Go to where to where your youngest, most loved, friends or relatives are. If you end up with older folks, you could end up a caretaker before you know it. I want to be with younger folks that could end up taking care of me, but you got to love them and them you.
Next, compare homes near (within 15 to 20 minutes) where they live with prices of real estate. Zillow is a good website for that.
http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale...ct/10_zm/1_fr/
I'm sure the areas where you are going have websites. Check out all the good things they say about their areas. Then read the local papers or find the local news to find out the bad.
Next, go visit for a week or two in the summer and in the winter. While there, ask some very pointed questions about utility costs and taxes. Being with your friends and family for two weeks will tell you how busy they are and if you will see them as much as you thought you might.
Check the quilt guilds and quilt shops in the area you thinking you are relocating in. Might give you a chance to make extra money or a great place to make new friends.
I live on the Gulf Coast. We get colder winters than most of Florida, but have the heat & humidity in the summer. Some of the bugs we have down here will make a grown man scream and panic. There is always yard work here, even in the dead of winter. Mild climates make very good weed zones and let you have a longer growing season for beautiful flowers or vegetables, if that's your thing. A lot of Florida has a breeze all the time, which makes everything tolerable. I've been to several areas of Arizona in the summer. Down in the desert is just plain HOT. Up in the mountains is delightful in the summer months but can have a lot of snow at times.
Edited to add: Being curious, I looked at the temps today on Accuweather. It's 39 degrees right now in Sedona and will be a high of 64 today. That tells me it probably has a much colder winter than I, being a very southern gal, could tolerate. It's 68 degrees here today and will be somewhere in the 80's today with more rain. I am wondering if God thinks all of us in Louisiana have duck feet, because we sure have gotten some rain lately. Seriously, what is the water bill in Sedona? My uncle lived in Pinetop which was up in the mountains. Long, snowy winters (they are milder now) and cool, dry summers. I remember him telling me his water bill was $75 a month, years ago, and they actually recycled the wash & rinse water in their clothes washing machines.