Has the location near your daughter not panned out? I know everything is crazy expensive. I will start to inquire around here.
Well, I think you need to provide some more information as to what you would ideally look for. Such as how rural you are looking for. The distance you are willing to be from buying at least groceries, and that kind of thing. What kind of climate would you prefer. Some like colder weather, some like warmer weather. Price wise you are typically going to dare better in southern states, and less populated states in the heartland states.
Do you have a geographical preference?
(climate; travel distance to family; and such)
How far into “rural” do you want to go?
What conveniences are you willing to give up?
“rural”
Remember what the South African farmers face.
If you seek safety, a suburban neighborhood with cops allowed by Biden types to have guns is best.
I have a very nice cop going through an awful divorce on my street.
I live in a very rural area of Kentucky. The people are the salt of the earth. Crime is nearly non existent (mostly Harris “border czar” drug casualties). We have no contrived racial problems. Since the tobacco industry was destroyed, you very rarely see an illegal. Property taxes are to die for. Trust me, you wouldn’t complain about the relative cost of living around here. The great thing is I’m forty minutes from downtown Cincinnati and some of the best health care you’ll find.
It does get rather cold in the winter but very little snow. Summers can be uncomfortable with high humidity. Housing prices increased at the same rate as most of the country. They were so low to begin with that real estate costs now remain some of the most reasonable in the country.
We’d love to have you.
big question with not enough data...
does it have to be / must it not be:
hot
cold
4seasons
mountains
shore
etc
at least what quadrant of the country...
Last year I found via realtor.com that Rockford, Illinois, and York, Pennsylvania had good prices.
The pricing pressures on housing are enormous.
Last year you would have had trouble selling in high-end Baltimore. No more.
Did you ever look into the Quad Cities of Arizona, namely Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Dewy, and outlying areas? Population is about 150k. Average age is 50 years old. It’s a Republican 25+ area.
We do have an abundance of churches, retail stores, two hospitals, an events arena, VA center, restaurants, and auto related businesses.
If you like God, guns, cars, and dogs this area might fit your lifestyle.
FWIW, I was planning on retiring in Maryville, TN before Beau made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. ;)
It had everything I was looking for, and I did a LOT of research.
The key here is finding out what your passion is. What are you interested in? History, hunting, fishing, something.
For example, I am interested in Jeeps, active on their website, attend some events throughout the country. Used to travel and buy and sell parts. There are areas and people who are active in jeeps.
If it is history, visit the Sac Airforce museum for example. Talk to the volunteers, become a volunteer. They will find you a place to live and welcome you into the community.
You retire to something, not away from something.
Find your community, it is about the people, not the place.
have you talked to an extension agent in the counties you are looking for? Many boomers have inherited farms and are absentee landlords. They would love to have a live in overseer that could manage the tenant farmer, and see to the maintenance issues. good luck
Try Maryville Tennessee
I have the same goal. I have been in the Atlanta area since the early 80’s and it now resembles more of a third world hell hole than the city I used to love. Eevn the suburbs are getting bad. Plus I am nearing retirement myself.
I am presently looking at Santa rosa or Okaloosa counties in Florida. I have seen some places in Navarre off the coast that aren’t terribly expensive and some houses in rural areas in Okaloosa county. It will defintely be Florida for me but I am a little bias as I am originally from the panhandle of Florida near Panama City.
I went through this about four years ago, but started looking about 5 years ago. I had an approximate retirement time frame so started looking around early.
Criteria: smaller town, not appreciably growing or shrinking, reasonable services available - medical, shopping, eat out, big stuff in the next town but at least 50 miles away. No places infested with california or new york, no stupid politics. Somewhere in flyover country, four seasons, winters and summers not too severe.
Kansas. I figured out “Nobody is moving to Kansas” and I have some time and family out here.
Looked at housing in several towns. Lots of foreclosures was bad juju, don’t want to live in that kind of town. Scratched a half-dozen places.
Stay away from the big towns - Wichita, Kansas City have the typical big-city crime etc problems, Topeka not so bad but too big for me. Also stay away from Lawrence - college town, horribly liberal. Baby sister in Topeka says they’re not ready for me yet.
I settled in Hutchinson. Population has been pretty steady at 40K for over 20 years. It’s a bit of a compromise since I had to consider wife wants. I would have preferred something smaller but doing fine here. Also, Amazon and Walmart deliver.
