Move? Stay Put? Pros and cons...

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Hi:

the thread below about cutting living costs inspired me to write about this.

I don't know if any one will have any answers. Ultimately, it'll be our decision. Just wondering if you would have any input.

We in this household are trying to decide whether to stay put or move. We have a great log house, paid for, small but adaquate, separate small office that we put up ourselves, 10 acres (we wouldn't mind having more acres!). We've been here seven years and have put alot of hard work and love into this land and house. We have a pond and a field that if we stay, DH would like to do some wildlife mgmt stuff on.

We're really pretty lucky in some ways. The nearest neighbor (only one) is a half mile away. We're almost completely surrounded by state land around us. We're also a quarter mile from a paved two lane, which has gotten busier and noisier since it was punched through to meet another road about a year ago. Noise travels in the country! And it used to be very quiet. I guess that's the one thing that bugs us..increased traffic and possibly wanting more acreage. (even though abutting state land is very very nice, except during deer season when those woods are crawling with hunters!)

So we've talked about a couple of possibilities:

1. Stay put. It's pretty good here. Safest financial option since stuff is paid for. Although DH is really bothered by the increased traffic and he does want more land.

2. Sell the house and buy another parcel around here in a less noisy location. Build a new house, living in a cheap trailer (as has been mentioned) while we're putting up the house.

3. Buy a parcel around here (in a more remote location and not too far away) and MOVE the house. Still have to do stuff on the new parcel like foundation or basement, well, etc, etc.Has anyone ever moved a house? It sounds crazy, but sometimes the craziest idea is the best one.

4. Sell house and move to Maine. We've identified Maine (way northern Maine) as a place where we could afford land. Land here is actually going up (in northern Mn). When we moved to this area, you could find acres at $500/acre, now $1000/acre is common. Maine is much like MN, too. We have some family in New ENgland.

There's a lot of other stuff that enters in. DH's job is here. His job is funded by grant money so it's not entirely secure, but what job is secure? They like him alot and might find other ways to keep him, even if grant money ran out. We have no idea what he'd do in Maine. My work is transportable (freelance writer) and fluctuates wildly--probably like all self-employment. DH is originally from New England, and once swore he'd leave MN ASAP, but that seems to have settled down for him too.

AND--if we move, I have to make friends all over again!! It took me two years to adjust after the last move..though that was from city to country. I don't think another move to the country now would be nearly as hard, but it would be hard to leave the ties I've established. DH is more hermitish and it probably wouldn't bother him as much to leave (he doesn't have as many ties).

I wonder sometimes if I've just got a bad case of wanderlust. Is this a "grass is greener" thing going on here? I've been in MN a long time and sometimes think it would be fun to try somewhere new. But what if it doesn't work out? All the "find a place in the country" books recommend renting in a community before buying there and I know that makes sense...but we have dogs and cats and chickens that would probably make renting difficult. And like Melissa, I don't like renting.

That was LONG for me. Any thoughts? thanks--appreciate it.

-- Cat (catcrazy@somewhere.com), February 22, 2002

Answers

Maybe you should just stay flexible for the time being and keep your options open. I also went through a period of wanderlust. Too much optimism that things would be so much greater elsewhere, when in reality you're going to be about as happy as you decide to be, wherever you are. I can empathize with your dh, when I moved to where we live now there were only a few cars a day on our road. Now it's taking your life in your hands to get across the road to the mailbox! It is so much noisier than it used to be. I would like more land. I'm fairly reclusive, preferring to be out in the boonies. I went through a stage where I probably drove my dh crazy, whining about selling out and moving further out. He agreed somewhat, but wasn't able to leave then due to his work.

Since then, I've realized more land is going to take a lot more work and $$$. Moving further out means I wouldn't see my kids and granddaughter very often. :( We have a lot of animals which would be VERY difficult to move, in fact I'd probably have to get rid of most of them. (So why would I need more land?) We're not getting any younger, and dh just had a health scare that made me think maybe I don't want to be so far away from doctors and hospitals. AND, (this is the biggie) all the areas I looked at and had decided would be so much better than where we are, are now built up and crawling with people!! And I am talking about some areas that were really remote, and without any of the cutesy features like woods and streams that attract people, just more or less desert! I can't believe anyone but me would want to move there, LOL! Anyway, we have decided to stay put.

