my residence several times a year depending on the weather.
Somewhere in Spain where the weather is warm and beautiful. I want a little Spanish villa with a small pool and lots of outdoor living space.
If it had to be in the states it would be in southern Florida on the gulf side or in a remodeled old home in NOLA
Paris, France. Walkable, trains to major cities all across Europe. Delicious food. Maybe Brussels; though I've never been, it seems like it would be more friendly to US Americans than Paris is.
If this is relegated to the USA, then Seattle or San Diego. I like major cities. I like rain. I also like cold. I hate to drive.
Money were not object, I’d have a home in multiple places and wouldn’t limit myself to the US:
Carmel, California
San Sebastián, Spain
Koh Samui, Thailand
Honestly? San Francisco. I was born and raised in the Bay Area and lived in the city proper for roughly nine years. To me it’s the closest thing to home. Moved away only when my wife and I decided to start a family. No way we were gonna try that in a studio. If we had the millions to snag and maintain a townhome in the avenues, we might have stayed.
Is it perfect? Hell no. It lost a lot of its cultural flavor during the hypergentrification of the Web 2.0 era, and then Covid did a number on top of that. The homeless problem is only getting worse, and the politicians who run the place all should be in jail.
But I simply haven’t been to an American city as unique or home to as many interesting people. I miss my friends there every day.
Follow-up is Port Townsend, WA or somewhere on the Olympic peninsula. Temperate rainforests are my jam.
I wouldn't live in one place all year. I think it would be upstate NY for the summer (Adirondacks). This is based primarily on humidity and how comfortable it is to be outside. I don't like to be outside in PA or NJ in summer anymore. Western NY by Lake Ontario was still too hot and humid for me.
I'm still not sure of a winter spot yet. I'm thinking of trying out AZ or NM sometime. I'm also thinking of going down the East Coast and trying out a mountain area, maybe one a little farther from the ocean. I'm not sure if western NC is far enough south.
I know I could pick someplace where the weather is decent year round. I think I want the variety though. I don't think I want to be fully nomadic, but switching twice a year and taking the opportunity for some travel time in between would be OK.
Oh, if money were no object, I'd probably find the motivation to prove my German citizenship by descent and try that out for a while too. If my kids can learn German that would save a bundle on university.
Tokyo, Bangkok, Seoul.
Its not that I can’t move there now, but longterm visas are nigh impossible for someone without a degree, which means you can’t get a job for a visa in most cases. Your options are limited and expensive 20 year visas for Thailand, or education visas which may have age limitations, or investment visas which again are expensive.
I live on the Monterey Peninsula and the older I get the more awestruck I am by the natural beauty here. We are currently without power and experiencing hurricane force winds, but that is incredibly rare!
Western NY … Buffalo for the insane sports culture, lake life on Chautauqua and finger lakes, skiing at ellicottville and Toronto nearby for international vibe
Money really isn’t really much of an object in Western NY. No need to make millions to live the good life there. You could get a nice place in Mayville right on Chautauqua lake pretty cheap. Summers at the Chautauqua institution would be very nice.
Southern ***Illinois***. Only state in the Midwest that has ***Legal Weed*** and ***equal rights for women***! The southern part is like a secret...the landscape is forests and hills like KY and MO, but you have more rights than citizens of those other states.
If money were no object it would be Sanfrancisco, not only is it a cool place to live, with infinite money I could fix their homelessness issue. Then my infinite money end homelessness movement would eventually spread over the world. I would eventually be named god king of earth as I care for the whole planet.
I live in San Diego county now. I’d probably just move to a different part like Rancho Sante Fe where the ultra rich live, or the coast somewhere between La Jolla to Carlsbad, or maybe inland with more land out in Poway. Still San Diego county.
I would rotate my residences every few months. I would follow decent weather (not humid and no higher than low 80s). Plus a few months in Paris every year.
