Ideas for Aviation friendly communities or Air Parks???

Two ideas -

Look at Deerfield resort in Tennessee. It's a big development on a big lake with a very nice airstrip. The winters are not tropical, by any stretch, but it ain't Alaska.

You might consider looking at the Plantation on Saint George Island in Florida. Upper end, not an airpark either but it does have its own airstrip, , it has white beaches and it's not too far from the amenities of Appalachicola.

http://www.deerfieldresort.com/
Interesting. I wonder if they allow floatplanes?

Anyone been in Kanab Utah in the winter?

Has anybody had experience with 46U Alpine Airpark in Alpine, WY?
Looks amazing and the tax benefits would be huge!


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If you are stinkin’ rich, there’s probably no better summer aviation community for a cub driver than the one in Alpine, Wyoming. Cold and snowy in the winter though, but in the summer - wow. Good medical care in Jackson. I was just there yesterday. It’s a deserted icebox.

if you like lake living, look into Deerfield resort in East Tennessee.

The hill country of Texas has a lot going for it.

My wife bought an investment house south of Fort Worth Texas and one of our daughters is currently renting it.
It is not where I would want to live, and thus a HUGE source of tension right now.
Hopefully it will go up in value in a couple years so we can sell it. But my wife has pulled this on me before with another house up in Anchorage. ( rented out to another of our kids, for years now.. )
I guess I could sell my 180 and buy my own house down south. But then I would not have a plane... Maybe I could just live in the back of the 180 all winter...

Draw a triangle in Texas from San Antonio, to DFW, to Houston. Anything inside of there will be overpopulated and unlivable in the next 20 years, proceed with caution. If I were to pick up and move thousands of miles away for a retirement place on a grass strip, I’d look into Arkansas. I’ve heard of some beautiful places up there.

Alex, we have had a house on North Padre Is. and the value hasn't moved in ten years. I'm waiting also.
We spent the night in Pine Bluff AR, on the way north from Steve Pearce's last month. It's still rural there and people were very nice. Lots of building going on also.

algonquin said:

Alex, we have had a house on North Padre Is. and the value hasn't moved in ten years. I'm waiting also.
We spent the night in Pine Bluff AR, on the way north from Steve Pearce's last month. It's still rural there and people were very nice. Lots of building going on also.

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Gotta love Pine Bluff, beautiful area. I used to have an employee who telecommuted from there. She would say it’s great untill that lovely paper mill smell wafts over the town on a summer night...it will almost take your mind off of the Army’s chemical weapons storage facility.

OLDCROWE said:

Gotta love Pine Bluff, beautiful area. I used to have an employee who telecommuted from there. She would say it’s great untill that lovely paper mill smell wafts over the town on a summer night...it will almost take your mind off of the Army’s chemical weapons storage facility.

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Pine Bluff has a great airport restaurant and a respected avionics shop. It also sometimes makes the "most dangerous city in America" list. If you want to live in Arkansas, I would draw a line from the southwest corner to the northeast corner. Then live in the northwest half of that.

It also sometimes makes the "most dangerous city in America" list.

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I stopped for gas at a convenience store one time and hoped nothing bad happened since I was in the minority. The sign on the entrance said"Only one student at a time allowed inside". I always remember that one Ha Ha.

slowmover said:

Pine Bluff has a great airport restaurant and a respected avionics shop.

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That's good to know.

Thanks,

slowmover said:

Pine Bluff has a great airport restaurant and a respected avionics shop. It also sometimes makes the "most dangerous city in America" list. If you want to live in Arkansas, I would draw a line from the southwest corner to the northeast corner. Then live in the northwest half of that.

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I kinda draw that line along the Red River.......and live north of that.


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So I live and fly from my own farm in east Arkansas (a safe distance from Pine Bluff) and southeast of slowmover's diagonal, and I want to go west and some of you guys want to come here?!?! Having been out to CA a few times all that desert twixt here and there makes it look like we live in Eden. A lot of people from Texas come here for lakes and rivers and our low mountains they say. If you come here be ready to talk to everybody cause they're gonna talk to you. We have lot of nice flying wx especially compared to the windy (you know who you are) states. Also most of our elected officials are not taterheads (as my friend says) or if they were they moved on (you know who). Did I just talk myself into staying here? :roll: Merde.

