Yep... what goes up comes down but so far comes back stronger...
I can show a 1920's Oakland Bungalow that sold for 80k in 1988 and 510k in 2007 and 100k in 2009 and 725k in 2019...
Plenty cashing out right now... with few remaining in state... I have friends in so many States it would make a great motorhome trip...
Most recent headed to Larry's Oregon... bought a large custom view home on double lot for 500k in 2012... closed last week for 1.8m...
Defies explanation...
Yeah. In dire emergency, this place would sell for a pretty penny. I helped the deep pockets along by building a big 2-bay shop, with an office, bathroom/darkroom, and a big enclosed storage unit. The slab is strong enough for heavy equipment, and has its own 200 amp service. It would make a nice small shop. If I were younger, I would consider repairing electric motors from local mills as a sideline.
The house is a very simple low slope ranch style with a big picture window in front, a glorious kitchen, nice bathrooms, and potential future handicap accessibility. There is a composite deck in back. There is a creek about 70 feet from the house, with about 60 of the 90 acres on the other side the creek. About 100 feet downstream from the house the creek makes an elbow, and I put a gazebo on the point, so the creek flows past two sides of it.
I own both sides of a lightly traveled county road for 1/4 mile, and there is a 15 mph S-curve 400' past the driveway, so even the hot rodders have to slow down.
With two pensions and two social security accounts, RMDs from a small 401k, we live on about $80k a year. We also don't owe anybody anything, and property taxes are only about $2400. We can tap savings if we want to play. I have a CD maturing in May, part of which will pay for a carpet/tapestry designed by a close friend who has been featured at museum shows and on local PBS. The design was sent to China, where intricate details, some as fine as a single thread, were hand woven into the tapestry. There were two done. One was a wedding present, and I just bought the other for $5k. We have a very nice art collection, some of it museum quality.
Meanwhile, I'm furnishing the shop with used equipment, some of which is almost antique, but of excellent quality. This year I have picked up a 12" vintage 1962 table saw, wired for 240v and in lightly used condition, for $100, a roll-around table with a 6" jointer on one side and a 6" planer/shaper on the other side for $125. Score. I also picked up a small metal bandsaw and an automotive floor jack. I already have a stick welder with high frequency arc stabilization and a TIG gun, top of the line in '78. I've got two anvils and assorted hammers, but I really need a forge. The only way I have of heating metal right now is carbon arc electrodes.
I could go buy that stuff. I have the money, but also have plenty to keep me occupied. I'm building shop furniture right now, then I might build a wheeled gantry hoist, but really need to build a forge. I just finished my 2nd covid shot, so by the middle of the month I'll be able to travel without worrying so much about dying. I was supposed to be in New Zealand last August, and we all know how that worked out.
My wife and I were 47 years old when we bought this place, and we're 74 now. We evaluated it for retirement and ageing in place before we bought it. It was nothing like where we live now, but the house had good bones. My wife went through two hip replacements here, and had no trouble. We don't need big money to live, and for major expenses we just have to figure out which sock to raid.
I remember 2012 well. That was about the time we were thinking of moving to Grants Pass, so we went shopping. We couldn't find anything even comparable to our place for less than a million. We paid $159k for it in '94 and owned it outright by 2008. We never had a million dollar payday, we just roosted on our nest egg.
I don't know what it's worth today. Don't care. If I have a choice, I'm going to die here. Meanwhile, it suits us. My wife's father was a successful attorney, and they lived in a beautiful home in a high class urban neighborhood. Our house is nicer, and it sits in a beautiful setting surrounded by 200 year old broadleaf maples, in a dark sky site, where a comet will stretch over half the sky.
We spent some time planning for
our retirement. I have the lifestyle I want. I train dogs and putter in the shop, or mess around on the computer, or trouble shoot and repair electronics, all the time plugged into audio books. I have a talented peer group which I am very much looking forward to reconnecting with. It's a good retirement for a farm nerd. That's what I was when I was 12 years old, and that's what I am today.
Wow, that's really long winded, but there is a point. It's YOUR life, and retirement is just an arbitrary line. Planning for retirement is just planning for your future. Live the life you want, both before and after retirement. If you want to move to the country, don't wait until you are an aimless old codger like me. If you want to live next to your kids, do that now. If you want to get away from your kids, do that now. If you crave city lights and entertainment, don't move somewhere in the tule dingles. Live your life like you want it. You only get one shot.
It sounds like you enjoy wheeling and dealing. What are you going to buy with all that money? In 15-20 years, my place will be on the market.
