Leaving the "big city" for the country.

[whistlepig]

Again, thanks for the thoughts.

For power, a generator is near the top of the list of things to get. Luckily, we have a 30 foot 5th wheel and we can retreat to there and run on battery/generator if we have to. I intend to tie the generator into the house at some point with a transfer switch, but maybe not right out of the gate.

Fuel is something I have given some thought to as well. Unfortunately, everything I have runs on gas, not diesel. I am not sure how I feel about storing 55 gallons of gas, but I will probably end up doing it. Maybe I will put an outbuilding somewhere away from the house. There is a gas station within about 10-15 min of there, but you pay a .10 premium.

One of the other big changes is not having city water or a well. There is a spring that feeds a 1500 gallon tank/pump (yes, there is running water), but it is truly a finite source of water. The current owner states it has never run dry, but that is just one person, and we are 4. I am going to look at the possibility of adding more storage capacity to that system. Not sure how feasible that is until I learn how much overflow there is from the current system. I assume there will be some. I have worked on other spring fed systems in the area and all the ones I have seen have an overflow for when the storage tank(s) are full. Should be as easy as tying that into another tank and making sure that water flows through both to prevent it from going stagnant in one.

I spent a good part of today engineering a rainwater collection system to gather water from around the hut and the runoff from the driveway. There is already a grate and drain at the bottom of the driveway, I just need to tie it all together. Obviously, this will not be our first choice for potable water (since it isn't), but it could be used for non potable purposes to ease the strain on the spring. I am also looking into what it would take to make that water potable. It does not look too hard, build some sand filters and such. Here is a picture of what I am thinking: http://www.siliconjunkie.net/TheHut/RunoffCollection.jpg It doesn't show in the diagram, but the sump pits and storage tank would be downhill from the level where the water is collected, so it will all be gravity fed. I will have to install a pump of some sort to make use of the water.

If worse comes to worse, we can do what many others do in the area and haul water, but I hope to avoid that.

With out water from a well or having city/county water available water would be the biggest concern. I have a friend that lives in a place that the well water is so poor (shale oil) that he tapped into a spring. He has an expensive filtering system. It works very well. Best coffee water I have ever tasted.I would not want for any better water. We have a similar filtering system on our place. To keep the iron and hard water deposits out of our bathrooms. We have a well. A good generator is a must have in the boonies. Gas is a hassle to store. It has to have stabilizer added and only good for a year. Diesel generators are much better for fuel storage. Diesel generators are very expensive. I have a Honda EB6500X gas that I am very pleased with. Worth the hassle of storing the gas.

 

[Sigarms]

Again, thanks for the thoughts.
For power, a generator is near the top of the list of things to get.

I've found one of the better buys I made was a somewhat inexpensive air compressor from a box store. You'd be surprised how much life is made easier when you have air to use.

Used ATV would be next up on the list in your area (or perhaps snowmobile).

For what it's worth, out of all the states I've lived in on the east coast, W.V is my favorite. For outdoors, the state has some of the best whitewater kayaking on the east coast (some big rivers by eastern standards and some amazing steep creeks), snowboarding/skiing better than anything until you hit N.Y, and the hunting is phenominal (sp?). People are some of the most friendliest you will find.

Man, talk about a change. The only thing I hear my wife talk about Houston is how that city didn't seem to have anything green, and it seemed to be set on one big slab of concrete.

 

[MarkV]

We are like most here on TBN and love the country life. Moved from very urban to very rural. The lack of around the corner conveniences is overcome with some planning. I would say the thing we miss the most is social life. In the city there were alway friends that lived close by and someone to get together with. It has been harder to break into a circle here. Country people tend to stay at home or gather with kin more here. People are friendly just not as social. Plus we came from the "CITY" which makes us very close to aliens.

Sounds like I am older than you and do not have kids in the house anymore. If I were in your situation I believe my biggest concern would be the kids. Living in the country doesn't offer kids as much chance to mix with others which could be an issue. Rural schools can be a problem in some situations so I would check that out closely. Also when the age arrives where there are after school activities constantly the logistics of to and from can be a problem.

Property looks nice. Good luck.

MarkV

 

[Redneck in training]

We made the move five years ago and never looked back. Now we live on 80 ac 12 miles from closest store, 45 miles from big city but only two miles on dirt road. While building our house we lived in the garage the whole summer. No AC, no toilet, in fact we even didn't have the garage door for some time. My wife is a city girl so she was somewhat apprehensive to be there alone because I travel more than 200 days a year. If I would tell her now to move back to the city she would rather die than go. She has her flower gardens, 8 ac of cut lawn she loves to maintain, her trees and no tan lines.
Previous contributors already summed up all the issues such as shopping, power outages, snow etc. We learned very quickly to plan our shopping and trips to the city, bought a tractor to dig us from the snow and installed two propane fireplaces for back up heating. Generator and tornado shelter are on the list of future projects. Our children are all grown up but I can imagine (remembering my childhood) it will be a heaven for younger kids.
We have satellite Internet. It isn't the best and cheapest but after we upgraded to new more powerful modem it works reasonably well even in quite bad weather.

