What do you wish you'd researched before you moved to a rural area? (price, homes)

[Pip-Squeak]

Starlink, that is a great idea! I've not looked into that. I heard it is pricey so will likely stay with our own carrier but it's something to keep in mind.

We don't have our own Sheriffs dept, it's the Sheriffs Dept for the entire county. Hence why often when people call on others for parking, they are already gone. The Sheriffs don't look for the person or come to your home so that's good. Even though they probably already know who it is

[2mares]

I grew up inbetween. My parents, grands, most of my relatives were born and grew up in the rural south. I was born and liven in a suburb of a metro area in the north until I was about 14, but we visited family in the rural south a couple times every year of my young life. I have heard everything under the sun from the transplants to my rural area for the last couple decades.
Reading through these posts makes me curious to the opposite. What do rural folks wish they had researched before moving to an urban or metro area?

[NewMexicoCowboy]

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

We're looking to move to a rural area from an urban area, in a different state. Besides the obvious lack of conveniences right around the corner, what did you find after you moved that you wished you'd known prior to moving?

Trying to avoid that head-smack moment (like reading the thread where the west coast guy couldn't put a septic system on his northern New England land).

We will probably buy a property complete with house and outbuildings. We do not personally have wells and septic but we've looked at houses here with them.

I wish I would of researched churches with my folks before we committed to a move to a rural area.i may have to drive aways.

[Pip-Squeak]

Originally Posted by abnfdc

1. That's how I grew up, and it's also what I've dealt with for the last couple years on the private road I am renting on. IMO, not a huge deal. USPS's Informed Delivery tells me when I have something important coming in. I'm moving even more rural next year and will actually get mail at the house, so that is good.
2. No street lights is a good thing. I don't want to pay for them. Luckily they just came out with a feature on cars called headlights.
3. yeah that sucks. Should have come up while doing research about the property, but live and learn.
4. That doesn't sound rural at all. The town I'm moving to doesn't have a PD and is covered for emergencies by the state police-they won't waste their time on minor stuff.
5. Yeah we're all dealing with that. One of the disadvantages of living rural is you get a lot of windshield time just to satisfy the basic needs. Optimizing shopping trips is useful.
6. No Starlink available? That's what I'll have to get when I move next year as there is no broadband and the cell coverage isn't fast enough(12mbps on a speedtest).

Just saw this. Hopefully Starling will become available soon. I think Musk is having difficulty with the Gov't.

[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by 2mares

I grew up inbetween. My parents, grands, most of my relatives were born and grew up in the rural south. I was born and liven in a suburb of a metro area in the north until I was about 14, but we visited family in the rural south a couple times every year of my young life. I have heard everything under the sun from the transplants to my rural area for the last couple decades.
Reading through these posts makes me curious to the opposite. What do rural folks wish they had researched before moving to an urban or metro area?

haha probably something about how close neighbors really are and OMG those street lights shining in my window all night!

Originally Posted by NewMexicoCowboy

I wish I would of researched churches with my folks before we committed to a move to a rural area.i may have to drive aways.

That's interesting! I checked out a few properties off the beaten path last year and most of them had at least one church within a mile. I'm kind of worried about having to turn down church too often.

[BobTex]

I grew up pretty rural through my HS years, even remote by east Texas standards. Even had a party line phone (landline ... the 1970's). Our nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away (older couple) and then it was 4 miles to the next permanent "neighbor". I learned a helluva lot about nature and country living. I was young and didn't like it. I moved out after HS and lived in various suburban scenes and even a couple of times in mid size cities.

This made me realize that all the "conveniences" of living in close proximity to shopping, work, and people/friends wasn't that worthwhile to what I considered quality of life. I started searching for a good parcel of land and finally after several years found a nice 50 acre tract bordered on 2 sides with extensive timber tracts for miles. Acquired that tract in 1995 and moved onto it permanently in 1998 after a year and a half in New England chasing my now wife. We love it. I leave keys in vehicles and equipment, my few neighbors are awesome. We have extreme privacy. Also a very high standard of living.

The drawbacks:
--- As someone mentioned high fuel bills

--- Also must consider time required to "travel" for shopping, medical, etc.

--- I wear out vehicles quickly. I retired in 2020 so that is somewhat less now but I used to commute 100 miles round trip 4 days/week for 22 years.

--- Internet sucks with us relying on cell phones as hotspots. Phone service(cell) is spotty even though I put up and outside antennae and a signal booster. I just recently switched cell provider and they offered an inside cell receiver with built in signal enhancer and I can now stream readily. It's awesome !

--- a lot of different equipment is required and not a luxury but a necessity.

Most of this I anticipated except the internet thingy since it was really in its infancy when I got the land.