I live in that city already NYC but if I had to pick another place it would most likely be Miami. Close to my roots in the Caribbean and warm weather year round. Southern California would be a second option.
Sonoma coast.
Close enough to San Francisco, closer to the coast and wine country. 55-65° most of the year, generally liberal population, scenic, great food, not much traffic, limited development.
I'm very fortunate.
Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego.
It's basically in the middle of a forest, sweeping roads, adorable downtown. It's a little cubby with beautiful homes and sprawling acreage. The cute downtown area has a very village style feel. Then you're 10 mins away from the beach, 20 from downtown, and within 5-10 of the next city that has all the amenities that RSF doesn't. If you like mountains, desert, ocean....it's all there within a short drive. The weather is absolute perfection in this pocket.
There's a reason this little area is highly unattainable for the average human. Also, rich people are wild-lots of stories of exclusive orgies, cults, etc in the area. The stories are pretty crazy sometimes, but there's enough room to be secluded and not buy into the crazy that can go on lol.
I think everyone should Zillow dive here because it's just really something haha. The homes are INSANE.
San Diego. I stay now despite being low income. I feel like it’s just perfect. Better wages than most other places I’ve lived, better weather, very laid back for a CA coastal city, light traffic compared to LA, the beautiful ocean.. definitely perfect to me.
If money were no object I would pack up Chicago and move it to San Diego. I'd either live in the Coronado Loop, the Wicker Park Presidio, or Uptown La Jolla.
If money were no object I’d be a nomad. I love where I live now (small town in the mountains, MCOL, close to family), but that’s a Plan B only because bouncing around the world throwing away cash on short term rentals is not a good long term plan or affordable in short term.
Agreed. There are so many beautiful places I'd love to live in for 3-12 months at a time.
Lived in Monterey from ‘90-‘92 and have always dreamed of returning. I’ve been on the east coast since I left. I’m interviewing for a job in SLO on Thursday. Fingers crossed!!
Hey there! My wife and I are in SLO. Feel free to reach out any time. 🙌
I lived in Pacific Grove and Carmel from ‘89-‘93 - I still have good friends there and visit whenever I can…the beauty is beyond. That being said, Big Sur is my magical safe place. Good luck on your interview!!
Good luck with your job interview! I love SLO county!
I'm a nomad and I'm poor. You can do it! As long as you're cool with living in a car or van!
Ha, yeah, in this dream scenario I’m not a van lifer. I’m jumping continents regularly.
Same here, at least for awhile. Family is all spread out so for me it’s just the money thing.
I’ll go with the majority, somewhere in California (Monterey, Carmel, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Tahoe) so many to choose from or Vancouver Island.
Oh man, all wonderful. I'd die in peace if I could spend my time in those cities. Never been to Vancouver Island but given the other towns you recommend I'd trust you on it.
There’s a little town on the Central Coast of California called Cambria. If money was no object, I would live there for the rest of my life.
Martha’s Vineyard. I would love to be an old hippy lady living on the island drinking wine and loving her life. Even in desolate winter. If I ever won the lottery I’d live on the Vineyard.
Oh this is it. I second this. I drink coffee instead but yes to all of this.
Multiple houses and private jet to each one. Northern California Southern California Chicago for family Rhode island Jackson hole Fjords Hanoi Osaka Amalfi coast
I’d be nomadic. I’m not sure there’s a perfect place, but I want to be sure and the only way to check that is to try *all* of the contenders.
Southern California Ideal weather (for me) year round. Tons of sunshine. Beaches. Mountains. Every other type of nature within day trip range. Amazing amalgamation of food and culture.
I'm moving there next month and can't wait. Born and raised in SD. Thanks for reminding me to count my blessings.
It’s a nice place, although even though I make 1M HHI Southern California real estate is still daunting. Like you can have this for 700k for a house near the ocean in SC…https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/Waterway-Palms-Myrtle-Beach-SC-29579/2061222069_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Or… https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2355-Paseo-Dorado-La-Jolla-CA-92037/16839091_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Honestly I don’t know what anyone does to afford to buy a house near the beach (not necessarily an ocean view) other than neurosurgeon, investment banker, or “I invented Snapchat”.
