Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My bride and I are seriously considering KY as a retirement destination. As a 3rd generation CT Yankee who grew up in what used to be a very rural area of Northeast CT, the Bluegrass area of KY seems awfully attractive. Certainly it's got to have a lower cost of living than where CT is heading. I'm thinking that Eastern KY West of the Appalachians might be similar to the hills of my area in CT, except perhaps for weather. The Richmond area is where I will begin exploring. Our goal is to live out our retirement on a small farm similar to what I grew up with (dairy, chickens, veggies, etc.).
This is a 3 year plan. We do intend to relocate to an area where our retirement income will go farther. KY or TN appear to be likely choices.
I am looking for advice on a number of topics, most of which I probably haven't thought of yet. To start with:
- Acceptance. Hard to get past the fact that we'll be newbies. Hoping that we won't be considered "damn Yankees". New Englanders seem to have a reputation for standoffishness. Somewhat true, but once we get to know you, the trust grows proportional to what we know about you. We are not superficially friendly - friendships grow slowly, but as they do it is genuinely sincere.
- Health care. Obviously as retirement age folks finding decent affordable health care is important. As is having it relatively close. Emergency care is not so good if it takes hours to get to it. Obamacare & Medicare are not going to be a reliable as Washington would have us believe.
- Firearms. I hunt. Strong believer in the 2nd amendment. Can't stand where CT has gone with gun laws. Need to learn the gotchas in transferring my handgun permit.
- Real estate. Obviously we want to buy a place with some acreage in both fields & woodland. We are not going to start over by building a home, but would rather find a home in decent shape. We will be trying to escape CT's heavy burden of property taxes - what can we expect in KY?
- Food costs. Obviously we will be learning a whole new set of food store chains. What can we expect?
- Fuel prices. For the big three - gasoline, diesel & heating oil - what to expect? Is oil-fired heating common or is propane more likely?
- What to bring with. I own a small Kubota farm tractor (about 30 years old) and a number of attachments. Bring it with us, or sell it here and buy new in KY? Gotta factor in the moving expenses if I bring with. Then there is the lawn tractor and other related stuff. The lawn tractor will probably be sold here. Not sure about my snowblower - not sure if it's worth bringing. Much of the smaller stuff will come with us.
I will add to this as things evolve. Will be planning a trip soon so I can see things first hand. My plan is the rent for a year in the area we think we'd want to settle so we can get a clear picture of the the seasons and the people.
I would start with growers at the farmers markets. Talk to them about their experiences. I assume you are from the Litchfield hills and Norfolk area. I am from central CT and moved here six years ago. Lots of superficial friendly for sure. Some acceptance depends on your attitude but some depends on who your Kentucky relatives are and other local connections. That is the hard part. Best of luck in your search.
Ex LIer here and I think you'll find the weather far more subdued than where you are now and the COL is considerably less than up in the NE.
Lexington alone has perhaps 5 hospitals, UK having the only cancer institute in KY, and each surrounding town/county has it's own hospital, so you're never too far from emergency health care.
You will find anything you want as far as real estate goes! Big farms, little farms, cleared land, woods, creeks, ponds, etc.! The search is half the fun and you will get an education about the area while you search!
And as far as equipment goes, We brought everything from the LI farm with us, and bought some new items here!
I would start with growers at the farmers markets. Talk to them about their experiences. I assume you are from the Litchfield hills and Norfolk area. I am from central CT and moved here six years ago. Lots of superficial friendly for sure. Some acceptance depends on your attitude but some depends on who your Kentucky relatives are and other local connections. That is the hard part. Best of luck in your search.
Dave, Actually I grew up in NorthEAST CT. Believe it or not, there are still 'real' rural areas in this corner. But there is no way to escape a state government that can't seem to slow down or reduce the amount of our tax dollars being spent on foolish stuff that is going to leave this state bankrupt in short order. Real estate prices are beyond the reach of most middle class folks. Our first step is going to be reducing our real estate holdings and consolidate our 'stuff' at one location, which is now under way.
I have no relatives or friends in KY, and would be starting with absolutely no connections to KY. A total and complete newbie. Kinda scares me a bit. I'm a gregarious kind of guy, willing to be social and meet people. But I still carry that New England reserve when it comes to trusting new acquaintances. My bride is more inclined to be the stay-at-home type and will leave the interaction with the local folks to me.
Ex LIer here and I think you'll find the weather far more subdued than where you are now and the COL is considerably less than up in the NE.
