Affordability of a small farm around Cranberry PA area? - (lengthy post)

[CJ]

Well the unthinkable has happened, my hubby is considering giving up the contract engineering life and accepting a job offer as a in house project manager (still in the nuclear field). The job is in Monroeville PA, but they are moving their offices to Cranberry PA in 2009.

If we take it, he'd either have to make that long commute for 18 months or so, or we'd need to find something between the 2 areas.

I know PA is going to be way more expensive than Missouri. It's so hard to find anything online, so I thought I'd ask here about what we might expect to find price wise in that area.

We'd like at least 40 acres, remodeling an old house is okay as long as the home has some character to it, I can't stand a plain ranch with a low peaked roof. Old farmhouse is fine. We'd want mostly trees, but some pasture, and live water is a must (creek, spring, etc). It would be awesome to find something via word of mouth without a realtor involved. Barring that, I would appreciate a referral to a realtor in the area who understands what a homesteader looks for in a property.

We'd like to find something for under $200k, $175k would be even better. I have no idea if this is possible in that area, but we would be taking a significant pay cut (nearly in half) if we take this offer.

Why would we do that? Well we both miss having a farm, but the only way that works is for me to run it and hubby to be on the road all the time. By taking an inhouse job, we'll make way less money, but we can have a small farm again, benefits and get setup for retirement.

We'd have to sell our land in Missouri, and probably the RV and semi truck to finance a place there, that way we'd have just a teensy mortgage if we stay in the above price range.

I'd also like to know more about the building codes for the area (venango, clarion, or butler counties I'd say) weather, and anything else anyone can share, it will sure help us to make a decision on the job offer.

Thanks!

[pistolsmom]

I am in Armstrong County but only 2 miles outside of Clarion County. I want to clarify that you are talking about Cranberry which is near Franklin/Oil City and are NOT talking about Cranberry Township which is in Butler County?? At any rate I can't imagine getting a farm for that $ around the area. The 3 counties are all becoming depressed areas but it seems people from the city come and buy the land. The local newspaper for that area is www.thederrick.com and they have a real estate section. The Butler paper is www.butlereagle.com and the Armstrong paper is www.leadertimes.com you could check those out. Welcome to pm me with any questions.

[CJ]

Mmmm... I'm not sure which it is... I wasn't aware of both places. The company is Westinghouse, and I know it's near an airport... LOL

I was afraid of that on the prices. Thank you for the paper links, I really appreciate it, I will go check those out!

[pistolsmom]

CJ it is Cranberry Township which is in Butler County and the MOST expensive place!! The farmers there have gotten rich selling their farms to developers!!!!!!! Cranberry Twn. is a MADHOUSE!!!!! BUT............people commute even from here so don't give up hope! Hubby has already burned our Butler Eagle tonight so I can't look thru it but I will when I get back home Wed. Cranberry Twn is near Pittsburgh by the way :} I would say you want to be looking at Butler/Allegheny/and possibly a small part of Armstrong Counties for your search. And the Pittsburgh paper is www.pittsburghlive.com

[hisenthlay]

Yeah, which Cranberry do you mean? If you mean the one in Butler, I'd say the chances are pretty low--that's all suburbia now, practically, and the big land goes for big money. If you want to be farther out from Pittsburgh, I'd think you could find something pretty close to what you want--on maybe a little less acreage--with a little luck and a lot of looking.

Don't forget to check out http://pittsburgh.craigslist.org/rfs/

Howard Hanna is one of the bigger realtors in the area--they used to have a good searchable website, but they just "upgraded" it and now it's practically useless.

ETA: Oh, sorry about that--just saw the location update. Well, I think you're definitely going to have to look at smaller acreage, then, in that price range, unless there's something pretty undesirable about the land/house. But there are some beautiful areas up that way, and I think you could find something to be happy with.

[CJ]

Well heck. LOL Dreams up in smoke! We could survive on 10 acres, but I doubt we'd sell our land in MO if that's what we end up with... and of course if we didn't sell it, we'd have to get a mortgage. Ugh Not keen on that idea.

Thanks for the links again, both of you. I'll be doing some more searching now that I'm in the right county.

A 40 minute commute is doable, much more I'd rather not.

[comfortablynumb]

i concur, its a mad house.

I suggest you look about 20-30 miles from where he intends to work there are lots of little towns and backwaters where land can be gotten on the cheap.

well, cheap for PA anyhow.

40 acres and ahouse is going to be a tall order.... plan on at least 350k... maybe more.

or settle for less and better...

or travel a longer distance.

go a little north of butler and it may get cheaper, but you might have to live with a 60 min ride to work.

or you might score a real deal if you look hard.

