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Old 08-30-2012, 07:51 PM
 
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If you live in the country you probably need a car. Though that is an extra expense that you might not have in the city, driving in the country - you can go 10 miles in 10 minutes.. but in the city, you can go 10 miles in 1 hour and a half on some days. Wasting gas! Rent/mortgage is probably cheaper in the country unless you live on a lakefront and then prices will be higher. (you know like in the chain of lakes area in Illinois - lake front property is more expensive than a mile away from it). Different states have different tax base - i.e. Michigan has low tax where your meal tip is $1.99 opposed to chicago high taxrate making that tax on that same meal to be $8.50. But i think living in the country is cheaper than the city.
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Old 08-30-2012, 08:12 PM
 
Location: Western Nebraskansas
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Not to mention, in a city you don't even have to have a car or its related expenses.
My brother and sis-in-law have lived in Boston, then Dublin, and back to Boston for a total of 12 years now. They sold their car about three months after they left Nebraska and haven't regretted it. My brother even let his license expire after they moved to Dublin. (SIL keeps hers current for the sole purpose of driving when they're home in Nebraska on vacations)
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Old 08-30-2012, 09:07 PM
 
Location: Murphy, NC
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If u want to be an hour from a large city you may pay even more for a home or rent but if u want to be an hour from a midsized city like wilmington then u can find very cheap property, live rural, and save money so long as u arent driving to downtown each day for entertainment. Adopt rural activities. Where i live the average rent is 300/month (or 200) But u better like the simple life like books lakes movies messing in the yard outdoors. Dont worry about car maintainence u will get a knack for fixing it cheaply. Some boys here dont even work but get by fine and own stuff.
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Old 08-31-2012, 12:23 AM
 
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Rural life is cheaper due to the moniker in bigger states of: "You get what you pay for."

Housing/gas/etc is cheaper in the country because you're not paying for space since there is so much of it. Gas is cheaper, but you have to burn more to get where you're going because things are farther away and there's no public transit.

I can go on, but I'm sure you get the idea....
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Old 08-31-2012, 11:22 AM
 
Location: Lexington, Kentucky
14,670 posts, read 7,970,612 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by itsMeFred View Post
All things being equal, urban is more expensive than rural. The value of housing, taxes, etc.
However, all things aren't equal and you're right. You'll probably make it up on the cost of vehicle maintenance and fuel.
Bingo. I think that pretty much sums it up.
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Old 08-31-2012, 11:43 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
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The fewer municipal services offered by a town, then generally it's mil-rate will be lower. If you do not need mass-transit and are happy to live without it, then your taxes will be lower, and your COL will be lower. The same goes for all municipal services; water treatment, sewer, dog pound, building inspectors, wifi, PD / FD, etc.

In my state, eight townships have decided to burn their town charters. To un-incorporate themselves and it has lowered the property taxes in those towns a great deal.

From our last home to this home the difference in our taxes is huge. Our home size nearly doubled; our lot size increased by over 400X [0.25 acre to 150 acre]; we were in a densely populated city with high crime rate and noise from neighbors, now we live in a more park like setting with low crime and no visible neighbors; our taxes today are 1/6 of what they were in the city.

Our COL has dropped too [not as much as our taxes dropped], our COL is now around 1/3 of what it had been in the city.

In our case, our vehicle maintenance and fuel expenses do not account for the cost savings. We have enough extra budgeted now that my Dw has shifted to new cars [in 2011 she bought a 2011 car]. We have never done that before, this was our first. We were never able to afford a new car before leaving the city. Even with increasing our vehicle costs, we are still saving money.
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Old 08-31-2012, 09:16 PM
 
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A lot of people report lower cost of living upon retiring to a rural area, but in many cases they moved to a lower-cost State. Of course when your income drops your Federal Income Tax drops and if you have no earned income, no FICA. In some cities there are better services for those with low incomes which may even out the cost.
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Old 09-02-2012, 09:58 AM
 
Location: SW MO
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Car expenses are decidedly more here in the stix. It's a 35-45 mile round tip for us to do any shopping of note. But the flip side of that is you soon learn to "bundle" your trips getting a lot done with each one of them to keep from having to go out again anytime soon. Another thing to put in the "plus" column is that you rarely do any impulse shopping because the opportunities aren't just down the block.

