Need Info From Cambridge to Marietta to Wheeling (Columbus, Washington: for sale, real estate)

[Whiskey777]

Hello all, I'm so glad I found this place! My name is Darlene. My husband, son and grandson are currently living in southwest Tennessee but want to move back to Ohio. We have lived in Columbus and Hillsboro and would move back to the Hillsboro area if we could. But it's looking more and more like we won't be able to find the land we want there and with DHL in Wilmington probably closing it sounds like the economy is going to be a bit squirrelly for a while anyway. So we are looking at the area made by a triangle from Cambridge to Marietta to Wheeling, in particular the towns of Caldwell, Senecaville, and Salesville.

We are looking for 10 or 15 (or more) acres we can eventually have 2 houses or mobile homes on, one for my husband and me and one for our son and his little boy. We have farm stock, chickens, goats, horses, etc. so we need pasture as well as some woods. I farm organically so my family has nutritious food and sell the extra to make a few dollars. If anyone has a place like this for sale -- cheap! LOL!-- by all means tell me! I'm very flexible and not ruling out anything without checking it out.

In the meantime, my main questions are these:

Are the school systems in these towns good ones? What about programs like Little League or Cub Scouts or 4-H for my grandson? What all is available?

Are there any fleamarkets or farmers markets in the area for selling the extra produce and eggs? Or would I have to go a long distance to find markets? I also love to shop the flea markets and am at a HUGE one almost every weekend. Is there anything like that in the area?

An important question! Where are the Walmarts, Lowes, and Tractor Supply stores? Can't live without them LOL! Also, what about places my grandson will need as he grows, like, theaters to take his girlfriend to a movie, or a bowling alley to visit with his buddies? We are big on outdoor recreation so the lake area is great but teenagers need more and it won't be long before he is one of those. The brick on his head didn't workto keep him little LOL!

And this may seem silly, but, when we looked for a place here, the realtor and other people we met in the larger town an hour up the road were friendly and very informative. So we figured it was a good area. After we got moved in, we found out the economic data was very misleading so work for our son is sketchy at best. ANY kind of work. To top it off, we discovered the people in the little town we wound up living near are mean! It is a whole town of Grinches! I couldn't believe it at first, I figured we just needed to get out and meet more people. But the more I meet, the more I hate this place. The people here are constantly snarling at each other over the smallest thing and noone gets along. I don't want to make this mistake again, so if there are nice people in this area would you please post and say hi to me and let me know you're there? I know I'm probably being silly but this whole episode has really shook me up and I'm very nervous about moving to a new area.

Thank you all for listening to me ramble. I look forward to hearing from as many people as possible about this little triangle of Ohio land. I think we're going to choose there to be our new home and I'm eager for as much information as I can get so we can make good choices.

KYAC, Darz

[ptsum]

Whiskey, I will try and answer some of your questions. I live in Caldwell, actually closer to Belle Valley, I'm 3 1/2 miles outside of town of Caldwell and about 2 miles from Belle Valley. First off I think if you get on the Internet you may find quite a few places between here and Cambridge that could be suitable for you, you mention three towns in particular Caldwell, Senecaville, and Salesville. You might also want to consider Bysville, Buffalo, Pleasant City, Summerfield, just to name a few and even up around Salt Fork Lake just above Cambridge.
As for 4-H clubs Little Leagues and Cub Scouts, 4-H clubs are real big in this area and so are the school sports. As for farmers markets, Cambridge has one and so does Caldwell, and there are flea markets and yard sales and I'm sure you won't have a problem finding any of them around here. As far as Wal-Mart's, Lowe's, and Tractor Supply stores, there is a Super Wal-Mart and the Super Kmart and Tractor Supply in Cambridge and the Super Wal-Mart, and Lowe's in Marietta.

Now if you're serious about looking in this area I can put you in touch with the real good real estate agent who was a great deal of help to me a few years ago, just direct mail me and I'll give you his name phone number and location.

[Whiskey777]

Thanks for the info. We aren't set in stone about any one area cause they all sound nice. I was wondering about the flea markets cause we want to create one like they have down here in this area. My husband and I are on SS disability and our son is on a VA disability because he was hurt in Iraq. So we don't have much of an income and figure the best way to go would be to make the land help provide our income as well as food support. We run a small herd of goats for milk, cheese, soap, and such. We have a flock of chickens for eggs that are our pets but also run an extra flock for meat. And of course there is the vegetable garden. We figure if we create a farmer's/flea market we could sell our extra for some income and rent tables to others for their goods. As people become used to us being there, it would grow and help pay the bills for us as well as giving everyone else a place to sell their stuff or buy what they are looking for. I would love to see it grow so HUGE it became an area icon, like the one down here. This one provides for socializing as well as buying/selling products and everyone loves it. If I couldn't find land for our home in the right area for the flea market we might have to settle for two pieces of property but that would be ok with us. As long as we can find something in our price range cause we don't have a whole lot. (And as long as the people in the area are friendly and not always grouchy like the ones in Selmer! LOL!) Are any of the flea markets in that area anything like what I described? If so it might not be where we need to move to because that's the only idea we can come up with to make our land work for us and we need to be where it will be successful. And we have to be out in the country not only for the farm we have but because my son's injuries and PTSD from Iraq make being in the city (even a small one) very stressful on him so trying to live in town and take a traditional job someone with disabilities would take is not possible for us. That's why I'm doing so much research before we move. This is our one chance to make our lives better and we can't afford a mistake. So I appreciate your input very much and if we come to that area I would love to meet you some day. I feel like I already have a friend there and that alone is so much more than what we have here. Thanks, KYAC, Darz

