Do you currently own a home outright ?

Consider renting the one you are not using. You can get great money using VRBO or AIR BNB. Or, many retirees rent instead of buying, so consider buying one and just renting the second place to live in. Finally, you can buy both and use a reverse mortgage, but you won't end up with any equity or ownership that way, maybe consider that option on one property to help pay for the other.

You could consider purchasing a plot of land close to where you want to be, but not in the city, in one of the locations (probably Vegas since the weather is warmer). Start with a simple trailer on the land, upgrading to electrical being brought in. My brother did something along these lines. He had a house in Minnesota and bought land in Hawaii. Over about ten years he slowly built his dream home in Hawaii, eventually selling the Minnesota place. It all started by spending one month in a tent in Hawaii, building a simple building to store their camping gear in for the following summer. The next summer a more complicated 'cabin' was built and that's where my brother and his family stayed during their extended visits to Hawaii. He now has a proper house (beautiful) and uses the cabin as his guest house.