Would You Change Your Homestead Location?

[stonecypher]

What have you found NOT to like about where you're homesteading? What would you change if you could?

I'm researching homestead locations and would love your input. Thanks to you all!

[Beeman]

There's no perfect location.
We've done it once. The area we were in turned into a retirement, tourism and expensive relocation place. We moved to another state close by that wasn't as popular or developed. We gained some years but it's happening again as we can now know and see the signs.

[PyroDon]

if the city anexes us into the city limits we will sell and move

[Sheripoms]

I live in Northern Louisiana:
Things I love:
It's very green here and lush
No Taxes, we are homestead exempt

Things I hate:
Its HOT and HUMID
Snakes

Perfect place for me would be Tennessee.

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by Sheripoms

I live in Northern Louisiana:
Things I love:
It's very green here and lush
No Taxes, we are homestead exempt

Things I hate:
Its HOT and HUMID
Snakes

Perfect place for me would be Tennessee.

That's funny! Lately I've not been too happy with TN, I just don't want to keep moving.

[Windy in Kansas]

I have an ideal location for a homestead WITH a market garden. That is why I selected that particular location. My offer was made so that I could check water availability and to dig down to see if there was shallow water/layer of clay, somewhat ideal for gardening certain crops.

Traffic has now increased immensely, there is a round-a-bout going in a few hundred feet from my property (and I detest them), the city has annexed to within a half mile, so now I wish I had property more rural.

Are we ever satisfied?

[chickenista]

I would move deeper into the mountains where I am from. Right now we are in the foothills because the land was cheaper and there is this really cool school etc...
But it is a bit hot for my tastes and I am a mountain girl inside and out.. if I am not home it feels like I am dying sometimes....

That being said I must say hat even though I am a WNC girl through and through...

I love Highlands County, VA!!! Man, it is lovely!! It is the last glacial valley or something. I have never seen a place more beautiful than Blue Grass, VA>
but I could never afford to live there.. so I will have to be happy visiting.

[Aint2nuts]

Arizona sucks wind. Don't even consider it. LOL

[Freeholder]

If the homestead was the only consideration, I'd move. Oregon's property taxes are high (because there's no sales tax). Our location is at a high enough elevation that we can have hard frosts in any month of the year. We've had two hard frosts in the last three weeks.... And summers are so dry that it would be impossible to grow anything without irrigation...if the electricity went off, so we couldn't pump water from our well, we wouldn't be able to have much of a garden (I do have a hand pump, but couldn't water a very large area by hand).

Also, and this is purely our lot, we have no firewood available because our lot is bare, just grass. No trees other than a few fruit trees we've planted.

If I was looking at moving, I'd look for a place with lower property taxes, better growing season, and more precipitation during the growing season -- plus, I'd get land that had a woodlot on it. Oh, and given the cost of gas, I'd also try to find land that was within five miles or so of a smallish town, close enough to ride my bike.

Kathleen

[sisterpine]

Hmmm...What would I change? Have actually been thinking about that lately. I think I would keep what I have but turn it a bit more to the south (for better solar exposure) and I would add more water, enough for a pond. Other than that if I just get the green house and garage finished I am ready to spend the rest of my life here. Sis

[Quint]

In general I would change the taxes. I'd abolish both property taxes and especially personal property taxes. A few other tweaks to the law but other than that I'm happy with my location.

On my actual homestead site itself I wish I had much more land. I only have 167 acres m/l and I with it was at least 500 and preferably 2 or 3 thousand. I feel hemmed in at times on my little farm.

I wish I had placed my home in a different place more in the center of my property. unfortunately the cost for running utilities and the cost for road building made it necessary to put the house where I did. Still wish it was back away from the property line more.

[stranger]

I couldn't ask for a better location, I'm on the edge of the village in the woods, 100% private,can grow almost anything, keep hogs,animals,bees,plenty of hardwood,have great neighbors, can walk to the village in 10 minutes(super market-PO) the school bus goes by the house, plenty of deer, turkeys, squirrels. great fire and ambulance dept and a hospital 5 miles from here. I sold off 12 acres about 30 yrs ago, now i wish i hadn't.

[Macybaby]

I'd love to keep everything about my current homestead and move it to zone 6. Unfortunately that would mean crossing state lines and I'd loose a lot of of what I currently love about my location.

When I lived in WI, a lot of the "freedoms" I have in SD didn't seem to matter, but now that I have them, I'd never want to move to a location where I would not have them.

Cathy

[stanb999]

I love the location, Our weather is cool most of the year, We get plenty of rain that irrigation is unheard of and not needed. We get all four seasons well pronounced. We get heat in the summer but never higher than 90F, We get lots of snow in the winter 70+ inches a year. The land is a mix of all possible conditions one could expect in this region. We have brush, hard wood forest, a wet area with a spring fed pond, Good pasture, Even a good south exposure to help the garden. Lots of wild game.

What I don't like:
The generally thin soil, Tho it is a Sandy loam.
The taxes are pretty high.

[hintonlady]

I like the environment here in midwestern farm country. The neigbhors can't be beat!

The one thing I would like more is privacy. Even though we live 2 miles outside of a village of 370 we get a good share of traffic on our road. I would have liked to be just a bit more remote. At the least I would have liked a longer driveway that set us back further from the road and a few more trees. Although we are in the boondocks I don't have that ultimate feeling of privacy................

[Minelson]

I love it here. It's true that there is always "something" that you wish was different though. For me, I would like more trees, not on my property but in the area in general. That is what I miss most about living in WI and MN. The only other thing I would change is I wish our property was on a gravel road instead of a paved road. It's a huge selling point for this area to be on paved but I would like the seclusion of being on gravel with riding the horses. We are kinda trapped because I'm scared to take the horses on the road. My luck a big tractor or speeding car would go by and freak out the horse or hit the dogs. If we were on gravel that problem would be reduced considerably. So we trailer the horses to nearby state parks to ride...and they are beautiful, but sometimes I wish I could saddle up here and take off for a long ride without hauling. But with the paved we do get plowed more quickly and there is a lot less dust.

[nduetime]

If I had to do it over again...
Would be far away from traffic and more obscure
I would definately have water,creek, pond etc
More trees and more privacy

Other than that I love it here.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

Nope. We live in paradise.
Of course if you ask me in March I might like to have a giant shop-vac to hoover up the snow and jump start spring.

[THETOOLMAN]

My place is PERFECT payed for and making money. BUT, I would like a bigger stream. Mine is to small to run a grist mill. I would love to use water power for my tools and to generate electricity but Ginn house creek is just a small stream now a days.

[pheasantplucker]

Eastern Ohio 30 miles west of West Virginia...Beautiful land, lots of water, lengthy growing season, diversity of wildlife, wouldn't change a thing.