[ptsum]

Whiskey, if what you described is what you're planning to do I'm sure there's land around here that can be found for what you want to do, there are a few small markets around here where once you get established with your chickens for eggs and goats from milk and cheese that I think some of them would even buy some of that stuff from you and you may even find some land near some of the major roads around here to do just what you are talking about with the flea markets, but I really think that you should possibly get ahold of a real estate agent who is familiar with the area and can help you out in what you're looking for, now mind you, I have found people up here to be fairly friendly, which isn't too bad for this old Southern redneck........seriously though,the majority of the people that I've come across in this area of Noble County are really pretty friendly considering where I lived at before,my wife and I moved up here from out of Metropolitan Washington, DC and I don't have any plans on going back to that area again to live.If you decide to relocate in this area I sure would like to meet y'all and if you get your business started I might even come visit it.Would appreciate you keeping me informed of what you decide to do.....

[Whiskey777]

Sorry to take so long to post again but a LOT has been going on down here and I've been either busy busy busy or worn to a frazzle. AND..... time is getting short for us to make our final plans so I'm getting anxious LOL! To top it off, I'll be going in for knee surgery soon at the VA in Memphis. It's only going to be a scope procedure but if it doesn't work they are talking total replacement. I'm sure hoping it works and doesn't delay our move! Our son is getting shafted at his job because his supervisor's brother needed a job and they hired him on too. Now they are giving my son days off and lieing (sp?) to him about when he should be where so he doesn't show up at the right place and faces getting into trouble. It's just southern politic's way of stealing his job for the super's brother. Everyone thinks the south is supposed to be some great welcoming and friendly place but they have no idea about some of the stuff that really goes on. I would rather be in a northern farm community than in a tight southern cliche anyday. The north may be sort of cool to you at times, but I prefer that over someone being dishonestly warm while it suits them, then knifing you in the back when it's in their interest to do so. This is the second time someone who was out of work has had a family member who could pull strings to get my son's job given to him. That's just the way it is here. Nepotism reigns supreme. Even in areas other than McNairy county I've seen this happen over and over. It wasn't always to us, but I didn't like it then and I like it even less when we are the victim. Ok I'll get off my soapbox now. But this is just one of many reasons we want to move back to Ohio.

By the way I was wondering if there are any of those little flyer newspapers in your area that people advertise in? You know the type, like American Classifieds or Tradin Times, that you can pick up outside Wallyworld or the grocery store. Most of them have an internet edition I could access from here if I knew the name of the paper. Do you know of any? I will connect with a realtor when we come up there but for doing my looking long distance I prefer to just check around on my own for now. Well, gotta head for town so I'll get outta here for now. Will come back again soon, I promise. S'long for now, KYAC, Darz

[Whiskey777]

There have been some changes in our timeframe plans. The docs at the VA have decided to do my knee surgery in October and the lawyers in the bus wreck hoopla want a meeting in Birmingham in November. So that pushes our move date back another 2 months dangit! I really don't want to be moving the farm in the middle of winter but if my brother and sis-in-law get their money to buy this one, they aren't gonna want to wait till spring so it may turn out that way. It'll be like coming out of a sauna and jumping into a cold pool! LOL!

But it will be worth it to get back to Ohio, cause the scenario with my son's job played out just like we thought it was going to. The other guy got my son's job for his brother. Grrrrrr! BUT!!! My son got a better job in just a couple weeks (which is unusual in this area's economy) so we aren't going to rock the boat by filing a complaint. It wouldn't do any good and would just stress our nerves more anyway. I just keep chanting my mantra......"We're moving back to Ohio soon....we're moving back to Ohio soon....we're movin......"

I'm still scanning all the papers within the triangle region I described as well as the ones in the Hillsboro area we lived in originally. Highland county looks like it's been hit hard economically this last year. Who hasn't been? But they're losing some major industry in that region and still aren't sure if it's going to get replaced. There are countless foreclosures for sale at auction in the paper but I really don't want to try to start my farm business in an area that unstable. I wouldn't be able to sell my goods and there wouldn't be anyone able to patronize the farmer's market I want to run if everyone is going broke so bad they're losing their homes. Fresh eggs just don't rank up there with a roof over their heads and I can't really blame them. I'd feel the same way. So the triangle region is looking more and more like it will be the one we finally decide on. Will ya'll throw me a big hello party? Till I get up there and we meet face to face, Take care! Darz

[Whiskey777]

Forgot to tell you I went to the Goat Days Festival last week end and had a BLAST! A festival like that would go over big up there. And I just re-read my post and realized noone knows what the "bus wreck hoopla" is but I'll have to come back another day and tell ya'll the whole story cause it's long and convoluted. In the meantime the short version is:

I was in a bus / semi-truck wreck. It was the bus driver's fault. I got hurt so bad I can't return to nursing and can only do the farm chores with help from my family. It's made it rough not being able to work, but I'm grateful I can still do something. We plan to use any money I get to create the farmer's market so there will be an income to compensate for my lost paycheck. So we will buy the land there with the money from the sale of this farm and build up the farm market with the money I get when the lawyers are done doing their thing. We think it's a good plan.

Take Care, Darz

[ptsum]

Tell you what Whiskey, why don't you google Caldwell, Ohio or Cambridge. You can also do a google search of Noble County or Guernsey County, you can get a lot of information from these two counties here in Ohio..