@Mominohio wrote:
Let me try to give you some perspective that others have and some new ideas.
I was raised in a city of about 50,000 people. Not too big, not too small. The houses in our historic neighborhood were very close together with very small yards, but a nice mix of older and families, and pretty quiet for being off a main road in town.
I moved to a much bigger city (Columbus Ohio) for a year while in college. I hated it. I hate being in and living in big cities. I hate the noise, I hate the traffic, I hate the drive time to get from one side of town to another.
So when I graduated, I moved back to my hometown, and bought a house just a few streets away from where I grew up. Loved it...until the church next door (which was small, older congregation with only Sunday morning services, quiet and calm the rest of the week) decided to rent to a daycare facility that brought in 60 kids per day to run and scream from 6am to 6pm. Motivated us to find a rural property.
First, there is true 'country' living, then there is just out of town with a few acres.
Many people from cities and towns move out on a few acres, surrounded by other properties of just a few acres, and think they will have privacy and quiet. You often don't. There can still be a lot of traffic, and it is shocking how far you can hear things in a more open setting. The sounds travel miles when there aren't buildings and other sounds to block them. That can include many of the things that bother you right next door (voices, music, loud cars etc.).
Real 'out in the country' life can be very isolated (think dirt road with no other houses for miles) with a lot more privacy and quiet, but still the need to monitor your surroundings as people seek to get out and treat your property like it is a public park.
Many rural areas have little or no zoning, So while in town, barking dogs or loud music can be reported, jacked up cars in the driveway might be against zoning etc and can be addressed, many places in the rural areas have no such regulations. Makes for more freedom for you, but when others have/do things that you don't like, you have less recourse than other settings.
We got used to not having a store of any size or any fast food/gas stations for at least a 10 minute drive (to a really small town, but the nearest decent size town is closer to a half hour away), but many people would freak if they had to be 'inconvenienced' like that. Think that part of it through. Jobs are usually farther away too, and will the commute time (especially in bad weather) be something you can handle?
You are farther from hospitals and big/good fire departments. It takes much longer for response time from law enforcement ( I had a drunk guy who's car broke down in the road in the middle of the night, banging on my door and wouldn't go away. It took over 20 minutes to get the only deputy on duty for the whole county to come and get him). Be prepared to deal with that and be somewhat responsible for your own protection.
Get educated about rural property. Know flood plains, look at how the land sits (we sit much lower than it looks and deal with a lot of soggy property and flooding that we had no idea of when we bought). Understand what there is to having, using and maintaining a well and septic system. A lot of people think "yeah! Free water and sewer!" It isn't free by any means.
Realize that bugs and critters only get worse in the country. Small animals like squirrels and raccoons can create a lot of damage to property, and it seems every year, we have a different bug infestation, flies one year, bees the next, ants the next, and spiders the next. It seems it never ends (but we do have woods and a pond, which feeds that cycle a little more).
Realize you will see things that may bother you. Wildlife animals that are sick or suffering may cross your path. We have had to shoot more than one sick raccoon or possum over the years, because of it's suffering, and because it is a danger to us and out pets to have them around ill.People dump dogs and cats a lot, then if you have half a heart, you have to either take them in or find a place to take them (and that is easier said than done).
Be prepared to have fewer 'services' in the country. They don't plow the roads as quickly or as often. We get no salt on our roads (till you get to the state highways) and when they get icy, they stay that way for many days until the weather warms up and it melts naturally. No one is sweeping the streets or even paving them in this county. A paved road here can become darn near impassable with pot holes and crumbling asphalt, and stay that way for years.
Realize that if you don't understand the zoning and regulations in your rural township you could buy what seems like a huge property to you at this time, and the guy next door can still start a junk yard or a dirt bike track right next to you, and you will have to look at it or hear it, and there may be nothing you can do about it.
All that said, I don't mean to discourage you. We love a lot of what comes with rural living, but it isn't for those that haven't thought it through and really looked into the specifics of some of the things I've listed. It can end up being very disappointing when people have an uninformed view of what their life will be like.
I know that one thing I would do if I could afford it next time is to buy property on both sides of the road, so I don't have to look at a house or anything else I didn't want to, across from me. I'd also buy much more acreage, lots of room on both sides and behind me. We currently have two houses on five acres. It seems like much more because we have a huge woods behind us that belongs to the farm up around the corner, but is vacant and quiet. It is like we own the woods and use them but technically they aren't ours, and it will be not so nice if the owner ever decides to develop them or use them in some way. You cannot assume that if you buy a house or a property surrounded by farm fields and woods (that you don't own) that it will stay that way. Just because it is like that now, it can change in a heartbeat.
ITA!!
My hubbie and I were raised in a town (about 75,000) and we both were raised with close neighbors. When we married, we also had close neighbors..After I graduated from college, my husband wanted me to look for a job up north (in MI's UP.) I was lucky and was employed by a small hospital in a very small town (2500 people)..not even a stop/go light in town..we bought a house on several acres of property 5 miles out of town, surrounded by woods and hunting camps..had one close neighbor (nice guy)...BUT...liked it for a short time, but it had several downfalls..
people always shooting guns, cars racing down our road (lived on a dead end), constant logging around us with large trucks carrying logs, etc, parties going on all the time at the camps, long commutes to work and to shop, weather was extremely cold for long periods,snow plow didn't come sometimes, so couldn't get out to go to work...Many power outages due to downed trees, not able to grow certain things because either they were lost by the cold, or animals eating them (had to buy a greenhouse to raise veggies, etc.) afraid to put my cat outside, afraid an animal would get it, bears, coyotes, wolves, raccoons, eagles, etc, etc...animals were pretty to look at from inside, but afraid to go out in the yard sometimes to garden, etc...(even had a bear walk up about 50 yds from us while cooking hamburgs on the grill and they can be destructive)...
So when we retired, we moved back to our hometown (500 mi. south) near our families and children..my hubbie misses hunting on our back property, but he has a couple options down here...sometimes it's kind of noisy here, but I have good neighbors and am closer to my kids, shopping, healthcare, etc...Love my new smaller home and plan to live out my days here...
Good luck in whatever you do, but just really think about it before making a huge decision that you might not like later...
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