Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 5039
sharing
2/9/2017 at 10:15 AM
Unless you have someone you can share with (maybe a student who's here 8 months a year for school and then goes home in the summer?) I think you're facing an impossible task if you're looking to simply rent. Especially if you want a yard, etc, rental houses seem to be at a premium still and I can't see a landlord letting you have it for less than a year's lease.
There's been some really good suggestions here (staying at a camping site/trailer for the portion of the year you're here, sharing, housesitting, etc). You might also be able to get your yard-work fix by just renting a suite but getting a community garden plot so you have somewhere to putter around.
It might make sense for you, if you're going to retain a house, to sell what you have and buy smaller. Or possibly even something with a suite as part of it (or a two-suite property, which is often a converted house so there's a yard, etc). That way, your expenses are less even if it sits vacant part of the year, OR if you have a suite it will help pay the expenses. You would have to pay someone to manage the property for you while you're away, but it might be worth it in the long run, especially if you're looking to leave something to children (a revenue-generating property that could be fully rented out when you are gone).
Good luck on your search. You've posted about this a couple of times, it's clearly important to you do to this (I don't blame you... I would winter down south if I could!). I hope your find something that works out for you and checks most, if not all, of your boxes for needs and wants.