Most of the pros and cons have been covered here. One other thing to keep in mind is that in some rural settings there's no gas, water or sewer utilities. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it does add to the number of systems that you're responsible for.
I think there needs to be a certain amount of density for the kids. I want neighborhood kids to come and knock on my door and ask my kids to come outside and play. That doesn't happen if you're on a large, isolated lot.
I'd definitely love to have more land though, I'd like to build a shop. Here in Denver you can easily find acreage in the suburbs but its not cheap and I can't afford it. So the plan is to stay where I am until my kids leave the house, then sell and move slightly outside of the city where acreage is more affordable.
One thing that you will want to know before hand is what taxes are on the new place. I've got two rural acreages, one 5 acres with a 100-year old house and one 9 acres with a 10-year old house. Neither is big enough to pay property taxes at the farm rate, so I pay taxes at the small acreage rate. In the case of the old house it's value is so low that taxes are comparable to a similar sized house in a small town. The newer place is worth quite a bit more, and my property taxes are about 40% more than what someone with a similar sized house in town would pay. So I pay more in taxes but get less back from my government for my investment.
As to power, I had my first power loss >what my UPS can handle in 8 years last December. Luckily neither house got cold enough to freeze pipes while we were at the cabin, but we did come home early and buy a second generator on the way home just in case. You can hedge your bets a bit with respect to power around here; if you want reliable power make sure your feed is buried instead of overhead.
In reply to oldopelguy:
TAX rates vary greatly by state. In Indiana private property is all taxed at the same 1% assessed value. While assessed values can vary, it's not as bad. They tend to trend with property values when selling/buying. That means my 2260sq ft house and 2 acres is taxed at the same rate some mcMansion is. Love it.
We had some friends move out here from NJ. They went from $15k per year in property taxes to $1300. IT was a bit of a culture shock but they've adjusted nicely.
I lived 25 miles from town for 3 years. In some respects it it was great - there was a pristine river in the back yard and snorkeling, swimming canoeing, bonfires and cookouts any time I wanted. But I racked up miles at an alarming rate and there were many times I really needed or wanted to go home for a few hours but ended up staying in town until after evening meetings because of time and distance.
The biggest caution I can give you is emergency services. Your homeowner insurance rates are determined in part by the distance to the nearest hydrant and closest fire station. Even kind of close to town, if you are in the county your house can burn down because of the extra response time. Same goes for medical, much longer waits for an ambulance if ever needed.
The neighbors were far, the river flooded in the spring, there was no TV except for one PBS over the air station. OTOH, the wildlife was beautiful. Whether it's a good move for you depends on things you alone can answer.
2 acres currently and planning to purchase 28 more surrounding us in the next few years. The difference between where we lived and where we do now is astounding. Mowing 1.7 acres takes a few minutes, but it's fun work. The only change I would like is a paved road. I can live without it.
Low taxes, privacy, quiet, scenic and most of all ours!
In reply to QuasiMofo:
I'd kill for a paved road. Granted, it's only a half mile but it still sucks. My 2 acres takes me between 90 minutes and 2 hours to mow on my 50" dixie. That is waaaaaay down from the 4 it took with the 42" craftsman tractor.
abundant potable water is necc. Sewage is next and unless you are in the deep south how are you going to heat ?
Cow tipping is fun. Rock salt being shot at you not so much. 
dean1484 wrote: Cow tipping is fun. Rock salt being shot at you not so much.
Also a good reason to avoid lobster traps that aren't yours.
Fresh lobsters will impress a girl. Fresh ass wounds not so much.
scardeal wrote: My job depends on internet access and power. Fast internet access is going to be a requirement, but I'm told the particular area isn't too bad so long as I'm not too far out from civilization.
All I can say is, make damn sure you are certain of what is available.
Before we made an offer on a rural property we called comcast to verify they provided broadband internet at that address and they assured us they did. The week we were moving in we call to set it up...yeah, no. Not available there.
berkeleying comcast. That was 7 years ago and im still pissed about it.
We are back in suburbia now, close to work and daycare and fios internet
1988RedT2 wrote: There is no finer feeling than to look out over your own little piece of this planet and knowing that it belongs to you.
I agree. here was my view this evening:
The road is on the other side of the trees. That gravel-colored spot is my wife's riding arena for horses (I'm not allowed to use it for gokart racing even though it would be PERFECT for that).
We live 15 minutes from downtown (Columbia, MO, ~110K folks). The road floods out a couple or three days each year so we have to add 10 minutes to the commute. We have had the land for 4 years now but only lived here for a year. We didn't have a significant snow last winter, but when we do, 4x4 won't be a luxury, it will be required to leave the property (and to get to town).
I can make noise and park junk cars when and where I want. That means so can the neighbors. The neighbors with 5 acres were setting off explosives as if they lived on 50 acres the other day. That's the only time I have had to pull the "Neighbor Card" so far.
