I’m following this thread with interest. We have a large family house with a finished basement on 20 acres. I’ve done all I can to remodel the house and replace the mechanical appliances, installed steel roofing and soffeting, new stucco, just about everything I can do to the structure. But I have a lot of outdoor work with mowing, and managing the orchard/garden, and barn/shop and animals. Our sons are grown and don’t live nearby, and my wife has a terminal illness. I love the place and the land, but I’m wondering if it makes sense to stay here alone when the time comes. I can afford it, but can I keep up with everything myself as I age?
So sorry to hear about your wife. Can't imagine going through that.
I guess there are several ways to look at this, but you said you love the place. If so, it may be a solace to you to be able to work the orchard, garden, etc., in the coming days. If you like taking care of the place, then it sounds like it mainly comes down to your physical condition and how much time you have to spend on your projects.
I'm 65, retired and in decent shape, so for me, I can afford to pace myself and break projects down into smaller pieces and work on them a little at a time now. Whereas, when I was working, I had to try to get everything done evenings and weekends. I could barely keep the grass cut. Now, even though I'm older and slowing down some, I'm actually taking better care of the place because I have "all the time in the world" to work on it.
Edit: One more thing I will add - I have tried to get all the "brutally hard" tasks done while I was (and am) younger. Things like construction projects, building additions, decks, digging trenches, large tree removal, etc. Then, for the most part, I'm hoping that as I get older, most of my work will be mainly maintenance tasks and not the heavy stuff.