Retirement in KY (Lexington, Louisville, Paducah: low crime, houses, buy)

[sillygal]

Even though I have a few years to work yet, I am wanting to relocate to a place I can just buy a house and sit back and relax in....Maybe do a little remodelling, or gardening and get into activities in the area.
Being single I am going to need an inexpensive area to live, where my money will last longer than other places. Anyone have any ideas on areas in KY that I could maybe get more for less?

[stxdreamer]

Almost anywhere outside of the "major" cities (Louisville, Lexington and northern Ky) should have the lower cost of living you want. I'd start by looking in western Ky (Cadiz area) and then work my way east across the state until you find your "desirable" area. Western Ky has been highly rated as a retirement location, and I personally find the area very appealing. It has a "feel" to it that it very comfortable.

[virgo]

Originally Posted by sillygal

Even though I have a few years to work yet, I am wanting to relocate to a place I can just buy a house and sit back and relax in....Maybe do a little remodelling, or gardening and get into activities in the area.

Being single I am going to need an inexpensive area to live, where my money will last longer than other places. Anyone have any ideas on areas in KY that I could maybe get more for less?

From your post, I see that you have a few years before retirement and thought that maybe you would enjoy reading posts from this particular gal (LauraC), concerning retirement. She has a unique way of explaining things that encourages self-evaluation when trying to figure out where to live in retirement, what to do with all the extra time, doing preliminary calculations on your retirement income, etc.

You may be familiar with her posts already, but if not, you can go down to the Retirement Board, use the advanced search feature, and put in "LauraC" as the name to search on.

I read your post mentioning the things that you were interested in doing, but I sort of wondered if you wouldn't get bored after a while. Now granted, remodeling can take a lifetime , but gardening normally isn't done in the winter, and sometimes, a city/town can be so inexpensive that there isn't anything there.

As a single female who will be one day retiring to a place where I won't know anyone, I understand exactly what you mean by wanting a lower cost of living area, but I have to "bonk" myself on the head to remind myself not to get so caught up in lower cost of living that I forget I will need county/health/retail/transportation services and that I will want choices in terms of what I'll do with my time once I'm out of the workforce.

From what you've listed, you have soooo many options all over the United States just based on lower cost of living alone, but it sounds like you would like to enjoy your retirement too.

Just wanted to offer some food for thought as you make your retirement wish list. Hope this doesn't offend you. Good luck!

[Off Topic]

The Murray area near the Land-Between-the-Lakes is a very popular retirement area in Kentucky. I see it in top ten lists all the time.

[kygman]

I'm in Cadiz, across the lakes from Murray. There's plenty of houses everywhere around here. Try going to realtor.com and type in a zip code. Cadiz is 42211, Murray is 42071, Benton is 42025. You can pick the price range and the type of housing. Come on down!!

[kentuckydad95]

I currently live in the Murray area and I can tell you that Murray is a perfect area if you love overpaying for a house. Murray is a nice university town and has a low crime rate, but shopping is limited as well as quality healthcare. You would be better off in Paducah or vacinity when it comes to extreme Western KY.