Town and country

[fatelk]

Decisions, decisions. We're going to be buying a house again. We had to move and sold our house in the old town, renting in the short term here.

We've found two places that we're serious about, one in town and one in the country, similarly priced.

The one in town is 10 minutes from work, nice big house with a good-sized back yard and a couple fruit trees.

The one in the country is 20 minutes from work in the mountains, on 12 acres, but it's a 30+ year old double-wide. The land is a bit steep and likely not good for much but planting trees. My wife and I both grew up out of town and would love to raise our kids in the country.

Of course it's our decision, and we know the particulars of both places as well as our own preferences (and we've already considered most of the pros and cons both ways), but I just thought I'd throw it out there to see if you all had any general thoughts on the subject?

[jmort]

"My wife and I both grew up out of town and would love to raise our kids in the country."

That would be my answer. Right now I drive 200 miles round trip to my office just so I can live in the "sticks." I like my privacy.

[Pb2au]

Country.
I'll plan on moving next year, and doubling my time to drive to work. Totally worth it to be out of the city.

[Bulldogger]

Land can be managed and trained over the years. In central and south America, they subsisted for centuries on tree fruit, not just fruit but edible produce from trees, you can live on trees if you try. Most soil can be reclaimed with time and patience, or at least I've read that. The old double wide sounds iffy, I'd want to have a plan for replacing it with something newer and more permanent, but your description makes it sound like rocks might be free, can make a nice old farmhouse with a stone foundation maybe...

I would jump at the chance to live back in the country, and MAKE the land I had work.

Alex

[waynem34]

+1 for the country.You could always look around a bit more.Never know you may have over looked someplace.

[Dean D.]

I could never live inside a town or city. Maybe I'm weird but I like my space and solitude. JMHO

[Harter66]

Me too . Im with Dean. Town always has its perks but country living ...... nothing like it.

[waynem34]

High noon tannerite target dont go over to well in town lol.

[Wayne Smith]

House trailers devalue. Keep that in mind when you talk about price. Even if it is brand new it will only decrease in value. The land and a house appreciates in value. If you buy in the country you are buying the property and a temporary place to live until you build a house.

Look carefully at your ability to invest in construction and when you might be able to do this. The longer you wait the less value you will have in the property. Basically I'm saying think long term, not short term.

[Blacksmith]

My FIL was in real estate and he always said invest in land because they arn't making any more of it. If there was any possible way to plan on building something in the future I'd jump on 12 ac. in a heartbeat.

[starnbar]

Well its your choice and decision for me its the country place and start plans on my house building project I have done it twice before and since i'm only 63 I might do it again.

[2AMMD]

I (we) moved from a row house in Baltimore City to 9 acres in northern Baltimore County when I was about 6 - 8. So much space, shot first squirrel, exploring, etc. The country for the children if nothing else. They can learn to cut wood, possibly raise some animals, a garden to plant - fresh vegetables taste better than anything bought. Learning to do for yourself is something all children should learn in case they ever need it. Just my thoughts. Good luke with whatever you decide.

2AMMD

[MT Gianni]

Keep looking. It is almost impossible to finance a used mobile nowadays. You might be a cash buyer but you have to sell sometime and you want a better option than trading it in on another.

[quilbilly]

A 30+ year old double wide? You can be assured it will need some help relatively soon and that it is temporary until you can do something permanent. Is the 12 acres worth that if you assume the house may not have much long term value. Is the well good? We moved from the city to acreage in the country and it is wonderful, especially the shooting ranges I put in which our fine neighbors use as well. My suggestion - look at raw acreage per acre in the same area to see what you are paying for that 30 year old double wide then make your decision to begin haggling over price. Also, if you get lucky enough to find the price of similar acreage with just the well, septic, and utilities in, that will really tell you what the double wide costs. I have a friend who found that, got a great deal, and is living in the leaky double while he is building his log cabin.

[fatelk]

Thanks for the good advice, but it looks like the decision has been made for us.


It is almost impossible to finance a used mobile nowadays.
You nailed it. I've been on the phone with several different mortgage and insurance people today, and it sounds like it would be expensive and nearly impossible to make it work. I'm really disappointing, too, because I walked the land this morning and really like it. It was logged in recent years and is overgrown with brush, but clearing brush is therapeutic for me. I love clearing land and planting trees.

As far as building a house or replacing the double-wide with a newer one, that would only be an option if I won the lottery. A couple hundred thousand for the land and old mobile home with accompanying monthly mortgage, four kids to raise and nothing left over at the end of the month, and I can pretty much guarantee there will be no money in the foreseeable future for much of anything, let alone a new house. It does have a really nice shop, though. Another reason to be disappointed.

