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You can have a really nice house in most small towns in Northeast Ohio or Western Pa for way less than $200k. There are some really nice older homes here for anywhere from $80k-$125k. The only problem will be finding a job, which depends on your field.
You can have a really nice house in most small towns in Northeast Ohio or Western Pa for way less than $200k. There are some really nice older homes here for anywhere from $80k-$125k. The only problem will be finding a job, which depends on your field.
I've seen some nice houses with a small yard in small, rural but well equipped upper midwest and northern plains towns for around $50,000!
Yes, i've seen those too. Around here you can even get some acreage and a decent sized house out in the country for that price. Granted, it will need a little work and is probably a foreclosure or HUD case, but they do exist.
Yes, i've seen those too. Around here you can even get some acreage and a decent sized house out in the country for that price. Granted, it will need a little work and is probably a foreclosure or HUD case, but they do exist.
The second two examples i used were in the city. It's a small city 6,500 people, but a city none the less. Also close to lots of shopping, population centers, etc.
I am planning on doing something simular to this. I currently live in S.Central ,Pa. an area of about 50-60k population. But because of the influx of people from the Balt.Md (60 min drive)area moving here , everything has gone up in price including housing. I have wanted something with 5+ acres for several yrs now but around here you can't get anything like that for under 300K. I took a vacation to NW Pa last summer (Erie area) and really liked what I saw. So I have been back 3 times since looking at houses/acreage, I can get 10+ acres with a nice home for under 120k . I am currently looking at 19 acres with a 3br 3ba and a 2 story barn with elec and water going for 99500. My current home would go for about 200k(low) and after I pay off my mortgage would leave me with 160k. The taxes in NW pa are about 1k less a yr there,the property has a brand new wood furnace with 5 cords of split wood and 4 cords unsplit . I currently have gas heat and my gas bill is killing me.
As for employment I have been in the automotive parts field(management) for 27 yrs and as of 2 weeks ago have been laid off (2nd time in 2 yrs). So I am ready to try something differant I have done construction and some HVAC part time over the years ,doesn't need to be a real high paying position since my last one was 35k a yr which was a reduction from the 1st lay off in 2007. I have survived on under 35k for 2 yrs with all the reg bills everyone else has . Also being a single dad of a teenager I'd like him to learn more about living off the land type of life.
So for me if I can do this I think it would make for a good rest of my life(46 now).
Small towns are not necessarily cheaper than a city. Goods have to be brought in further, the prices of things can be higher than in the city and you have to drive further to get to the store/movies/mall, whatever.
Remember that John Cougar song..."Small Towns...there's little opportunity."
I just thought that if I could sell my City home for $800K and buy a similar home for 200K in a small town and take the $600K profit and put that money into an annuity and collect 5% a year in income, ($30,000 a year), I would be able to work part time until I retired in ten years and still survive financially.
OK, so maybe I was a little harsh. With a lack of information, I was putting you into that category of city slicker who thinks he or she can easily move out of the city and live the simple life because it is so, well, simple.
And with the information you have given me, I think it will be simple. If you can truly sell your home for $800,000, you can buy a very comfortable home here in Rolla for $200,000. If you can indeed earn $30,000 a year from an annuity, you won't have to work. You won't live lavishly on $30,000 a year, but that's the median income so you'll be like most of the rest of us simple country folk.
Your problem is going to be medical insurance. Maybe you can find a full-time job and get into their group.
You also need to understand that wages and salaries aren't nearly as high out here in outstate Missouri as they are in your city. City folks are always astounded to learn that the same place where you can pay housing for so little, relatively speaking, also has such low wages. I don't know where the houses are cheap and the wages are high, but it ain't in rural Missouri.
Investigate Rolla. It's halfway between Springfield and St. Louis. It has a branch of the state university, and city slickers are welcomed with open arms because most Rolla residents see themselves as sophisticated city folks. They look down on rednecks and goat-ropers. I'm a redneck, but I just laugh at them and hang around people who live in Phelps County, not the city.
I would think moving to a small town will be easier on your expenses, but harder on your income. If all you can do is work for someone, there will be very basic jobs available for you. The city would have more opportunities then. If you can be a tradesman ( a plumber, an electrician, a carpenter), then you can survive anywhere.
Seriously. A low cost of living is a FANTASTIC perk, but not if there aren't any jobs for you. Need an income to hack even a low cost of living.
My SO and I would move to my small hometown in a heartbeat if there were work for us there, but there isn't. Period. We need the job opportunities an urban area boasts. If you lost your job in the city, I wouldn't assume you'll find one in a smaller, likely more economically depressed, community.
I'm sure this has been mentioned, I haven't read the thread in entirety, but that's my two cents, nonetheless.
This post is so naive that it takes my breath away. It leaves me both slackjawed and speechless.
Or perhaps I'm being too harsh. Probably am.
Posts like this make me wonder why I use forums.
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