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My wife and I are retired and currently live in Northern Ohio near Cleveland. A small college town with a pop of 30K. We don't have a problem with a little snow, but want to find an affordable place where the sun shines in the winter. We are lucky to get a day or two of sunshine/month here between November and April. Problem is that we can't afford much. Homes are very inexpensive in this area and so most nice places we look cost more and are usually out of our price range for a nice home. We think the Lexington area is very beautiful, but we know little about it. It seems affordable to us. We need only a 2-3 bdrm ranch with 1 1/2 or 2 baths. We also want at least a one car garage. We have about $120K to spend and want a newer home (no more than 15 yrs old). We could go slightly higher, but not much.
Been using Zillow to try to find a home and although we have found many in this price range that look nice, when I use street view, some of the neighborhoods look a little rough. It is hard to explain how a newer development could look a little rough. Perhaps the easiest is a comparison where a nice neighborhood has well groomed yards and landscaping (you can tell that people take pride in their homes and yards), while the rougher looking neighborhoods have poorly maintained yards.........and maybe a car on jacks in the driveway, garbage cans strewn in the front yard, etc. Also, some of the less expensive newer developments have homes that are almost all exactly the same (and with tiny yards).
I also noted that many newer developments have privacy fences (we want a fenced yard for our dogs), but it seems that few people took the time to stain them or maintain them at all?
I am not trying to be critical, because I think we are very adaptable, but we just want a neighborhood with nice homes, nice people, and is dog friendly. I think we need to stay near Lexington, because we want to be fairly close to hospitals, restaurants, etc.
We'll consider a home just outside of town so that we can keep an RV on our property instead of paying to store it. We are not permitted to keep it in our driveway in our current development. I also love to work in the yard, so 1/2 to 1 acre is not an issue. However, don't know what we can afford........
Any help (ideas, info, suggestions) will be much appreciated.....:
THANKS SO MUCH!!!!
Hopefully Lexpert will be along to tell you about possible areas in Lexington(Fayette County) that might suit you! I am in Paris(Bourbon County) and find it very charming, as are other surrounding towns/counties. Most larger surrounding towns have a hospital and other necessities of life, and the RE prices are more reasonable.
Another RE search website is lbar.com. Along with Fayette County, try Bourbon, Clark, Scott, Jessimine in your search.
I wonder if the some of the street views you have seen were taken on garbage day? I don't see a lot of lingering garbage containers left out for more than a day before or after collection day. The city cites people for doing that.
I had to laugh about the fencing because it is true that we rarely stain the privacy fences around here. I don't know why we don't. Most are made out of cedar and tend to age to a grayish tone. I don't see stained ones even in $500.000+ neighborhoods.
We do have a lot of newer neighborhoods where there may only really be 4-5 different floor plans, so they all look alike other than the color of the siding. Most are on small lots. We have a super tight "Urban Service Area" due to trying to protect the rural feel around Lexington. That means we try to cram as many houses per acre as possible since there is not much land that is developable.
Parking an RV in a newer Lexington neighborhood may be a challenge due to HOA rules.
Zillow is great for getting info and causally searching for houses, but pay no attention to their zestimates. When it comes time to viewing what is for sale, do use LBAR.com. It is our local MLS and is the most up to date. Zillow gets our listings through an IDX feed within 24-48 hours of a new listing hitting LBAR. Zillow is bad about taking down houses that are not available. You will find some of the better properties sold long before you saw them.
Based on the age restrictions you mentioned, I think you will unfortunately end up exactly where you don't want.....in a cookie cutter house with a tiny lot. If you can do an older house, you have more options all over town. $120k in a house less than 15 years old gets you in Masterson Station or some of the other newer developments off Georgetown Road. McConnell's Trace would work too. Bluegrass Wilkes off of Winchester Road is somewhat of a bargain. Avoid any newer house in that price range in any other north end neighborhoods.
I would consider Richmond. Their market has not rebounded as strongly as Lexington. You still might find a good deal there and the lots should be bigger. Georgetown is a nice community, but prices and options for newer houses are about the same as in Lexington. Nicholasville has good prices still, but you will get the same small lots.
Have you considered going a little further out? Like within 45 minutes of Lexington? Mount Sterling and Lancaster are fairly close, have lower prices and bigger lots.
Hope I haven't bummed you out about finding a nice house. If you can do an older house, there are several neighborhoods I can suggest in Lexington. You would give up things like a modern floor plan, vaulted ceilings, a walk in closet in the master bedroom, etc. But you would get a better location and a bigger lot (and probably no HOA restrictions on parking the RV.)
