Country living..20 minutes from 'anything'..

[Car-Guy]

Hi, everyone..wondering if any of you live in the country far from the comforts and amenities of suburbia or city living.

Absolutely. Been there and doing that now. Lot's of Pros and Con's, but for our "preferred" lifestyle the Pro's far outweigh the Con's. The nearest town is 15 mins away at highway speeds. That's where the nearest little store, gas station and hamburger joint is too. Nearest hospital is at least 45 mins away.

I could write a book (well maybe a short story) on the Pro's and Con's of county living.

One thing I'll say is, if you are buying any acreage (more than 5 to 10 acres or so) then you are going to want to get a good tractor with a mowing deck and FEL. The more acreage, the bigger the tractor. A rule of thumb is, once you think you have figured out what size tractor to buy, you need to move up at least one more level.

 

[Hermit]

I love it out here in the hinterland. 20 minutes is like suburbia to me. I'd tell you more about it, but it is snowing pretty good and I need to go put the plow on the old plow truck...

 

[38Chevy454]

Add me tot he list of preferred living in the country. I just retired and moved, building a new house on 2.5 acres, about 15-20 minutes from the shopping areas. I have almost always lived in the country and so this is not a change for me. Does not bother me to do yardwork and keep up the property. I already have the tractor, best tool purchase I have made. Beats the hell out of a wheelbarrow and shovel!

Some like dense urban living, some like country. It is what you like. I go crazy in the big city downtown, probably wouldn't last more than a month if I was forced to live there.

 

[gamboolman]

Retire Soon - As you already know, there is no right or wrong; good or bad answer.

Ms. Gamboolgal and I are preparing to search for our Little Piece of Heaven once I retire from work.


As many have pointed out - as the years sneak up on you....what you dreamed of during the busy years....can be different in retirement. Seen many a couple who retired to their dream place and then determined that it was not for them at the age they retired at.....


But the good thing about that is that they gave it a shot! good on'em !



We are planning on keeping our home in The Woodlands for awhile while we take Road Trips all over and look see what can we find....


We plan on renting in the Short List area's awhile and seeing if we'll be able to fit in comfortably......


RetireSoon - Yawl have a wonderful "problem"



Lifes a Dance And You Learn As You Go....

 

[Teacher Terry]

WE moved into town in our late 50's 5 years ago. WE are close to everything and can walk to some places. If I had to drive very far for things I probably would not go many places. I like being able to go to a restaurant or store on the spur of the minute and having it close.

 

[24601NoMore]

Hey, everyone. Thanks much for all the great replies! Very helpful perspectives..

Few bits of additional info:

- DW just turned 60. I'm in mid 50s. No kids, but fairly big family that DW is close to - and would like to see often in retirement. They all live fairly nearby to us today with one or two exceptions that are a bit further out (half an hour at most).

- Another compelling reason for us to move is our current lot. It's on a corner so is diamond-shaped, with both neighbors pretty much 'behind' us to the right and left. The guy on the right (the ones with the teenage basketball players) built a 'monster' 6,000 sqft home that is pretty much my entire back yard on the one side. So, we put up massive evergreens to hide that, which has worked for 15 or so years - but they are starting to die off due to lack of sunlight. They're 35+ feet tall so hide his house - but are quickly deteriorating. If they die, they are REALLY hard to replace - and I'm not even sure I can find anything north of 10 feet or so, and we'd be back to looking at the huge McMansion next to us, right out our backyard..so, getting out while the getting out is good is high on my list. The quickly dying trees are very high on my list of reasons to move..

- We did put up soundproofing - "soundproof" windows, drywall, etc to deaden the noise next door. Thankfully it's died down a bit as two of the kids have moved out and are in college. There's one that remains and he's not as bad. But what if they move and someone else comes in? Hard to plan for..

- DW had some health issues a few years back, so proximity to hospital is important. She might not be here today if we were further out than we were at the time from ER care. That's pretty scary..20 minutes from any hospital in good weather..40 in bad.

