Posted
Jul 06 2009, 08:35 AM
by
Karen Datko
This guest post comes from Mr. GoTo at Go To Retirement.
Our vacation home is on a lake in a rural area. The nearest small town is a 20-minute drive. Although we do not live on a farm or have lots of land, it is a country lifestyle with a waterfront bonus. When we spend time here, I often think about the positive and negative aspects of retirement in a small town or rural community.
Benefits
Our neighbors across the street retired years ago and live at the lake full time. Our neighbors next door are retiring this summer and plan on living at the lake after they sell their city home and farm. That has caused me to think even more about the combination of small town country living and retirement for us.
Cost of living. Food is more expensive in our local grocery stores. If we were to drive another 30 minutes, we can find larger chain groceries with lower prices. When we start living here for longer periods, that might make sense.
Everything else that we buy in our rural community seems to be less expensive, including utilities, insurance, and maintenance services. I think that a lot of that is related to real estate. The land is cheaper, houses cost less, and property taxes are lower compared with city living. This flows into all other cost-of-living categories.
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