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.
Plenty of us who have lived rurally all our lives ALSO hate the beer-swilling, can-littering, camouflage-wearing, snowmobile-and-ATV-riding, deer-shooting rednecks as well, FYI. Rural doesn't have to equal redneck.
Well, hunting and drinking (not necessarily "swilling") are long-standing, honorable traditions (long-standing meaning hundreds of years, if not thousands). Camouflage is a matter of personal style, much like Gucci, etc. Noise can be an issue in the country as in the city, and always has been. Not crazy about it, but crazier about being respectful of those who were there before I arrived and, you know, civil liberties and those pesky things that some find SO annoying when applied to someone else.
Do I like it when someone drives an ATV and makes a lot of noise? Not particularly, but on the other hand, if they're doing it on their own property, not mine, or legally on the roadways, it's really none of my business, any more than it's their business if I choose to build a barn for my horses on my own property or ride my horses on the public roadways (legal in most states), causing them to have to slow down their vehicles to pass us.
If they're not building some absurd "hey, look at us" monstrousity with a circular driverway out on the countryside, they're "customizing and renovating" one of our old mansion homes in our once-grand downtown, er "uptown", main street area. Eventually though, they realize they are surrounded by "little people" in crime and drug-ridden neighborhoods on all sides, and try to escape by reselling.
Sorry, all the granite countertops and stainless steel in the world isn't going to make your overpriced "older home with lots of character" sell to anyone who informs themselves first and takes the time to check out the area - something you didn't do because you assumed every small southern town is going to be just like Mayberry. Welcome to the real world.
The real estate market these clowns from the city came out and created in areas where people used to be able to afford a home, but it is headed down down down.
Been lookin for a fixer upper, I have my own ideas about how I want a place fixed up...
The greedy flippers got to most of them and they're way overpriced. Waiting.... Waiting. Not sorry in the least for anyone who was greedy and optimistic, now hung with their empty "spec'" houses.
Well, hunting and drinking (not necessarily "swilling") are long-standing, honorable traditions (long-standing meaning hundreds of years, if not thousands). Camouflage is a matter of personal style, much like Gucci, etc. Noise can be an issue in the country as in the city, and always has been. Not crazy about it, but crazier about being respectful of those who were there before I arrived and, you know, civil liberties and those pesky things that some find SO annoying when applied to someone else.
Do I like it when someone drives an ATV and makes a lot of noise? Not particularly, but on the other hand, if they're doing it on their own property, not mine, or legally on the roadways, it's really none of my business, any more than it's their business if I choose to build a barn for my horses on my own property or ride my horses on the public roadways (legal in most states), causing them to have to slow down their vehicles to pass us.
Honorable traditions. That's your opinion, in my mind they are stupid and I find honestly nothing honorable in hunting (for sport, for food, that's something else). When it is hunting for food, I see no point in drinking. By the way rooster fighting was common too but I think if someone proposed to you to go to a **** fight you would politely refuse (I hope).
Camo has its purpose. You are not "blending in" when going to the grocery store. It's the same ridiculous behavior as when you see surgeons running into a restaurant in their surgical clothing and with their name tags on.
Man made noise is for the city since cities are artificial creations. Natural noises are for the rural areas since rural areas tend to be set in natural settings. People ESCAPE cities, concrete and traffic to go to the country for peace and quiet.
"Not crazy about noise but crazier about respecting those who were there before". Boy, talk about conformist. Yet you blame me for trying to impose my tastes on others when you have successfully been imposed on. I guess if the locals set the whole prairie on fire and jumped off the first bridge you would be running along. I thought part of going rural was about individuality?
Let me ask you this question - what if you moved to the country and bought a 5 acre parcel and one day your neighbor sold his to a guy who has a bunch of friends who love to shoot, drink and ATV all day long. They also have a hangar on the property where all day long they are working on one contraption or another while their drunken friends are riding the ATVs mercilessly? The neighbors dogs are always in your yard, some have attacked your chicken. You bake a pie and go to talk to this neighbor as politely as you can and he flips you off and tells you to "mind your bidness", "it's his land, he is in an unincorporated area and is doing everything legal". In one day your quiet country setting that you researched so much all of a sudden turned into a nightmare. I am curious if you would not be "one of those people who calls the sheriff and code enforcement" then and I am wondering if you would still be very respectful of the new neighbor's civil liberties. Or is it your solution to own a large enough parcel so that nobody can disturb you? In that case I would say you are an elitist since not everyone can be blessed with a big parcel of land.