For now I guess we will move ahead on the place in town. With home prices and interest rates both going up, we don't want to wait too long. We sold our old place too soon and waited too long to buy already. Maybe someday we'll make it out of town again. I completely agree with you all about the advantages of country living. Thanks everyone.

[horsesoldier]

Sounds like my dream house in Idaho.No way could I get financing, but it was on 22 acres I think

[cbrick]

I would pass on the trailer but keep looking "IN THE COUNTRY", the place with the trailer won't be the only property out there. Down the road you'll be glad you did.

Rick

[xs11jack]

I think you are a bit hasty about this. I would wait and keep looking for country if you have the option.
Ole Jack

[fatelk]

We've been looking for six months, and the only thing we can find out of town is either out of our price range, too far out, or a junky (not financeable) house. It's been many months of frustration as we can't find what we want, and watch both interest rates and house prices rise significantly.

The place in town will fit us pretty well, is a good deal price wise (short sale), so if we do it right we might be able to find the right place out of town someday in the future.

Maybe I just have an idealistic memory, but it seems that when I was young there was a higher percentage of middle class country folks living out of town. It seems like over the decades more snobby city people with money have gobbled up all the close-in country places, at least around here. Prices are high, and well out of reach of the average working guy raising a family.

Sorry, don't mean to sound bitter. I guess that's just the way it is.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

It sounds like the former owners of the land you wanted took what value there was in it and put it up for sale. Steep hillside land has no value unless there is a good stand of timber on it, they took that. I doubt if you could give the trailer away. Ii may be impossible to even insure. Then of course there is the septic tank, schools, water supply, propane, forest fires and I could go on. When I retired we went through the same ordeal everyone else does looking for a place in the country. We were shown property that would make you laugh. A real estate agent showed us a ten acre parcel northeast of Fresno. It was ten acres allright, straight up. There was one little space at the bottom just big enough for a trailer. After a few more jokes like that it became obvious that we were wasting or time. We even looked over in Arizona and found the jokes even less funny. We waited for a couple more years and real estate took a nose dive. We were able to buy a beautiful home on 2&1/2 acres with a huge workshop. We lived there for fifteen years untill the yard and tree maintinance became too much for us. Believe me, cleaning brush is therapeutic for a time, then it becomes a chore. People live in town for good reasons, it's cheaper and much more convenient. If you want to become part of the landed gentry there is a requirement, lots of money.

[waksupi]

Just an FYI. I searched for property this past winter. The cheapest deals I found are in southern Kansas. Would be fine, but would definitely want a storm cellar.

[jmort]

"The cheapest deals I found are in southern Kansas."

Is that for a house with a large lot or a few acres? For land northern Nevada is a good deal.

[Love Life]

Buy your own canyon....

[jmort]

I saw that. You pointed out the "issues" with the property. I actually would rather be off the grid. Have a friend in Reno looking around. Very interesting. I agree with you, I don't need a ginormous piece of land, something backing up to BLM would work just fine, even smaller parcel.

[waksupi]

http://unitedcountry.com/realestate/search-state/index.htm

[jmort]

I've spent many an hour on the United Country site and before the internet age they would send me printed materials. Still looking.

[Lights]

Simple, the county house. That's where my wife and I will be moving in 5yrs when the kids are out of HS.

[mroliver77]

Towns are for city folks!

[quilbilly]

Save your pennies and keep looking. There are diamonds-in-the-rough out there. When we found our land, neither the owner nor the realtor had a clue what was there and we didn't bother to enlighten them. You might get lucky like we did.

[fatelk]

Lots of good country folk here, I see! I like that; it seems to me that genuine country people just seem to think differently than town people, and certainly different than city folks.

We are moving forward on the house in town. Other than being in town, it's just what we are looking for, and a good deal. I am disappointed about being in town, but I think country living is just not feasible at this time, and there are some advantages to life in a small town and a nice neighborhood. It's either a decent house, or a little land, but I'm resigned to the fact that we just can't afford both at the same time.

Quilbilly, we drive through your neck of the woods every time we drive up to see the inlaws. I like the area.

[quilbilly]

When can we expect to hear from you? There is a piece of property just down the road from us with a 5 year old double and a good well on 5-acres (I think). It has been on the market for a while but we don't get much traffic on our road (caught a cougar sleeping in front of our mail box one morning). Most everyone has at least a short shooting range.

