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Sounds like my dream house too. Lots of outside space. I think if you enjoy the outside over the inside on warm nice days....then go for the large yard.
I know as we age these practical concerns become worrying....But, think of the joys and serenity of puttering that a large expansive yard can give you for hopefully many years to come.
We have a neighborhood with lots of beautiful 100 year old houses, but the one that I always look longingly at is the average looking one with the huge wrap around yard.
...trying to do rake up leaves yourself will get old quick.
That's where the "bagger" attachment comes into play.
I have the two bin sort for my 42" deck mower.
It takes about an hour or so --about every ten days or so.
Conveniently... I have a woodlot behind my house and another spot on the ROW
where I can dump and let them "compost" until I'm ready to spread them next year.
A guy in my town tipped his riding lawn mower over into the canal and the mower fell on top of him. If someone had not seen it happen he would have died.
While I like gardening and planting I hated the mowing, edging and trimming. We hired it out. Here in Florida hardly anybody does their own lawn. It's too hot and during the summer you have to time it so the dew has evaporated but the afternoon rains haven't come yet.
..... An older woman (late 60s) in our town started trying to mow their yard after her husband became ill with dementia. The second time she did it, she misjudged a muddy spot out by this creek in back, and the mower went over about a 3.5-foot drop into the creek, killing her. It was horrible.
That's a sad story but really people of all ages have tractor or mower accidents.
Old and young people have car crashes every day but I wouldn't let that knowledge stop me from driving.
My 80+-year-old aunt owned a property that was just over an acre for over 40 years. She was well into her 70's before she cashed out and moved into a trailer park. She'd hire out weed abatement but did everything else herself.
I had a disabled wheelchair bound veteran neighbor who maintained about an acre up until his death. He hired out all the mowing and weed spraying.
My 68-year-old mother and her much older boyfriend just bought a place on over an acre. They wanted land so they bought it and didn't let their ages hold them back.
We've owned 20 acres for over 20 years and my husband is now 61. I don't see why we can't live here another 20 years.
If you want the house with the big yard then get it. Don't worry about future "what if's" because it's a waste of time, you have no idea what your future holds and you shouldn't let aging hold you back.
When I was researching retirement locations, a realtor from down south said he always cautions northeners who retire,move south and want a huge lawn.
He stated they are unaware that the lawn growing season down south is much longer than a few months and that big lawn down south requires more mowings than their previous lawn up north did.
I have a smaller yard than a half acre, since my lot is only 50'x120'. But even with a big yard, maybe you could do what I did recently when I moved into my present home. I had the yard converted to nothing but grass; had all plants removed, re-graded the lot, and had new topsoil and sod put down at the same time. I now have a beautiful, lush, green lawn which looks lovely. I have a lawn guy that does the mowing and edging every week, except it's every two weeks in December through February. All I have to do is put out the money to pay him.
This is not difficult to do, since I can afford it and it requires no work at all on my part. I go to the gym when I want to exercise, instead of mowing out in the heat and humidity, so a gym membership may be another cost to this approach.
Like you, I live in a part of the country that is so rainy, that watering just isn't necessary.
My property is a little over half an acre, and I have someone mow and trim it for me. Trimming tears up my bad shoulder anyway, and I hate mowing grass with a vengeance. However, I continue to plant more and more shrubs and perennials around the entire yard, because that's what I love doing. Since I became a Master Gardener, I've created two nice compost bins and plan to put in a small vegetable garden this year. Our county just approved beekeeping on lots of this size, so I will also study beekeeping and put in several hives at the back of the lot. All of these garden and yard activities are steadily decreasing the amount of space devoted to grass. so I consider that a bonus - although my yard guy doesn't. However, he's 71 to my 66, so I can't count on him forever. Fortunately I already have a replacement lined up for yard work - yay!
I think the plan to keep it simple...not adding fancy landscaping that needs weedeating or edging...sounds good.
Adding some extension patios in back sounds like a great idea. Plenty of room to add a nice patio and pergola.
It's also good that most of the yard is in back, not the front. So I think the suggestion to hire out the front yard (where the driveway is, and a few beds of plants, all of which need edging and such), while I do the back, is good.
This is scary to me. But it's a cute house, a nice area, and a beautiful expanse of yard for the dogs to run and for me to plan fruit trees and blackberry bushes and have room to breathe. I considered a beautiful house with a tiny yard, like most women get, but I get so unhappy just looking at the tiny yards. I feel claustrophobic, surrounded too closely by fences and other people's RVs and pools.
I do have concerns like the post about the woman getting killed. There are no ditches in the back, so maybe if I hire out the front, which has ditches and edging areas, and do the back myself, it'd be safer. I didn't think about the ditch in front (this is a semi-rural area, although a lovely fairly new area with nice houses).
A flat 1/2 acre with no obstacles is a breeze. Once you start adding trees and such it can double the time required. Slopes are a pain. Molehills are tough on the knees. I'd pay someone to mow the ditch and do the edge work. Wear hearing protection, a hat, eye protection, and a mask of some sort. Work out a deal with the dealer to pick up the riding mower and do the annual maintenance (blades, belts, fluids, filters ,etc.). For winter prep, add a fuel stabilizer and make sure you fill the tank to the top. This keeps moisture from getting in your fuel line. You can pay to have the leaves done, or you can mulch them yourself by riding over them a few times. For a decent new riding lawnmower you're looking at 4k, but if you buy a reputable brand you will be able to sell it no problem if you decide to do so.
I'm interested in a home. Having trouble finding a decent sized lot. They seem to be usually either tiny yards, which is unacceptable to me, or very large.
So this house I'm interested in is one with the larger yard. Great yard. No fancy edging and such in the back yard, which is HUGE.
I would either hire it to be mowed & edged (very little edging), or I would get a riding lawn mower and give maintaining it myself a try (my relatives seem to think that's no big deal and the way to go in the long run).
I can handle it now. But what about when I get to be 75 or 80? My dad still maintains his half acre yard himself; he's 85 or 86.
Has anyone done this? I don't want to have to move at an advanced age, until and unless it's a situation where I have go in a nursing home (just shoot me first, though, in that case!).
You might look into permaculture design and research that a bit. In a nutshell, permaculture stands for "permanent agriculture". Conceptually it utilizes perennial plants that would grow well in your area and since they are perennial, there is rarely any maintenance that needs to be done on them. The most one would have is a bit of pruning here or there in time. But when set up correctly, even watering needs become very low to unnecessary because the water gets trapped in the soil ideally and slowly released/used for the plants. And mowing would also be unnecessary.
I'm willing to bet there's even someone in your area who's a permacultural landscape designer who could even give you more input.
We have a half acre and currently hire out for just about everything. We're younger than you, but probably once we hit retirement age we'll sell the house. A half acre isn't large compared to acreage properties, but it's not all that small either. we have to pay extra for services because it's bigger than your standard subdivision lot. We have landscaping front and back plus there's eight large trees, each dumping leaves at one time or another. trying to do rake up leaves yourself will get old quick. my mom's realtor has discouraged her from such lots and I don't blame him.
Yes, this was my concern.
I was hoping to find a lot normal sized or sort of large...not a full half acre.
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Caring for 1/2 acre lot as I age?