- We DO have cable internet (whew!). Had a scare a bit back where I heard that NONE of our neighbors had it and were on DSL - one guy used a whopping 1 MBps service from Frontier (ugh!). I work in tech, so that ain't gonna fly. Fortunately, we tracked down the local Charter installer guy and found out the "sub" DOES have cable and the computer was just coded wrong, so everyone that called was told "no, you can't get cable - we don't service your street". Have not been able to confirm any neighbor has it yet but the local Charter line person AND Regional construction Manager both insist we can get it. That alone would have killed the project if we had to use satellite internet but I believe we should be good to go on this..

- Biggest question is "what will we do in retirement"? DW wants to do a bunch of charity work, which means going to the local church which is ~5 minutes away now or other area charities. We also have a "Senior center" (for over 50) that's actually extremely nice - it's like a whole campus full of hundreds of different classes, pool, track, squash courts..you name it, they have it. Pretty high end place and only one of it's kind I've ever seen. Hard to describe but it's very nearby. I like to cook, but there's only so much grilling and baking one can do. Might study to be a CFP, but would have few "clients" in the country..can only ride the rails to trails so many times a day..really don't want to build just to sit in my house all day, so the "what are we going to do in retirement - especially if there is NOTHING around us" is a tough question..

- We live near a quaint city today with a lot to do from shopping boutiques (wife enjoys..I don't), restaurants, city events, etc. Lots to do. The nearest "town" by the new properties is not much - it's pretty rural and somewhat rundown / dilapidated actually. The prospect of new development anywhere nearby in our lifetime does not seem to be that high..so, we also wonder about building a relatively expensive home ($200 / sq ft) in an area where we might have a heck of a hard time selling it, also. At least the other houses on our street are all a similar level of quality and cost but still..they'll probably have an equally hard time selling..

Appreciate all the replies..please keep them coming!

 

[RunningBum]

WE moved into town in our late 50's 5 years ago. WE are close to everything and can walk to some places. If I had to drive very far for things I probably would not go many places. I like being able to go to a restaurant or store on the spur of the minute and having it close.

That's why I always say it's not for everyone. Doesn't mean it's not for some people.

 

[RunningBum]

RetireSoon--I would probably hold out for something in town or closer. It doesn't sound like you necessarily need a huge amount of land. That lot might just look good to you in comparison to what you have now. Maybe all you need is a more normal lot where you don't have neighbors right on top of you. A 55+ community could be good, as you wouldn't have the threat of loud kids moving next door, assuming they enforce the restrictions. Not all do, from what I understand. "No, my 14 year old twin grandsons aren't living with me. They're just visiting. For the whole summer."

 

[24601NoMore]

RetireSoon--I would probably hold out for something in town or closer. It doesn't sound like you necessarily need a huge amount of land. That lot might just look good to you in comparison to what you have now. Maybe all you need is a more normal lot where you don't have neighbors right on top of you. A 55+ community could be good, as you wouldn't have the threat of loud kids moving next door, assuming they enforce the restrictions. Not all do, from what I understand. "No, my 14 year old twin grandsons aren't living with me. They're just visiting. For the whole summer."

Thanks..the "dream" FWIW has always been to have a lot of land. I just wish it was closer to civilization!

The two properties (adjacent to each other) are really nice - 1000 ft wide at the front..450+ at the rear. No neighbors (!!) for 500+ feet in either direction. Can't see either one of them due to topology of the land, even with the leaves down.

We came pretty close to buying an existing home about a month or so ago (had offers on the vacant land at the time)..it was at the end of a court, had no-one else in the court, woods behind and ravine on the right. Nearest neighbor was closer than the country lots, but still very private, and 12 or so minutes closer in. But - there was a gravel pit 1.5 miles down the road immediately to the north of it, and I've read that within 3 miles of a gravel pit you might have issues. Did not have time to really evaluate it as there was another offer coming in so we passed. But even with that house, which was really nice - we would have had compromises that we weren't sure we really wanted to make. (Floorplan was nice but had some weird things to it for instance).