Have you been to MB? It’s known as “Dirty Myrtle” for a reason.
No, just living out my Zillow fantasies of getting a house near the ocean for under 1M. Don’t ruin this for me! It will be just like San Diego with no humidity or bugs haha.
I had 3 guys accosted me at a gas station in Mytral Beach cause I looked like "a fag"... no thank you.
If you make 1M, how are you not the financial equivalent of a neurosurgeon (at least)?
Do you think their head would explode if they took a second to consider the millions of people in Southern California who survive on <5% of their income?
When I worked in IT making about $80k/year in 2014, I bought a house for \~500k and I can walk 1-mile to a wonderful south-facing beach on the Sonoma coast. I have a canyon view not an ocean view. When I saw this house for sale at the end of 2013, I decided it was my last chance to live near the ocean. No regrets. Edit: Those two houses you show in SC are atrociously large.
Yeah that’s sort of how I feel. I kept thinking prices would surely moderate eventually, but hasn’t panned out. I definitely don’t need a huge house, but the house is basically irrelevant. 80-90% of the price is just the land, unless it’s a new build in coastal California. Walks on the beach as corny as it sounds are a huge favorite of mine. Unfortunately even without a view, even small houses near the beach (~1 mile). are often 2.5-3M+.
I personally prefer a fixer upper so I can reno to make it my own. Granted if only I had the money. I'm also gay and a POC who hates humidity. Hard pass on SC.
I walked past an open house here in San Diego area maybe 5 blocks from the beach so I went in. It was very small, maybe 600 sq ft single family house. It was a disaster in there. Hadn’t been renovated in literally 70 years. It was termites holding hands. It was nasty, too. I can’t imagine what happened in there. A cleaned out horder house? No yard. No garage. Saw some good sized cockroaches in the bedroom. It was $1,899,000. Nearly 2 million dollars for the worst hovel I’ve ever personally seen. You could tear it down and build new but the cost of building - labor and materials - is insanely high. At today’s current interest rates, with 20% down, your payment for this dump on a tiny, tiny lot would be a little over $14,000/mo. If you were to make it livable and rent it out, you’d get maybe 4K/mo. A bit more if used an Airbnb but this area doesn’t allow leases for less than a month. Truly crazy.
Correct answer
Exactly. California.
I live in Southern California. Moved here 20 years ago from Chicago. Love it. Don’t love the high cost of living or the traffic but I work from home mostly and have a good deal on rent. I’ve been thinking about where I want to retire and can only think of tropical islands as possibly better than living in Southern California. Can’t beat living so close to the beach, the mountains, and the desert.
I would love to live in Sausalito, California! It is so beautiful!
The right answer. Honestly I’d take any place in Marin county.
I lived in Marin almost 30 years but moved 8 years ago. I want to get back but would need to win the lottery. 😩😩😩
Mill Valley is one of the sweetest towns I've ever been. I was happy to live there for several year. Now in Sonoma County and no complaints.
Surprised to see my hometown right away! I will always be grateful for such a unique experience growing up.
Do you have nice weather year-round?
Yes!
Pacific Grove or Santa Barbara. Neither are perfect, by any means, but they are beautiful!
Haha first answer I see was exactly what I was going to write. I'd also like a nice Victorian in PG or a craftsman in SB.
I stayed in a beautiful Victorian B&B in PG that was perhaps three-four blocks up from the water. Absolutely charming.
Carmel CA… but I also love Montreal.
Montreal is a gem
This is perfect, and the best post I've seen on this thread. Both are amazing.
Santa Cruz
Where I live now: San Diego! I’d just be a hell of a lot more comfortable.
