MrSteve,
Those that piped up about the neighbor thing are giving good advise. Last year, after deciding that my 32ac didn't have a suitable building spot, i got a wild hair and started looking aroung the area for another tract. Found 70ac bordered by a good sized creek on the long side, an old dam that i coulda hydro'd the whole house off of, and a nice flat top of the ridge building location. It is a gorgeous piece of land. The asking price was 1k an ac....hmmm...well it was going to cost quite a bit to get a road into it, but something else nagged at me. So, i went up there 3-4 times, and the last time i walked the entire property line. Saw a fellow in an adjoining pasture on a wheeler doing some deer stand work, so i walked over an introduced myself. He was a local guy that now lived 45min away and hunts the family property as much as he could. I listened more than i talked, but i did tell my intentions of retiring soon and wanting to build a modest home. We both hunt, so we spent quite some time talking about bucks and toms. He then told me about the guy that just got out of prison for pulling a gun on a kid that rode a wheeler along the creek....which meant that this knuckle head would be my neighbor for the tune of about 1500yards. There were rumors of dope being grown and other conflicts with this guy and other folks in the area.
Well, another fellow on a wheeler drove up and stopped. He was looking at the same tract, and was also a displaced local that owned a farm further up the creek. He was looking at the tract strictly for hunting. Believe it or not these two guys knew of each other but had never really met. After another hr of shooting the ----, the second guy starts telling more horror stories about the ex-con and all the equipment that has come up missing around his farm. We all had alot in common and i would have loved to have these two guys as neighbors, but the ex-con was a deal breaker.
Do your homework:
Check the US Census bureau for county facts.
Talk to the neighbors, but be humble.
Drive around the immediate area and look it over.
Make sure that building site is not on a northern saddle that won't get any sun in the winter(i think you can guess how i know that /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif).
Most TN creeks are capable of flooding during heavy rains, so building next to one is not a good idea unless you are above the high(flood) water mark.
Walk every inch of the property more than once.
If you are looking in a more remote area, remember, the locals have lived there since the 1700's, don't step on their toes and respect their way of life, they may not have alot of money but they are rich in many other ways.
Turns out that 63ac next to my original 32ar came up for sale so i jumped on it. My surrounding neighbors are friendly hard working people that have already helped me out(storing my new Kioti in their barn until i get mine built) with a few projects. I do not wish to drag suburbia with me, i wish to adopt their way of life with just a few slight modifications.
Oh, and one more thing, do not assume that a survey it the last word on property lines. Surveying is much more complex in the rural seting, and can frequently be wrong. If you do get one done, take a copy to your neighbors and double check with them that it is correct. This way you can avoid conflict after it is too late.
Sorry for the long post, but i wish i had known about TBN in '01 when i was buying my first tract.
RD