[CJ]

We only have until Thursday to accept or decline the offer. Here's a map image of Cranberry Township, with a 40 minute driving zone around it (in blue).


It looks like Beaver and Lawrence county are in that driving distance. What are they like?

[MELOC]

sad to say that i agree. anything within a short commute of any major city in pa is out of sight. definately consider a longer commute and shoot for a few less acres. just an example from my area just west of gettysburg... simple ranchers on a hal facre or 1/4 acre lot go for $220,000. we are an hour from baltimore and an hour and a half from dc. lots of folks commute that far and have paid that much. developers get all of the acreage. they have gone through this area with a fine toothed comb seeking property to develop. maybe you could look into property in WV near the border if it isn't too far to travel.

[MELOC]

nope...too far to travel.

[MELOC]

having driven to pittsburgh from state college once or twice, i say your best bet is due east of cranberry. bud schuster's jazzy new highway cuts through some fairly depressed area north east of pittsburgh.

[hisenthlay]

I think your best bet would be toward Beaver or Lawrence Counties. I recently saw two houses for sale in West Deer (on the old Howard Hanna site) for around $200ish, I think, on over 10 ac (can't remember any exact numbers now, sorry--they were a red one and a white one, both old farmhouses, right next door to each other, and one had a pond), but property taxes anywhere in Allegheny County are pretty ungodly (ask me how I know ). Property in southern Butler county just tends to be pricey, in my experience. Maybe up towards Grove City things might be cheaper? Oh, and those locations on your map in Washington County would probably have miserable commutes, going right past the city every day. I'd talk to a realtor asap, and hopefully they could give you an idea of what's out there, that might not be on realtor.com or the mls yet.

Good luck!

[pistolsmom]

A 40 minute commute may be MUCH longer than 40 minutes during the morning/evening hours. I can't speak for other locations but I do know that the Butler/Evans City area to Cranberry is bumper to bumper most mornings and evenings. I also know that interstate 79 to Cranberry in about any direction is heavily traveled. Also would like to add that in this neck of the woods era realty sells alot of repos that are basically junk.........

[pcdreams]

I don't know what prices are like in that area either but heres another idea.

If you sell the land here and find something there roughly the same price (without a house on it) could you live in the trailer till you could build?

Not trying to be nosy but just throwing out some ideas.

I'd be hard pressed to make a major decision like this unless I knew I could find something in my price range. Sure would stink to have to "live in a apt in the city".

[CJ]

I forget about traffic, we're too used to the boonies.

I don't think we could RV on land there. Way too cold in the winter (which will hit soon) and probably isn't allowed anyway.

We won't be stuck in an apartment, LOL. We could do like the average person and take out a mortgage and have a lot more leeway, but we don't want to...

Obviously, we're going to have to if we move there. Hmm...

[comfortablynumb]

mmmm my house is in your blue zone....

wanna buy a shotgun shack?

you get the drunk neighbors for free.

lol

aim a little farther north and you might find a deal.

[chas]

Our friends brother from Maryland bought about 80 acres house, barns, and trailor in butler county along side I-79 at the Portersville xit for 300,000.
It's around an hour commute to Pittsburgh and about 10 min to Cranberry.Ten miles to the east on 422 gets you into Lawrence co. and my Slippery Rock Township which used to boast the lowest taxes.
Pittsburghers snap up the farms as fast as they find them.Which drove the prices up so us local yocals can't buy to farm anymore!
I got my 30 with house, barn,and outbuildings for 30,000 in 1976.I'm taxed for 129,000 now .
If you want to see the lay of the land pm me.
Our summers are great,winter gets long,but can be fun if you are ready and don't fight it.There's plenty to do and see.
We have some of the prettiest scenery you could imagine!Huntin and fishin is terrific.Lots of boating on Lake Arthur,and tubing,kyaking down the Slippery Rock Creek and gorge.
Chas

[tiffnzacsmom]

Beaver County is way cheaper than Cranberry but about an hour drive to Monroeville without traffic. Lawrence may be cheaper or further up into Butler. Good luck.

[ruby_jane]

I have a silly question--why just PA? How about drawing a radius around the city he'll be working in...can you consider Maryland, Virginia or West Virginia?

A shame you can't move down here

[CJ]

The radius is around the city he'll be working in, Cranberry township. I drew a 40 minute driving radius. Monroeville is short term, until Westinghouse moves.

He's going to call this afternoon and see if he can negotiate a bettery salary. If we accept, we'll probably end up going about an hour out. If we can find at least 10 acres, that would be okay.

Probably the toughest thing is going to be finding an RV park close to Monroeville that will be open this winter... as I know our search won't be easy and we'll likely have to tough this winter out in the RV.