I live in East Tennessee, so I’ll go into the pros and cons a little bit. I already mentioned Deerfield resort. It’s more of a big lake subdivision with an very nice airstrip than it is an air park, but the last I looked there are a couple of taxiway access lots and several hangar lots that are still available. It’s about an hour from Knoxville and it’s shopping. The runway is near the lake but it’s not at lake level. Home prices in Tn. are very, very low compared with anywhere else I know of. There are no state income taxes.

Summers are moderate, springs are beautiful, fall can be spectacular some years. Winters are drab and grey days alternating with blue and fantastic days. Knoxville has very good but not great healthcare. Rural East Tennessee has subpar healthcare.

The people are - different. They are perceptive but not always highly educated. There is an expectation of friendliness. You will actually insult many of them if they are friendly to you and you are not friendly back. Even strangers. Lord help you if you are a male and you can’t talk SEC football. Nobody is insulted if you want to talk about Jesus. I have lived in East Tennessee for over 30 years and have never once heard the N-word. If you are a “liberal”, look elsewhere. You won’t be happy.

Every county has an airport. There is good maintenance at the main Knoxville airport. There are no back-country landing opportunities that I know of, but here are lots of beautiful places to fly over.

I see photos of beautiful airparks in all sorts of amazing areas. I see airports with low investments and high investments. I’m sure there are some that others view differently than I, as I need that green color - couldn’t live in a desert. At the end of the day, although there’s not much up here for airparks, living and flying the northeast is pretty damn good.
That said, there’s a few, like Windsock Village on Lake Ossipee, NH that can give you year round fun.


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Subscribing to this thread.

I have been searching for a small patch of a desert strip for years now. AZ (Wickenburg or Aguila), NV (Pahrump), and NM (Moriarty/Edgewood area) are high on my list. If anyone has suggestions in any of those areas outside the obvious, I would be very appreciative.

Alex Clark said:

No California for me.
The property taxes in Arizona seem to be less than Texas. I need to figure out how much the state income taxes would be. It might be a wash.

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Glad you mentioned this. Income tax benefits in some states heavily outweigh others.
Map showing tax-friendly states

https://www.kiplinger.com/tool/taxes/T055-S001-kiplinger-tax-map/index.php

That link took me to one of those 20 page deal that don't tell you anything

algonquin said:

That link took me to one of those 20 page deal that don't tell you anything

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Fixed the link!

Alex Clark said:

My wife bought an investment house south of Fort Worth Texas and one of our daughters is currently renting it.
It is not where I would want to live, and thus a HUGE source of tension right now.
Hopefully it will go up in value in a couple years so we can sell it. But my wife has pulled this on me before with another house up in Anchorage. ( rented out to another of our kids, for years now.. )
I guess I could sell my 180 and buy my own house down south. But then I would not have a plane... Maybe I could just live in the back of the 180 all winter...

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Alex, Momma always seems to have the last say BUT, I accidentally came across a place I would love to winter a few weeks ago... Went down to Fredericksburg, TX (hour north of San Antonio) to look at an airplane. Found the nicest bunch of folks i could imagine. If I could drag my bride from her Grandkids, I'd build a hangar-house at that airport and winter there... BUT as G44 (Kurt) mention early in this thread SW Michigan is a great place to live year round!! His airport community is a AWESOME!! I live and hangar a few mile away but Neumans Field (4N0) is "the Bomb"!!:smile:

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Does anyone have experience or currently live in Washington State on an Airpark they would recommend?
Looking for sunshine and less snow than Minnesota.


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We have had several places over the years at SkyRanch in Carefree. Current one has nice 75'x65' hangar attached to the house, 2500' elevation, during high temps in summer always at least 6 degrees cooler than Phoenix during day, about 15 cooler at night. Usually in Alaska in summer, but this year popped a tendon in my ankle so stuck here so far, cast off in a couple weeks, then boot, will see if I can go to Ak or not then. Best medical choices of anywhere in area, Mayo and lots of specialists for everything. Need that when getting older!!

Not many places for sale on runway, only 20 lots total and getting pretty pricey, but t hangars can be had for $180-200K+ range if one does not want to live on airport, just in area, then far better pricing for homes. High desert, to trees and saguaros, not like PHX valley where not much natural vegetation.
Lots of back country flying in all directions.
Best of both worlds, AZ and Alaska in my view. But if I were to move, sure would look at Fredricksburg, TX hill country area, just humid and hot in summer I think. One place only one will have to have some winter. Born in AK and spent most of my life in Ak, so do not need any more long winters! But summer is still the best there.
John

Something else that I have started to research is taxes upon retirement income and property taxes.