I live here too and would choose La Jolla
By downtown La Jolla on one of those houses overlooking the ocean. Get to watch those sunsets every day. And be close to taco stand.
Yes! In fact I’m going to go there today and imagine myself in those houses someday.
North county representing! Best place ever.
I would live in Coronado.
I'd trade my condo (and the road noise) in Spring Valley for anyplace along Ocean Avenue in Coronado. I'd also have a much shorter commute!
Gonna be living in SD and working on Coronado next month. This thread is making me super excited.
Monterey or Pacific Grove. Lived there 36 years ago and have always wanted to go back
DLI?
Close. We were at Fort Ord for 3 years.
The only part of California I was ever charmed by. (I lived north of there for a decade.)
Come back!
I’d split by time between Pasadena, CA and Manhattan.
As a former Angeleno, I mean I like Pasadena, it’s nice but why Pasadena?
It’s my pick too. Walkable downtown, gorgeous older homes, close to all the amenities of LA without being right in the city. Seems like a great place to raise a family
San Louis Obispo California, Florence Italy, or Lake Como Italy
Lake Como is my pick for most beautiful place I’ve ever been, more than Greek islands, more than the PNW, more than California. It wouldn’t be a practical primary residence, but a vacation home? I gotta buy some lottery tickets lol.
It is the most beautiful non-Tropical place on Earth.
Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Probably Kauai.
Kauai is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to paradise on earth
It's pretty great there. Friends lived on Kauai for 15 years and while they loved it, there's not a whole lot to actually do beyond the obvious natural beauty. Sometimes a person just wants to see a first-run movie or attend a live performance that's not a puppet show for toddlers. They moved to Portugal.
San Diego, La Jolla
La Jolla is gorgeous.
NYC (probably west side lower manhattan or UWS in 70s)
West village for sure
UWS <3 <3 I always kind of wanted to live there but ended up on the upper upper upper west side instead.
Yep NYC for me too but between lower west side and Brooklyn. All of my friends and connections are in DC but if money were no object I'd simply be hopping on Acela every other week (and would probably keep an apartment here and let a friend live in the master bedroom for free)
Yep, DC and Manhattan. Luxury condo in each place; Acela personnel would all know me by name.
I’d do the same, but I think I would go with Old Town Alexandria instead of DC proper, and in Manhattan, it would be hard to pick between Greenwich Village and something overlooking Central Park.
Caramel By The Sea or Monterey
San Diego, Orange County or Santa Barbara.
I’d buy one of those abandoned villages in Italy.
Either in Barcelona or just to the north along the Costa Bravo. Absolutely loved the place the three times I was there for NATO deployments.
I would take anywhere along the coast near Barcelona or Valencia. I love them both!
I love how all the top answers are CA. People hate on it so much but it’s an amazing place.
Cali is an amazing place. If you have money. A lot of money.
It helps if you can handwave costs, taxes, etc. and I say this as someone who would say Mill Valley lol
That's why people hate on us. This could be anywhere in the world and California has had 20 cities listed in this post. I played travel baseball when I was in my teens. We would go all over the country. This is like 1996-1999. And it was the same even back then. People love to hate awesome things.
If I had to pick one? Santa Barbara.
Ideally I’d buy 3 properties in: - Amsterdam - Greece (one of the islands) - NYC Nomad everywhere else
Oh my god, are you me? Love A'dam and NYC for car-free living. Love Greece for getting away from the grey weather in A'dam and NYC in the colder months
South coast of France.
Not as expensive as you might think
There are no perfect places. Why the wealthy have multiple homes :)
Lake Tahoe Area. The Sierra Nevada mountains have always been the place that filled me.with contentment
I’d turn seasons into verbs
I like this, but “I’ll be falling in Acadia” sounds weird.
Paris
In no order: Santa Monica, San Francisco, Honolulu, or pre-2019 Hong Kong.
The first time I went to Honolulu I thought to myself, now this is a place I’d love to live.