I have a reason to own a tractor now. To me that's a positive.
When people ask me how many cars I own, I can honestly tell them I'm not quite sure. But the good thing is that those cars aren't bothering the neighbors and if someone visits that doesn't understand my hobby, they can come and go without ever being exposed to it.
The wife can start her collection of the whole Noah Set of animals if she likes.
We love it.
My advice is to decide what you want (size, location, topography, house, etc) and just do it. We initially spent more than I would probably have wanted to. But it is worth it. It might cost more to have 16 acres this close to town, but it really fits us well.
the worst part can be as civilization moves closer to your property, you may be faced with some of the same issues as race tracks. NIMBY >>not in my back yard. Neighbors will move in near you and decide that they want the pleasures of civilization so there goes the parking of vehicles, noise restrictions, etc as the zoning rules get adopted and applied. How many tracks have we seen it happen to over the years and it can happen to your rural property too.
iceracer wrote: abundant potable water is necc. Sewage is next and unless you are in the deep south how are you going to heat ?
You realize that electricity and gas are available in about 90% of the country right? You'd have to be REALLY far off the grid for that to be an issue.
We moved from town to country last year. Best thing we ever did. Being farther from groceries isnt a big deal, we go onec every week or two, and i can grab little stuff on the way home from work. What sucks is when im working on a project and need literally one little thing from the hardware. Its like an hour round trip. That stinks.
I grew up in a city but spent my childhood summers in west virginia with my grandmother who lived 13 miles from pavement and didnt have running water. I miss it alot, but having kids meant it was alot more convient to live in town. We live in a small town so its not horrible but i look forward too being able to move back out in the sticks. Im not a social butterfly and as long as i have a garage i can entertain myself!
As discussions continue, I think what my wife really wants is semi-rural. Just far enough out from town to be able to afford a little bit of extra land and not be in a stereotypical 1/4 or 1/3 acre lot. She doesn't want to be "out there" and away from people.
Bobzilla wrote:iceracer wrote: abundant potable water is necc. Sewage is next and unless you are in the deep south how are you going to heat ?You realize that electricity and gas are available in about 90% of the country right? You'd have to be REALLY far off the grid for that to be an issue.
I think you're off by a significant amount on the percentage of the country that has gas piped to it. There are huge parts on the northeast that don't have gas at the street. Places that you can't get propane or fuel oil however are relatively rare. You can heat with electricity and while it's clean (at the site, not necessarily at the source) and convenient it's quite expensive.
25 years ago, my original intent when I got married was to buy an acreage in the country and play with my cars undisturbed.
What would have happened is that I would have spent all my money and all my time keeping the property up rather than working on cars. And the shop space would have gone to housing and maintaining the equipment needed to keep the property operating smoothly.
Instead, I went the other way and moved into a nice blue collar hood built in the 60's. No hood covenants or any of that nonsense. I have learned in the interim that while I will build anything and not begrudge the time or money, I hate maintaining anything.
An irony of rural living is that your neighbors probably pay way more attention to your doings than they do in the city; if you want to know what you are up to, just ask them.
In reply to Bobzilla: Electricity yes, gas not so much.
In reply to iceracer:
One of these will heat your house most of the winter.
In reply to APEowner:
Not all gas comes from a pipe in the ground!
One point that no one mentioned is that if you need to fly for work or personal travel, pay attention to where the nearby airports are and how much it costs to fly to/from there.
That may be less of a problem in the rural parts of the East, but out West, I know plenty of people who have to drive 3-4 hours to the nearest decent commercial airport.
I moved a bunch as a kid since my folks managed horse farms. From 7-11 I lived on a 100 acre farm in southwest Ohio. Literally the best place on earth for a child of that age and being 4 miles outside town meant my bus ride wasn't too bad.
At another time my mother managed the farm where some of the Seabiscuit scenes were shot. 3,200 acres (
) and I had complete run of it but the trip to town was 30 minutes minimum. My sister lives next door to it now on her own 15 acre place and it's nice to visit but if I has to commute that far I'd cry every day.
For me the commute is the thing. I'll take my in town living on 1/3 of an acre and 10 minute commute every day over slogging an hour to my personal fiefdom of acreage.
I grew up on Long Island inches from the city line and spent much of my time in the city. When we got married high prices and taxes drove us north and now we are on one and a half acres 80 miles north of Manhattan. I'm on a very quiet dead end among farms and small, spaced out houses. Even though it's very quiet I have a deli in walking distance, a grocery store, post office and hardware store 15 minutes away, and the train to the city is 15 minutes away in the other direction. There are some things I don't like such as the commute and I really have no friends I see regularly but there are so many pluses to the area that I don't mind much.
I'm on a well and septic tank so I have some upkeep to do, there's no city gas so I have oil heat and propane for my stove. I have cable and high speed internet and the longest I've gone without them and my electric was about 6 hours.
You'll need to log in to post.