 

[jimmyj]

Sounds very exciting. I can't add much to what has already been said, but just one statement will sum it up.

"The only problem with moving to the country and having your own patch of land is that you won't ever be able to go back to a house in the city"

There is NOTHING like your own place away from the masses. It's amazing.

Cheers and good luck!

(Maybe you could paint the quonset?)

 

[wvpolekat]

Air compressor I already have. It's a small and noisy Porter Cable pancake, but it will air up tires and run some air tools for a little while at least. Good enough for right now.

We are probably getting an ATV as part of the deal. Once he sells, he won't need his anymore. Big honkin Arctic Cat 4x4 of some sort. If I have to buy one, that's easy. They are like dog poo around here. Wife wants a golf cart to run back and forth to her mothers, so that will be on the list as well.

He also has one of those brush mowers you pull behind an ATV. He claims it works great, but everything I have read seems to not agree. Not real interested in it though. If he wants to leave it, great, if not, that's fine too.

 

[Sigarms]

We are probably getting an ATV as part of the deal. Once he sells, he won't need his anymore. Big honkin Arctic Cat 4x4 of some sort. If I have to buy one, that's easy. They are like dog poo around here.

Keep in mind, you won't be considered a local until you ride one around with a rifle slung behind your back

 

[Donkey Shade Farm]

Tomorrow we have a meeting with a gentleman selling a house and property near my wife's family.

Right now we live in "town", by that I mean ~8-10,000 people.

Where this is located is WAY, WAY back in the country. 2-3 miles down an unpaved road.

We won't have all the details until tomorrow, but it is a house on ~80 acres that he tried to sell a couple years ago without much luck. At that time he was asking around $150k. Seeing as how the housing market hasn't improved, I can't imagine it will be more than that at this point.

Vast majority of the land is forest. An area around the house (about the size of 2 football fields) has been cleared, about 1/3 of which is "yard", the remainder of which is grass but not pasture. Too many hills to be used for much of anything.

The house is "unique", it is a quansit hut. Which doesn't really bother me, but will take some getting used to. It also poses some financing challenges. But, I think they can be overcome.

This will be a MAJOR lifestyle change for us. No more 5 min trips to the store. But, the up side is that the boys will have all the room they want to play (and so will dad).

I am going to have to replace the current turf tires on my 2N with R1s. Too many hills to have to worry about traction. Already have a rear finish mower, blade, pond scoop, landscape rake. Just need a brush hog to round things out. But, that's small potatoes.

Here is a shot from google maps (edited to not reveal location) http://www.siliconjunkie.net/tbn/house.jpg

The only other big catch is if decent Internet is available, since I work from home and that is a requirement. Other folks on the hill tell us that DSL is available, so we will see. That could be a deal breaker.

No real plans for the land beyond mowing and hunting.

Nothing wrong with mowin' and huntin'. From a fellow mountaineer, I'd say your blade is going to get a lot work. Grading the road in the spring and plowing it in winter. If your the outdoorsey type, your gonna love living there.

 

[dodge man]

We moved to the country about 12 years ago. I've never looked back. We are only about 15 minutes from town (only 20,000 people), so we have the best of both worlds. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. I never really thought of myself as being from the big city, but after I moved away during college, I realized how much better it is living in a rural area. I am no more than a 2 hour drive from fairly larger towns and 4 hours from Chicago or St Louis.

One bit of advice that your already know about, get a tractor. It's amazing how much more work a larger piece of property will take, and I have only 3 acres. If you are the outdoors type at all and like working outside, you will really enjoy where you will be living, it looks great. Leave the "hut" alone, it looks cool just like it is. Build a house latter if it suits you.

BTW, that kind of ground would be worth good money around here. The deer hunting is great in this area, and I've seen ground like what you are looking at go for as much as $3000 an acres or more.

Also I am a land surveyor, have you considered a land survey of the property? You most likely won't have any problems with the boundaries, but you never know.

 

[wvpolekat]

Getting ready to call the owner back to see about finalizing things. He was going to talk to his lawyer about the paperwork.

I REALLY do appreciate everyone's feedback. The thoughts of disinterested people are very valuable when you may be blinded by the excitement. Even if they seem negative.

I did some quick checks to get an idea of how far some things are:

Grocery store: 28 min
Walmart: 39 min
Gas Station: 15 min if you have cash 25 min if you need to use plastic
Hardware store: 25 min
Taco Bell/McD/KFC/Shoney's: 25 min
Hospital: 28 min (urgent care closer, about 20 min)
REAL Hospital, 2 hours in Morgantown, 2 hours in Charleston

My "office" if I decide to work from there or if home internet is out: 36 min

It looks like we are actually going to split it up into 2 deals. One with the house and 13 acres, then the balance. I believe this is because the way it is deeded. My other property is something like 10 deeds. No matter to me. I believe he also wants to be able to hunt on it for some period of time, which I don't have a problem with as long as he doesn't act like he still owns the place.

As for a survey, I have found most of the markers. They are 6" well casings around here for some reason. Even my house in town has them like that for whatever reason. Once I can spend some time out there with the GPS and Google Maps, I will see how well those markers jive with the tax platts. I will have to go to the courthouse to get those.