On your comparison between ATVs and horses - you are supposed to exercise common sense with your ATVs AND with your horses. I would never make someone on a public roadway follow my horse at 3 miles an hour - that is impolite. Yes, it is my right but I also have a responsibility to others, not to be obnoxious and not to put my needs in front of the needs of others. You know, "don't do anything to anyone that you would not like done to yourself"?
I think you are the one who has confused personal rights and civil liberties with imposing "what I want to do" on others. Having rights also comes with responsibilities. If you are obnoxious and noisy and act like trash and if everyone else started doing the same, we would have anarchy and there would be no place on Earth to hide.
Finally, think about how countryside was just 30-50 years ago. Horseback riding was much more common, working cattle, mending fences off horseback too. Rural people farmed much more than they do today (what is it down to now - 2.5% of the population farms?). Countryside was much more quiet. What is happening today is the "trashification" of the countryside combined with "gentrification". That is, a portion of the countryside is being bought up by wealthy and the poor are forced to move elsewhere where it is cheaper (and probably uglier). However, not all poor people are noisy and rough, plenty of them are good, honest, responsible. But, I think the farmers and the ranchers are most often not the problem. Neither are the folks who have been in the area for generations, no, they have way too much respect for what has been around them for centuries.
I don't consider myself wealthy, just hard-working. I have saved enough to buy a small parcel of land somewhere rural and put a small cabin or camper or yurt on it so I can live there for a few months of the year. I don't want to bother anyone, I don't want to call the sheriff, code enforcement. In exchange, all I am asking for is peace and quiet. No rough rednecks, no ATVs, not loud noises, no late night bonfires with gunshots, trucks stuck in mud etc. You tell me if I am being disrespectful for asking that.
I don't want to bother anyone, I don't want to call the sheriff, code enforcement. In exchange, all I am asking for is peace and quiet. No rough rednecks, no ATVs, not loud noises, no late night bonfires with gunshots, trucks stuck in mud etc. You tell me if I am being disrespectful for asking that.
Not at all. I think that should be your right and your expectation if you have done your due diligence about the area's demographics and favorite leisure-time pursuits.
Maybe there should be rural HOAs for what you listed -- no, wait, that would be discriminatory.
The value of land is what someone is willing to pay for it. If someone makes a purchase and that happens to drive up the price of other properties that is the market at work. Maybe it doesn't suit you or yours but their is nothing illegal about it. If someone builds a 30,000 square foot home on that land and a few guests homes that is their business. If this is a second home for them what is that to anyone?
Saying that I do think that acting neighborly is the right thing to do. I would figure that most people like the idea of living in a quiet environment.
Not at all. I think that should be your right and your expectation if you have done your due diligence about the area's demographics and favorite leisure-time pursuits.
Maybe there should be rural HOAs for what you listed -- no, wait, that would be discriminatory.
Mhm... for some reason I think I have the upbringing and the expectations of the "demographics" you are referring to but I think I lack the thickness of the wallet
Not at all. I think that should be your right and your expectation if you have done your due diligence about the area's demographics and favorite leisure-time pursuits.
Maybe there should be rural HOAs for what you listed -- no, wait, that would be discriminatory.
Bingo. And if you've done that (and it is your responsibility, don't try to foist that responsibility off onto someone else like, oh, the seller's agent), you won't be surprised and will have no business objecting to something that doesn't fit your fantasy of country life in that particular locale.
There are gated equestrian communities with very nice homes and riding trails that are no doubt exactly what you're looking for, by the way. Complete with restrictions on what the neighbors (and you) can do and can't do. That sounds really like what you need to be looking for.
The real estate market these clowns from the city came out and created in areas where people used to be able to afford a home, but it is headed down down down.
Been lookin for a fixer upper, I have my own ideas about how I want a place fixed up...
The greedy flippers got to most of them and they're way overpriced. Waiting.... Waiting. Not sorry in the least for anyone who was greedy and optimistic, now hung with their empty "spec'" houses.
