Yet another option. I might be able to get some land at a reasonable price  So maybe put a home on it?

Building a home can be expensive, and is more than I'd want to tackle when I'm trying to retire.  Kay has problems with mobile homes, so those are out, but there is another option

It's more common in the south apparently, but it's done nation wide.  Moving a house!

On paper the process is simple.  A house is cut off its foundation, loaded on a truck, and moved to a new location.  Sometimes they even cut the house in half to make it fit better!

The end point is, you take your property, and move a frequently historic house house onto it. You get a house constructed to a much higher standard than most modern construction, and the BIG payoff can be, at the fraction of the price of building a new home.

Yeah, it has draw backs, and I probably wouldn't even consider it if I didn't have a live on nice property.  I'm especially hesitant though not because of the house, but because of the location.  While I REALLY like this location, ever since we started talking about retirement we've talked about waterfront or mountains.  While this property is driving distance to the beach and even a couple bays, it's NOT on the water.

Look closely at this picture:

This is from a housemovers web site, http://www.cherryhousemoving.com/  While I haven't done any business with them, they were recommended to me.

Many of these companies in other parts of the country seem to focus on moving very expensive m historic and/or valuable building, but in the south they also move livable houses as an environmentally friendly alternative to tearing down a structure to make way for new subdivisions, highways, and parking lots.  The most expensive house on their website at the moment is $40K, and most are much less which includes delivery within 30 miles.

For the price of a decent houseboat or motorhome, you get a nice house?

Something to think about....