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1. Fly to Oil city. $200 to $250 airfare per person. Car rental $50 per day and can carry up to four. Motel $30 and can sleep 2 or 3 people. Gas would cost $50-100 to tour the cities and towns for the duration of 8 days. Total cost would be $1290 to $1490 for three people(me, mom, dad)(save $200-250 if mom doesnt wanna go)
2. If we drive, it of course wont be nonstop. We will go to gainesville(day one) then to Tennessee(day two) then to Oil city(day 3, 4, 5, 6) then back to Tennessee(day seven) then back to Gainesville(day eight) The cost in gas would be $250 plus another $50-100 to tour the cities and towns. Motel costs $30 a night. Total cost $540 to $590 for three people(save maybe a few bucks for two people) So the costs are less than half but only 4 days of time to visit Oil city instead of 8 plus lots of time spent behind the wheel
Which do you think is the better option when we go and visit Oil city?
My parents might agree to go on the trip for my birthday but I am not sure if they want to go this far. They will definately be willing to go to Georgia, but is there any good safe areas with nice $50k or even $100k houses? I havent seen any. I also dont want to live anywhere near Atlanta due to the horrendous crime in that huge metro!
If we go just to Tennessee, its a much shorter trip but theres not alot of housing for $50k and even the $100k houses dont seem as good as the $50k houses I can get in Oil city, plus Oil city has much less crime and nicer houses with basements! Tennessee does have lower prop. taxes though. Maybe its a location my parents can relocate to as its a better, safer, cheaper location than south FL
I think that you should definitely fly.and just go with your dad.
AND...I also think you should take a camcorder, film the trip and put it on your website as a pay per view.
I'm serious. I never heard of Oil City until I found C-D and read your posts. And now I've even gone to their website. I can see it getting lots of attention for you and your business. I'd pay to see the video. How bout it C-D members? Would anyone else out there do the same?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Need_affordable_home
There are two options.
1. Fly to Oil city. $200 to $250 airfare per person. Car rental $50 per day and can carry up to four. Motel $30 and can sleep 2 or 3 people. Gas would cost $50-100 to tour the cities and towns for the duration of 8 days. Total cost would be $1290 to $1490 for three people(me, mom, dad)(save $200-250 if mom doesnt wanna go)
2. If we drive, it of course wont be nonstop. We will go to gainesville(day one) then to Tennessee(day two) then to Oil city(day 3, 4, 5, 6) then back to Tennessee(day seven) then back to Gainesville(day eight) The cost in gas would be $250 plus another $50-100 to tour the cities and towns. Motel costs $30 a night. Total cost $540 to $590 for three people(save maybe a few bucks for two people) So the costs are less than half but only 4 days of time to visit Oil city instead of 8 plus lots of time spent behind the wheel
Which do you think is the better option when we go and visit Oil city?
My parents might agree to go on the trip for my birthday but I am not sure if they want to go this far. They will definately be willing to go to Georgia, but is there any good safe areas with nice $50k or even $100k houses? I havent seen any. I also dont want to live anywhere near Atlanta due to the horrendous crime in that huge metro!
If we go just to Tennessee, its a much shorter trip but theres not alot of housing for $50k and even the $100k houses dont seem as good as the $50k houses I can get in Oil city, plus Oil city has much less crime and nicer houses with basements! Tennessee does have lower prop. taxes though. Maybe its a location my parents can relocate to as its a better, safer, cheaper location than south FL
-You'll only have 4 days
-You'll likely be tired when you get there and would want to sleep
-You would have to stop occasionally to get out, stretch, eat, etc and it'll add time to your trip also.
It'd be much simpler to fly. You'd be rested, you could leave in the morning and get in PA by noonish and have that whole day to drive around. Are you sure you can get a hotel room for $30/ night though?
Where are you going to find a hotel/motel for $30/nite?
That's what I was thinking...
And if you could find one it'd likely be run down and dirty. Splurge and stay at a Sleep Inn/ Days Inn or something; it might cost more but think of it as money well spent.
you can get a hotel in Gainesville for $50 a night and up north should be much cheaper. No way am I paying over $30 a night. If its an old motel then be it, im only staying the night and I wont see anything while sleeping and im out when I wake up, whats the point of spending?
I would also prefer to fly even at the higher cost. Gotta save up though! I am really curious about Oil city and cant wait to visit! No offense but id rather live in Oil city than south FL as I hate my current location(see my other threads for all the reasons)
I also vote for flying. The extra expense is made up by the extra time you'll have to look around. If the purpose of your trip is to see as much as possible, flying is the only way to go!