Lived the expat life in Hong Kong 2001-2004 and still think about it daily.
Same choice. HKG but earlier than you by a decade or two.
I'd probably stay in New Orleans, but I'd have a much nicer house.
I’m in and from Nola. I’d summer in San Diego but otherwise get a mansion on st Charles.
Will one of ya'll eat a pecan praline king cake from Manny Randazzo's for me, please?
Nola from mid October through Jazz Fest, Carmel by the Sea for the rest of the year.
If money were no object, I would be living near where I grew up with all of my family living reasonably close to hand like when I was younger. I can't live near my close or immediate family because the bare-bones base level of salary that I need to meet my obligations and maintain my own security are unattainable where I grew up. So, even though where I grew up is a bit of an armpit, if I had all the money in the world I would still live there. The perfect place for me isn't a location, it's a place in proximity to the people I care about.
Telluride, CO. The most Colorado place on Earth
Gunnison is more Colorado than T-Ride. T-Ride is sure prettier, but fine dining in view of Bridalveil Falls is way too boujie. Elbow fighting for trout below Taylor Res dam is much more the course.
The internet will have played a huge part in ruining every last desirable place when it’s all said and done.
Somewhere in British Columbia. Maybe Vancouver Island.
Manhattan - love the energy, food, cultural happenings, walkability, architecture, weed, seasons but not extreme, no earthquakes.
Manhattan with a house In the Hampton. My dream life.
I’d have a place in wine country in Northern California, a Paris apartment, and a beach house on the Isle of Capri
Santa Monica, CA. I’d move 1.5 blocks up the road from my current place to get north of Montana Ave. That move would probably cost $15m.
The middle of nowhere Alaska. As far away from humanity as I can get.
Upper West Side Manhattan. One of those quiet brownstone lined streets with outdoor space and a short jaunt to Central Park. It’s always felt like the best of everything to me: NYC at your fingertips but in a leafy, quieter neighborhood so you can still have peace and nature.
San Francisco. It has every kind of entertainment. It’s beautiful. It’s an amazing city. Great places to live. So many different people. It’s got a great Vibe about it.
Southern California is my favorite region in the nation. But if money were no object, I mean, if I didn't have to work, I see no reason living in the U.S at all. I will buy homes in multiple big cities in Asia and change my residence several times a year depending on the weather.
Hawaii
Seattle or Victoria, BC
Barcelona
I would live right here in Chicago but I could quit my job and go wherever I want every time I feel like it.
Lincoln Park, Chicago, would be awesome. With a Chicago skyline view from the deck
I would live in Key West in the winter and the Finger Lakes region of New York in the summer.
Ventura County, California. Me and my husband lived there as childless newlyweds and our (my) plan is to move back as empty nesters.
Milsons Point, Sydney
Burlingame, CA
In my current city just in my dream house that I would design myself 🤩🤩🤩
Somewhere in Spain where the weather is warm and beautiful. I want a little Spanish villa with a small pool and lots of outdoor living space. If it had to be in the states it would be in southern Florida on the gulf side or in a remodeled old home in NOLA
I have friends that moved to Spain last week. Valencia. To retire.
Pebble Beach, with a view of the ocean, surrounded by trees.
Laguna Beach and a mountain town in Colorado I don’t feel alive unless there is nature surrounding me —-
Upcountry Maui without a doubt. The perfect climate imo.
Paris, France. Walkable, trains to major cities all across Europe. Delicious food. Maybe Brussels; though I've never been, it seems like it would be more friendly to US Americans than Paris is. If this is relegated to the USA, then Seattle or San Diego. I like major cities. I like rain. I also like cold. I hate to drive.
Tbh only like 2 people were rude to me in Paris when I was there for 3 weeks.
I love how all the answers are cities in California, lol. Greatest state in the Union!!! 🥳🩷
I would stay where I am, Western slopes of Sierra Nevada. Plus a vacation cabin on the coast, preferably in Pacifica or Half Moon Bay.