We do vacation from time to time in a heavily wooded retirement community in N MI. I've thought about that but even while it appears to be "only" old people (like us) and APPEARS to be quiet, the houses are still pretty much on top of each other..and that's just not private enough feeling for us. Plus, you never know when the grandkids are going to visit - for the whole summer as you put it..

So, after all is said and done..we're pretty sure the only way we can get what we want is to build - but am also somewhat terrified about doing that again, ESPECIALLY if we're not building in an actual "sub" with dozens/hundreds of other houses where finding a reputable builder is a heck of a lot easier than in the country..and, if we want to build, I need a decently private and quiet property to do it - and those are rare as a purple, two headed unicorn in these parts..

Whoever said "privacy is the next lakefront" up-thread really nailed it..that's so true. We're definitely after privacy and QUIET - but am not sure we are even going to find that on 12+ acres in the country with the small planes, frequent gunshots, etc. There may be nowhere left on earth that you can count on regular quiet. People just are not (generally) considerate of others as much as they were when most of us were younger..

 

[Choices]

We wanted out of the city so we moved to the country this fall. Our town has a pop. Of about 1800. No fast food dives within 25 miles or so. Lots of good restaurants, though. Cell phone service is a problem, we have our first land line in 7 years!
We mow the lawn area ourselves and have a guy do the pasture. Septic tank and well are a new twist.
Unlike a lot of folks, we are on a paved road, that’s a plus. Best part, it is quiet and oooh, the sunrises! We plan to stock the chicken house and the goat pen this spring.
We are planning for this to be the last place we ever live, but who knows. Life should be an adventure.

 

[Ready2Go]

Too bad you can't find a 'best of both worlds' that's maybe 5-10 mins out of town. 22 years ago, we almost bought a house that was 20 minutes to everything. Decided that it was too much for us. We ended up buying in a different town and love being 2-3 miles from supermarket, bank, gas station, post office, small restaurants, hardware store and gym. We have privacy at home....not total isolation....which is OK for us.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We live in an area where urban sprawl meets a state park system, so we have wilderness hiking in one direction and shops and restaurants in another. We thought about moving further out of town but thinking ahead we decided to stay for the following reasons - close to more than one senior center, door to door senior bus service for something like $1 a trip for when we are older, commuter train station within Uber distance, near hospital, can walk / electric scooter to shops, banking, post office and stores. Transaction costs here are high to sell a house here and moving is a hassle. We're still decluttering after several years of retirement. I think we will end up staying in our current house until we are too old to take care of it or the upkeep becomes more of a hassle and then maybe move to a retirement village near one of the kids.

We had relatives who moved to a resort area for retirement. Eventually neither one could drive and they had limited access to bus and taxi service so it was a real hassle helping them get places especially for medical appointments. They finally moved back into town. They were introverts and pretty isolated their later years until they moved again, and moving was hard for them when they were older.

 

[NW-Bound]

When I bought my 2nd home in the high-country boonies, I thought I might retire up there. Soon after spending time there, I learned it was not an ideal place for older retirees. It is in an unincorporated town, and although is not in an isolated spot, it is 50 minutes from a regional hospital and real grocery stores, in fact any doctor's office or pharmacy. When we get older, even that town that is 50 minutes away might not have a medical specialist if we happen to need one.

Living there full-time I would miss the amenities of the main suburban home which is within 5 miles of all major stores. So, I keep it as a summer place.

 

[SheitlQueen]

60 and mid 50's is still young enough to maintain a property and you will probably be able to maintain it for a good 10+ years, depending on the type of property of course.
Doing volunteer work, to church, the senior center, etc just means coordinating everything so you can do everything in one trip to town instead of running back and forth.

I would say go for it!

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

DW and I have been "living the dream" since 1988, when we bought an old farm property with 45 acres at the end of a dead-end road. We're just outside the exurbs of metro Milwaukee, a city that hasn't sprawled quite as massively as some. When I was w*rking my daily 45-minute commute took me into the heart of downtown.

