Relocation to Indiana for retirement?

[Bearded Man]

I'm seeing some pretty nice houses relative to the prices in areas like Indianapolis IN and Columbus IN. Like this one for example:

http://www.zillow.com/homes/Columbus-IN_rb/#/homes/for_sale/Columbus-IN/fsbo,fore,new,cmsn_lt/85103953_zpid/44704_rid/3-_beds/75000-125000_price/285-474_mp/39.533174,-85.310898,38.837033,-86.621017_rect/9_zm/0_mmm/1_fr/

Being that I'm a gun guy, I really like the gunlaws in the state from what I'm reading. The area doesn't seem ghetto, but I'm not from the area so I was hoping someone who is from the area knows if the above areas are OK in the 50-120K price range, and if not, where should I go?

I'm looking at downsizing and still living a middle class lifestyle, just not in the ridiculously expensive Seattle area.

[forummm]

There are a lot of cheap places in the country that are friendly to guns. The south, the plains, a lot of the southwest.

[lackofstache]

Columbus is sort of an interesting city. It's pretty small, but has Cummins which pays fairly well so the downtown is well taken care of & there is some pretty interesting architecture there as well. It's also close to a coupla state forests & Hoosier National Forest if you're into hiking/camping. Bloomington is also pretty close and is a nice/cheap city. Indianapolis (where I live & I'm not even retired)is cheap & has a lot of nice areas as well.

[Bearded Man]

What cities in the area around Indianapolis do you recommend that are safe and likely to have good neighborhoods in the up to 130K range, preferably 100-120K range?

I can go higher FYSA, however; I am trying to keep housing expense as low as possible. If I can sell my paid off rental and buy one of these outright and keep my other more expensive houses that would be ideal, however; I don't want to trade quality of life for cheap housing TOO much. Also, I am not opposed to rural areas with acreage in a similar price range, although I would go higher if I found a place that was likely to become my forever home. Rural would be good since I have lived rural as a kid and city as an adult and just can't stand the city anymore, want to go back to the country, but burbs are an OK compromise since they give me easy acces to amenities.

[Eric]

Have you been to Indiana?  Unless you're talking about the Southern part of the state (I guess Columbus is close to qualifying), it's just one big cornfield, especially around Indy.  It's rural, but it's boring rural.  I'd visit first.  Having grown up around there, I can't really imagine living there on purpose.  YMMV

[Poosalosomous]

Southern IN in the Louisville area may fit your bill, too. Floyd, Clark and Harrison counties are LCOL and you don't have to go far from the city to find yourself in rural areas - 20-30 minutes. The KY counties surrounding Louisville are similar.

[WYOGO]

Taxes my friend taxes, my vote would be western South Dakota or Wyoming to retire. Impressive scenery and wildscapes.

Lots of guns, space, personal freedom and reasonable living costs except of course western Wyoming which rivals the wealthiest parts of the country and for good reason I suppose.

[JennieOG]

Okay, I will weigh in since I actually live in Indiana. I was raised in Portland, OR, and I also spent many years in downtown Chicago, so I have places to compare.

Indiana is not just a big cornfield, it is not a bad place to live cheaply. I have a very nice three bedroom home on a tree lined quiet street with a big yard outside of Lafayette that cost $80k. Being near Lafayette is nice because Purdue University is there, so there is some culture and restaurants. Yes, there are people you don't want to meet here, but that is true in every place, really. There are also some very nice people. there are things to do and the taxes are very low. I paid $450 in property taxes this year. At least in my town though, the city services are very good!

Now, I will say, if I didn't have family here and I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd be back on the West Coast. but, I actually think Indiana is not a bad place to retire if you pick the right area. I'd stay near one of the colleges and wouldn't live near Indy.

[GoldenStache]

I am very jealous JennieOG.

It sounds like you have a much larger/nicer house than I do and I pay more than $450 a month in taxes.

[MidWestLove]

We are in Chicago and will probably be moving to NW Indiana in the next few years. Compare to the rest of Indiana , NW could be judged 'expensive' but around Crown Point or Munster I can get all of the amenities of Chicago suburbs, great schools, diversity, great laws (including gun laws), 1/3 of property taxes, and 1/2 to 1/3 of real estate prices. Now that they are extending Southshore rail line into it that is nothing I can compare to in IL - there is simply nothing within Metra reach of Chicago that would give me that combination...

[Mrs.LC]

Indiana is very different from Seattle.  Go for a visit and check out the areas yourself as no one else can tell you how you will feel living there.  I love the Goshen, IN area but you might not be into the rural life like I am. 

[katesilvergirl]

DH and I just moved away from Bloomington, IN to take big-city fancy-pants jobs and we just put our long-term (hopefully short-term) plan into place to get back to Bloomington ASAP. If you can dodge the undergrads, Bloomington is awesome. Amazing food, easily bikable/walkable, tons of free entertainment (b/c of IU), pretty progressive for the midwest, best public library I've ever seen, very near to state parks, etc.

Don't know much about gun laws or living in the country, but I loved the LCOL, chilled out pace of life, and central location of Indiana.

[Bearded Man]

Indiana is very different from Seattle.  Go for a visit and check out the areas yourself as no one else can tell you how you will feel living there.  I love the Goshen, IN area but you might not be into the rural life like I am.

I will visit at least once, probably twice if not more, any place I intend to buy. I just need to narrow my target and be as sure as possible so I'm not wasting money traveling the world to check places out. I'd probably spend several days if not a full week doing a lot of detective work (talking to each neighbor, talking to the cops, etc.)