What do you wish you'd researched before you moved to a rural area? (farming, lakes)
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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.
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?
Tryingk out before moving. 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.
Wells and septic are usually not a problem, with horses, most of the properties we’ve lived on have come with them. They’re usually very reliable. There are a ton of things to look at, urban to rural is a big leap. Make sure you like the small town you’ll be living near, each town is different, some good, some not so much.
Fireworks is something to check, if your neighbors like to set them off at all hours, then get the guns and shoot em up, it’s better if you want to join them. If you just want to sleep, be prepared to lose a few nights worth for each major holiday. If you find mattresses or junkers in neighbors yards aesthetically pleasing or not, is something to check out before hand.
We live in a flight path, military helicopters and small planes fly over all the time. It’s mildly annoying, but quiet would be better. If you want to keep chickens or small animals, check out the predators in the area and know how to protect your livestock. Mud can be another big issue if you get a lot of rain. A property in July might look totally different in January. A long hilly driveway might be impossible to navigate in mud or snow without a four wheel drive.
Finding handyman to come out and work has been a huge nightmare. Many don’t want to drive out, while others are just flakes. If you have a fixer upper, it might be better to use your skills, than to rely on others. A country place can start to feel isolated and lonely on a dark night or during a big snowstorm. Make sure you always have candles and flashlights for a power outage.
The country attracts all kinds. Some move there to try farming or rural life. Others move with kids who are then allowed to run wild, or they have a dream to park fifteen cars that don’t run in their front yard. It’s best you meet a few of your neighbors before moving in.
The country life can be fun, but comes with a few caveats.
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.
This applies mostly to if you buy land and build, but find out how hard it is to get good contractors. In our area, there was what amounted to an anticompetition kind of thing entrenched. Thought we were doing right by hiring local. WRONG! Oh, some were good, but there were more Never Agains than those. We should have hired from a larger geographical area, even at higher cost. We both ended up doing far more work ourselves than we had planned.
A born-and-bred local keeps a Do Not Use Again list, and so do I. We knew it was bad when “natives” and longtime residents asked US who was good.
You will probably also need to expand your area searched when looking for auto service, medical care, etc. But these things I fully expected. There are only so many customers for so many businesses. The construction contractor situation shocked us because there are so many of them...or they call themselves builders, painters...
Wells and septic are usually not a problem, with horses, most of the properties we’ve lived on have come with them. They’re usually very reliable. There are a ton of things to look at, urban to rural is a big leap. Make sure you like the small town you’ll be living near, each town is different, some good, some not so much.
Fireworks is something to check, if your neighbors like to set them off at all hours, then get the guns and shoot em up, it’s better if you want to join them. If you just want to sleep, be prepared to lose a few nights worth for each major holiday. If you find mattresses or junkers in neighbors yards aesthetically pleasing or not, is something to check out before hand.
We live in a flight path, military helicopters and small planes fly over all the time. It’s mildly annoying, but quiet would be better. If you want to keep chickens or small animals, check out the predators in the area and know how to protect your livestock. Mud can be another big issue if you get a lot of rain. A property in July might look totally different in January. A long hilly driveway might be impossible to navigate in mud or snow without a four wheel drive.
Finding handyman to come out and work has been a huge nightmare. Many don’t want to drive out, while others are just flakes. If you have a fixer upper, it might be better to use your skills, than to rely on others. A country place can start to feel isolated and lonely on a dark night or during a big snowstorm. Make sure you always have candles and flashlights for a power outage.
The country attracts all kinds. Some move there to try farming or rural life. Others move with kids who are then allowed to run wild, or they have a dream to park fifteen cars that don’t run in their front yard. It’s best you meet a few of your neighbors before moving in.
The country life can be fun, but comes with a few caveats.
Fireworks! Providing there's enough space I don't know how it can be worse than what we had here in 2020. 60' wide lots and I had debris from my neighbor 2 doors down. We had professional fireworks on 3 sides of us. Last year wasn't as bad and this year - so far - we've only had a couple of times. Fingers crossed this weekend is tolerable. Police usually will check things out if called but didn't do a thing in 2020. People do tend to shut down by midnight here for the most part.
Flight path is an issue - I am on two right now and hate it. One of the areas I'm looking at has a small airport nearby but I think it's further out than what I have now. I have only visited from April - October so I don't have a good feel for snow/mud seasons yet.
We can do most handy things ourselves. Good point on the 4WD!
This applies mostly to if you buy land and build, but find out how hard it is to get good contractors. In our area, there was what amounted to an anticompetition kind of thing entrenched. Thought we were doing right by hiring local. WRONG! Oh, some were good, but there were more Never Agains than those. We should have hired from a larger geographical area, even at higher cost. We both ended up doing far more work ourselves than we had planned.
A born-and-bred local keeps a Do Not Use Again list, and so do I. We knew it was bad when “natives” and longtime residents asked US who was good.
You will probably also need to expand your area searched when looking for auto service, medical care, etc. But these things I fully expected. There are only so many customers for so many businesses. The construction contractor situation shocked us because there are so many of them...or they call themselves builders, painters...
We've got a lot of "painter/handyman" people hanging out their shingles here too and many are unreliable. Thankfully we can do a lot ourselves but we've both hired out chimney work and I've hired tree guys (also hard to find here unless one wants to pay a fortune!)