As a lot of people have said, yard work can be a challenge. The biggest pain can be spotty access to utilities. I don't miss cable TV, but I wish we had access to natural gas for heat and cooking. A cellular 4G hotspot delivers adequate Internet. It's pricey, but our other media spending is low. As is our property taxes -- pretty bearable compared to what some of our friends in town are paying.

Of course, our emergency services are also limited. There's an old saying about the volunteer fire departments out here: "They've never lost a basement."

 

[LOL!]

I hadn't seen a friend of mine out walking in a while, but we chanced to meet each other this week. He had had a major heart attack in the past month or so. But it happened during the daytime and his wife called 911. The EMT/Firestation was around the corner from his home and the hospital was only 7 minutes away by ambulance. The EMTs arrived quickly, stabilized him, and had the cardiology team waiting in the OR for him. He bypassed going to the emergency room and went right into treatment. They unblocked his artery quickly with no damage to heart tissue.

We did discuss living 20 minutes from anything. It would take 20 minutes for the EMTs to arrive and 20 minutes to get to hospital. He would have been dead.

As it was, his daily routine was interrupted for only a few days.

 

[24601NoMore]

I hadn't seen a friend of mine out walking in a while, but we chanced to meet each other this week. He had had a major heart attack in the past month or so. But it happened during the daytime and his wife called 911. The EMT/Firestation was around the corner from his home and the hospital was only 7 minutes away by ambulance. The EMTs arrived quickly, stabilized him, and had the cardiology team waiting in the OR for him. He bypassed going to the emergency room and went right into treatment. They unblocked his artery quickly with no damage to heart tissue.

We did discuss living 20 minutes from anything. It would take 20 minutes for the EMTs to arrive and 20 minutes to get to hospital. He would have been dead.

As it was, his daily routine was interrupted for only a few days.

Yikes - that's sobering, as exact same thing happened to DW - just at 4 AM instead of mid day.

Had her to the hospital in < 10 minutes of leaving the house and straight into the ER. It was snowing pretty hard that morning and the normally 5 minute drive to the hospital definitely took longer, even though I was taking every chance that was safe to take..

I shudder to think what would have happened if we were 20 minutes out in the country.

 

[LOL!]

As for teenage boys next door, they grow up and leave. While our street has old (>80) and young (<2) on it, the immediate neighbors are all empty nesters like us. Sometimes us oldsters will play a game of basketball though.

 

[Bestwifeever]

My parents were lifelong urban/suburban people. They wore tailored clothes, enjoyed gourmet foods and the opera. The most rural activity they ever pursued was growing tomatoes in the back garden.

In 1992 they retired and moved from a quarter-acre amid the traffic and expense of the nation's capital to the mountains of Almost Heaven. You had to ford a stream to get to their house. Their driveway was a mile long into the woods, where they regularly observed bears in their front yard. Yes, bears.

They had to build a house and have some work done to get utilities and access to it, but the project was manageable.

Sure, it took 20 minutes to get to the tiny country store, another 10 to get to a small grocery store, and an hour and a half to an actual supermarket that carried genuine Roquefort cheese.

But they adapted and for a little more than 15 years insisted it was the perfect location for them. When age caught up with them eventually, they sold the mountain house and moved again, this time into the closest town. Nothing lasts forever. I have no doubt that in hindsight they would do exactly what they did all over again. They loved it.

Good luck!

I love this! They sound very adventurous.

 

[24601NoMore]

As for teenage boys next door, they grow up and leave. While our street has old (>80) and young (<2) on it, the immediate neighbors are all empty nesters like us. Sometimes us oldsters will play a game of basketball though.

Yeah..it's not the noise as much as it is our current lot. It's just not private enough being on a corner with both neighbors largely 'behind' us. They're buried behind big evergreens that we planted but they're 15+ years old, 40+ ft tall and are dying due to lack of sunlight. We lose those - we look at two big houses basically infringing on ANY sense of privacy we might otherwise have. PLUS, we have a walkout - so it's like living in a fishbowl since we are so high on our main floor. There is just NO. PRIVACY. AT. ALL. And I'm very much a "need my space" type of person.

