Where to move to be rural?

1483 Views 24 Replies 14 Participants Last post by sue currin, Sep 3, 2004

perennial

Discussion Starter · Sep 1, 2004

I live on the east coast in a suburb. We have 41,000 people in a city of 15 sq. miles. It's AWFUL. Everything is very expensive here. Hubby works 5 minutes from the house and I'm able to be at home.

I haven't been down town in 3 months - I go shopping every six weeks and and try to do errands less often.

On a positive note, we do have a lot of "services" here - hospital 4 minutes away, good schools, local Y and the ocean. But hubby's money comes in and goes out.

I have a veggie garden and am going to expand that next year and I'm baking everything and working on not buying any processed food. I'm also thinking before I buy things that have been "marketed" to me.

We have a plan to pay the mortgage down and save until we figure out where we want to move rural and also what we can do to earn money. I'm thinking of starting a soap business - art soap. Hubby is still trying to figure out what he wants to do, he'd like to do something different. Because we have kids, we do want to be rural, but within a reasonable distance to a hospital. I know I have to have electricity(hubby's interested in solar) and a flush toilet. I don't want to live in a development - NOT! I don't want a "fancy" house just one in a quiet area with lots of land.

If anyone knows anything about the following areas, I would love to hear:

Mountains of North Carolina
Blue Ridge area of Virginia
Montana

We want to live in a climate that is slightly warmer than the northeast at winter, but NOT hot, not lots and lots of people. We like to kayak, so water would be nice - lake o.k.

We will be taking our first family vacation next year and have thought about going to montana - not sure - have to check cost. We decided that where ever we go we wanted it to be a place we are considering moving.

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EasyDay

· #14 · Sep 1, 2004

Consider property (and other) tax rates while you're shopping around. I live in Virginia, and they tax us to death. We pay personal property taxes on vehicles and such that other states don't bother with.

Taxes are lower in North Carolina than Virginia, or you can do what we did. Check out the ozarks of AR. Cost of living is very low, taxes are minimal (I pay $104 a year for 80 acres). We'll move back there permanently in a 1 1/2 yrs or so.

Just do me a favor, if you find you like the ozarks, don't spread the word because I don't want developers to move in any time soon!

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EasyDay

· #16 · Sep 1, 2004

brural,
I shopped around in the Shenendoah valley of Virginia (Blue Ridge Parkway provides BEAUTIFUL views!) Developmental stage is diverse, depending on location. There are some great smaller towns, but land is expensive around them. There are larger towns (small cities) if you need nearby employment or have medical concerns. And then there are areas where you can buy 7000+ acres in one whack.

In the areas I looked, most somewhat rural land ran around $7000-$10,000 an acre, and that was 7-8 years ago. I found some for $4000, but the undergrowth was so thick that it would cost a fortune even get in to clear some.

My family is from Mississippi County, Arkansas, and that's how I fell in love with the Ozarks. We purchased our 80 acres about 5 years ago for less than $900/acre, and that was higher priced than a lot of what I looked at. To give you some idea about what I got for my money, visit my website at www.rushingtrail.com to see pics. (Excuse the messy house, we're still working on it.)

I also have a link to Mountain View, AR on my homepage. Go there to see what the area is like. It's God's country, for sure!!!

I hope you like it!

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