Maybe moving to the country

[DCP]

Maybe moving to the country and out of state

Time to move?
The Country,State, family and old friends acting very strange.

10 miles out of town on gravel roads no cable, no internet on 8 acres and a stocked pond

So any and all advice will be considered (I am a city boy).

[starmac]

Bring your fishing pole. 10 miles out just may be downtown in a few years, the way some places have grown. I am looking for 50 miles, PAST the last road. lol

[oneokie]

Water supply? well or rural water?
How many town/city ammenities can you live without?
How dependable is the electric service at the new location?
Internet access can be had---land line, air card, sattellite, if you can live with slow/glitchy service, and how much you want to budget for same.

[451 Pete]

Oneokie forgot a couple of things. Septic tank and possibly taking the trash to the dump instead of having curbside pickup. Now for the more positive side. Fresher air, fewer neighbors, wildlife that is not coming from the local tavern, more stars visable at night and peace and quiet. Ill take the country any day.

Pete

[DCP]

Well it says county water

House is all electric
8 acres is all fenced in for live stock
When I ask how long to cut the grass. I was told they had a cow and a goat but got rid of them because of the drought

lagoon and septic system

Water supply? well or rural water?
How many town/city ammenities can you live without?
How dependable is the electric service at the new location?
Internet access can be had---land line, air card, sattellite, if you can live with slow/glitchy service, and how much you want to budget for same.

[starmac]

10 miles from what size of town???

I have to laugh at the difference in locations. I live in town for the first time in years, but we have a well, a septic tank AND take our trash to the dump. lol

[DCP]

Well 12,000 people town with a hospital 10 miles

Big city 115,000 people 35 miles



10 miles from what size of town???

I have to laugh at the difference in locations. I live in town for the first time in years, but we have a well, a septic tank AND take our trash to the dump. lol

[Olevern]

Oneolie had it right re: the internet access. When I retired, I moved out in the boonies, only internet access (other than dial up, if it even exists anymore) was three satellite providers, all of which are rip-off artists. They know you have nowhere else to go but to them.

I left an area where I had unlimited download at very high speeds (Comcast). That service cost me just under $50.00 a month.

I chose "wildblue" as my internet provider here, bundled by Dishnet with their t.v.

I still pay $50.00 for limited download capacity and really crappy service....raining....service is out....snowing....service is out...cloudy....service is out....looks like it might someday rain....service is out.

Wildblue slows down it's internet speed for me because I "only" pay the entry fee to play ($50.00 a month). There are two "premium" services in which they take some of the speed stops off the service, both at significant increases in monthly costs.

My speed is so slow, that if I attempt to download a five minute Youtube video, more than half the time it fails half-way thru and you have to re-start it. Guess what; the downloaded part of the video (which does you absolutely no good) counts against your meager download count for the rolling 30 day period.

Then, although you have a "rolling 30 day limit" it really is only 80 percent of that limit, for when you reach 80 percent of your limit, the system "punishes" you for using too much bandwidth by reducing your speed even further....to a point that about the only thing you can do online is check your email, most everything else times out and kicks you off the site.

Sound attractive? Oh, I forgot to mention, lest you decide you don't like one of the three providers attitudes (which s**k) and want to switch to one of the remaining two....all charge about two hundred dollars "installation fee", and in talking with my friends, they are all more or less the same, so why bother.

Can you tell I love my internet service provider?

[GRUMPA]

DCP, this "IS" the only way to really live in the country.

5804658047

5804858049


Totally set up for independent living. Best of all unless they're invited in there's nobody to bother you.

[7Acres]

I would highly recommend it. That's what we did a few years ago. For a while I referred to myself as a recovering city boy. My wife recently informed me that she now realizes she married a redneck. The more I look at the hobbies I've taken on since moving out here I'm having a hard time finding my wife wrong about that :) But the freedom do whatever I want on my land is really nice. Our dirt road isn't even a county road. So technically the road is all private property too. I keep several hives of honeybees and shoot my guns anytime I want. I even measured out a 100yd range all on my property. Going to the range is really short trip now.