Lexington alone has perhaps 5 hospitals, UK having the only cancer institute in KY, and each surrounding town/county has it's own hospital, so you're never too far from emergency health care.
You will find anything you want as far as real estate goes! Big farms, little farms, cleared land, woods, creeks, ponds, etc.! The search is half the fun and you will get an education about the area while you search!
And as far as equipment goes, We brought everything from the LI farm with us, and bought some new items here!
Good luck and welcome!!
Ponypulr - Thanks for the response. The challenge is starting the search from 600-700 miles away. I plan to do much of the search in person and local, but for now I'm trying to get a sense of to expect.
I'll give you my "2 cents" so take it for what it's worth. I'm a 6th generation Kentuckian by blood and my family has lived in Kentucky since just after the Revolutionary War. I still have my grandmother, my cousins andf all of my aunt and uncles living up there.
- Acceptance. Hard to get past the fact that we'll be newbies. Hoping that we won't be considered "damn Yankees". New Englanders seem to have a reputation for standoffishness. Somewhat true, but once we get to know you, the trust grows proportional to what we know about you. We are not superficially friendly - friendships grow slowly, but as they do it is genuinely sincere - SOME rural Kentuckians may be a bit shy at first with outsiders but I think as long as you're open and friendly, they'll quickly warm up to you. Rural Kentuckians are generally avid church goers so I don't know if you have a religious affiliation? After all, many familes in Kentucky have lived in certain communities for generations, so it's going to be a given with maybe a few folks being a little shy, but only in the beginning. It's good because you're also from a rural area and I see this as a "+" for you, as you'll have things that they'll be able to relate, shared interests etc ( you like hunting, this is a BIG ice breaker )....it's not like your coming from the big city, like, Boston or NYC, to a rural area. I don't think you'll really have any issues. Rural Kentuckians are great, and I LOVE rural Kentucky. You'll love the kentucky southern drawl and "twang" of their accents ..folks take their time, are a bit slower, they smile alot, open doors for you and some will "waive" at you as you pass them by on the roads, even if they don't know you, at least this is the rural Kentucky that I remember.
- Health care. Obviously as retirement age folks finding decent affordable health care is important. As is having it relatively close. Emergency care is not so good if it takes hours to get to it. Obamacare & Medicare are not going to be a reliable as Washington would have us believe - I think this depends ultimately on "where" you locate in Kentucky. Most parts of central Kentucky are reasonably close to good medical care, clinics, hospitals etc, either Lexington, Louisville, Danville etc etc. However, eastern Kentucky, east of Lexington, especially along the Daniel Boone Nat'l Forest corridor or SE Kentucky, many areas can be very remote, so it really depends on where I think you end up realtive to a decent sized city or town. As long as you are relatively close to cities like Middlesboro, Pikeville, Ashland, Richmond, Somerset, Corbin, London in eastern Kentucky....I'm guessing you'll have pretty quick and good access.
- Firearms. I hunt. Strong believer in the 2nd amendment. Can't stand where CT has gone with gun laws. Need to learn the gotchas in transferring my handgun permit - This is a done deal...no worries at all, Kentucky is very gun friendly. ALL of my family in Kentucky own guns/bows and hunts and fishes and has done so 4-ever and ever. Two of my uncles work all the time and ONLY take their vacation during hunting season so that tells you something right there! My late grandfather was an avid foxhunter, coon, squirrel and Rabbit hunter, as well as Deer and Turkey. He raised hunting dogs ( especially fox hounds ) as well. Hunting is an age old tradition in Kentucky, seems like most everybody in rural Kentucky hunts, at the very least; squirrel and coon or rabbit hunts...so don't even worry at all about this issue.
- Real estate. Obviously we want to buy a place with some acreage in both fields & woodland. We are not going to start over by building a home, but would rather find a home in decent shape. We will be trying to escape CT's heavy burden of property taxes - what can we expect in KY - I think taxes may be high within the city and county limits of the big cites of Louisville and Lexington, but generally rural kentucky is a bargain just about anywhere. Since you like rural living, farms, timber, hills quiet, scenery....you can't really do much better than most of Kentucky, even on a bad day LOL. You'll see for yourself when you come down for a visit. You'll hear bobwhites calling from the meadows and the hum of cicadas in the Maple trees in the front yard on a warm, humid summer day. At night, Katydids, barred owls, whipoorwhills, frogs....you name it...natures finest. Autumn will be about as colorful as NE I'd imagine as Kentucky has lot of Oak, Hickory, Sycamore, Maple, Beech and Poplar, except peak color would be later in Kentucky towards the very last part of October, early Nov. It's very peaceful and beautiful, very scenic and a very pleasant land.....there's no state more beautiful than ole Kentucky IMHO!!