I was looking for something inexpensive, older, and a "fixer-upper" too. You might try Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed. I looked on Zillow and Realtor.com, but they were 'way too general. On LOA, you can type in property size, price range, how many BR/BA, and be as specific as you want. You can also search by state; as in - landsofidaho.com, etc. There are usually lots of pics (I look in the background as well as at the house, to see neighbors' houses, proximity, etc) and even some good videos. While they do list 'townie' houses, they also concentrate on rural.
Of course, buying a "pig in a poke" can get you into trouble; no realtor or seller's agent is going to tell you about the neighborhood or the people. But at least you can look at what you can afford/want to spend, and get a feel for the area; types of houses, style of living, whether the lake is actually forcing the sale because it is growing so rapidly the local government has disallowed occupation (we looked in ND around Devil's Lake - unless you are into waterfowl hunting, FLEE that area! Of course growing up in a swamp clued me in to not only what to look for, but the buzzwords realtors use to describe ther 'pig'.) I developed a habit of looking not only in my price range in an area, but below it and above it, so I could see what else was for sale in that area, whch gave me a good idea of what kind of an area it was. But nothing - nothing! - tops going out for a looksee, hanging out in the local bars and restaurants, and just listening to people talk and seeing how they behave, when they are comfortable and not trying to impress a buyer.
I was looking for something inexpensive, older, and a "fixer-upper" too. You might try landsofamerica.com. I looked on Zillow and Realtor.com, but they were 'way too general. On LOA, you can type in property size, price range, how many BR/BA, and be as specific as you want. You can also search by state; as in - landsofidaho.com, etc. There are usually lots of pics (I look in the background as well as at the house, to see neighbors' houses, proximity, etc) and even some good videos. While they do list 'townie' houses, they also concentrate on rural.
Of course, buying a "pig in a poke" can get you into trouble; no realtor or seller's agent is going to tell you about the neighborhood or the people. But at least you can look at what you can afford/want to spend, and get a feel for the area; types of houses, style of living, whether the lake is actually forcing the sale because it is growing so rapidly the local government has disallowed occupation (we looked in ND around Devil's Lake - unless you are into waterfowl hunting, FLEE that area! Of course growing up in a swamp clued me in to not only what to look for, but the buzzwords realtors use to describe ther 'pig'.) I developed a habit of looking not only in my price range in an area, but below it and above it, so I could see what else was for sale in that area, whch gave me a good idea of what kind of an area it was. But nothing - nothing! - tops going out for a looksee, hanging out in the local bars and restaurants, and just listening to people talk and seeing how they behave, when they are comfortable and not trying to impress a buyer.
Excellent post, SCGranny! My daughter and her husband are in the process of buying their first home. After years of living in a tiny one bedroom apartment, it HAD to be rural, with lots of acreage and few neighbors. They had no less than FOUR prospects in their price range, and after careful investigation, made an offer on their "dream house". It had to be old, and have been part of the landscape since at least before WWII. They really hate McMansions and subdivisions, they agree with me that they are a cancer on the beautiful countryside. They are going to take us on a tour next week, but they took a ton of pictures. It's a buyer's market, for sure. For an old house, it has a lot of extras inside that the previous owners put in over the years - four bedrooms, three and a half baths, a library (I can finally get my daughter's humongous book collection out of our attic), fireplaces, a jacuzzi, and an IN-GROUND SWIMMING POOL (this needs a lot of repair. so we won't be using it this summer). The upstairs needs some repainting, but what are moms for? I work for a school district, and have my whole summer off, so my work is cut out for me. I don't know who's more excited, the kids or me!!!!!!!
The main thing is, they want to keep the house and property intact the way it's always been. And they are both country raised, definitely NOT gentry or citified. Living in an urban area has been torture for them both.
Last edited by Mrs. Skeffington; 05-31-2011 at 02:21 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
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.
Of course growing up in a swamp clued me in to not only what to look for, but the buzzwords realtors use to describe ther 'pig'.) I developed a habit of looking not only in my price range in an area, but below it and above it, so I could see what else was for sale in that area, whch gave me a good idea of what kind of an area it was. But nothing - nothing! - tops going out for a looksee, hanging out in the local bars and restaurants, and just listening to people talk and seeing how they behave, when they are comfortable and not trying to impress a buyer.