My real estate agent joked that house hunting with us was more like going well hunting. If it didn't have a well I didn't care for it. Our water tastes great with no sulfurous smell or discoloration. I've since added a whole house generator to the property. The freedoms and low population density are much to my liking. And the country folks out here are very nice. Some a little crazy. But it's real free out here. Almost a little pocket of Libertarianism which I like a lot. Anyway, it took some guts on our part to leave the conveniences of city life and take a chance on country living. But it was the right choice. Zero regrets! Good luck in your decision.

[oneokie]

Well it says county water, House is all electric

Plan on some type of water storage, if the grid goes down, unless the water system has back up generators and plenty of fuel for those, you will be out of water quickly.

Just a suggestion, from personal experience, one of the first items on the agenda should be converting to gas, propane, wood for heating and cooking.

[starbits]

Visit the place at night. Barking dogs in the day time are no big deal, but at night when you are trying to sleep they can be a major irritation. Find out now before you commit.

Starbits

[starmac]

LOL I think it takes more guts for a country boy to move to the city. lol

[NVcurmudgeon]

DCP, others have covered most of the basics, but I have a couple others. Insist on the seller having the septic tank pumped. If you are moving to a place with well water, drink a glass before buying and have the water analyzed. We got lucky in our ignorance and landed on the aquifer with the best water. If there is a sprinkler and/or drip irrigation system get the seller to show you the entire system including how to make the changes between winter and summer. Get a thorough inspection of the house and what it will need to be livable, FROM SOMEBODY YOU HIRE. We believed our buyer's agent realtor who in retrospect bears an uncanny resemblance to a lying sack of excrement. After eight years we think we have found and corrected all the little $urpri$e$. Remember, houses are hard to sell, these days, which puts you in the driver's seat. Please tell us that you are moving to a shall issue state!

[DCP]

Missouri is were we are looking as of right now


DCP, others have covered most of the basics, but I have a couple others. Insist on the seller having the septic tank pumped. If you are moving to a place with well water, drink a glass before buying and have the water analyzed. We got lucky in our ignorance and landed on the aquifer with the best water. If there is a sprinkler and/or drip irrigation system get the seller to show you the entire system including how to make the changes between winter and summer. Get a thorough inspection of the house and what it will need to be livable, FROM SOMEBODY YOU HIRE. We believed our buyer's agent realtor who in retrospect bears an uncanny resemblance to a lying sack of excrement. After eight years we think we have found and corrected all the little $urpri$e$. Remember, houses are hard to sell, these days, which puts you in the driver's seat. Please tell us that you are moving to a shall issue state!

[mpmarty]

Glad to hear you're joining the club. We did this about twelve years ago and now are set up very well. I also went through the Wild Blue hell until the local electrical co-op ran fiber past our place. Now I get two phone lines with unlimited long distance and digital internet at 5gigs with no limits. All for $75 a month. We installed our own well and a 2500 gallon storage tank feeding the pump and pressure tank in the garage that furnishes the house water. Installed a filtration system and then added a 10,000 gallon storage tank so total 12,500 gallons of nice fresh water. We're in a valley comprising about 15 miles of state highway and about 25 residences all nice folks. We're 25 miles from the nearest "town" of about 20k people and 125 miles from a major city. We recently had a power outage that lasted three days. I fired up my 6000 Watt gasoline generator and plugged in the freezers and refrigerators. Our heat is wood fired and on our 40 acres we've got a lifetime supply. Things to do: Add an interconnect for the generator so we can safely power all the house when the power grid dies again. We cook and heat water on LPG and have a 500 gallon tank we own so price of propane is down around a buck a gallon and in a typical year we use around 300 gallons. We fill it up in July when prices are lowest. Inasmuch as we live on the top of a mountain and our driveway is nearly a mile long we have a couple of 4 wheel drive rigs for winter when we get snow.

[DIRT Farmer]

We had a nice place on 40 acres then the new neighbors moved in 1/4 mile away. The place is pretty cramped up now.