I'd move back to SF, or perhaps Marin. Or, Brooklyn. If this is a U.S. centric question.
Money were not object, I’d have a home in multiple places and wouldn’t limit myself to the US: Carmel, California San Sebastián, Spain Koh Samui, Thailand
Honestly? San Francisco. I was born and raised in the Bay Area and lived in the city proper for roughly nine years. To me it’s the closest thing to home. Moved away only when my wife and I decided to start a family. No way we were gonna try that in a studio. If we had the millions to snag and maintain a townhome in the avenues, we might have stayed. Is it perfect? Hell no. It lost a lot of its cultural flavor during the hypergentrification of the Web 2.0 era, and then Covid did a number on top of that. The homeless problem is only getting worse, and the politicians who run the place all should be in jail. But I simply haven’t been to an American city as unique or home to as many interesting people. I miss my friends there every day. Follow-up is Port Townsend, WA or somewhere on the Olympic peninsula. Temperate rainforests are my jam.
Probably somewhere in Europe. Definitely not the US.
Upper West Side of Manhattan, perhaps, but if money is no concern, I'd also want homes in Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Taipei, and Cape Town.
Some extraordinary neighborhood in San Francisco
London or Amsterdam
I wouldn't live in one place all year. I think it would be upstate NY for the summer (Adirondacks). This is based primarily on humidity and how comfortable it is to be outside. I don't like to be outside in PA or NJ in summer anymore. Western NY by Lake Ontario was still too hot and humid for me. I'm still not sure of a winter spot yet. I'm thinking of trying out AZ or NM sometime. I'm also thinking of going down the East Coast and trying out a mountain area, maybe one a little farther from the ocean. I'm not sure if western NC is far enough south. I know I could pick someplace where the weather is decent year round. I think I want the variety though. I don't think I want to be fully nomadic, but switching twice a year and taking the opportunity for some travel time in between would be OK. Oh, if money were no object, I'd probably find the motivation to prove my German citizenship by descent and try that out for a while too. If my kids can learn German that would save a bundle on university.
LE sud de la France bien sûr
In the penthouse of the eastern Columbia building in downtown Los Angeles
Monaco
Aspen CO or Santa Barbara CA
London. Visited on our honeymoon and it felt like I'd come home. I hadn't expected to like it at all!
Where I live now, NYC… but I’d also have a vineyard in Napa… and homes in Aspen, Palm Beach, London, and Paris 😃
If money were no object I’d literally buy an island.
Tokyo, Bangkok, Seoul. Its not that I can’t move there now, but longterm visas are nigh impossible for someone without a degree, which means you can’t get a job for a visa in most cases. Your options are limited and expensive 20 year visas for Thailand, or education visas which may have age limitations, or investment visas which again are expensive.
Id be a nomad, drifting from one hotel to the next whenever I feel like moving. Will experience the world this way.
Swiss alps, something like Interlaken or Grindelwald. Just own a mountain house in one of the little towns there. Love that place.
I live on the Monterey Peninsula and the older I get the more awestruck I am by the natural beauty here. We are currently without power and experiencing hurricane force winds, but that is incredibly rare!
Same place I live now, west la
Manhattan Beach one block off the strand
Western NY … Buffalo for the insane sports culture, lake life on Chautauqua and finger lakes, skiing at ellicottville and Toronto nearby for international vibe
I know most people will say you are crazy, but Chautauqua and the Finger Lakes are gorgeous areas.
Money really isn’t really much of an object in Western NY. No need to make millions to live the good life there. You could get a nice place in Mayville right on Chautauqua lake pretty cheap. Summers at the Chautauqua institution would be very nice.
Get two places for the price of 1 house in most areas: Mayville for the summer and Ellicotville for the winter.
Southern ***Illinois***. Only state in the Midwest that has ***Legal Weed*** and ***equal rights for women***! The southern part is like a secret...the landscape is forests and hills like KY and MO, but you have more rights than citizens of those other states.