LEXpert...........thanks so much for all the great info!! I have been looking at Versailles, Georgetown, Winchester, and Richmond. I seems that you do get more bang for the buck as we get away from Lexington. I will checkout Mount Sterling and Lancaster as well. We really don't want an older home. For all the reasons that you mentioned. Been there and done that. I figure that if we can find a "newer" home, hopefully it will have a newer roof, furnace, hot water tank, etc.
BTW, the info you can provide is invaluable for folks like us that don't know the area! You mentioned avoiding north-end neighborhood in our price range other than those you mentioned. Does that mean we may be better looking at the south-end neighborhoods? Also, it seems like there are some bargains outside any of the towns mentioned if it is say.........5-7 miles out in the county-side (with well & septic).
As far as our desire to live near medical facilities; it would be nice to be within 15 minutes of a hospital. In northern Ohio I think we have a hospital on almost every corner. I'm not kidding.........you wouldn't believe it! In any case, it seemed like good medical facilities are only available in Frankfort and Lexington. We liked what we saw in Berea, but it seems a little far away from hospitals and conveniences.
Again..........thanks so much for the info...........please keep it coming!
Sincerely,
Dave
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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that would be hard to find in Fayette County given your specifications of newer. Richmond and Nicholasville would be the most affordable areas near Lexington.
It is hard to go wrong on the southside of Lexington, but the prices are higher. While there are nice areas all over Lexington, the southside is uniformly well rounded.....meaning there aren't really any areas to avoid. About the only area I don't recommend is the Tates Creek/Armstrong Mill/Appian Way/Centre Parkway area due to a high density of rentals. That is well below your price range anyway.
You may hear other posters disagree with me, but I always base my recommendations on the price point. To a poster who is use to living in a $250k area, ANY neighborhood under $150k will probably seem rough to them.
There is a new hospital in Winchester that is right by the interstate. Mt. Sterling is about 15 minutes from Winchester.
My wife works in Mt. Sterling. We live very near Winchester Rd and Man O War. It takes her 35 minutes from the time she leaves our house to the time she is parked at work in the middle of Mt. Sterling. Having the interstate is great for Winchester, Mt. Sterling, Richmond and Berea.
I do occasionally see older homes that have had the HVAC or roof replaced within the past few years. Also, most of the south end of town between Nicholasville Road and Harrodsburg Road was hit hard with a hail storm in about 2007. Almost everybody got a new roof.
Again LEXpert............Thanks! You have been a great help. I am exploring all of our options and having fun doing it. Actually, we don't mind a cookie cutter home if it is a nice neighborhood. I have found a lot of nice neighborhoods outside of Lexington to the south and west. Some nicer than others. We'll be planning a trip down sometime in the next couple of weeks. There is a lot available for not a lot of money. It is surprising, because our area (Cleveland/Akron) has some of the lowest prices in the country. Makes it difficult to move away from, because almost everywhere we looked homes were priced so much higher than ours. It gets discouraging. The folks moving out of Cal, New Jersey, Ct, etc. are the lucky ones.
I found it funny how you never thought about staining your privacy fence. It is interesting how different some things are in different parts of the country and/or state. Kentucky seems like a pretty laid-back state with a nice climate (compared to the Cleveland, Oh area). I haven't been to lexington for about 35 years. Visited the Cashaway Farm, Kentucky Horse Park (Man-O-War grave), Keeneland, etc. back at a time not long after Secretariat won the triple crown. Visiting the horse farms and driving the countryside left many fond memories and a lasting impression on me. I have read some bad things about living in that area, but there is good and bad that can be said about any city and/or area.
We have been looking at homes outside of Fayette County (per suggestions). Kinda narrowing our search. Finding some of the nicest, best selection and lowest prices in Madison County in Berea. Also found the same in Montgomery County, Mt Sterling.
I would appreciate any additional info on those two communities such as time to conveniences (Hospital, shopping, etc.) and whatever else might negatively impact a retiree lifestyle there, if anything (ie. high water/sewer/electric rates).
it seemed like good medical facilities are only available in Frankfort and Lexington. We liked what we saw in Berea, but it seems a little far away from hospitals and conveniences.
Berea has a hospital, and just up the road in Richmond is another hospital. Can you believe it? Wow, we have hospitals here!!!!
I'm not sure why anyone is helping you. Sorry but your posts give me a bad vibe...
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