Don't get in a hurry to make a decision. Do a lot of thinking about the cons as well as the pros. You have a great asset being next to public land, it's yours to use a lot of the year (without paying for it) even if you do have to put up with hunters part of the time. Do you really want the expense and work of more land to care for? Be cautious about the living in a cheap trailer idea. I'm all for it, but some counties are very restrictive about this, they won't allow trailers past a certain age to be placed on rural property, or there are strict time limits that it can be there (like 6 months-1 yr). Some won't let you live in a travel type trailer for more than 2 weeks at a time. You might get away with it (illegally) for a longer time, but I wouldn't want to depend on it. Moving to a new area means new jobs in an uncertain economy. If you're doing ok now, just stay open to new possibilities. If the right opportunity comes along, you can go for it. Just don't talk yourself into being unhappy where you are because it doesn't offer everything. Few places do. The longer you stay put, the more your place is likely to be worth later on if the right situation presents itself.

In the meantime, look at what you can do to make things better for yourself where you're at. If you'd like a little bigger house, can you add on without going into debt? Go ahead and develop that wildlife area. Think about putting up hedges or trees or fencing to improve privacy and cut down on traffic noise. Do some landscaping, add a garden area, greenhouse, or whatever. Think about starting a home business that would replace or supplement your incomes if your husband lost or changed jobs. Make any improvements to your house and property that would make it nicer for you and potentially increase the value if you do decide to sell. Who knows, you might make it so nice you won't consider moving!

-- Lenette in OR (kigervixen@webtv.net), February 22, 2002.


Cat, I'm the one who wrote the previous post. I think we have a similar feeling, only at least your current home is paid for! We really want more space & would also like to lower cost of living. The not wanting to rent first is a big part of our dilema. We have horses, including 3 broodmares & a stallion. Also 2 dogs and a cat. I'd be willing to sell the 2 goats, my hens, and maybe 1 of the mares. But the others are staying with us! We'd have a real hard time finding anywhere we could rent with facilities for them all. For us it's sort of "do or die" and if we can't find jobs & land to buy we will not move.

-- ging (JingRGirl@aol.com), February 22, 2002.

Hi, Cat, your post struck a chord with me as my family has been weighing our options for the past year. We decided to move after my two daughters finished college here, but their plans have changed as they are finishing at out-of-state colleges, and the water situation in our part of NM seems to be worsening. We are definitely moving in the next year, and finally decided on the most promising area for us, in this case the grass is literally greener on the other side of the fence as we live in a "desert" area with an average rainfall of only 5-7 inches per year. We made a list of pros and cons while we were deciding that sort of looked like this:

Pros: l. More rain, translate into more water!!!! 2. Better soil!! We have mostly caliche and alkaline soil. 3. When we sell, we can pay mostly cash for another place, as our land is paid for, but our house isn't completely yet. 4. Will be closer to extended family, as no relatives live near us. 5. Our well has very salty water, the cost of drilling a new artesian well is prohibitive right now. 6. The State of New Mexico has a compact with Texas to deliver a certain amount of water to them via the Pecos River. If that amount is not met, and they need more water, they can start shutting down wells, including domestic wells, in descending order of the year the well was drilled. We live in the Pecos River area, and ours would be one of the first to be shut down as it is less than 3 years old. Even our large city is in danger of its water rights being called up. Water delivery to Texas has not been met this year, or last year I believe. Rural coop water is not available to us because of same water right issues.

7. Both mine and husband's occupations are in huge demand everywhere in the country.

8. In our large town, there is not one homeschool support group even though there is a large homeschool population. There are more, but this post is very long, already, lol. The cons are:

l. I HATE TO MOVE!!!! 2. Losing long time friends.

Looking at that list, it wasn't such a hard decision after all, and even though it will be a few months, we are excited and are already making preparations to sell this place. BUT, what is right for us may not be right for someone else. It took us a LONG time to get this far, and that would be my first advice is don't rush into a decision. Good luck!

-- Gina NM (inhock@pvtnetworks.net), February 22, 2002.


Ging,

You have it easy if you decide to move...we have 60 horses (including 4 stallions), 15 goats, 8 ducks, probably 40+ chickens, 3 dogs, 13 cats, 17 pigeons, and an assortment of other misc. critters. Try moving that! We're probably never leaving this place, LOL. Dh swears he's gonna buy a semi truck and trailer so he can take everyone with us on vacations.

-- Lenette in OR (kigervixen@webtv.net), February 22, 2002.


rember the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence but it still has to be mowed. Bob se,ks.

-- Bobco (bobco@kans.com), February 22, 2002.


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