24601NoMore
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2015
- Messages
- 1,166
Hi, everyone..wondering if any of you live in the country far from the comforts and amenities of suburbia or city living.
After years (10+) of looking for a property to build our 'dream' retirement home, we found two adjacent lots that total just over 12 acres and 1,000+ ft of combined road frontage on a paved, dead-end and very private cul-de-sac in the country. (So, I can put our house just about in the middle of that and have no neighbors for 5-700+ feet either side..very nice).
There are only 9 "lots" and architectural controls on what can and can't be built. They're reasonable (eg: ranch of at least 2,400 sq ft, story and a half of 2,600 sq ft) to ensure that anything that does go in will be fairly nice.
Seems perfect on many levels, but it's 20 minutes from ANYTHING. And I do mean "anything". There is NOTHING nearby in terms of grocery, medical, parks, recreation, etc. There IS a rails-to-trails bike and walking path behind us, but that's pretty much it. Nearest grocery is 10+ min which is no big deal but it's a small mom and pop, not a Kroger. No restaurants. No doctors. Pretty much nothing except farmland and woods.
I always wanted to live in a more rural setting without the pesky irritations of sub life. (We have neighbors literally 20 feet from us today, and when the teenage boys are playing basketball and screaming their heads off feet from your house it can be a real PITA - I can hear them INSIDE my house with the windows closed up. Not fun). On the other hand, we live in our "dream" house already. The house is awesome and has everything we ever wanted..plus is close to all sorts of amenities (fitness & social facility for over 50 people, doctors, parks, restaurants, etc) but the lot is not good as it's 20 ft or so from each neighbor.
While we don't mind driving to get places, you really start thinking about..CAN I drive that far - especially at night - when I'm 70+? 80+? What happens if I live longer? Plus, this is in SE Michigan and we have weather. Winters can really suck in terms of road conditions, and I imagine the country does not get plowed or taken care of like the 'burbs do.
We have offers on both lots and only a couple of weeks to either close or bail.
Since we've looked for literally 10+ years, I have the "we're unlikely to ever find anything like this again" feeling going. Plus, my search area is somewhat limited as wife does not want to move super far away from family (like, to another state or even "up north"). So, to get privacy..I realize we need to move out a ways. The good news is these properties are literally ONE East-West road north of what had previously been the north range of my search area. So it's not like it's super far beyond where I've always been looking. But now that I've driven it a bunch of times I realize my search range may have been too far out to begin with..
Would appreciate any and all experiences from those of you who already do live in the boonies or were ever thinking of doing something similar..the other obvious downside is that the building process would probably be super painful and expensive (getting quotes of ~$200/sq ft - yikes) - but we also realize the odds of ever finding something that is what we would want in an existing house is near zero, also.
After years (10+) of looking for a property to build our 'dream' retirement home, we found two adjacent lots that total just over 12 acres and 1,000+ ft of combined road frontage on a paved, dead-end and very private cul-de-sac in the country. (So, I can put our house just about in the middle of that and have no neighbors for 5-700+ feet either side..very nice).
There are only 9 "lots" and architectural controls on what can and can't be built. They're reasonable (eg: ranch of at least 2,400 sq ft, story and a half of 2,600 sq ft) to ensure that anything that does go in will be fairly nice.
Seems perfect on many levels, but it's 20 minutes from ANYTHING. And I do mean "anything". There is NOTHING nearby in terms of grocery, medical, parks, recreation, etc. There IS a rails-to-trails bike and walking path behind us, but that's pretty much it. Nearest grocery is 10+ min which is no big deal but it's a small mom and pop, not a Kroger. No restaurants. No doctors. Pretty much nothing except farmland and woods.
I always wanted to live in a more rural setting without the pesky irritations of sub life. (We have neighbors literally 20 feet from us today, and when the teenage boys are playing basketball and screaming their heads off feet from your house it can be a real PITA - I can hear them INSIDE my house with the windows closed up. Not fun). On the other hand, we live in our "dream" house already. The house is awesome and has everything we ever wanted..plus is close to all sorts of amenities (fitness & social facility for over 50 people, doctors, parks, restaurants, etc) but the lot is not good as it's 20 ft or so from each neighbor.
While we don't mind driving to get places, you really start thinking about..CAN I drive that far - especially at night - when I'm 70+? 80+? What happens if I live longer? Plus, this is in SE Michigan and we have weather. Winters can really suck in terms of road conditions, and I imagine the country does not get plowed or taken care of like the 'burbs do.
We have offers on both lots and only a couple of weeks to either close or bail.
Since we've looked for literally 10+ years, I have the "we're unlikely to ever find anything like this again" feeling going. Plus, my search area is somewhat limited as wife does not want to move super far away from family (like, to another state or even "up north"). So, to get privacy..I realize we need to move out a ways. The good news is these properties are literally ONE East-West road north of what had previously been the north range of my search area. So it's not like it's super far beyond where I've always been looking. But now that I've driven it a bunch of times I realize my search range may have been too far out to begin with..
Would appreciate any and all experiences from those of you who already do live in the boonies or were ever thinking of doing something similar..the other obvious downside is that the building process would probably be super painful and expensive (getting quotes of ~$200/sq ft - yikes) - but we also realize the odds of ever finding something that is what we would want in an existing house is near zero, also.