[x101airborne]

Beyond a THOROUGH inspection of the house and water well and septic, have a check done for termites. Now a lot of people will crawl up in the attic and say, "Ok, I didn't find anything." Total BS. They need to pull the bottom of the siding off or crawl under the house, etc.

For prepping, get yourself a windmill and a 2000 gallon concrete cistern. Allow the windmill to continuously fill the cistern and use an assist pump to pressure the house. This allows all sulfur to evaporate and your sand will also settle to the bottom where it is easily bled out. Use "Demon" spray to fight off black widows, scorpions, roaches, etc. This is available without a license and is safe to use around humans and is the #1 pesticide used INSIDE the Tyson chicken factories. Not that that says a lot, but... I can testify it works and I use it around my family. Does your potential new place have a basement?

[762sultan]

I think you are making the right choice. Oneokie and the others have many good ideas. The idea of propane or fuel other than gasoline or diesel makes good sense. Propane is much easier to store for extended periods while gasoline isn't. I've done this very thing about 5 years ago and never looked back. No neighbors..no dogs..just peace and quiet. I shoot right off the back porch any time I want. Just have to be sure everybody inside the house is aware the "rifle range" is active. SWMBO does not like to be rudely awakened from a nap by the sound of gunfire.

[Alstep]

I've always lived in the country, still have 1/2 the farm I grew up on. But city folks are invading us and want to change our way of life. Best thing about going to the city is leaving it and seeing it in the rear view mirror. Can shoot almost anywhere I want, any time I want. I always said that if I can't take a leak off the back porch, your neighbors are too damn close.

[Ozarklongshot]

I'm in NW AR and similar to you. About 35 miles to a town with a hospital or a gas station thats open 24hours. My wife and I built our house as fruagal as possible. It has central wood heat that works wonderfully. If the septic tank is taken care of you will never have to pump it. Ours is now going on 12 years with no problems. As chance would have it the local phone company needed to cross our farm with fiber optic to get to the other side so I quess we just lucked out on that. We have rural water from the county water authority (my employer:-D ) We do often have power outages and have a portable generator 12,000 that will run the whole house as long as you want to blow through gasoline. We will be adding a stand alone propane one this year. The sky at night is beautiful even if the occasional coon hound is baying. The solitude is not for everyone. My kids wanted to go quick as possible but now all want to come back. There are conveniences lost and day to day takes a bit more planning. Everyone here keeps an ice chest (long way home from the grocery store) in the vehicle and an overnight pack should in some bizarre event they get stranded or broke down. I suspect it's an adjustment but I was born in the woods and moved to the city, did my time and escaped back to the country as quickly as I could.

Good luck, I suspect it will change your life and you'll love it

[Ozarklongshot]

LOL I think it takes more guts for a country boy to move to the city. lol

Amen to that. I tried it but it just weren't for me.

[Tazman1602]

The ONE important thing you'll need, wired into the house with an isolator switch of some kind, is a GENERATOR that will run your well. We just had a major power outage here, used to them but this one was for a couple of days and the lack of water was the WORST. Lanterns can provide good light, a gas stove is a requirement, but if you can just run water to flush the john you can go for weeks as long as you can make coffee, cook, and go POOPY.................

Art

[olaf455]

. I suspect it's an adjustment but I was born in the woods and moved to the city, did my time and escaped back to the country as quickly as I could.

Plus one on this one...

[smokeywolf]

When choosing a generator, which is best, diesel, gas, or propane; or what are the pros and cons? Would like to have the ability to survive comfortably "off the grid". Kinda figuring on using a combination of wind, solar, water if I'm lucky enough to have a live creek, and of course a genny.

Wife wants as much seclusion as we can reasonably and practically get. I'm on the near side of 60 and don't yet take any prescribed meds. Wife is nearly 20 years younger. So, we don't mind being a pretty good distance from comprehensive medical care.

I still have a depressingly long time before I can make the move, but plan on using this next year and a half or so continuing to gather as much info as possible.

