More Advice Needed

dndweeks · #1 06/23/13, 01:11 PM

My husband and I found a listing for 15 acres of property. I contacted the realtor to get the breakdown of open vs wooded and found out that about 10 acres is open. Based on what we want to do, I think this is going to be enough, but I'm not quite sure so I'm out here once again looking for advice.

1/2 acre for house and yard
1 - 1 1/2 acres for garden and small orchard
The rest will be chickens, a few goats, possibly 2-3 horses in the future
There is a small creek on the property, but we may put in a small pond as well

Does this seem reasonable for 10 acres or will we need more space?

ozark_jewels · #2 06/23/13, 01:30 PM

You can figure the 5 wooded acres as goat property. They will love it if they have some open and then the woods.

septemberwheat · #3 06/23/13, 02:21 PM

I have 15 acres, 12 open and 3 wooded. I know you have enough space. 15 acres seems small on paper, but if you manage your land well, you have all you need.
Best,
Matt

BKB HOMESTEAD · #4 06/23/13, 02:24 PM

I think it would be plenty! We only have 4 and room for all that!

dndweeks · #5 06/23/13, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozark_jewels

You can figure the 5 wooded acres as goat property. They will love it if they have some open and then the woods.

That's one of the reasons we are requiring a portion of the property be wooded

dndweeks · #6 06/23/13, 02:58 PM

Loving the property even more with this feedback. We're hoping to go look at it in the next couple of weeks.

We thought we would just wait until everything fell into place for us to move (sell our house, new job for hubby), but then realized that if we purchased the property now we could make regular trips down to start prepping it for our eventual move.

It's outside of Ava, which is a little further from Springfield than hubby wanted to move. I convinced hubby that we need to go look at the property and look around the area more than we did on our last visit.

Anyone in the Ava area that can give me some feedback about the area? I know there's a Wal-Mart there. Are there any home improvement stores in the area? Any good vets? Where's the nearest hospital? etc.

GunMonkeyIntl · #7 06/24/13, 06:17 AM

I used to spend two weeks every summer in that area doing repair work for my company at the Grand American trap shoot in Sparta, and spent most of that time staying with a gunsmith friend in Pinckneyville. Both of those towns are only about 20-30 minutes away from Ava, and will have whatever you need in the way of supplies, assuming you can't find it in Ava. There is a Buchheit's just north of town in Sparta, and if they don't have it, you probably don't need it.

Too, you probably won't ever have to buy meat again. The deer there are the size of small cows.

Alice In TX/MO · #8 06/24/13, 06:32 AM

Ava is beautiful. One critical factor is the proportion of hilly, steep, and flat areas. I have 35 acres that I purchased on the side of one property simply to protect the larger portion, but the 35 acres has so many steep hills that it is simply hunting land. No way to homestead it.

rambler · #9 06/24/13, 07:36 AM

If you have a septic and a well, you would need more than 1/2 acre for the house and yard. You really need some separation between those 2, as well as the critter buildings away from either......

But, 15 acres sounds about perfect, with about 2/3 clear. Good luck with it.

Paul

Callieslamb · #10 06/24/13, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dndweeks

......................
It's outside of Ava, which is a little further from Springfield than hubby wanted to move. I convinced hubby that we need to go look at the property and look around the area more than we did on our last visit.

Anyone in the Ava area that can give me some feedback about the area? I know there's a Wal-Mart there. Are there any home improvement stores in the area? Any good vets? Where's the nearest hospital? etc.

I was born and raised near Ava. Graduated from HS there many years ago. My family still lives there. I visited just 2 weeks ago. The soil can be a very thin covering over rocks so check that out. It can also be acidic. Another question to ask the realtor is how many acres are going up and how many are coming down. You'll not find a whole lot of flat spots. I'm not sure about the horses per acre if you are going to produce the hay for them too. I know very little about horses. It's absolutely beautiful country. Driving up and down the hills can be a bit like a roller coaster ride- if you take them fast enough. And I love to take them fast enough. There will be lots of rocks. They will multiply in your garden at night. Chiggers were the bane of my childhood.

There is a home improvement store in town, but Springfield is your closest bet for good prices. I don't know about vets, but there are enough animals around that you will be sure to find one. Goats are becoming more and more common so there might be a decent market for them. The nearest hospital is Springfield possibly Houston. I drove through Houston and didn't notice if the hospital there was still in operation or not. My family usually went to Springfield anyway- more choices of Drs. There is a Dr. in Ava and at least one in Mtn. Grove. Not sure about a dentist. My sister teaches at the HS in Ava. There's also a McD's and Taco Bell, 2nd grocery, Chinese and Mexican restaurants, farmer's market and one screen movie theater. A private school. They are building a 2nd bank. Ava is the county seat so you do all your licensing, tax paying right in town. Douglas County has a Meth problem so be sure to check out your neighbors carefully.

o&itw · #11 06/24/13, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GunMonkeyIntl

I used to spend two weeks every summer in that area doing repair work for my company at the Grand American trap shoot in Sparta, and spent most of that time staying with a gunsmith friend in Pinckneyville. Both of those towns are only about 20-30 minutes away from Ava, and will have whatever you need in the way of supplies, assuming you can't find it in Ava. There is a Buchheit's just north of town in Sparta, and if they don't have it, you probably don't need it.

