Lancaster County (Quarryville, Paradise: for sale, real estate, rent) - Pennsylvania (PA) - City-Data Forum

billjr · 10-04-2006, 06:54 PM

Hello all,
After vacationing and visiting there for 20 years or so, we are thinking of retiring there from Connecticut. As much as we've been down there, I haven't really noticed any areas where we might be able to find a newer ranch house on at least an acre of land. Actually much of the time spent there has been around the Amish area, Paradise, Intercourse, Bird in Hand, etc. Can anyone lead me to an area where I might find something like this ? A kind of rural area, with some land, and preferably a ranch home. We may even consider building if we found a nice location. I work for a national telephone company, but must have been a farmer in my previous life, as I can stop and just view the farms for hours. Anyway, if anyone knows of a location that sounds like this, a farm view would be a definite plus, please let me know. Oh and one more thing, being that we're not getting any younger, how is the healthcare in and around Lancaster County ?

Thanks, Bill

Disabledvet06 · 10-06-2006, 10:40 PM

My husband and I were recently looking for a house to buy here in Lancaster. I will tell you that the prices of homes in this area are very expensive. It depends on what you are looking for. It sounds to me like you are looking for something similar to what we were. The average price of a home like that is going to be $300,000 and up. Anything lower than that was very small on a very little piece of land. We have found that the further away from Lancaster you go, you will find what you are looking for for cheaper. Here is a website that might help your search. www.realtor.com (broken link) . good Luck

billjr · 10-07-2006, 07:02 PM

Disabledvet,
Thanks very much for your information. Have you found a place yet, if so I was just wondering what area.

Thanks, Bill

Disabledvet06 · 10-08-2006, 08:32 AM

Bill,
We haven't found a place yet. We are renting for the time being and even that is alittle high. $1200 a month. but for a house that was appraised at $285,000 and sitting on an acre and a half of land. We found the house in New Providence. We found the add for the house in a small newspaper that comes out once a week here. Its called the Quarryville ADvertiser. It shows some homes for sale and rent as well as other want ads and such. I'm not sure if they are online or not but if you put the name in Google search you might find it and view it online. I can give you a name of a realtor that we were working with for a while if you want. He was really helpful to us. Let me know if you would like his name and I will give you his phone numbers. Good Luck again

Disabledvet06

billjr · 10-08-2006, 06:05 PM

Hi,
Thanks again for your information. That sounds like a great price for the house you are renting, especially when compared to here in Connecticut. If you could find an acre and a half here, it alone would be in the $ 400,000 range, probably more. I will try and find the paper you mentioned for now, and will hold off on a real estate agent for the time being. Good luck with your house hunting too.

Thanks again, Bill

bnepler · 10-08-2006, 07:35 PM

If you don't have to live in the city of Lancaster, there are a lot of small communities/towns close by that are great, if you like the rural living. I'm from central PA and had traveled the entire area over the last 50 years.

tubpojntxoog · 10-08-2006, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billjr

Hello all,
After vacationing and visiting there for 20 years or so, we are thinking of retiring there from Connecticut. As much as we've been down there, I haven't really noticed any areas where we might be able to find a newer ranch house on at least an acre of land. Actually much of the time spent there has been around the Amish area, Paradise, Intercourse, Bird in Hand, etc. Can anyone lead me to an area where I might find something like this ? A kind of rural area, with some land, and preferably a ranch home. We may even consider building if we found a nice location. I work for a national telephone company, but must have been a farmer in my previous life, as I can stop and just view the farms for hours. Anyway, if anyone knows of a location that sounds like this, a farm view would be a definite plus, please let me know. Oh and one more thing, being that we're not getting any younger, how is the healthcare in and around Lancaster County ?

Thanks, Bill

I'm living in Lancaster county, ten mile east of Intercourse. I will tell you that living in here is no fun anymore. with an acre of land, your talking about over $100,000. and if you have a ranch sitting on an acre, your property and school tax will run over $3000/yr. as far as cost of living, i don't think it's big significant between where you live and here. i don't recommend anyone retire in this area, unless your a millionair.

For healthcare, total cost of my new baby from the beginning to the day we left Lancaster General--women and baby hospital--was close to $25,000. thanks our insurance.

geos · 10-09-2006, 11:38 AM

Instead of buying a house why not build one? Advantages: costs less (if you do it right), more profit when you sell. If you build one of these there's virtually no maintenance headaches & expenses and it's virtually disaster proof. The Domes International fiberglass home is particularly low cost and no maintenance. I'm building the AI Dome in Norwalk, CT.

http://www.domesintl.com/
http://www.aidomes.com/default.html (broken link)
http://www.monolithic.com/

billjr · 10-09-2006, 07:19 PM

geos,
I'm not familiar with the type of construction you are talking about, although I guess I'll be seeing it soon as I'm the Norwalk Outside Plant Engineer for AT&T here, which is the local telephone company here. (that's after being taken over by SBC, now we're AT&T). Would you be willing to tell me where it is in Norwalk so that I might take a look at it ?

Thanks, Bill

billjr · 10-09-2006, 07:51 PM

tubpojntxoog ( that's an interesting name !!)

We aren't millionaires by any stretch of the imagination. But here in Connecticut where I live, if you could find an acre of land, it would be in the $300,000-400,000 range. We have an acre now with an average size 3 bedroom home, nothing special, and my taxes are $8,000. So you might be luckier than you think where you're at. In the 20 or so years we've been going down to your area, I have to say it (from a visiters eyes anyway) is a beautiful and very desirable place for us. Thanks for your response, because it does solidify our feelings that we would be more comfortable in an area like where you live for our retirement, at least from our prospective. If you have any other things that may be a concern for us, please do not hesitate to tell me. After all you live there year round, and I'm sure that although we've visited there many many times, I'm also sure there is ALOT we don't know about the area, so your input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks again, Bill