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I'm a big fan of looking about 20-30 minutes drive from a bigger city with a large university. Rural health care can be outright scary for anything other than simple matters (yeah, I know y'all can tell me about your awesome individual country doctors, but as a whole, that picture is not good) and being a reasonable drive from a high volume university hospital can really neutralize a lot of that problem. The university town can in many cases be your source for the Asian foods you can't get by mail order.
In terms of having a helper, that shouldn't be that hard if you ask around at church, community center, etc. Someone's always looking for a little extra money. The problem, like it would be anywhere city or rural, is finding someone rock solid reliable.
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You really nailed it! I live 30 miles from a university town, about 1 1/2 hours drom St. Louis, and nearly the same distance from Evansville, IN. Also, many specialists spend a day or two a week seeing patients in area hospitals; I just saw the doctor who treated Naomi Judd!
Finding help in any respect is easy, as this is a poor area. Still, there are many lakes and gold courses near us. You can definitely find almost anything you need in a 30 mile radius. People here are desperate for work, and your indoor, outdoor and personal needs could be met easily. That 30 mile drive is no different than getting through crosstown traffic in a city.
I'm putting out a bee hive this year, and am excited about that. When people think "Illinois" they think "Chicago," but downstate is the big secret...beautiful, warmer than Chi and friendlier. The down side is the
racism and bigotry, but it's diminishing. As you make friends, they'll be able to direct you to dependable and honest people. Good luck!
check around the Bloomsburg and Danville are of PA they have a real good hospital or more like campus and you can find decent small homes with a few acres for what would look dirt cheap compared to NJ, there is property tax rebates and other help programs for older people here in PA ,now if you are looking for just land to build a small home or get a double wide or modular home you can get a 4-10 acres for 20k here in different parts of PA and you can usually find a hospital nearby too.There is alot of 55+ communities and Apartment complexes all over the state that are really nice and have alot of benefits that you would enjoy and for asian stores and restaurants there is quite a few of them but you have to search for them and some of the local stores and some farmers markets do have alot of the stuff you are looking for just depends where you go.
If you want no freeze zone you will have to live in the far south near the beach or south west near the beach. There is no such thing as never freezes unless you move to hawaii or the florida keys. Even San Diego gets ocassional freeze temps. How can you live on 6 acres and not be handy to some extent?? thats a little wierd. Better stay in NJ thats one place I never want to live.
I'm rural and about 40 minutes away from College Station TX (A&M University).
There's about everything I could want there including all the big box and name stores.
I do go down there every other week to food shop (regional HEB) and use the supermarket in town for the small stuff. No big box at all in town and only two chains.. Dairy Queen and Sonic.
And if you know Texas those 2 are staples for any small town (gas station, post office and a DQ ).
I'm just outside a town of 5K and am quite happy with the setup. I plan 5-10 years here enjoying playing in the dirt and raising some animals.
But we do get up over 100 in the summer so Texas is not for you.
We are in NJ suburb with 6 ac farm. Enjoy it but wanna move to rural area to lower living cost when retired. Something we could not think through. Maybe your feedbacks will influence our decision
1. moving to rural means to give up the benefit of 55+ community (mostly lower housing cost).
2. we like asian food. It is hard to find asian grocery store even in small town.
3. we are not handy enough, it might be difficult to find a helper.
4. is rural life really good for senior who might need to see doctor occasionally?
5. we don't have plan to manage a big farm, just try to be self sufficient. Does it make sense to live in rural?
6. we don't like freezing temperature, neither 100 degree hot place. And we like east coast. Not sure how many choices we have.
Appreciate it if you may share some thought.
Central NH might be to your liking except for the freezing temperatures in winter. Summer is fantastic! The New London area has all the essentials and a nice hospital. It is also a 30 min drive to Dartmouth/Hitchcock or Concord Hospital.
Nearby towns of Newbury, Andover, Bradford, Sutton, Goshen, etc. all are small towns that would be ideal.
I know a man who retired after living/working/raising family in New Jersey. He now lives on a 2 acre property with a small house and has created a mini-farm for himself. He has chickens, quail, goats, a huge garden. A neighbor helps with the initial plowing in the spring in exchange for a little money and a steady supply of eggs and quail. And he is doing this without a help-mate. It's not complete self-sufficiency, but it's a start. And a great way to live. And just 30 minutes from a city.
ps: Don't get a beach house, it's not good for gardening.
I grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ, and return twice a year to visit relatives. It's hardly a town, it's a huge sprawling suburb- subdivision after subdivision (nice ones and a few modest ones) off crammed highways and strip malls. I can't imagine that OP would consider living there for the stated reasons.
Outside of the winter weather, small towns outside of Ithaca NY would be perfect.
What are taxes like in that area?
Say a 2000sqft 2 bdrm house?
How much per acre of land?
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