I live just outside of Washington, IN. and I own properly in the 'City',
It's a small town with virtually no industry.
If you come with skills, and can build your own business, you will be OK, but if you are looking for work and you aren't a factory worker, farm worker or truck driver, there is virtually no work here.
I design and build race car parts for a company just down the road (Jasper Indiana) and there is work in Jasper.
I moved out of the 'City Limits' because of the political climate.
I put up a wind generator made of a car alternator,
Mounted it on top of the existing TV tower that had been there since the 50's or 60's and the City Code Inspector FREAKED OUT!
They actually passed an ordnance that required me to have 1-1/2 times the height of the tower to the properly line in case it fell in a storm or something.
I put two solar panels on the roof of the garage to charge my battery powered truck,
And they wanted me to carry
1 MILLION DOLLARS of insurance to make sure I didn't electrocute line workers even though it wasn't hooked to the grid in any way...
Land prices are reasonable, houses can be dirt cheap, but there are several restrictions to building here that don't make sense.
If you are living conventionally (entirely on the grid) you will be fine,
But if you want to do ANYTHING even remotely 'Different', you will find obstacles that don't make sense...
There is NOTHING to do here if you don't sit in a bar.
There are no night clubs, just 'Bars',
There are no chain restaurants, just fast food joints,
We have a couple of locally owned restaurants that are pretty good, but you had better like 'Mexican'.
If you have anything other than 'Fundamentalist Christan' views,
Then this is a ROUGH PLACE to get along...
There are a TON of 'Welfare Mothers' here, about every other person you meet at the grocery store will be using food stamps and be toting fatherless kids, lots of 'Welfare' housing, and a lot of disrespectful kids running the streets...
The local poultry processing plant is importing 'Hispanics' to work there for little or no money, so there is a rapidly growing Hispanic 'Slum' on the north west side of town.
I'm not talking the type of immigrants that keep the yard mowed, work everyday, watch their kids and mind their own business,
I'm talking drug dealing, drunks, unlicensed/uninsured drivers and we are getting serious gang activity starting here.
Our Mayor/City Council is ineffective, they knuckle under to anything the 'Militant Mommy Squad' comes up with.
They have outlawed 'Junk' cars, so there is no automotive hobbies allowed, you can't keep a 'Project Vehicle' unless you build a garage for it, can't sit outside while you are working on it.
There is no 'Porn' or 'Adult' businesses since said 'Militant Mommy Squad' don't frequent such places. (So much for free, legal Enterprise),
But there are a LOT of bars, drinking clubs, ect. here,
And there is probably 5 churches for every bar...
There is no 'Industrial' water treatment plant, so we don't have any industry and probably will never get any.
The infrastructure is crumbling, brown water from 100 year old water mains, Floods every time it rains hard since the runoff water system hasn't been planned or updated in 100 years, and the street drains/sanitary sewers are the same things, so when it gets good and hot, the streets smell like raw sweage...
Our city 'Fathers' allowed Wal-Mart to first build, then expand, so there isn't anyplace to shop besides Wal-Mart anymore.
We used to have a ton of local owners with everything under the sun, but if 'Wal-Mart' doesn't carry it, you have to travel to get it.
The 'Amish' stuff the other people were talking about was 'Amish' buffet restaurants that were closed down due to tax evasion, embezzlement and health code violations.
The 'Amish' goods are mostly made in 'China',
And if you do get anything hand made in the Amish settlement, you wind up paying 10 prices for it...
Don't get me wrong, I admire the Amish, and I do business with them,
But there is a difference between 'Tourist Amish' and the working Amish in the area...
-------------------------------
Now, if you plan to live OUTSIDE the city limits/annexed areas, then it's not too bad...
I've spent 12 years building my 'Homestead' out by the river (White River) and there is a large hunting/fishing area just south/east of the town that is PRIME REAL ESTATE and can be purchased reasonably.
I'm on 44 acres with a large south facing hill, with a 2.5 acre lake just in front of the house we built.
Paid about $70K for the land (unimproved), much of it tillable for farm land and then found out why it went so cheap...
The local electric utility wanted $118,000 to run the power poles, lines, transformer to the property (appx. 1 Mile),
The phone company wanted $8,000 to put the line up once the poles were put in place,
The water company wouldn't let us connect even if I ran the line myself out to their main line...
So now, we have a deep, limestone filtered well, Solar PV & Thermal, and we don't have monthly payments for any of it.
Cost was about $28,000 but I did most of the assembly and wiring myself.
We are about 3/4 to 7/8 a mile off the paved roads, and about 12 miles south of town, and it's GREAT for a 'Metal Head' or 'Do It Yourself' type!
Large gardens, nut and fruit trees/bushes, no building code regulations, no wiring code inspections, ect.
Pretty much do what you want, but your insurance will be MUCH LESS if you have things up to 'Code' and certified...
Wild animals everywhere! I've made pets of the squirrels, but rabbits, turkeys, geese/ducks, deer and everything else you can think of abounds.
We turkey hut out the bathroom window!
(The 'little woman' will really LOVE that if you do it!) Nothing like hunting boot prints in the bathtub!)
We RARELY see or hear people, and that's just the way I like it!
Some guys come to me for machining, fabrication or welding, but mostly, we just grow, can or sell what grows, and improve our homestead, automation for when we can no longer do the work like we can now.
Beef that doesn't take a chain saw to cut, Produce that is actually STEM RIPENED and doesn't have a skin thicker than my boot sole,
Fresh air, open spaces, quiet, and virtually no crime at all,
The occasional illegal dumping or someone driving on private property to get to the river...
Anything else you want to know?
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Washington, IN
I live here