Too, you probably won't ever have to buy meat again. The deer there are the size of small cows.

I think you are confusing Ava (and Springfield), Illinois with Ava (and Springfield) Missouri.

I believe the OP in an earlier post was speaking of the closest place with a reasonable airport. Since a person in Ava, IL would be going to St Louis or Edwardsville for a flight, Springfield, IL would not be a reasonable choice. Of course I could be wrong and she really is moving to Ava, IL, in which cause everyone else is confused.

dndweeks · #12 06/24/13, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by o&itw

I think you are confusing Ava (and Springfield), Illinois with Ava (and Springfield) Missouri.

I believe the OP in an earlier post was speaking of the closest place with a reasonable airport. Since a person in Ava, IL would be going to St Louis or Edwardsville for a flight, Springfield, IL would not be a reasonable choice. Of course I could be wrong and she really is moving to Ava, IL, in which cause everyone else is confused.

I grew up in Illinois and had no idea there was an Ava, IL. LOL!!! We are looking at Ava, MO. Hubby wants/needs to be close to an airport with commercial flights for work. He wanted to be closer to Springfield, MO but I've convinced him to give Ava another look. We looked at one property there on our last visit, but didn't spend any time looking around the area. It was rainy that day and we had been property shopping all day by that point.
Sorry for any confusion.

dndweeks · #13 06/24/13, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callieslamb

I was born and raised near Ava. Graduated from HS there many years ago. My family still lives there. I visited just 2 weeks ago. The soil can be a very thin covering over rocks so check that out. It can also be acidic. Another question to ask the realtor is how many acres are going up and how many are coming down. You'll not find a whole lot of flat spots. I'm not sure about the horses per acre if you are going to produce the hay for them too. I know very little about horses. It's absolutely beautiful country. Driving up and down the hills can be a bit like a roller coaster ride- if you take them fast enough. And I love to take them fast enough. There will be lots of rocks. They will multiply in your garden at night. Chiggers were the bane of my childhood.

There is a home improvement store in town, but Springfield is your closest bet for good prices. I don't know about vets, but there are enough animals around that you will be sure to find one. Goats are becoming more and more common so there might be a decent market for them. The nearest hospital is Springfield possibly Houston. I drove through Houston and didn't notice if the hospital there was still in operation or not. My family usually went to Springfield anyway- more choices of Drs. There is a Dr. in Ava and at least one in Mtn. Grove. Not sure about a dentist. My sister teaches at the HS in Ava. There's also a McD's and Taco Bell, 2nd grocery, Chinese and Mexican restaurants, farmer's market and one screen movie theater. A private school. They are building a 2nd bank. Ava is the county seat so you do all your licensing, tax paying right in town. Douglas County has a Meth problem so be sure to check out your neighbors carefully.

Good advice about checking out the neighbors. I've heard there are several areas around southern MO with a meth problem, so it's probably good advice no matter where we end up landing.

dndweeks · #14 07/05/13, 03:20 PM

The property we were interested in sold before we even had a chance to go look at it. The realtor sent me 14 other listings and only one of them met our criteria. Found a piece of property in Ava, MO that we're going to look at next weekend and another piece of property in Galena, MO that looks interesting. I just know nothing about the Galena area. There is no real rush in us finding property since we're not going to be able to move for another 1-2 years. Would just be nice to have some property we could visit and work on until we're able to build our home and move there.

salmonslayer · #15 07/05/13, 06:42 PM

We live in the SC Ozarks of Missouri and the area around Ava is very nice. Springfield is where the hospitals are around here and they are very good hospitals with level 1 trauma, burn, and stroke centers. The Hospitals in Houston and Lebanon are smaller hospitals that will send you on to Springfield if its anything too serious but they do minor surgeries and have emergency rooms.

You might want to expand your searches a bit. The closer you get to Springfield the more expensive property will be in general and of course south of Springfield you run into the Branson area which is booming but there are a lot of counties within commute distance to Springfield that have all kinds of properties like you are looking for.

Try United Country and local realtors but also remember that lots of property (at least around me) is sold by the owners and never listed through an MLS or realtor.