You need to tell your daughter that 60 is the new 40...lol
I turn 60 next year, and here's what I did on summer vacation:
Posted on 09/19/2013 8:39:04 AM PDT by ottbmare
For nearly 35 years I've lived in Montgomery County, MD, about 25 miles outside of DC. It's a beautiful place and in some ways I will always love it, but as most Freepers know, Maryland has been dominated by Democrats and has become almost uninhabitably liberal and expensive. Taxes, regulation, overzealous penetration into one's private life, crime, crowding, and traffic have made life here very difficult for a conservative.
For many years I have told myself that as soon as my children were grown and I was free to do so, I'd sell my suburban house and move to rural central Virginia, where I have some ancestral roots. I could buy a shack on five acres and have chickens and a horse. Its charms need no additional description; to a Marylander, it seems like paradise. I have no kin there anymore but I know the area an suspect I could get a job.
Now the kids really are out the door, and to be honest I have to get out of here ASAP before I get foreclosed on. The house is going on the market next week at a price that should make it sell fast. I need to decide where to go very soon.
Issue: my conservative daughter now lives in southern Delaware. She loves the rural life there and the warm normal attitude of the people. She's urging me strongly to move out there instead of to beautiful VA. We are very close and despite my good physical condition she is concerned about me living alone since I am pushing sixty. She does not want to have to drive 4+ hours to see me or to bring any future grandchildren to see me.
What is the sense of my fellow Freepers on Delaware? I would love to live near my daughter but I know nothing about life in Delaware. I have a Southern lady's sensibilities: I love hunting, trucks, guns, and tools but am a cultured person too, which means I fit in in Virginia, but will this attitude fly in DE? How can a state that elected the Bidens be habitable? Am I right to be concerned about being isolated on the Delmarva in case of a hurricane, SHTF, or other grid-down situation? Does it really smell like chicken crap all summer?
Advice is very welcome.
You leave out a very large piece of liberal Virginia in failing to include Hampton Rhodes and Norfolk.
Kent and Sussex, the lower two counties, are quite conservative. With the later even holding quite a few old-style Blue Dog Democrats in positions of leadership. Statewide elections have been won by D-rats of late by running up huge margins in black-majority Wilmington and the blue collar suburbs along I-95 in New Castle County and holding on in Kent and Sussex via help from public sector employees in Dover and the gay/lesbian/DC-Baltimore transplant crowd in Lewes, Rehoboth and Bethany. The very northern part of New Castle County (du Pont “Chateau Country” and Brandywine Hundred) is also red, but of the moderate ‘cocktail crowd’ wanna-be blue blood set.
The relatively low property taxes and lack of a sales tax —while a blessing for those without children and/or on fixed incomes— causes problems with state-funding of services, because much of the responsibility (roads, corrections, school funding etc.) lies at the state level in this tiny state. Though, many are flocking here from NY, PA and NJ for their retirement years none-the-less.
Yeah that’s true. I never get to those areas anyway.
IMHO...
As you get older you should consider moving to where there is a top quality hospital relatively close by.
What is a simple everyday operation in a top facility with top doctors is often a death sentence in a low-quality situation.
I lived in Wilmington Delaware / SE PA for a while. Wilmington is like a small town where it seems everyone knows everyone. It is small town, not big city. The city to those folks, of course, is Philly. Wilmington society has an old-money feel to it, as the state’s economy is built on corporate law. I found people there to be common sense, very relaxed and down to earth, really good people all in all. Yes, they vote Democrat in total, but if you meet people on an individual basis you’ll get along quite well. There ARE Republicans and conservatives there aplenty. You can look up and down the Brandywine on the PA side of the line as well; beautiful area.
Try looking at it in google maps, using the street view - it’s just like going there.
When you go down to southern DE, of course, you have beach towns, rural areas, etc., a whole different feel that I never got a chance to see much of.
The ideal place when getting older, IMHO, is in the burbs outside of a big city, in just the “right” burbs.
The people are better, the economy is better, etc. You just need to find not too expensive, but not too far away from things the elderly need. (Incidentally, a lot of wealthy folks move to these areas because they get a lot more house for their money, i.e., they pay less in R/E tax than they would in the city for the same sized house).
When you get far out in the boonies, I have seen with older relatives, thisdoes not work out well for the elderly, when driving becomes difficult. A plan is needed. For example, it’s much better, basically necessary, to eliminate stairs from your home. Young people never think of this, as they get old they get into very bad situations but get stuck where they can’t move. Buy a house, IMHO, all on one level.
Also, be where you can walk/take a cab/hitch a ride/etc into a little town and get to some stores. The elderly need food and medicine, and being within a very close proximity to them allows one to live in one’s own home. Having reliable younger relatives nearby is really an ideal situation.
Decent neighbors, being able to get a decent handyman, safe area, all those “senior” considerations should be thought through.
