Lynchburg, VA or Boise, ID for family with elementary age kids? (Bedford: leasing, how much)

[nature1]

LynchburgLover, if you don't mind, a couple more questions? You do seem to know a lot about the area! Are there any other towns/cities in the general area that you would recommend as being safe, conservative, and having lots of families with elementary age kids? We may or may not homeschool. Also, there's a chance we could want to be on acreage with horses ... but not sure. What would you recommend doing during the week to really get a sense of the area? Many thanks!

[HeartWantsWhatItWants]

Originally Posted by nature1

LynchburgLover, if you don't mind, a couple more questions? You do seem to know a lot about the area! Are there any other towns/cities in the general area that you would recommend as being safe, conservative, and having lots of families with elementary age kids? We may or may not homeschool. Also, there's a chance we could want to be on acreage with horses ... but not sure. What would you recommend doing during the week to really get a sense of the area? Many thanks!

Acreage with horses will be expensive, especially useful (flatter) acreage. Since it will be outside of town, internet will be a serious issue. The area west of US-29 is very hilly. It took us 6 months to find our horse acreage with high speed internet. Out of the 32 acres only 2-3 are flat (and that is a success!) and we are south of Roanoke. What most people here call excellent horse country is only really good pasture land but it is not usable for riding per se. To put in a horse ring you will be looking at serious money to just move dirt to start with. Most homes in the country will be lacking in something (old. poor water wells, old septic, no internet, location right on the road even though you have 20 acres - it is all behind you, so on and so on). We looked everywhere between Madison county (north of Charlottesville) to Bedford, Franklin, Cumberland, Buckingham, Amherst etc. etc. Now, if you are coming in from California and you have $700,000+ to spend, you will find a nice place even on Mars....In the $450,000 range acreage for horses (even without a barn) and a decent home will be tough find - the inventory of these is VERY low all the way to Blacksburg.

P.S. Depending on the county your horse trailer will also be taxed as personal property, in addition to your truck. Depending on your truck (GWVR) you may or may not get the offset on personal property taxes by the state.

[LynchburgLover]

John Stewart Walker Realty is pretty big. So is Jane Blickenstaff. I’m sure any agent in those offices could help you.

We’ve been gone about ten years and still miss it. We didn’t actually live there (disclaimer) but our kids went to a boarding school there. We were “hanging around” for almost a decade and got to know a lot of their day student friends’ parents. It was #1 on our retirement list until circumstances changed. You never know where life will take you.

Best of luck.


JohnStewartWalker.com-Leader in the real estate in Central Virgina

Www.janeblinkenstaff.net

[badger74]

The area south of Lynchburg--down to Moneta/Smith Mountain Lake is cheaper and less hilly. Lots of farms etc. But finding high speed net might be an issue. Even some areas just outside Lynchburg dont have high speed net.

[HeartWantsWhatItWants]

Originally Posted by badger74

The area south of Lynchburg--down to Moneta/Smith Mountain Lake is cheaper and less hilly. Lots of farms etc. But finding high speed net might be an issue. Even some areas just outside Lynchburg dont have high speed net.

The meaning of the word "farm" is different in Virginia than in many other places. If you are coming from the West, a farmer in Virginia could be the cattle rancher out west, it could be a person producing hay, it can also be a horse breeding facility, could be a real veggie farm or it could be nothing...

Same goes for horse properties. In Florida most are flat and fully usable (but portions may be under water). Out here most are hilly and while they could be good pasture, you may have 30 acres and no flat at all...

[nature1]

Okay, all important things to consider (useable pasture, high speed net, etc.) My husband and I are not horse people as far as knowing a lot about their needs. Sometimes I look at a property with 5 acres and it looks like it would work for horses and then some properties with the same acreage just don't look right for them. By the way, we are looking at two horses, most likely as family pets, for trail rides, that kind of thing. Basically wanting to keep it low key and the least expensive as possible. Do you guys have any thoughts as far as property that already has stables, barns,etc. vs. property that has the space and potential for horses but no existing structures? Definitely getting the feeling that horse ownership can get real expensive, real quickly! Again, thank you so much for the advice.

[HeartWantsWhatItWants]

Originally Posted by nature1

Okay, all important things to consider (useable pasture, high speed net, etc.) My husband and I are not horse people as far as knowing a lot about their needs. Sometimes I look at a property with 5 acres and it looks like it would work for horses and then some properties with the same acreage just don't look right for them. By the way, we are looking at two horses, most likely as family pets, for trail rides, that kind of thing. Basically wanting to keep it low key and the least expensive as possible. Do you guys have any thoughts as far as property that already has stables, barns,etc. vs. property that has the space and potential for horses but no existing structures? Definitely getting the feeling that horse ownership can get real expensive, real quickly! Again, thank you so much for the advice.

If you don't have any experience, whatever you do, don't get the horses first. Volunteer at some horse rescue, take riding lessons, spend time around them. They are a VERY expensive hobby, require constant work, they get sick and it gets expensive, need all sorts of things (farrier, tack, teeth floating, vaccines), barns are expensive, you will need a truck and trailer and I haven't even gotten into being safe around them (training). It is literally not for the faint of heart. Yes, a lot of backyard people keep them and survive but they are a great way to get injured, esp. if you don't have a clue of what is going on. If I tallied all my equine expenses since I got into this starting in 2008, I could have easily bought another property somewhere else or put away $100K+ towards my retirement. They are kind of like boats.

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by HeartWantsWhatItWants

If you don't have any experience, whatever you do, don't get the horses first. Volunteer at some horse rescue, take riding lessons, spend time around them. They are a VERY expensive hobby, require constant work, they get sick and it gets expensive, need all sorts of things (farrier, tack, teeth floating, vaccines), barns are expensive, you will need a truck and trailer and I haven't even gotten into being safe around them (training). It is literally not for the faint of heart. Yes, a lot of backyard people keep them and survive but they are a great way to get injured, esp. if you don't have a clue of what is going on. If I tallied all my equine expenses since I got into this starting in 2008, I could have easily bought another property somewhere else or put away $100K+ towards my retirement. They are kind of like boats.

Great advice. Daughter rode for about 5 years and, without even owning the horse, the costs were high.

[littlelou]

Originally Posted by HeartWantsWhatItWants

If you don't have any experience, whatever you do, don't get the horses first. Volunteer at some horse rescue, take riding lessons, spend time around them. They are a VERY expensive hobby, require constant work, they get sick and it gets expensive, need all sorts of things (farrier, tack, teeth floating, vaccines), barns are expensive, you will need a truck and trailer and I haven't even gotten into being safe around them (training). It is literally not for the faint of heart. Yes, a lot of backyard people keep them and survive but they are a great way to get injured, esp. if you don't have a clue of what is going on. If I tallied all my equine expenses since I got into this starting in 2008, I could have easily bought another property somewhere else or put away $100K+ towards my retirement. They are kind of like boats.

A friend told me one time - you know how to make $ 100,000 in horses? Start with $200,000...

[HeartWantsWhatItWants]

Originally Posted by littlelou

A friend told me one time - you know how to make $ 100,000 in horses? Start with $200,000...

Hahah yep. It's like anything else in life - depends on what you feel you are getting out of it. For us it has been fun - we actually got to use our horses by camping with them and riding them in the desert of SW Texas, New Mexico, Arizona etc. etc. - we did this for months before coming back to "civilization". Some people have it worse in a sense that the horses become dangerous pasture ornaments that just cost money but provide NOTHING in return. Then someone gets injured on top of that...