Current house is great. Current lot sucks. We were in first so never anticipated we'd be so boxed in..

 

[omni550]

Yeah..it's not the noise as much as it is our current lot. It's just not private enough being on a corner with both neighbors largely 'behind' us. They're buried behind big evergreens that we planted but they're 15+ years old, 40+ ft tall and are dying due to lack of sunlight. We lose those - we look at two big houses basically infringing on ANY sense of privacy we might otherwise have. PLUS, we have a walkout - so it's like living in a fishbowl since we are so high on our main floor. There is just NO. PRIVACY. AT. ALL. And I'm very much a "need my space" type of person.

Current house is great. Current lot sucks. We were in first so never anticipated we'd be so boxed in..

It seems as though the "issue" at your current dream home has shifted from noisy kids playing basketball to privacy.

Is a privacy fence/screening a possibility? Either at ground level (near the dying trees) or screening of some type wherever you are feeling 'visible' high on your main floor? Also, I met with some landscapers years ago who had great ideas on how to plant "islands" of taller vegetation in certain places in my yard to effectively block neighbors while giving the yard visual interest, as well. Is that a possibility?

omni

 

[joejetski]

Hi, everyone..wondering if any of you live in the country far from the comforts and amenities of suburbia or city living.

After years (10+) of looking for a property to build our 'dream' retirement home, we found two adjacent lots that total just over 12 acres and 1,000+ ft of combined road frontage on a paved, dead-end and very private cul-de-sac in the country. (So, I can put our house just about in the middle of that and have no neighbors for 5-700+ feet either side..very nice).

There are only 9 "lots" and architectural controls on what can and can't be built. They're reasonable (eg: ranch of at least 2,400 sq ft, story and a half of 2,600 sq ft) to ensure that anything that does go in will be fairly nice.

Seems perfect on many levels, but it's 20 minutes from ANYTHING. And I do mean "anything". There is NOTHING nearby in terms of grocery, medical, parks, recreation, etc. There IS a rails-to-trails bike and walking path behind us, but that's pretty much it. Nearest grocery is 10+ min which is no big deal but it's a small mom and pop, not a Kroger. No restaurants. No doctors. Pretty much nothing except farmland and woods.

I always wanted to live in a more rural setting without the pesky irritations of sub life. (We have neighbors literally 20 feet from us today, and when the teenage boys are playing basketball and screaming their heads off feet from your house it can be a real PITA - I can hear them INSIDE my house with the windows closed up. Not fun). On the other hand, we live in our "dream" house already. The house is awesome and has everything we ever wanted..plus is close to all sorts of amenities (fitness & social facility for over 50 people, doctors, parks, restaurants, etc) but the lot is not good as it's 20 ft or so from each neighbor.

While we don't mind driving to get places, you really start thinking about..CAN I drive that far - especially at night - when I'm 70+? 80+? What happens if I live longer? Plus, this is in SE Michigan and we have weather. Winters can really suck in terms of road conditions, and I imagine the country does not get plowed or taken care of like the 'burbs do.

We have offers on both lots and only a couple of weeks to either close or bail.

Since we've looked for literally 10+ years, I have the "we're unlikely to ever find anything like this again" feeling going. Plus, my search area is somewhat limited as wife does not want to move super far away from family (like, to another state or even "up north"). So, to get privacy..I realize we need to move out a ways. The good news is these properties are literally ONE East-West road north of what had previously been the north range of my search area. So it's not like it's super far beyond where I've always been looking. But now that I've driven it a bunch of times I realize my search range may have been too far out to begin with..

Would appreciate any and all experiences from those of you who already do live in the boonies or were ever thinking of doing something similar..the other obvious downside is that the building process would probably be super painful and expensive (getting quotes of ~$200/sq ft - yikes) - but we also realize the odds of ever finding something that is what we would want in an existing house is near zero, also.

Health and safety over privacy, particularly as we age.