I wouldn't change my decision to live out aways.

---

[Pip-Squeak]

I'll address a few drawbacks + PERKS we looked for before buying property.

-OFF GRID property with Artesian Springs.
**No Water or power bill.
**Plenty of water for the fish pond and water pipped into our home
By property during a drought so you can hike it to find the seeps. Then develop them. If promising, go buy their land.
***Use an Antique 1800's cooktop stove powered by firewood for wintertime heat and cooking. SO NICE!! Such a treat during winter. We do use the generator, it's rare but we do.

-Look for a small recreational town with some seasonal Tourism. Seeing the same faces all year is draining.


Look for a town with a bible based church EVEN IF you are not a Christian. Why?

A. Social Aspect.
B. Monthly potluck.
C. Church is where we charge our laptops, cell phone, anything we need charged during winter
(if you are off-grid during winter, this helps)
D. Host a bible study at your house during winter. Not required to lead it, just offer your home and someone else may be willing to lead it. It keeps you social during the wintertime and you are not driving to bible study wasting gas

-Ensure your library has a Mobile or Vehicle who visits your town 1x a month if no local library. Ours allows us to order any book or movie, up to 25 movies at a time, from ANY Of the 8 libraries in our county. We go online to order these, re-new, place holds, etc. A FANTASTIC RESOURCE

-Our town is off-grid yet does sport landline phones & FAST internet. It is PRICEY so check costs beforehand.

-Ensure you live near a Farmers Mkt. Veges & fruits expire fast and this way these vegetables last the ENTIRE WEEK. Why? They are grown then transported to the grocery stores picked MONTHS beforehand. Also most everyone at Farmers Mkts don't use chemicals, so it's organic by default.

-Consider trading. Apples and Pear Trees grow in abundance here. As you get to know the same people you buy from at the Farmers Mkt, they may be willing to trade for your apples and pears.

-Consider moving where there are famous hiking trails or cycling. you can host weekly rides or easy hikes to keep yourself in shape and accountable. Or advance, up to you. The easy stuff should get some exercise.

- Volunteer at the Food Pantry so you can take home old vegetables and fruits turning it into excellent pay dirt to grow some fruit trees, vegetables, etc. Our chickens are fed 90% by the Organic old fruits and vegetables otherwise tossed out. Bags of baby cabbage, spring mix, carrots, celery, squash, cucumbers, old melons, etc. We do eat some of the organic vegetables and fruits given away, cutting off the bruised and older spots. We are not signed up for the food bank.

- DIY Solar Panels can run your home most of the year (except winter) if your home is not too large. It can power your electric car & e-bike

-If you enjoy camping, find a membership thru KOA or Thousand Trails. Check out the local campgrounds nearby or within a few hours. You can take short jaunts during the weekend or weekdays. We pay $45 a month and usually camp around 8x per year for 1-2 nights, locally within 2 hrs. We checked out the campgrounds first to ensure those were included in the membership ahead of time.

- Ambulance/Air Medical Transport.It's $5 a month and we are solely flown via helicopter. No ambulance. IMAGINE THAT
Having a heart attack? You will be at the hospital MUCH faster. It's $5 a month for us both to join their membership program for free rides. One way into the town is so dangerous they do not want the ambulance driving that road so just went to 100% air transport.

- Check how many people are druggies in the town. Living in a small remote town can attract them. Check their criminal records too.

[MidValleyDad]

Originally Posted by Pip-Squeak

Just saw this. Hopefully Starling will become available soon. I think Musk is having difficulty with the Gov't.

Musk is having problem with the technology and economics. His cost model was extremely optimistic. It isn't a ponzi scheme but a lot of the costs were assumed to be reduced when volume picked up and the numbers haven't worked out so far.

[Pip-Squeak]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

Musk is having problem with the technology and economics. His cost model was extremely optimistic. It isn't a ponzi scheme but a lot of the costs were assumed to be reduced when volume picked up and the numbers haven't worked out so far.

Good information, thanks. The few video's I've seen some time back of some van dwellers using it, showed it wasn't working very well. It's probably improved, somewhat.

[paiste13]

Originally Posted by Pip-Squeak

I'll address a few drawbacks + PERKS we looked for before buying property.



Look for a town with a bible based church EVEN IF you are not a Christian. Why?

A. Social Aspect.
B. Monthly potluck.
C. Church is where we charge our laptops, cell phone, anything we need charged during winter
(if you are off-grid during winter, this helps)
D. Host a bible study at your house during winter. Not required to lead it, just offer your home and someone else may be willing to lead it. It keeps you social during the wintertime and you are not driving to bible study wasting gas

This is weird