Wanting to move to Mid-West/Plains area.

[DerekF]

Will try not to take up to much time with all the background information. Sorry if I do.

Right now I’m a rural northern AZ born and raised, and now I’m having and raising my own kids. I have two years left of my education needed to become a public school teacher. My wife is doing the same and is equally as far along. Now school teachers don’t make loads of money, especially not in Arizona, and I’m OK with that. Teachers get a lot of time off to be with their families (son of two school teachers) and I find that just as important as making a good living. It seems to have a decent balance...

Anyway, in about 4-5 years we are going to be in a good position to move out of state. Should be totally debt free (definitely free of any student loans upon graduation) with a decent surplus in the bank (already do, we’ve worked our butts off for it).

Living in northern AZ you get a little tired of the constant lack of grass (we do have more than the Phoenix area) and trees (definitely a lot more than the Phoenix area). The land is also expensive for being practically worthless. I want to live somewhere that I can #1 - live within 10-15 minutes max from town (town being somewhere with a gas station, school, grocery store, and post office) #2 affordable - wife and I should both be well into teaching careers at this point, so we’ll make a little money and would like to get 5-10 acres with some trees, a little space in between the neighbors, and beautiful green grass. #3’still very rural. I come from a Red Angus cattle ranching family on one side and a citrus farming family on the other. I am familiar with the agricultural lifestyle and want my kids to experience with it to. Extended family is in line to get the farms/ranches.

I’m not looking to do anything full time without a doubt, mostly just a hobby farm.

I guess getting to the point of the post - for those of you who live out there, what do you think of
It? Where do you live? What do you live? What do you hate? Any advice?

Thanks In advance!

 

[redman135]

When buying land WHO is LIABLE for pruning/removing trees planted under powerlines and on top of buried utilities?
Look at hedges if any on property. Are the trees growing in all directions because they planted too close togather and never thinned? You could get major sticker shock fixing someone else's mistake. Common problem in my area.
GET MAP of ALL water reticulation,(live and obselete if posibble) on the property.
If using power/electric fencing GET MAP. You need power input and switches marked(very important when you have a circut/loop input)

 

[RNeumann]

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I look at stuff like this when we were thinking of moving. I also look up tax rates, median income etc. I believe it’s federal law, but if not most states post the wages for public employees like teachers, cops etc and I’d study those. Understand the relation of house cost/living expenses to wages. Making $100,000 a year may sound good, but if it takes $1,000,000 to buy a house it’s not so good (10x yearly salary). Where as another place may pay $50,000/yr but the same house is $200,000 (4x yearly salary). You can look up the prices of gas and electricity too.

We also spend a lot of time traveling to different places- road trips, RV trips and we would fly to areas and rent a car. Beyond pretty areas we went out of our way to interact with people. How do conversations go with a checker at the store, or a waitress? How do public bathrooms look? Etc etc. It’s impossible to pick a spot for you. But I can share our process. We ended up about 1200 miles away from where we were born. And we made the move mid careers.

Good luck and enjoy the process! Debt free is a good place to be. That changed our lives too- makes a move like this very possible and actually enjoyable.

 

[coobie]

We live in southern Michigan been here my whole life.I love northeast Iowa kind of hilly and not a lot of people.If I could get the wife to move there I would in a heart beat.

 

[ArlyA]

When buying land WHO is LIABLE for pruning/removing trees planted under powerlines and on top of buried utilities?
Look at hedges if any on property. Are the trees growing in all directions because they planted too close togather and never thinned? You could get major sticker shock fixing someone else's mistake. Common problem in my area.
GET MAP of ALL water reticulation,(live and obselete if posibble) on the property.
If using power/electric fencing GET MAP. You need power input and switches marked(very important when you have a circut/loop input)

The company who owns the powerlines or pipelines are responsible for the brushing and pruning of there right of way. At least that's the way it is in MI.

 

[shooterdon]

Stay away from areas that experience a lot of tornadoes and/or floods. Living in northern MI, snow does not bother me but it may bother others. Heat kills me but I do not need A/C where I am. Nice to have a pond or stream...I had to build a pond. Check out how deep you need to go for a well, as they can get expensive and some areas have crappy water. If the place has a well, check the quality. I wound up adding a $2500 system to address hardness and iron and still not happy with it.