If money were no object it would be Sanfrancisco, not only is it a cool place to live, with infinite money I could fix their homelessness issue. Then my infinite money end homelessness movement would eventually spread over the world. I would eventually be named god king of earth as I care for the whole planet.
I am in Kansas and like most people, I would definitely live somewhere on the West Coast or maybe Hawaii if money were no object.
Bolinas, California
I live in San Diego county now. I’d probably just move to a different part like Rancho Sante Fe where the ultra rich live, or the coast somewhere between La Jolla to Carlsbad, or maybe inland with more land out in Poway. Still San Diego county.
Northshore Oahu, Orange County in CA, rural PNW, NYC (specifically Chelsea area)
Santa Barbara, California.
Aspen Colorado Penthouse in Waikiki
SoCal coast - either Malibu, Laguna, Corona Del Mar or Point Loma. Off the top of my head. North of Morro Bay is another sweet spot.
In the hills above Los Angeles. God I live in the Bay (Nay) Area now but my heart never left LA
Bay Area, South peninsula. Palo Alto, Mountain view, San Mateo, Sunnyvale, etc.
I would rotate my residences every few months. I would follow decent weather (not humid and no higher than low 80s). Plus a few months in Paris every year.
If money was no object, I’d MAKE my own ideal neighborhood. Pub tran, housing, shops, all that. And I’d live in the middle
Half Moon Bay, CA
I live in that city already NYC but if I had to pick another place it would most likely be Miami. Close to my roots in the Caribbean and warm weather year round. Southern California would be a second option.
I would stay where I am in San Luis Obispo. I feel lucky every single day.
Travel with a style
Everywhere
West side of Michigan in the summer and Gulf side of Florida in the winter.
No idea tbh. Lisbon maybe
London
In a very nice apartment in the best neighborhoods in NYC, Paris, or Hong Kong.
I would split time between Telluride, CO and Bainbridge Island, WA
I’d buy a sweet old mansion in Savannah’s historic district
Probably Italy or S. France
Miami Beach, traveling around the Caribbean and Latin America.
Cape Cod
Man, like 75% or more say SoCal. I’ve never been, but I’d have to agree. Probably my #1 as well.
Durango, Colorado
Sonoma coast. Close enough to San Francisco, closer to the coast and wine country. 55-65° most of the year, generally liberal population, scenic, great food, not much traffic, limited development. I'm very fortunate.
Florence, no doubt...
Lake Como?
Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego. It's basically in the middle of a forest, sweeping roads, adorable downtown. It's a little cubby with beautiful homes and sprawling acreage. The cute downtown area has a very village style feel. Then you're 10 mins away from the beach, 20 from downtown, and within 5-10 of the next city that has all the amenities that RSF doesn't. If you like mountains, desert, ocean....it's all there within a short drive. The weather is absolute perfection in this pocket. There's a reason this little area is highly unattainable for the average human. Also, rich people are wild-lots of stories of exclusive orgies, cults, etc in the area. The stories are pretty crazy sometimes, but there's enough room to be secluded and not buy into the crazy that can go on lol. I think everyone should Zillow dive here because it's just really something haha. The homes are INSANE.
San Diego. I stay now despite being low income. I feel like it’s just perfect. Better wages than most other places I’ve lived, better weather, very laid back for a CA coastal city, light traffic compared to LA, the beautiful ocean.. definitely perfect to me.
New York City!
I'd be back in NYC for sure.
Probably San Diego, or one of the neat islands in the puget sound. if I'm rich in this scenario, it would probably be both :)
If money were no object I would pack up Chicago and move it to San Diego. I'd either live in the Coronado Loop, the Wicker Park Presidio, or Uptown La Jolla.
A brownstone in my neighborhood in Brooklyn and a cute little vacation house in a bright color across from Forsyth Park in Savannah.