[pdawg_shooter]

I spent 9 years in a house in a city of 25,000. NEVER AGAIN. I was raised in the country and IMHO it is the only way to live. I finally bought 80 acres 25 miles for town and drive back and forth every day. That 30 minutes each way is my "down time".

[smokeywolf]

We took quite a liking to this: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1704-County-Road-612-Ellington-MO-63638/2121284160_zpid/ but it is too far from good high schools and colleges.

We found this property: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/13531-W-Farm-Road-132-Bois-D-Arc-MO-65612/61354565_zpid/ this morning and although it does not have the acreage or seclusion we want, there are acceptably decent high schools and colleges close by.

If my health is still good, perhaps in 7 or 8 more years when the kids are out of college, we can go for a bit more land and more seclusion.

smokeywolf

[fatelk]

quilbilly, if I could find a way to make enough living to raise my family in a more rural area, I would be very interested. My wife grew up in PA north of you.

Smokeywolf, nice places there. I can see stuff is cheaper where you are than here. Those are still out of our price range a bit, but if those places were in this area, they would cost well out of reach of anyone without a lot of money...

[smokeywolf]

Actually fatelk, I'm in forced semi retirement now due to motion pictures and TV transitioning from film to video and due to NAFTA. I'm looking at official retirement in 1-1/2 to 2 years.
Since we're on the west coast and property values are so bloody high out here, and because I went without a lot of things and made additional principal payments on my mortgages, in spite of 2 divorces and half dozen layoffs, I managed to build a considerable amount of equity. We will be able to fork over cash for our retirement place. My oldest son moved to Missouri 7 years ago and he is pushing hard for us to join him.
If I had to find and hold down a full time job after we move, it would be a very different situation.

I was kind of hoping that my job after we move, will be setting up/updating the whole house water filtration system, tending 3 or 4 head of cattle and goats, evaluating the soil for food plots for the wildlife and for a home/sustanance garden, setting up trail cams, grading in a range, building a hen house & chicken plucker, hog pen, setting up my machine shop and about twenty other chores that will all need doing at the same time around a ranch/farm.

[fatelk]

Very good! Sounds like you've been smart with your money. That looks like a nice place to retire.

[quilbilly]

Fatelk - you are right about that. Unless you enjoy shucking oysters, there is not much doing around Quilcene (working on that). When my wife retired, we could build here where I brought my own one person business so we are doing great. If you bring your own job, this area can become your own piece of paradise. Yesterday I took a few hours off at low tide and the wife and I went out with the waders to get a few nice crab. Took five minutes of wading to get dinner. My inlaws have all moved to PA. Keep us in mind on your next trip.

[waynem34]

What would I do?I know it does not matter what I'd do.Just me and my $.02.Buy 10 or more acres.Start in stages.If your able to do simple construction or maybe sub some stuff out.You can plan this out to take advantage of time and money.Later on.I realize this is a bit of a stretch.It could be 1 acre with or without a well and septic.Only a few years to go till lots of free time.Live for today.Be happy thats what really matters.We can always dream.I've also learned meeting people in the area you plan to move helps.I've own two different lots and lost them both due to current problems but I will get another lot in the counrty even if its 1 acre.Basement first the stick build like ol timers.Live on site lol.

[Gliden07]

Country gets my vote!! I live in town and everytime I do something at my house seems I'm the second one to find out about it!! I have pretty decent neighbors but I would like more privacy for sure!! Also being able to go out on my own property with my firearms and plink without having to make a trip to the range would be AWESOME!!!!

[John Allen]

I would move to the country. it might not be convenient for running out for the little things but it sure is nice to have land with no busy bodies.

[fatelk]

Keep us in mind on your next trip.
Will do. Might be fun to stop and say hi.

We're thinking about making a trip up that way later this year, depending on how the home purchase goes and when we move. I still have two weeks of vacation left for the year, probably use a week of it for the move.

[fatelk]

Well, it's the place in town for us, at least for the near future. It's a pretty nice place near the edge of town, and we're set to close and move in about three weeks.

For you guys saying country is the only way to go: believe me, I agree with you more than our current decision suggests. For various reasons this is our place for now. I envy you guys living out of town. Privacy, room to roam, a place to shoot. Maybe someday...

[quilbilly]

Don't wait too long to make that trip to P.A. later this year if we are to believe what the new Farmer's Almanac is saying about this winter. We are planning a trip to visit friends in S. Nevada before the snow flies on Hood Canal (if doctors allow) then hunker down with the cross country skiis on the front porch and taps in our maple trees to make more syrup.