IMHO...
Move to southern part of Delaware, close enough but not toooo close to your daughter.
We need more people there to counter the “Philly-South” of new castle county.
You should check out “walkingtofreedom.com”.
It’s a website specially set up for those of the mindset of finding the best state to live in, specifically for SHTF/Prepper situations in mind.
Michigan is a great place to retire to. Natural beauty, water, hunting, fishing, skiing, trails, open land at a good price...what’s not to love? OK, bring up Detroit if you will. I’m a lifelong resident in northern Michigan, and I’ve perhaps taken 12 trips to Motown...4 for Tigers games, 2 for the Wings, and 4 related to my wife’s citizenship process. Avoid the flatlands (the rust belt cities) and there’s virtually no violent crime here. Check out the Traverse City area...or if you’re able to take a harsher winter, Marquette and the Keewenaw Peninsula. We’d love to have you.
What you say is true for northern VA, Hampton Roads, and the Richmond area. But she is considering central rural VA; that's where I am, and we are solidly red. For now, anyway.
But the lure of family is strong, and probably the best way to go.
Is the Delaware home near Laurel or Seaford? Lovely area.
LOL, the “hood” in Wilmington is tiny.
Just don’t go in the bad parts of town, which are only a few blocks.
There are beautiful, “wannabee blue-blood”, as boyce said, places just minutes away. Go see Longwood Gardens. Golf courses. Really nice areas. Good local pubs.
I live in NJ now - I still have to abide by the same guideline - beware of the small part that is ghetto.
Knowing just how bad some parts of NY and NJ are - and how big they are - the “ghetto” sections of Wilmington make me laugh. Teeny tiny.
And surprise, surprise, you’ll find good and bad people in all races in DE, just like everywhere.
DE and SE PA is a much slower pace than big metro areas; if you like big cities you’ll find it way too small.
Go to southern VA. Delaware is a sh*t hole.
What is the sense of my fellow Freepers on Delaware? I would love to live near my daughter but I know nothing about life in Delaware. I have a Southern lady's sensibilities: I love hunting, trucks, guns, and tools but am a cultured person too, which means I fit in in Virginia, but will this attitude fly in DE? How can a state that elected the Bidens be habitable? Am I right to be concerned about being isolated on the Delmarva in case of a hurricane, SHTF, or other grid-down situation? Does it really smell like chicken crap all summer?
My husband grew up in Dover, and I lived there for 21 years, but 10 years ago we fled the state for Virginia, however we chose the Eastern Shore. It takes us just 2 hours to get to Dover. The Shore has the same qualities your daughter describes of southern Delaware, but the cost of living is far less and the politics aren't as dirty.
Just a suggestion: I fell in love with Kanab, UT during my recent vacation. Depending on where you call home in Central CA, it might be an 8-10 hour drive, but your grandkids would love to spend summers with you, due to all of the National Parks in the area.
OTOH, my grandson lives about 30 minutes from us, and I can't imagine what it would be like being farther away from him.
You need to tell your daughter that 60 is the new 40...lol
I turn 60 next year, and here's what I did on summer vacation:
Worth Stating Again. I concur
Move close to, but not with, your family members and grandchildren-to-be. Get as far from Washington DC as possible. Stay as rural as you can without having to carry water from the well (You want city-water, if possible). Grow as much of your food as you can. Take up canning. Become a “prepper”. Have a bug-out plan and vehicle and route thought out. Be armed. Be as self-sufficient as possible. Big cities are where the revolution will begin. Do not be there.
My wife and I are planning on moving from Howard County to eastern Tennessee in the next few years. You might want to consider that as a destination—it’s wonderful country, socially and politically agreeable, and very affordable (no state income tax, low property taxes in general, etc.).
Chesterfield County just outside Richmond is pretty awesome. We’ve assimilated well. I sent the little wacko to kindergarten in her “God’s Girl” tshirt this week and did NOT get any blowback. There’s lots of American flags blowing around, and my taxes are cheap.
To the original question, you really gotta rent anywhere new to you. The very last thing you’d ever want is to be stuck somewhere you hate. Don’t worry about your credit being crappy after the foreclosure. I have a credit score of zero (proudly!) Don’t let that keep you from trying out a place near the family. Besides, wherever you go, there you are.
***I would love to live near my daughter but I know nothing about life in Delaware.***
Go where the heart is;). When those grandchildren show up - you will be close at hand - especially if you develop age-related driving anxieties. It appears you have lots of interests to keep you busy, occupied and enable you to make new friends.
Personal experience: After retiring to a planned community in a Southern paradise (warm coastal area), it became clear that an influx of Northern liberals had dragged their biased luggage with them along and proceeded to take over the community. They insulted everything Southern (relaxed pace and friendly natives) Not a good fit for me....so I moved back to the NE to be close to family.
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