If you could live anywhere,.....

M

mstag

Banned
Joined
Jan 17, 2004
Messages
96
If you had 600,000 to live on and you were a huge outdoorsman , where would you live. Out of that 600 k you had to buy a house , so real estate prices come into play. But you need a place thats great for hunting and fishing. Im thinking vermont or maine? Anyone else have any suggestions. my neightbor is 52 and retired and looking to leed the simple life, so i recomended vermont...anyone else have any ideas????
 
My choice would be Michigan's Upper Peninsula. My rationale (other than my having been born & raised there) includes the following:
  • much lower property values means more house & land for the money PLUS lower taxes
  • awesome hunting for upland birds (grouse, woodcock), waterfowl, rabbits & hares, whitetail deer, black bear
  • world class fishing for trout, smallmouth bass, walleye, perch, salmon (includes inland lakes and streams, plus the Great Lakes)
  • nice solitude (not a lot of people)
  • 4 gorgeous seasons
  • friendly people
  • as clean environmentally as anywhere in the U.S.
  • close enough to some major cities in the event you desire cultural activities or enhanced shopping

My wife and I own 272 acres of secluded property in the U.P. surrounded by many thousands of acres of state and federal land... it's like have our own preserve with dozens of lakes and rivers, etc. We have moose, black bear, deer, cougars, bobcat, lynx, pine marten, ruffed grouse, sharptail grouse, ducks, geese, woodcock, bald eagle, hawks, owls, snowshoe hares, gray squirrels, red squirrels, etc.

Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions.

AJ
 
AJ, you beat me to it. I think of all the suggestions so far, the UP is the best, followed by northern Minnesota. Of course, we're assuming that whoever this is doesn't mind cold weather. The older you get, the more cold weather bothers you, I'm told.
I might also suggest searching around parts of New Mexico. I've seen some decent land prices there within the last couple years, and it's not quite as cold, generally speaking.

James
 
$600,000 cash savings, right? And is he getting any pension, social security, etc? Is your friend planning a full-stop retirement, or will he work part time for a while? Is he going to sell the house he has now?

Basically, your neighbor has to get himself a new place live (house or maybe a condo where the lawn work and general maintenance are done). That'll take a chunk of his $600,000 ($125,000 - $250,000 probably). And don't forget costs of moving plus equipping the new house, etc. Then, the income from the remaining savings plus any other income he has will determine what he gets to live off of. And don't forget to re-invest a portion of the income from the savings in order to grow it to keep up with inflation.
 
I'd choose West Virginia. Very nice place, good for hunting and fishing. Also really beautiful. If not WV, I'd choose another mountainous place, like the NY/MA Berkshires (my grandpa built a cabin on his family's farmland there). Or western PA, Maine, or Arkansas.
 
Are you guys nuts? Why would you want to live in all those cold places? Come to the South... low cost of living, friendly people, lots of outdoorsy things to do, and no friggin snow!!!
 
I'm not into the cold so I would look at AZ, TX, or maybe Northern Alabama.

Vermont is very nice (aside from the cold). However, I think it's the 2nd most expensive state in the union now after CA. Also, it's very liberal aside from their CCW deal.

PA could be OK, as could be TN or KY.

Just drove through the upper pen. Not for me.

I'm going through the same thought process myself now. Wife won't let me go west of the Mississippi so I'm limited.

It's all really a personal choice and very dependent on the person's situation (ie my military retirement isn't taxed in some states so I will lean towards them). No one state has it all.

Good Luck!
 
Wyoming or Montana. Cheap land and plenty of game and good fishing. Damn fine folks too! Keep their noses out of your business cause they figure everyone else has a gun too. :)
I was driving thru Wyoming one time on the interstate and saw a herd of cows moving along the hills and as I got closer to em I thought, man those are funny lookin cows. Then I got close enough to see it was a humongous herd of elk. Musta been 150-200 of em and you coulda pulled over on the side of the interstate and shot em, lol.
Michael
 
Washington State.

I'm less than an hour from some prime hunting and fishing territory (Salmon on the Columbia River, hunting for whatever you want in the Cascade mountains)

Cost of living here in Eastern Wa is cheap, and cheap, good land is plentiful. No crowds, or millions of people shoved into one area. (The Seattle area is this way.)

The only other places I'd consider living is Oregon, or Montana.

And, we are a 'shall issue' state as well. :D
 
I'm less than an hour from some prime hunting and fishing territory
Click to expand...

Yes, and you're also paying no state income tax. That may be an important consideration for a retiree.

On the other hand, if your estate exceeds one million dollars, Washington is not the best state to die in.
 
old folks luv it here in Maine.
not to mention i'm only 5 minutes away from hunting/fishing/hiking/camping etc.
and that's living in semi-suburbs. there are like 5 sets of semi-suburbs, all within about 10 minutes of eachother here, each making up a small fraction of the town compared to the wildlife, and outside of this set of semi-suburbs, it is absolutely woods, woods, woods. we're about 2 hours and change away from Quebec City, 3 hours away from Mount Katahdin, 5 hours away from Portland, 7-8 hours from Boston.
this particular area however, is over the national average for cost of living tho. homes are rather expensive, so you might as well have your own home built, and our unemployment rate is kind of depressing. in fact, for kids my age, there's next to zero job opportunities. you could have a degree in paleoanthropology, marine biology, wildlife conservation, crimincal justice, and whatever else, and still not be able to find a job in this particular area.
but for someone retiring, Maine can be an excellent state to live in if you research to find a desirable area. we've got nearly everything in this state. oceans, beaches, lakes, rivers, forests, mountains, even a small desert, haha.
9 outta 10 vehicles here are SUV's/trucks, 6 outta 10 ppl here hunt/fish, 9 outta 10 hike/camp. it can be prime outdoorsman turf here in Northern Maine.

also, radio stations here regulalry advertise gun safety courses and encourage personal firearms carry. :D
 
I'd still live where I live now. I'm in Northeast PA. I love small towns, and especially love the area where I live, which is basically out in the woods. There are a lot of farms and woodsy areas around this area, and many small lakes and things. The Lackawaxen river also runs through the middle of town. (I live about six miles outside of town, and grew up just a few miles from where I live now, where my parents still live on an old 125 acre farm.)

We are somewhat isolated, but within 40 minutes or so from Scranton, and there is a new highway that makes it much easier to get to places. Wilkes-Barre is another 20 minutes or so by highway. Unfortunately (IMHO) our town has grown in the years since my family moved here from Staten Island, NY, and we now have more businesses, as well as a huge Wal-mart and plans for a Home Depot in the works.

$600,000 is still a huge amount of money for this area. Anyone with that much would be living like a king around here.

~ashes
 
I'd take my GF and myself to Friday Harbour, Washington State...we've been planning on moving their when she finishes college, its amazing around the San Juan islands :D.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top