The big city - Wichita - is somewhere around forty-five miles from my driveway. almost far enough. A big shopping district - Dante’s Hell - is on the west side so don’t have to descend into the bowels of the city.
Politics - State house is solid conservative. We have a democrat governor - no idea how that happened - who gets slapped down when she tries something stupid.
Constitutional carry, CCW available if needed. I got one for travel, easy enough. It also eliminates the waiting period for firearm purchase.
I moved from Nevada to Kansas in the middle of the china flu panic - a rant for another day /grin.
Good Luck to ya.
Shangra-la is located somewhere in the Himalayan mountain range. I suggest chartering a 1930’s era plane and flying there.
In my opinion, if you can still see your neighbors, then you aren’t rural living. You’re just living in a neighborhood where the homes are a little further apart. To me, that’s really not much different than living in the suburbs when it comes to security. I’ve lived all my life in Texas, mostly out in the “country” on many acres. In my opinion, the “security point” starts when you have enough acreage to legally fire a gun in your front yard, and nobody within earshot cares because all your neighbors have guns and they are apt to occasionally fire off a round or two themselves. Though this may sound redneck and corny, the bad guys know everyone out here has guns kept at the ready. So, we don’t suffer from porch pirates, car break-ins, thieves masquerading as door-to-door solicitors scoping out homes for break-ins, or any of those inner city problems. When there are strangers in the area who look like they don’t belong, everyone knows about it, including the sheriffs department, who are already on their way to check it out. Out here, when you drive past that “no trespassing” sign at the gate, you better be on your best behavior, and the outlaws know this. Even the local sheriff’s department will give me a courtesy call first if they have to come on my property and speak to me about anything not life-threatening. Out here in my county, that sign on the gate means something. And, if you came up to my house with bad intent, it’s a long way on a rough road across open ground to make it from my house back out to that gate and safety. And, most of us out here also utilize security cameras.
Suffice to say, crime is almost non-existent in my area. But, when it does happen, it’s serious. Usually, it’s something spawned by family violence, or a drunk getting out of hand that escalated. I can recall one instance decades ago where a couple was found murdered in their home. But, that may have been the result of something premeditated, and not a crime of opportunity.
Of course, my situation only works if you are willing to take your own safety and security into your own hands. The sheriffs department claims they can be here in 6 minutes. But, a lot can happen in 6 minutes.
Well if you’re open to southeastern Idaho, in a few months I’ll have a small rental house available. I always say I’m 2-3 hours from anywhere in the world. 3 hours from Yellowstone, 3 hours from Salt Lake City, 3 hours from Jackson Hole and 3 hours from Sun Valley. 30 minutes from the mountains and 5 minutes from huge lake. Small, rural, conservative town. The house sits with the main house on 5 acres a mile from town. Both homes are rentals. Its the homestead of what was my fathers farm. $600/ month. It’s a farming community with great people. I love my town.
I was born and raised in SE Los Angeles county cities.
I now live in very rural Hawaii county.
Cowboy and cow country.
Nearest Walmart is an hour away.
I’d be even more out there if the wife would allow it.
It all depends on what you can do.
My Cars are old but I fix them and they work.
I can borrow a horse If I need to.
It all depends on your tolerance to be independent
from government services.
There are some government services that are necessary
and hundreds that only serve to keep Democrats in power
eg. welfare, SSI and such.
Yes indeed. And in most cases blood is thicker than water so my first advice is to stay close to your daughter. If you are not emotionally close, try to get there. Family...what's that saying? When you have to go there, they have to take you in. They don't have to. But they usually do. Right now, you can live independently. That will change one day. Don't look at your mission as "get away" but rather, "get home."
I will PM you later if you are still restless for a place.
When we planned to relocate from CA in 2009, we got a lot of good info at city-data.com.
They have actual statistics on all kinds of issues. But the input from residents was most telling.
One thing I recall was that someone wanted to leave CA for a nicer place and traveled in the US for a while to check things out.
They got to an area in TN (where we eventually landed), and set up a video camera on a tripod in a rural intersection so they could more easily recall the area later on. They’d done it before and most neighbors were suspicious and standoffish.
When they did that here, people came out of their houses. Brought cookies, and invited them to lunch and to church.