Brownwood Sunsets ?

What Retirees Look For
1. Low Crime Rate
2. Active, clean, safe downtown
3. Good Hospitals
4. Low Overall Tax Rate
5. Mild Climate
6. Friendly neighbors
7. Scenic beauty nearby
8. Low cost of living
9. Good recerational facilities
10. Low housing costs
source: Where to Retire
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Scouting the best places for a sunset
Magazine tours the country, helping retirees decide where to settle
12:11 PM CDT on Saturday, May 28, 2005
By BOB MOOS / The Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON – Mary Lu Abbott has a dream job – she crisscrosses the country in search of the best places to retire.
"It used to be that most people who wanted to retire somewhere else thought of Florida and Arizona as their only options, but that's all changed," she said. "Today Americans are looking just about everywhere."
Ms. Abbott writes for Where to Retire, a Texas-based national magazine that tries to answer a question on more and more people's minds as they approach retirement and consider uprooting themselves.
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On the lookout
A Where to Retire survey found that 92 percent of its subscribers would prefer to live in rural towns or suburbs, with only 8 percent having their eyes set on large cities.
When Ms. Abbott scouts communities for possible profiles, she drops into restaurants, walks around neighborhoods, browses through stores and visits real estate offices.
In all her exploring, she's looking for certain attributes.
"The first is 'eye appeal' – does the town make me want to spend some time there?" she explained.
By that, she usually means natural beauty such as a nearby lake or mountain. But it could also be an attractive, vibrant downtown.
Ms. Abbott then checks on other important qualities such as hospitals, affordable housing, entertainment and low taxes.
"The cost of living is a big factor," she said. "People particularly want to know about taxes – and not just sales and income taxes but also property and inheritance taxes."
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source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/052905dnbusretire.f1211ebc.html