So - ask the neighbors about their "do/do not use" list - got it!
Medical care I'm looking at
Auto repair we've got covered, though we'd need a parts source
Small animal care is another thing I've got on my list
Love how porous my memory is some days, this should have been in the original post. I'm also thinking of things like brownfields. When I was house hunting in the late 80s, it wasn't as easy to find this information. I've since learned my town has a number of brownfield site, with one exceptionally bad one just down the road. So I'm also looking for info on things like that which I might not have encountered in more urban settings.
I've heard chicken farms are not enjoyable to live near?
I chuckled at the fireworks comments....random gunfire while some yahoo assaults a tree or old can too! I sort of was aware of those things.
The biggest issue we faced was the political meltdown that occurred as the Donald came to the fore. The lack of values/morals/constructive behavior was always there, but Donald gave it a license to come public with the ignorance.
Your beliefs are your beliefs. I really don't care. But once it came out in the open it destroyed friendships. The groups of people which previously interacted socially became divided and fell apart. It was and is a really sad development. Doubt that the harm will be healed any time soon.
Surprised by the behavior--not that we didn't know the beliefs were there, but that they came to be public displays (literally) so quickly has been a hurtful experience.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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From the experience of my parents:
Is cable available? They had to use satellite TV because their street did not allow underground utilities.
is their a building restriction? Their 3.5 acre lot was grandfathered, but the requirement is minimum 5 acres. If the home was destroyed they could not build on it again.
Is the well still producing enough water? They could only water the garden for 1/2 hour at a time, or would start picking up sand.
Is hunting allowed on private property if not posted? It is there, and several times people asked to shoot deer there. Luckily they were polite enough to ask first.
Where is the nearest municipal sewer system ending? Sometimes the city/town will extend it past your home and you will have to pay to connect, at a cost of $20,000 or more. Same with municipal water.
Is the septic tank large enough to handle the load if you add on another bedroom or bathroom? Sizing code is based on the house, not the number of occupants. They added a 1/2 bath without permits because it would have required a new larger septic tank.
If you've never lived in a rural area (however you define that), rent first. It isn't for everybody.
I could write a book on pitfalls of the naive rural home buyer. But mainly, without many -- or sometimes, any -- urban services, you must be far more ready to solve any and all the problems yourself. If you are not handy, you will be in for a frustrating time. You rarely will be able to just pick up a phone and pay money and easily get something done. You will be leaning on your neighbors for all kinds of stuff that in a city you would hire some professional for, and you bet they will hope to do the same.
I chuckled at the fireworks comments....random gunfire while some yahoo assaults a tree or old can too! I sort of was aware of those things.
The biggest issue we faced was the political meltdown that occurred as the Donald came to the fore. The lack of values/morals/constructive behavior was always there, but Donald gave it a license to come public with the ignorance.
Your beliefs are your beliefs. I really don't care. But once it came out in the open it destroyed friendships. The groups of people which previously interacted socially became divided and fell apart. It was and is a really sad development. Doubt that the harm will be healed any time soon.
Surprised by the behavior--not that we didn't know the beliefs were there, but that they came to be public displays (literally) so quickly has been a hurtful experience.
I'm kind of assuming fireworks will be less than here, but I know sound carries more in open areas so maybe not. Perhaps next year I should plan a July 4 visit to see how things look.
That political meltdown wasn't limited to rural areas. It's not going away. I actually found politics was less in my face while traveling last year than it is back home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hemlock140
From the experience of my parents:
Is cable available? They had to use satellite TV because their street did not allow underground utilities.
is their a building restriction? Their 3.5 acre lot was grandfathered, but the requirement is minimum 5 acres. If the home was destroyed they could not build on it again.
Is the well still producing enough water? They could only water the garden for 1/2 hour at a time, or would start picking up sand.
Is hunting allowed on private property if not posted? It is there, and several times people asked to shoot deer there. Luckily they were polite enough to ask first.
Where is the nearest municipal sewer system ending? Sometimes the city/town will extend it past your home and you will have to pay to connect, at a cost of $20,000 or more. Same with municipal water.
Is the septic tank large enough to handle the load if you add on another bedroom or bathroom? Sizing code is based on the house, not the number of occupants. They added a 1/2 bath without permits because it would have required a new larger septic tank.
These are great, thank you!! Hunting is a concern. I'm not against it at all, but would like to be able to hike my property without worries.
We haven't had cable in years but I'm guessing antennas would be difficult rural as well? I do see a lot of satellite dishes when traveling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sombrueil
If you've never lived in a rural area (however you define that), rent first. It isn't for everybody.
I could write a book on pitfalls of the naive rural home buyer. But mainly, without many -- or sometimes, any -- urban services, you must be far more ready to solve any and all the problems yourself. If you are not handy, you will be in for a frustrating time. You rarely will be able to just pick up a phone and pay money and easily get something done. You will be leaning on your neighbors for all kinds of stuff that in a city you would hire some professional for, and you bet they will hope to do the same.
Renting will be difficult with what we need to move but we wouldn't be full time for 5-10 more years anyway, so it may be possible short term. We've got a number of options to explore first. We rarely pick up the phone to hire anyone even where we are.
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