- Food costs. Obviously we will be learning a whole new set of food store chains. What can we expect - Not sure, I don't think it's too bad. Lot's of folks in rural Kentucky still have gardens, some big some small. All of my family does, my grandparents had a big garden for years. I've even read that Kentucky has alot of organic farms as well...if you like that. Generally on a whole Kentucky is pretty cheap living
- Fuel prices. For the big three - gasoline, diesel & heating oil - what to expect? Is oil-fired heating common or is propane more likely - My grandmothers house she has a well and also gas for her stove but central heat and air "nowadays" for heat, although when I was a kid they didn't have central air. Some older homes might have gas stoves, woodstoves or even potbellies....fireplaces are pretty common up there. Winters I don't think will be usually quite as bad as in Conn ( although that depends on the year and where, some parts of eastern Kentucky have a higher elevation and can be colder ) but it still get's as cold at times. Even so, the summers are brutally humid and hot, and notably longer and more humid than in NE, so I think you'll be more concerned alot of times about AC than heating. Although Dec to February can be rough, daytime lows in the 20's low 30's ( or lower ) nightime around "0" to - 5 easily. Ice is more of a problem than snow alot of times in Ky.
- What to bring with. I own a small Kubota farm tractor (about 30 years old) and a number of attachments. Bring it with us, or sell it here and buy new in KY? Gotta factor in the moving expenses if I bring with. Then there is the lawn tractor and other related stuff. The lawn tractor will probably be sold here. Not sure about my snowblower - not sure if it's worth bringing. Much of the smaller stuff will come with us - You might need that snowblower some winters, so I'd keep it, but you won't need it every winter. I'd keep the lawn tractor too in case you buy a property with a big yard, my grandparents had a riding mower as they had more than an acre they lived on, but their neighbors had more and bush hogged the hay field when their was hay in it ( some years there was Tobacco in it.
Last edited by EricOldTime; 05-28-2015 at 11:02 AM..
[quote=CT_Yankee;39776121]Ponypulr - Thanks for the response. The challenge is starting the search from 600-700 miles away. I plan to do much of the search in person and local, but for now I'm trying to get a sense of to expect.
How did you move your equipment?[/quote
Well, we're horse peeps, so we moved over time using our 4-horse trailer, manure trailer, and flatbed!! The only things we used a professional shipper for were the horses!!! But, I'm sure lawn tractors and such won't really be a problem for movers! Do you have anything larger than that??
I hear ya about starting the search!! As a suggestion to start with, have you researched LBar.com? That will help you get an idea of RE prices in different areas. And try to get your hands on a map of the area- try Amazon- maps of Bluegrass area!! And, yes, nothing will help you get a feel for an area like a visit!! You will LOVE it!!
Every town/county has a website to research also! Have fun and enjoy the "journey"!!
Unfortunately I have a farm tractor (35 Hp) and a number of implements for it. My lawn stuff can be carted on my landscape trailer, but I'm going to have to find someone to haul the farm tractor and related stuff. I have to start talking to commercial truckers I guess. I was considering PODS for some of my equipment, and we'd use a commercial mover for the household stuff (should fit on a straight truck). Of course, a bit of our stuff may not make the cut and will be sold here.
I've been exploring a few web sites that favor farm & land properties and have gotten a good sense of RE prices. My real challenge will be finding a buyer up here in CT. We own 4 lots plus 1/3 interest in a 5th commercial lot. The market here is not very good and we need to maximize our return on them.
Emigrations: Contrary to what might be the impression of CT from around the U.S., we do not fall into the category of "rich". What we have is family land, not purchased land. My roots are from immigrant grandparents who did not have cash - they bartered for most everything. Some may think that all of CT is like the area closest to NYC, that is far from reality. We have many land-rich cash-poor families here that feel stuck where they are. While selling our real estate may provide the funds to get started in KY (at least cover a house & land), the challenge is finding a buyer who WANTS to be in CT. Not an easy task.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But, I'm sure lawn tractors and such won't really be a problem for movers! Do you have anything larger than that??