If you can get property next to state land (my situation) you have a lot of "free" land to keep neighbors distant. I am very rural and it is not for everyone...women especially. 10 miles to gas station/conscience store, and auto repair shop....12 miles to PO, 25 miles to a town with shopping and hospital.

I tried living out here without a tractor for 6 years and it can be done but much easier with one. I burn wood so it helps processing, and it is my snow weapon with both a blower and blade.

 

[ArlyA]

We moved to the south shore of da BIG lake Superior for the mild temps year-around and consistent snow for XCing. We don't have air conditioning.

 

[Diggin It]

Be mindful of the Tickles family, Polly and Pauli. They can really screw things up if the wrong people get in power. Taxes, regulations, building and zoning codes and regulations. Some places won't even allow a portable shed without permits and inspections. Can't dig a hole for a plant without approval, put up an outdoor light, cut a tree branch, set your trash cans in the wrong place, etc.

Other places are almost free of that and you can clear acres, dig a pond or build a house without too much interference. I can do pretty much whatever I want and never even have to see the local honchos.

Watch vehicle regulations too. I hear nasty things about PA and their safety inspections for example. In some places, all operable vehicles are taxed whether they ever go on public roads or not. Other places only require plates for vehicles that do use public roads.

And check utility rates. Some places are much higher than others for electric and water. Many places do not have natural gas, so you need LP or other fuel storage.

How dependent are you on Internet? Some places have multiple options, while others have barely any high speed service at all. I have a fairly reliable 25M DSL, but my neighbor a mile down the road is 'too far' and can't get anything. There are still a lot of 'rural' areas that don't even get cell service.

 

[MossRoad]

We live in Norther Indiana. There's lots of flat land around here. But there are a few hilly areas in the continental divide zone that runs across norther Ohio clear over to NW Indiana. Southern Indiana has a lot more hills and is much more scenic, as is southern Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, southern Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, etc... If you stay west of lake Michigan you get much less snow. Still a lot of colder temps. East and south of the Great Lakes, you can at times, get dumped on. Again, those areas south of here are out of the snow bands from the lakes.

As for tornadoes, good luck trying to avoid those anywhere east of the Rockies. Anywhere in the areas you are considering is a target. Don't get complacent. Have a shelter and a sense of reality, and a good insurance policy.

Here's a map of all the tornadoes in a 61 year time span ranked by F-scale.



With that said, I've been within about 1/4 mile of 6 tornadoes in 50 years and have never seen one in my life. Have seen the destruction just a few blocks away. YIKES!

But I'd be more concerned with purchasing property in a flood zone than I would with tornadoes. A home in the valleys and hills (not at the top of a hill) is probably going to be less prone to tornado damage. And lighting damage. Lightning causes the most problems.

I'd also not have any large trees within falling distance of my home. While living in the woods is great, large trees can kill you in your sleep. Keep them at least 1.5 times their height away from you home. Plant some lower-growing ornamentals for shade and landscape.

The cost of living in Indiana is dirt cheap. One of the lowest in the country. Our public education system sucks! Except in areas where there are large subdivisions of wealthier people. Then you're living in an expensive area. So, if you want affordable housing, you'll get a sucky public school system. Better public schools = higher cost of living. It's that simple.

Good luck in your search.

 

[dougtrr2]

A lot of pieces of the puzzle to put together here. I wouldn't be in a big hurry to buy. Living in an area for a while will help you make a better choice. Midwest, worry about floods, not tornados. It is easy to avoid a flood risk by site selection. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security by a levee, they do fail. Are you sure you are ready for the climate change? Not global, but going from Arizona to a place with winters is going to be a major change. I was military and lived in several different places. Being born and raised in Iowa, I missed the change of the seasons in other places. Washington state was beautiful and green but the 200 days of overcast was depressing to me.

Since you are in education do your homework on the state retirement/benefit available. I am sure there are significant differences from state to state. Might as well get the best deal available. You might find some states offering incentives to teach in rural schools.

Doug in SW IA