Texas has no income tax. BUT... the little 3 bedroom house near Fort Worth is costing me $425 a month in taxes. I hear it is much less in other areas.

It would not be as big a deal, if my ex-wife, and a female judge from many years ago, had not harnesses me with eternal payments.

Has anyone been around Breckenridge Texas and that big lake nearby??

So first I’m a pilot and second I’m a Broker in Washington State. If you are looking for sunshine and less snow then you have a narrow area in Washington that you can look. But the other then that the state is great flying and fun to see. Are you looking closer to Seattle or do you wan to be closer to Spokane? Just use me as a resource no obligation to use me has a realtor!

Sincerely

Alex Jobe
ATP Multi
Comm Heli, Comm SEL, SES and Glider
and a darn Realtor

Alex Clark said:

Something else that I have started to research is taxes upon retirement income and property taxes.

Texas has no income tax. BUT... the little 3 bedroom house near Fort Worth is costing me $425 a month in taxes. I hear it is much less in other areas.

It would not be as big a deal, if my ex-wife, and a female judge from many years ago, had not harnesses me with eternal payments.

Has anyone been around Breckenridge Texas and that big lake nearby??

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Pierce’s back yard

Property taxes in AZ are pretty low. Half the rate of Anchorage, do not even think about CA property taxes, way high.
John

FWIW, I spent a number of summer vacations flying around the country looking at real estate and airports before I retired. I landed in the Ozarks of North Central Arkansas in a small village built around some small man made lakes. Taxes are reasonable. Property is inexpensive. There are a lot of private air strips around, and land that can be bought if you want to build your own. I chose to buy a house on one of the lakes and use the municipal airport as hangar rent is also inexpensive. A 48' wide T hangar with a bi-fold door runs $150/mo in our area. I leased a 48 x 48 hangar for $200/mo. A nice house on the lake is just over $200K. I've got a dock behind the house. Usually go kayaking in the evenings. Good fishing in the lake. Trout fishing in the Spring River close by. It's just a short hop over to Gaston's for breakfast. Our winters are pretty mild, but we've got some serious humidity in the summer. It may not be for everyone, but was the perfect place for me.

-Cub Builder

FWIW,

Being born & raised in Alaska (well, OK, Los Anchorage) but having spent an unfortunate amount of time in Ewe-stun, Texas, I was surprised how many folks (from all over the country and the world) came to Houston for work and ended up retiring in the Texas Hill Country. It might be worth considering:

- As a note, I never spent much time (couldn't generate the interest) in North Texas...might be lots of attractive places up there, but even after spending 15 years on/off in Texas, don't have much experience there.
- The Ozarks (as mentioned above) are a nice part of the country and were a regular destination for me during the "I can't stand Houston anymore" episodes...which occurred quite frequently.
- Burnet, Marble Falls, Llano, Blanco, Kerrville, Bandera, Fredericksburg were all regular get-away spots. FWIW, for some reason, Austin and Suburbs was more attractive to me than San Antonio and Suburbs. Houston and Suburbs was, if not on the bottom of the list, close to it. The Dallas / Ft. Worth area was always something to get through rather than visit.
- Taxes in Texas can vary quite a bit (and often for reasons I never understood) but I think it's safe to say that the further the county is from a big city, the (relatively) lower the taxes
- Lots of hunting and fishing opportunities in Texas...just not like anything in Alaska.
- As with everything else, it varies depending on time, location, personalities, but good land can be had in Texas for a reasonable price as long as one doesn't want the most water, the best view, the most productive acreage, etc.
- One good feature about most parts of Texas is the road accessibility: while one can always get buried in the swamps in SE Texas or fall into an arroyo in West Texas (or get buried in the sand, etc), most places can be driven to and driven on.
- If one isn't in the most remote parts, the road accessibility tends to make it easier to find multiple builders of both hangars and houses.
- If one wants mountains, come back to AK during the spring/summer/fall. Despite any nomenclature or local pride, Texas doesn't have mountains like the Chugach, Alaska Range, or the coastal ranges. The Hill Country, Davis Mountains, and a few other places provide some interesting (and much needed after Houston) vertical relief, but don't provide the mountain fix that I always seemed to need.
- Aviation factors are kind of hit and miss, but (while not making a search), I've been surprised on several instances to be out tooling around Farm or Ranch roads in Central/West Texas and in comes a cub/180/185/citabria to either a bare spot on the ground or to a local airport that was well hidden.