 

[Tallman4123]

I can relate to both your current "fishbowl" situation and your concerns about being "20 minutes from ANYTHING". A bit over a year ago, DW and I moved from a major east coast urban area where we lived for 15 years in a fishbowl. We had a great condo that had a wonderful view of the water, however also very close quarters to our neighbors. At one point, for a year and a half, there was a couple three townhouses down that would fight at all hours of the day and night. And I'm talking call-the-police (which both we and our neighbors did on many occasions) screaming and yelling . And when they weren't fighting, they were having ridiculously noisy outdoor parties until 2 or 3 in the morning. They were fined numerous times by the condo association, but it continued. DW and I actually started looking for other places to live after about a year, of this but couldn't find anything that we liked. What a nightmare! They finally moved out after a year and a half. Also had another neighbor who seemed very nice. Their living room sliders directly faced our condo, less than 50 yards away. If our view of the water was at zero degrees, their slider door was at 25 degrees left. For some reason, they always left the slider curtains wide open, even at night. So if we were hanging on our deck at the end of a long w*rkday, we could see directly into their unit; especially at night. It always bothered us, but we never said anything because we felt it was their prerogative to open or close their curtains (we weren't the only unit with this view and we chuckled about it with our neighbors). Well, one night we were sitting out and there was their teenage son "getting busy" with a girl on the couch with lights blazing and curtains wide open. And I mean VERY busy. Needless to say, DW was - understandably - very upset and we decided we'd pay a visit to the parents a few days later. I'll just say that in spite of our attempt to be polite and deferential, the conversation did not go well. You might imagine the atmosphere was always at bit uncomfortable after that! We moved out two years later when we executed our FIRE plan.

BEFORE the fishbowl, we lived in a somewhat rural setting similar to the one you are considering. Twenty minutes to nearly anything; virtually no neighbors to be seen or heard. Although we were in our 40's (i.e. young) at the time, it definitely became a grind to get out for errands, visit friends, etc. And, my DW would also get uptight when I was away on business because she's not a fan of being by herself and this house was isolating for her. I would be more concerned now if we still lived there, as we are getting older and like others have said, it would be even more of a challenge to take care of the property and get around.

We now live in a more suburban setting; only an acre of land. Not in a neighborhood, but with neighbors on both sides on a relatively "major" road for this area. The house provides enough privacy, but is not isolating. Grocery store, coffee shop, neighborhood bar/restaurant and gas station within 5 minutes, and enough restaurants, shopping and golf courses within a 20 minute radius to keep us entertained.

Ultimately, the sentence from the OP that really caught me eye was:

Biggest question is "what will we do in retirement"?

IMO, this question remains whether you are 5 or 50 minutes from anything. I wouldn't make the decision on where to live based on this; you'll face this challenge regardless. Actually, this may be the bigger issue for you to tackle. Best of luck with your decision!

 

[ElizabethT]

I wouldn't, because I love living in what I call the ub-burbs: close to an urban infrastructure, but not technically in it. But you clearly would, so really, isn't that all that matters? If this is your dream, right now in this moment, then you should grab it, and not worry to much about the forever aspects of it all in that you can always move again should there be need. Just as you are contemplating moving now.

I hankered to live near the ocean for decades, but kept pausing for many of the same reasons you've expressed. However, the dream just wouldn't die, so we finally took the plunge this year. After months of stress first selling, then buying, then renovating, plus adjusting to all new everything, I wake up every morning thankful down to my toes that we made our dream move. I think not doing so would have been a regret that never went away.

You only get to go around once, you know?

 

[socca]

Current house is great. Current lot sucks. We were in first so never anticipated we'd be so boxed in..

I paid $40k over the average house price in my subdivision for a wide-angle lakefront view - worth every penny. I've got all the privacy I need, and I'm pretty dang private. Whenever I need something done to the house (and in the future, to me), I'm glad that I'm suburban rather than rural.

If you go the rural route, imagine what might happen to the surrounding land while you're there. A hog farm, strip mine, shooting range, shopping center, etc might compromise your idyllic lifestyle.