Although we can still end up in some other freedom loving State, we really have good feelings about Texas. Partly due to the pride and independence exhibited by most Texans.

smokeywolf

[waksupi]

I don't care where you are, if you can legally do it, or just plain get away with it, have an outhouse. Disguise it as a tool shed if necessary. If the well or power goes out, you still have sanitation. When it goes to minus 40, and every one else has frozen pipes, I can still poop.

[starmac]

I have always had a welding machine that would double as a generator for short term. If I was going to be off grid and use a generator everyday it would be diesel, though their are some pretty nice propane setups too. I have lived a couple of places that a propane truck could not get too, and diesel carrys soooo much better.

[Junior1942]

The biggest problem with city folk moving to the country is them unconsciously bringing their city ways/culture with them. Invariably they start saying, "That ain't the way we did that in Dallas, Chicago, etc."

For example, when my own rural area was open range, city people looking for a place in the country would move here. Invariably they started saying, "What do you mean I've got to fence my yard to keep your cows out?" And this was often said, sometimes in court: "Do you mean to tell me that I've not only got to pay for the damages to my car caused by your hog when I hit it, I've also got to pay you for the hog?"

[winelover]

When choosing a generator, which is best, diesel, gas, or propane; or what are the pros and cons?
smokeywolf

First choice would be a natural gas whole house generator. You would have an unlimited supply and be cheaper in the long run. When natural gas isn't available, as in my case, second choice would be a propane unit. I put in a 1000 gallon tank and buried it. Your propane supplier will even monitor your tank level, since it is in their best interest. Cheapest way to buy propane is to pre-buy in the off season. Just make sure your unit is set up for automatic operation. Unit will sense power outage and run until power is restored. Weather your gone for the day or on an extended vacation, you wont be inconvenienced. Mine is set to run /exercise, one day a week for 15 minutes. Cons would be the price, but they are cheaper than the were 10 years ago.

Gasoline or diesel run dirtier and thus require more maintenance. You must haul your fuel and be there to monitor the situation. Most units wont make it through the night on a tankful. Remember, when the electric grid goes down, so do the gas pumps and credit card readers. Happened in Detroit, for a few days IIRC.

Winelover

[waksupi]

The biggest problem with city folk moving to the country is them unconsciously bringing their city ways/culture with them. Invariably they start saying, "That ain't the way we did that in Dallas, Chicago, etc."

For example, when my own rural area was open range, city people looking for a place in the country would move here. Invariably they started saying, "What do you mean I've got to fence my yard to keep your cows out?" And this was often said, sometimes in court: "Do you mean to tell me that I've not only got to pay for the damages to my car caused by your hog when I hit it, I've also got to pay you for the hog?"


Good common examples!

[pdawg_shooter]

I moved 25 mi out of a town of 25,000 near 30 years ago. Built new on a 1/4 section. Nearest neighbor is 1 3/4 mile away. Shooting range out to 800 yards in my back yard. Yes, I have to drive 50mi a day to work but I wouldn't trade it for a mansion if it was in town. Grew up on a farm/ranch and hated every minute I was trapped in town.

[Ozarklongshot]

On generators; I have a huge cummins diesel 80kw that was power for the broiler houses(it's for sale). My portable gasoline gen is 10kw/12kw surge and we use it on the house. We will be adding a propane stand alone auto switching propane gen to the house. It produces more electricity in the same generator than natural gas does and a 1000 gallon tank will last a looong time. It is insanely more economical than gas or diesel and much more convenient to boot.

[DCP]

I would like to thank everyone for all the good info. Lots of food for thought

Here is an update

The realtor apologized for not knowing much about the listing. Its her listing and she had it for over 4 months

We were supposed to get more info and a 2nd available listing from realtor the 9th (We have heard nothing)
Sent email on the 11th (no response) been 24 hours


When I started this I told my wife there more laid back in the country. So every time I bring this up. She makes me eat my words and smiles at me.

Maybe the realtor has the flue.

I also am seeing many states are being attacked on gun control. I have to wonder if any state will be safe down the road. I would hate to move then get an unpleasant surprise.