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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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A home in a National Park is a nice option, but usually those go to family, or NPS gets them. but...There are still a few available! Often they will be far from services.
I compromised and am in a federally controlled National Scenic Area (+/-). one bad neighbor can really grind on your 'peace and quiet'. I have superb neighbors, (No DOGS!!!, no noise) but we are all aging and the next guy may not be so ez to tolerate. I bought 3 of my neighboring properties, so at least can control who lives / stays there. The one across street (~1/4 mile away) has a 'son from hxll' who will get the place (150 acres). I hope to be GONE (6 ft under) by then.
No NEW homes are allowed. +++ I specifically chose this area due to fighting county planning for 15 yrs all the while they were planting Mobile home parks and apartments around my farm. I just HATE leaf blower noise everyday for HOURS!!!!!! The apartment dwellers didn't like my Tractors and dozer noise. Soon a frequent poster will comment on the terrible noise and odor of cows...
Everything has a price and a risk. As we age, it gets tough to deal with having to move due to crummy neighbors.
The apartment dwellers didn't like my Tractors and dozer noise. Soon a frequent poster will comment on the terrible noise and odor of cows...
Wouldn't an agricultural operation that was in existience prior to the apartments be protected by a "Right to Farm" law, especially since the apartments were put their after the farm was already in place, instead of the farm moving in after the apartments were built?
Back to the original question, I'm not retired yet (I have a good ways to go), but what I can imagine is the following:
Early part of retirement: The secluded lifestyle, hopefully free of the obnoxious neighbors described above, sounds great. I'd have the ability to go into a more bustling area whenever I need to and when it's at least somewhat less crowded than when everyone else is doing so (i.e. avoiding what feels like the whole world is out shopping at exactly 4:00 PM on Saturday).
Later part of retirement: A house/townhouse close to everything when getting out from the boondocks is no longer as easy for me.
I compromised and am in a federally controlled National Scenic Area (+/-).
Haha, I think that same scenic area was on the border of our property. We did not have to deal with the gorge commission for building permits but got to enjoy the openness it enforced all around us. The property in front of us was 5000 acres of range land. The property behind us was 10,000 acres of Yakama tribal land.
What type of transportation options are available in the nearby town, and how far does their service extend? If the town offers a scheduled senior shuttle that will go three miles outside the town limits, taxi service, or Uber/Lyft is available, then the house that's a mere three miles out of town may work fine even when you can no longer safely drive. And the so-so house in town may offer no real additional benefits over the one that's three miles away if the town has limited public transportation options and the house isn't super close to all the amenities you'll need on a regular basis. For most folks the definition of "walkable distance" shrinks quite a bit as they age, and f you're going to have to drive anyway, you might as well pick the house you 're going to enjoy the most.
I would not want to live anywhere else then where we live now. We are both retired and live in a private area of about 60 homes, every home is on an acreage and every home is surrounded by virgin woods. We have complete privacy with an unrestricted view to the South of more then a half mile and no buildings.
Both of us are introverts, and nothing is more important then quite. The only noises are birds, wind and a occasional train that passes by about a mile from the house. We live 30 miles from a major city but we also have a town of 2000 about 3 miles away the has food, fuel, hardware, pharmacy, and even medical care with a retirement home. The retirement home has vans that transport their residence to doctors appointments and shopping even 30 miles away.
4 miles away is an interstate highway with a 75mph speed limit, so getting the 30 miles to the city only takes about 25 mins. Nether of us could even remotely want to be living in a town or city, the noise, the crime, the gangs, the increased cost for water, sewer, greater property tax, the neighbor's dog barking all night, not for us.
If I was the OP I would seriously consider moving out of town.
I picked leafy high-density suburb on the New England coast with things walkable in 10 minutes. The nearest beach is more like 20 minutes walk as is my dinghy dock at the boat yard. Big box stores and adequate medical services are within 15 minutes drive. A Level 1 trauma center is 33 miles. World class medical services with Harvard faculty is 62 miles.
My issues with the place:
The Indian food is awful and the Chinese is sketchy. The main cultural attractions, the high end shopping, the big airport, and pro sports are 60 miles away with pretty ugly traffic near the city.
I would not want to live anywhere else then where we live now. We are both retired and live in a private area of about 60 homes, every home is on an acreage and every home is surrounded by virgin woods. We have complete privacy with an unrestricted view to the South of more then a half mile and no buildings.
Both of us are introverts, and nothing is more important then quite. The only noises are birds, wind and a occasional train that passes by about a mile from the house. We live 30 miles from a major city but we also have a town of 2000 about 3 miles away the has food, fuel, hardware, pharmacy, and even medical care with a retirement home. The retirement home has vans that transport their residence to doctors appointments and shopping even 30 miles away.
4 miles away is an interstate highway with a 75mph speed limit, so getting the 30 miles to the city only takes about 25 mins. Nether of us could even remotely want to be living in a town or city, the noise, the crime, the gangs, the increased cost for water, sewer, greater property tax, the neighbor's dog barking all night, not for us.
If I was the OP I would seriously consider moving out of town.
That was us, too. A quiet neighborhood, with a minimum of 1 1/4 acre lots for the houses. Ours was the smallest at 1 1/4. Each house surrounded by Oaks. Privacy, nobody can peer in our windows.
Except the drunk neighbors on ATVs. And the kids that play flashlight tag on our property at midnight, screaming loud enough to wake us up. Oh, and the snowmobiles that occasionally run our mailbox down, screaming through the silence at 10pm. Not to mention the retired leaf-blower maniac next door that is chainsawing every tree down to his property line to make a wasteland just like all the other characterless neighborhoods to the the south.
We are about to escape to freedom; closest house 1/2 mile away, raw land all around us. No local jobs. No people. No problems. No kidding.
We're 8 miles from a town of 5000. It is a regional hub with a great hospital, good restaurants and a decent cultural scene. The area is actually about 30,000 in population. Being 25 minutes from everything is getting old. I'd love to be three miles (10 minutes) from town. Town is nice with low crime, friendly people no traffic. But we are a mile from the national forest and have a trail out our back door. Quiet, save for the occasional barking dog and redneck loud truck- not a big deal.
We will be 5 miles from town of 2k and 18 from town of 60k, /love the country. You can get crappy neighbors in town as well. Everyone shoots at times where we are at but not seen anyone shoot 24/7. Not sure I could afford that. Nature is worth any trade offs to us.
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