All things on balance, the peace, quiet and tranquility are more than a match for "convenience."

We're more apt to hear a few coyotes strike up a short chorus than barking dogs.
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Old 09-04-2012, 11:21 AM
 
2,878 posts, read 4,611,249 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prairieparson View Post
I'm a very thrifty type, and I am in the midst of retirement planning. I would really like to live in a more rural area, but I'm not sure of the cost difference. I'm assuming that housing might be less, but even if its more, I don't care. I'd rather have some land between me and my neighbors. (Barking dogs in neighbors back yard make one long for open spaces.) But I always assume that living in rural area will be more expensive. You use more gas to get where you're going, and this also adds wear and tear on the car. You often have to travel to the big city to buy things you can't buy in the small town.

Tell me I'm wrong or right. Any aspects of living cheaper in a rural area?
Depending on what you are looking for, how patient you are etc. - either can work out for you.

If you want to save living rural you will need to work a lot. If you are not interested in raising your own and doing everything yourself you are probably better off by living in the city. Note that a person can live frugally in the city too. Most large cities have public transportation networks and you can get a foreclosure with a small yard (big enough) to raise a vegetable garden. So you need not go to the country to have a garden. In fact, for two people a small garden in the city will do. In many urban areas chickens are allowed too, it takes some research to find out where and how.

Most people run to buy a large acreage with the dream of working the land without realizing how much work rural lifestyle like that is. Heck, the farmers figured that out decades ago, today only 2.5% of the US population farms, most would rather live in the city.

If you are carrying some notions of a beautiful European quiet style villages out in the country in the USA, let me dispel that myth right away. You can find those in this country, yes, but that will cost you an arm and a leg. When you buy cheap in the country somewhere rural, most of the time there is a lot of noise from ATVs, gunshots. There is drinking and petty crime too (and many times not so petty as a lot of rural areas have turned into proliferate drug labs). What a lot of city folk think of as a quaint rural area is Mayberry and Mayberry may not exist anymore.

Finally, be ready to be treated in a hostile manner if you come in with your "city folk" attitude. Even if you are not guilty of any of that the odds are against you since coming from a city usually gets associated with rising taxes and "wanting to make a city out of our little paradise". If you don't know how to do things yourself (electric, well, septic etc.) be prepared to have a choice of one or two guys who don't know you but are bent on sending their kids to college on that one job at your place.

All in all, there are pros and cons to both urban or rural life. Only you can decide what will work for you and there is no simple answer. To illustrate, you may live cheaper rurally but if you absolutely cannot stand the stupid neighbor who constantly rides his loud stinking ATV next to your property and acts like a general brainless nuisance, is rural life going to be good for you? After all, you came there for the quiet (maybe) but it seems like the inbred next to you just wont quit his ways....

My $.02
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Old 09-04-2012, 11:46 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,223 posts, read 60,940,482 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ognend View Post
... If you are carrying some notions of a beautiful European quiet style villages out in the country in the USA, let me dispel that myth right away. You can find those in this country, yes, but that will cost you an arm and a leg.
Our experience has been that buying rural land is much lower priced.



Quote:
... most of the time there is a lot of noise from ATVs, gunshots.
... constantly rides his loud stinking ATV next to your property
If homes are close enough that you hear your neighbor's ATV, maybe your not all that rural?



Quote:
... "city folk" attitude. Even if you are not guilty of any of that the odds are against you since coming from a city usually gets associated with rising taxes and "wanting to make a city out of our little paradise".
I have seen this. Not the attitude presented to us, but to others.

When a city-dweller moves rural, then attends townhall meetings and insists that the town upgrade things to be like where they came from. I hear stories of this routinely. People coming into the area and starting campaigns trying to raise taxes. Petitions for more bonds. It appears to happen a lot.

If you do not like how a neighbor cares for his/her house, then keep driving. You already drove a mile to get to his/her house, you can't see it from your house, so keep driving.
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