Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (humid, drivers)

[Sunnydee]

Thank you for two great years of reading and learning. I'm so grateful to you for sharing your story with us and wish you the very best life has to offer. Take care.

[smilinpretty]

Wow, your story is better than reading a book or watching television. Thank you for sharing your story. I read every post from the start. Time for you both to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Thank you so much!!

[sugarsugar]

I haven't had time to comment but have been keeping up now and then, and am sad to hear that the online portion of your journey is coming to a close. Thank you so much for sharing all that you've done! It has been a wonderful and fun thing to read about and share with my dh.

About the power - you were wise for your years to get it when you could. Having power is just an option for someone else that you might sell to, and means nothing about your decision to live off grid. Two stories from my neck of the woods:

First, some friends of ours decided to buy property in our area for a vacation spot/investment, back when the market here was booming. The nearest power was on a neighbor's land (the only option). The man offered to sell them an easement to get power to their land, but they decided to wait (against my advice). They used some of their retirement money to buy the land; the rest of their retirement was in stocks. Things boomed higher, and in short order, their land tripled in value, and so they held on to it, thinking the good times would never end - this was an unbelievable increase in value in a relatively short period of time. They were in their 60s when they bought it.

And then the stock market crashed, taking their retirement money into the tank. Panicked, they decided to sell the property, and went to the neighbor for the power easement. And he refused to sell it now at any price. In the meantime, the real estate market crashed so badly that similar properties with power were selling for way LESS than what they were asking for their land. It has been on the market for 3 years, without a single offer. It is so bad here that their land is now likely worth 1/3 of what they paid for it (yep, from triple in value to 1/3 of their original purchase price). They are competing for a sale with properties that do have power and no one is interested in their forever powerless piece of land. And with the beating they took in the stock market, and now this, their retirement is far from secure. Their location is good - if they had gotten the power even to the edge of land when they could, this property would have sold in a heartbeat back when they listed it.

The other story is that a guy in our neighborhood had lived here off grid from the start. About the same time the market started to tank, he had to move to town (getting older, medical issues), and so he approached several neighbors for a power easement. No one would give him one - he did move to town, but the property hasn't sold in the last several years. Again no offers at all, because properties of his size and with similar structures/homes with power are going for peanuts here, so why buy his? His market is limited to people who want to live off grid, and in this kind of market, there haven't been many looking to buy such a place. From what I gather, he is in a position where he can try to keep riding this out, but it is a bad position to be in when you want to sell.

Sometimes life deals people lemons, but you can't make the best lemonade out of them unless you have enough ingredients on hand, ie in this case, having a few options so that your back isn't completely against the wall. Running power to your place is an option that might come in handy some day - thank goodness you realized that!

[carmac]

Hey...I subscribed to "Going off Grid...." and got my first notice today in my regular email (I signed up for a weekly notice.) Cool! Now I shouldn't miss anything. Thanks Lisa!

[Jaxson]

<spit> <spit> let me at 'em, let me at 'em. Is there a problem here ma'am?

Been MIA you know why Lisa but I am so happy you opened your world to us! All 3 of you I'm am blessed to call friends ya done good.

Here's hoping the gardens do well we've had an awful lot of rain up here but I am picking green beans tomorrow.

Until you start writing again we'll all sit here and stare at our computer monitors.

[Suzanne45]

Lisa, thanks for the memories. Well, Mike and Nikki, too. It's been a great ridie. Although I am another who has posted recently, I did keep up with your writings as well as spectacular photography. Add me to the list of those, who when considering a move to your area, glean a lot of info from your journey. You deserve a break today!!!!

[rtj49]

Hi Lisa & Mike,
I will miss two of my favorite people every Monday. You guys have been so wonderful. You are what America has lost, and needs. I hope you check in every now and then. It's hard to leave such good friends behind! May you have many, many, great days, and God bless you. The best of everything to you,

RTJ49

[hiknapster]

I'm glad you are finally getting a break, Lisa. You deserve it! Best of luck.

[vacation bound]

Lisa, Mike, and Nicki,

I have been without Internet for about 3 weeks (up at my Tn home) and just read that you are not posting your story any longer. Thank you so much for the past two years of letting us inside your lives. I have learned soooo much from you and Mike and hope to eventually use it when I finally build my home in TN. I'm glad you will still be around posting, and maybe some day another City Data Forum reunion shall bring a bunch of us together to reminisce. Keep in touch and post some pics if you do any more interesting projects. Take care of yourselves.
Pat

[ylisa7]

Thank you so much everyone for writing in. I may have an update next Monday July 19th if things go as planned

Mike, Niki and I are all doing well. We repainted our bedroom...with a real color, a pale golden yellow. We have also been doing the same old side of the driveway work. Now if we could just get some more rain for the seed to pop

NoRoots- Thank you for writing in. Niki appreciates the smooches, lol.

MyrtleSue- I could never live without electricity either and we don't. We have just learned to conserve our usage. I'm glad you enjoyed our story. Mike thinks my next project should be a book but I am clueless about the process.

kygman- I'm glad you subscribed. Thank you for being a part of our journey. I will always remember the clogged culvert.

garyaliperti- Wow...it's great to hear from you. It's been over 30 years, lol.

nan5623- Thank you for your well wishes.

Liondandy- You are very welcome.

woodworkingmenace- Thank you for your kind words.

Gue- I would love a cup of mint tea while sitting on our patio. Come join me

cassy1224- We'll try and take some time for ourselves but not yet, lol. We have actually been very busy...just not enough to post about.

JEANNE61- I'm glad we were the first people in TN that you met

texasfirewheel- Thanks for posting the link.

garxhap-I'm all ears...so what's the next trend?

Sunnydee- Thank you so much.

sugarsugar- Thank you for sharing those heartbreaking stories. Some of life has some really sad and hard lessons. That's why it's good to share....maybe someone else can avoid the anguish that another person went through.

smilinpretty-I'm glad you enjoyed.

carmac-I'm glad you subscribed.

Jaxson- Thank you for writing in. Glad to see you back. How well did your beans do?

Suzanne1945- Thank you for writing in. We'll take a break some day

rtj49- Your words are appreciated. Thank you.

hiknapster- Thank you.

vacation bound- I bet you can't wait to get to TN. I hope you make it up her soon. A CD reunion would be fun. Maybe someone can organize a "Going Off Grid" reunion