PA or OH - Where Should We Retire - TN & KY now on the list??

[AhBee01]

I live in oh and it is cold here alot! Seems like winter is 5-6 months long!! LOL!!!
Summer in humid sometimes and sometimes not even hot enough to swim!
Fall is pretty, winter is just cold, but not in the - like it used to get.
The home market is pretty bad but good if you are the one buying.
I live near Youngstown, and if things weren't so bad we would move to a place with more land and better schools! My Dad gave me my piece of land and it used to be heaven, but since a falling out with my SIL and step mom, It's just not the same, and defiantly not the same since Dad passed away!
I heard southern ohio in beautiful, so if you can find something there it would be nice!
I bet you could find alot of land for sale around there if you google it up!
Good luck
Brenda

 

[OHChick]

my DH and i live in OH but are both from KY. be warned, taxes are high! i am originally from Maryland, relocated to KY as a child. so i know MD has $$ taxes too. if you were thinking southern ohio, might as well hop across the border to KY or WV and save you big time on taxes.

my property tax up here is over 3x what i paid in Lexington, KY. and there are always extra levies either on income or property for school, fire dept etc. our school tax in champaign county (WNW of Columbus) tripled this year.

 

[salon]

Quote:
This is good to know - thanks!

 

[quadcam79]

I was born and raised in PA, the Pocono mountains before all of the NY,NJ people flooded in there.I moved to Florida when I was 26.

PA is beautiful and all but I hate the weather, you have two seasons. Winter and Construction. The roads are pretty rough with cracking and potholes. Make sure you own at least one 4 wd vehicle, you'll need it.

OH is more rolling hills than mountains never lived there so I cant say anything.

If I were to pick a place to retire and is wasnt florida , I would probably go for somewhere like ...KY, TN, NC, GA, AL,
by what i've seen you can get great deals on land in most of those states, especially KY.

Here in fl one acre is going for $40,000+
we got our place, 1998 singlewide MH on 1 acre for $104K and I havent seen anything close around here since.
while in places like KY you can get 50+ acres with a homes, barn, etc etc for $150K

plus the winter is milder than the northeast...just FYI the jetstream pulls almost every major storm right over OH/PA
so for me it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there again.

heres a good site to browse for property around the country
http://www.unitedcountry.com/

 

[mangled]

Quote:
We are up towards Clarion county, which is about 1 1/2 - 2 hours North of Pittsburgh.

Not much work around here, either, my husband drives 45 minutes to his job, which is working for a different county. But, if you're planning on retiring, it's a very slow placed, quaint area.

We don't have many chicken shows, LOL, but in the fall, there is an Autumn Leaf Festival and the craft shows!! Well, my husband dreads the fall craft shows, LOL. I am a craft show addict.

Em

 

[greyhorsewoman]

We were born in PA (central). Moved around a bit, lived in NC for 11 years, then back to PA (northeast). Won't get me out of this state again.

I love the seasons, the rural lifestyle, and great soil for growing things. PA has a lot of perks for retirees (second only to FL, I understand).

 

[ams3651]

I live in lower NE pa (Columbia County) and I love it. My sister went to Philly and pays twice my mortgage to rent. My other sister went to boston and pays 3times. I like it here because the very hot season is only about 2 months average and thats not everyday and the same with winter 2 or 3 months but the temps this winter ranged from -10 wind chill to 48* in January. Its usually only really cold for a few days at a time and when you do get snowed in its not for more than a few hours, a day max. There are nice breezes, great parks, small stores. I paid $70,000 for 2 bedrooms on 2 acres just outside of a small town. The nearest town to really shop in is about 15-20 minutes but I dont think thats far, Ive always lived here. Grew up 3 miles away. The taxes depend on the school district but crime is very low, the last time I heard someone getting shot was a hunting accident. If you like the outdoors this area is abundant in state game lands for fishing and hunting as well as state parks fo camping and Knoebels Aumsement Resort is the largest free admission park in the state and one of the oldest in the country with lots of awards for food and coasters.

Have I said enough??

http://www.itourcolumbiamontour.com/

 

[mangled]

Yeap - property values in most rural places are excellent. We bought our 15 acres for $47000, and with the doublewide, septic, and all the services, we're in about $115,000.

We're buying the 83 fully wooded acres adjoining our property for a dream amount - $35000 !!!

The gas well companies want to drill out here, and have been shot down by nearly everyone. She is selling to us because she knows we won't do anything with it.

My husband wants it for hunting. The deer around here are huge.

I'll say it again, I've lived in CA, AZ, NY and PA, plus overseas during the summers of my childhood (Germany, England). I will never move out of PA again. We love it here.

Em

 

[Rosalind]

Neither!

Grew up in PA Dutch country, moved to Ohio and lived there for 7 years. Then moved to the glory that is Taxachusetts. I like Massachusetts better than both.

Both states are extremely economically depressed, Ohio more so than PA. If you are not 100% retired, or think you might want to pick up a part-time job teaching or something, neither state is a good option but a major PA city is probably OK.

Neither state has good services for the elderly. I tell you this as someone who has elderly relatives in both states, including in major metro areas.

One thing which plagues my elderly relatives: driving. They are seriously not fit to drive and have hit many immobile structures (a mall, their own house, etc.). However, there are few options for them--even taxi service isn't reliable. They have ended up in a nursing home mostly because of driving; if they had decent public transit and a visiting nurse, they probably would still be in their own home. Trust me, if you have kids, think about it for their sake at least--figure out what you are going to do if you're not able to drive, and have a plan for it.

They constantly battle with their health insurance companies, because both PA and OH have very few consumer protections for health insurance. You can get kicked off your health insurance much easier in PA and OH than in other states. Fact of life, old people get sick more often, and if your insurer decides you've gotten sick one too many times, they can kick you off a lot easier in PA and OH than in Mass.

Personally, I would consider what I might want to do. Yes, I realize, retirement means you don't have to do anything really if you don't want, but eventually sitting in front of the TV gets real boring and you want to do something, even if only making flower arrangements for the garden club or knitting toy dogs. Find someplace where doing that is available and enjoyable.

Also, the weather in PA and OH is terrible. In PA, there's mountains that mess up the weather patterns, and in Ohio there's the dreaded Lake Effect that dumps 3 feet of snow in a single day. Do you really want to shovel that when you're all old and arthritic and could break a hip? I wouldn't.

 

[salon]

Quote:
Thanks for the info Rosalind. We are relatively young (50's) and our health insurance will follow when my husband retires. PA is sounding really nice to me - especially if we can get something within an hour or so of Pittsburgh. Our recent lack of snowfall here in MD has left me feeling quite cheated out of a real winter experience, but maybe I would change my mind if three feet fell in one day! Although a log on the fire, chili on the stove, and a good book makes it all sound perfect.