Retirement Planning?!

I always kind of scoffed at people my own age when they talked about planning ahead for retirement.  But now I realize I'm twenty years away from turning 65 myself.  I'm already retired due to disability, but when I turn 67, my income will in all likelihood be dramatically reduced, since my private disability insurance will stop, and I'm no longer contributing to my work-based retirement plan.  Also, my social security income will be based on my earnings when I actually retired (this year), rather than what I'm earning twenty years from now, apart from cost of living increases to social security income, which are minimal.  My university will continue to contribute to my retirement fund, but again, their contributions will be based on a percentage of my current income rather than an income that would increase over time due to raises had I stayed employed, and I am not allowed to contribute to that fund myself.  So, anyway, my income will go down at age 67. 

I'm thinking about retirement now because I'm contemplating purchasing a home or property, and I realized that taking on a standard thirty-year mortgage would mean that I'd be making payments on that mortgage for ten years after I turn 67, that is, ten years after my current income is reduced.  I don't think I should make that kind of a commitment.   In anticipation of my income going down, I need to eliminate housing costs by the time I turn 67. 

If I continue to rent, that won't happen.  I need to either buy property and build something, or buy property with a livable house already on it.  While I've never felt that having my mother live with me is a major burden, in this case it does limit the options available to me.  I can't just go live in a tent with Mike on a piece of property while we build a house small enough for the two of us, for example.  Also, a single tiny house wouldn't work with three of us. 

And if we buy a property with a house on it, it can't be very expensive, since I'd have to pay it off in less than twenty years.  When I look around here and in Colorado at homes for sale I don't see much that's attractive in my price range.  And I'm very concerned about the future around here, with respect to access to sufficient water for living and growing things. 

I see properties online in Maine that are affordable and which have reasonable amounts of land, privacy, and water access.  I know that the winters can be harsh there, mostly inland, and some accommodations would be required to grow things, such as greenhouses.  I'm familiar with the winters, having grown up in New Hampshire and having spent weeks at a time in Maine in the winter at my dad's house in Southwest Harbor.  I'm also familiar with some of the cultures there, so I wouldn't be jumping into the situation completely blind.  But I don't know if I want to make that move, in addition to the difficulties associated with hunting for housing there while living here.

I'm loving it here.  I love the air and the sky and the landscape.  And I really like the people in this area.  And I'm just plain scared to make a jump to someplace I might not like when I know I'm happy here.  But this happiness is untenable.  I'm having a hard time holding on to this happiness in the moment because I know that I need to survey the possible futures open to me and make a choice.