Is NB home ? (McCook, Valentine, Niobrara: mineral rights, for sale, mobile home)

[natepickle]

Hello,

My family and I have been through a hell-of-a year, 2 major surgeries and a job loss. We have come to realize that the most important things through all of this is family and quality of life.

We are hoping to find an area that will allow us to buy a inexpensive peace of dirt and put a mobile home on it until we buid the house. We would like to find a place to grow veggies, the kids can play in the yard.

Snow is great.

Do y'all have any thoughts if NB is a fit for us

[Go Ne]

Well, where are you coming from?

[natepickle]

Virginia

[JustMe_T3K]

Where is NB??

Oh you mean NE !!

[Bigg Mann]

Originally Posted by natepickle

Hello,

My family and I have been through a hell-of-a year, 2 major surgeries and a job loss. We have come to realize that the most important things through all of this is family and quality of life.

We are hoping to find an area that will allow us to buy a inexpensive peace of dirt and put a mobile home on it until we buid the house. We would like to find a place to grow veggies, the kids can play in the yard.

Snow is great.

Do y'all have any thoughts if NB is a fit for us

My wife and I just bought a couple lots with older but liveable trailer on it in McCook, NE for 6500.00. That is cheap. McCook is in southwest part of state and population is 9000.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by JustMe_T3K

Where is NB??

Oh you mean NE !!

NB= New Brunswick Province, Canada
NE= Nebraska, USA

[natepickle]

ooops sorry for the NB

[Dave1215]

NB used to be the abbreviation for Nebraska - I grew up with that.

Look for posts on this forum by SCGranny - she made a move to Nebraska and I think a lot of what you are looking for is what she found - she's up around the Cody area (west of Valentine)... do a search on her name in the Nebraska forum for posts in the last few months - I think you'll get your answer.

But, yes you can.

[SCGranny]

<blush> thanks Dave!

I found my property purely by lucky accident. Was looking for 2 years on landsofamerica.com, went to ND and SD, ID and IA, then accidentally selected NE instead of ND one time, typed in the amount I wanted to spend and the size of property I wanted, and poof! There it was. This single NE property made my "list of six" to come out and look at. I got here to NE first on my trek - and stayed put, never made it to ND or SD. (My brother lives in ID and they were recently overwhelmed with Californians moving out there; their properties are outrageously overpriced by ND, SD, and NE standards.)

There are a lot of properties for sale that are NOT on landsofamerica, but you can get a good idea of the areas by looking on there. Also I used the topographical maps on MapQuest and Google Earth to determine the types of area/land masses, and researched the towns and types of people via CityData census and other data (which is how I ended up on this forum!). Then I asked people in the different states what they liked/hated about their areas.

But the most telling thing is to show up, look around on your own, listen to folks in the local bars, see how they treat strangers as well as friends, and what the late evening discussions at the bar are. That will give you a better idea of the type of folks you will be living around.

I have to say that one of the reasons I was drawn to NE is that, unlike many other Western states, all property rights are sold with the property, none can be retained by a previous owner. This is VERY important if you buy a patch of land on which you need water, or where you want to grow things or have animals. Having to share water rights with others can be a problem, and so can someone else having the right to plow up your cattle pasture or corn crop looking for oil or natural gas. Another thing is that NE has very few restrictions on what you can have or build on your own property. Where I used to live, one of the reasons I moved is that I had a flourishing chicken yard that provided all of my neighbors with eggs and us with meat; It was ordinanced out, people didn't want the crows of the roosters or the 'dirt' or the 'smell' of barnyard animals. Here - no problem. Manure smells, everyone knows it, and knows what it means. Keeping it as clean as possible is just polite.

There are two houses right now for sale in our small town on our street; both have enough property for a garden, and one owner used to raise rabbits in the backyard too; they are very sturdy little places. Not McMansions by far, but charming cottages.

In our part of NE the wind blows ALL of the time. (This bothers some people.) Sometimes lovely zephyrs, much of the time 20-40 mph. We had 2 blizzards last year and the snow really piled up, but was gone in a week or so. The days and nights can get down below 0 for several days at a time, even without snow. This year we only had one summer day over 100 deg, but they say that is very unusual; most summers have several weeks of 100 deg days. The humidity is normally VERY low - 25-30%, sometimes as high as 50%. So you will need to water your grass and plants very regularly; make sure you have a good reliable water source, as they have recently restricted the number of wells that can be dug. The water here is untreated and extremely pure - it runs underground through miles of sand. This is part of the Sandhills region, so the soil is VERY fine sand; coming from a hardpack clay region, it is a totally different experience! The Niobrara River is a beautiful place to take your family to swim, tube, or fish, and lakes and small creeks are here too. The hills are impressive, especially swooping down them on the narrow country roads heading to and away from the river and dam.

You can't see the beauty of the region if you stay on the interstates. Most of the hills and valleys and rivers are not visible from them, and the area looks flat and boring and endless. Don't be fooled. Also remember that "the middle of nowhere" means you may not be able to get out for several days after a torrential rain washes out your 'road' or heavy snow blocks it, and if your electricity goes off, your water pump for the well won't work unless you have a backup. Not to mention the heater won't work if the power goes out, so you'll need to have a backup stove or fireplace. Many of the ranches here become isolated for a few days in such conditions. That's one of the reasons we bought on the edge of a town close to a highway - we might be stranded but we'll have water and we have a HUGE pile of wood for the woodstove.

If you need more specifics about the Cherry county (North Central NE) area, I'd be happy to oblige.

[itsMeFred]

unlike many other Western states, all property rights are sold with the property, none can be retained by a previous owner.

Actually, this isn't true.
While it is true that it's still pretty standard to sell all rights with the property, it's becoming increasingly common to retain mineral rights, in particular. Especially out in the panhandle where gas and oil are found.

So far as what would be "a fit," Nebraska would probably fit the bill.
There's the rolling hills of eastern Nebraska where there are far more people (and rules, regs, etc). Western Nebraska tends to have the dramatic Pine Ridge, Wildcat Hills, etc. bluffs and buttes around Chimney Rock and so on. And in the middle are the Sandhills where people tend to be pretty few and far between and more appreciative of their neighbors.

It's a big state. The options are plentiful.

~Erin