I wouldn't pay to see a video of your trip, but it would be interesting if you could share details and pictures when you return. And I'm so glad you're finally going to go visit Oil City!
You want to plan out a driving trip. That is far more flexible. Also I doubt your cost estimates are all that accurate. What will this trip really solve?? Will you pay that much just to make a decision that Oil City is the Place? Even four days in a town isn't much to really know some of the critical items. You get a glimpse but is it enough to base a decision that may be difficult to reverse.
Still sounds to me like no game plan. After the trip do you go back to Florida and then what? How do you actually buy a place without a continuous presence on the ground?? How do you see thru the typical jive any newcomer gets in a few days??? What is the maximum number days you can remain in place to mull or decide whatever needs to be decided, schedules like most plans need an ability to modify depending on what is found. Flying in today's World typically hard wires the schedule.
BTW, I am now back in Ohio. Stopped in Bluefield, WV. Holly Molly did you get that one wrong. I got a feeling Oil City has some of the same factors, some of the clues were in the photos but you chose to ignore some of the points I made. Pretty amazing how one can get snookered even if you are pretty experienced at seeing the World. A web fly over of Bluefield completely misses the critical main point one must know. Must admit I was very surprised at the actual ground level reality of the place. Nothing else can subsitute, even being there it might be difficult to fully absorb for some time.
Bluefield is nothing like you said, or hoped for, nor is it like the representations one can glean from messing around on the Web. Would take a major effort to really understand what is going on. One of the most strange places I've seen in a long, long time. Now I fully realize what my neighbor meant when he said no way.
I look a bunch of photos, don't know it will convey the actual situation. Maybe I would be hard put to do it in words.
I have this feeling all of these very low cost places have a number of the same factors in play. Lot more than may meet the eye in a few days. It is their total picture that will probably count long term, not some bricks on a particular lot.
The only type of game plan that would make any sense to me would be first get your own set of wheels. Have enough of your own money to live for say 3 months. Have enough money to do a driving trip of several weeks. Plan on going to a place, get some very, very cheap living digs by the week, month or whatever with zero long term commitment. Like a boarding house or motel by the week, month, etc. Maybe even try to get a job of any type just to make a few bucks to pay expenses while you absorb the area. Something that is fully reversable, gives exposure to the locals and parallels what a homeowner would experience living there.
Somehow you must pay the dues to bridge what is going to be a big change in culture and see it over enough time / seasons to understand the positives / negatives. The sad part is the 50K type house might really exist, in fair shape, it might be true in a place like Bluefield. There is just so much else to understand. You can totally drown in a big ocean even if your lifeboat is first class.
Somehow you must solve the basic factors required to be an independent steamer and be able to solve all the requirements to exist in a new place in the style you imagine. The critical flaw as I see it, the new place may never fit into your assumption sets. The reality somehow must be equal to the longer situation any one would face in that enviroment. Might be Heaven, might be Hell, your methods must be capable of dealing with both.
Bluefield is a real trip in the true sense of the word. Think it answered that basic question I posed, why are there so many places for sale, why are they so cheap, what are we missing here???? Wow, I just was not ready for the real answers. And I've seen my share of other WV places. So do these factors parallel what is happening in Oil City??
Still haven't tried to organize the photos yet, am a tired puppy, just off the road today.
Just don't think your methods, what passes for a game plan can lead to the right conclusion for many of these type places. I will probably go up to the eastern area of Ohio in a couple weeks. Might just scoot over to fab Oil City to see that jewel for myself. Got to be better than Bluefield.
How do you rationalize, adjust or compromise when the reality on the ground fails to meet your core assumptions or belief system. Ain't just Bluefield a bunch of the others you jumped on would also fall into a similar category. If I was doing something similar or had something like your goals I just think I would need a far better game plan. Somehow there has to be a chance for longer exposure with close to zero risk for some acceptable cost and method for modifying expectations to meet reality. When do you back out, what is the unacceptable level of this factor, that factor or whatever that decides, how long can you mull or invest to get to that point. Going to be a lot of pressure to make events on the ground fit your idea of reality.
After today I understand why millions of people are not rushing into a situation that is too good to be true. Duh, the reality doesn't match the hype. Might be millions in writing books on a number of these places. Everybody is looking for Paradise these days.
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Could an Oil City reality video be far behind?
Forget flying, you need to be flexible
