Decision to Make a Change; Lessons on Buying Land and Limitations of Man

[Slippy]

"A Man's got to know his limitations"

I was in my late 40's when I bought the land that is now Slippy Lodge. It is 30 acres about 1 mile down a private dirt road and consists mostly of hardwood trees on 2 small ridges. The soil is shallow and rocky and 10-20 feet underneath is shale rock. A year round creek is a natural border between one of my neighbor's +/-300 acre tract. We are higher in elevation than the neighbors.

The house, garage/carport and barn are on one of the ridges. The steep elevation of my driveway and road used to be a great workout, now you couldn't pay me to walk up or down the steep part of my driveway. For the first time since I've owned it, I hired Son1 to do the annual maintenance (branch trimming, erosion control etc) on my drive. A couple of years ago, I hired a hardworking English speaking legal citizen named Pancho to mow, edge, trim and do mulch/pine straw. I trust him.

I have approximately 2 miles of trails and roads that run through the property that need maintained. All of them are sloping roads/trails. The shooting range also needs constant maintenance but it's at least flat. Every year it gets harder and harder to keep things up.

Also, the small town nearest to us is growing at a rapid rate and as we all know, "you can't stop what's coming"...

We have made the decision to move and start all over again on a much smaller, more manageable piece of land.

THIS THREAD IS ABOUT WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN LAND TO BUILD A HOMESTEAD FOR OLD PEOPLE!

A man's got to know his limitations...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VrFV5r8cs0

[Slippy]

Lessons learned. For Slippy Lodge, I had to run electricity, dig a well that wasn't enough gallons per minute so I had to run water. No wire internet so we have satellite internet which kinda sucks at times.

Utilities is the first topic;

Is Electricity available? Overhead or Underground? We have overheard electricity and trees fall at least every other year during storms. We also have underground to the house and that is the way to go!

Is City/County Water available or is a Well needed? Cost to get water to house?

Is Internet available? Like it or not, the world runs on access to the web. Sucks but that's the truth.

Suggestions, tips and ideas?

[T-Man 1066]

Slippy, do you intend to stay in your state / area / region, or are you going to do the Wyoming thing, or something else?

Also, have you lived in other regions of the country, or always southeast?

That being said, The house I have in town is all underground utilities, with NG, but I do have my own well and septic system. in 6-1/2 years of being there, I have lost power 2 times, once for about 3 hours, once for about 5 minutes.

The other property, where the shop is, 7 acres, landlocked with 1/2 mile drive with easement rites. Farm field on 3 sides, but me and front neighbor are wooded. Woods on the other side. Above ground power. We have lost power ALOT in the last 30 years here. Sometimes for days.

Internet is fine here.

Another thing, as you age, maybe don't want to be too awful far away from some town with hospitals and Doctors. But not too close, growth and 2 legged coon problems happen...

[T-Man 1066]

Heating. If you are going to heat with wood, you either need to buy it, or have land with woods to produce your own firewood. Maybe finding some younger guys to come out, cut trees and make firewood, they can have their wood free as long as they supply you, kinda like share-croping.

If you plan on gardening, make sure your property is not ALL woods, hard to find a sunny spot. Also, good soil, not just sand or rock.

Also, do NOT ever buy a property that has a long driveway at the dead end of a T-intersection. That is how this property is. We have had at least 15 cars run off the end of the road and wreck over the last 20+ years, three this year alone. Our power pole at the road was hit one of them times. That guy died. Another feller died, alot of injuries. Also, no matter how many "Private Drive" or "No Tress-passing" signs you put up, assholes will still drive right up acting like its a normal road. I have had drunks park down the lane, trying to hide from the cops.

I think if our driveway was 150' either side of this dead end intersection, we wouldn't have 1/10 of the problems we have now.

[Slippy]

We've lived in Missouri, Texas, Georgia and Alabama. Summers in the south are killing me.

Our plan is a 2 step plan;

Step 1;

Find small piece of rural land in North AL, North GA or Southeast TN. +/- 5 acres. TN has no state income tax. Equal distance between both sons and grandkids. Mrs Slippy's main requirement is nearer to both sets of grandkids.

Build barn and small 2 bed/2 bath home to help with transition from Slippy Lodge. In 2-3 years sell Slippy Lodge, put part of the proceeds toward retirement. Part of the proceeds to fund Step 2. Spend winters here.

Step 2; In 4-5 years...Find very small but rural vacation home/cabin in Eastern Wyoming/Western South Dakota near Black Hills. Spend summers here.



Slippy, do you intend to stay in your state / area / region, or are you going to do the Wyoming thing, or something else?

Also, have you lived in other regions of the country, or always southeast?

That being said, The house I have in town is all underground utilities, with NG, but I do have my own well and septic system. in 6-1/2 years of being there, I have lost power 2 times, once for about 3 hours, once for about 5 minutes.

The other property, where the shop is, 7 acres, landlocked with 1/2 mile drive with easement rites. Farm field on 3 sides, but me and front neighbor are wooded. Woods on the other side. Above ground power. We have lost power ALOT in the last 30 years here. Sometimes for days.

Internet is fine here.

Another thing, as you age, maybe don't want to be too awful far away from some town with hospitals and Doctors. But not too close, growth and 2 legged coon problems happen...

[T-Man 1066]

We've lived in Missouri, Texas, Georgia and Alabama. Summers in the south are killing me.

Our plan is a 2 step plan;

Step 1;

Find small piece of rural land in North AL, North GA or Southeast TN. +/- 5 acres. TN has no state income tax. Equal distance between both sons and grandkids. Mrs Slippy's main requirement is nearer to both sets of grandkids.

Build barn and small 2 bed/2 bath home to help with transition from Slippy Lodge. In 2-3 years sell Slippy Lodge, put part of the proceeds toward retirement. Part of the proceeds to fund Step 2. Spend winters here.

Step 2; In 4-5 years...Find very small but rural vacation home/cabin in Eastern Wyoming/Western South Dakota near Black Hills. Spend summers here.

Sounds like a solid plan!

Also, consider property taxes... with 2 properties, taxes can start getting pricey. I am at about $13K a year between my 2 places. yet Hellinois is still broke!

Side note: If the driving route between Slippy North and Slippy South involves I-90 / I-94, you would have an opportunity to go about 10 miles off the interstate at the Chedder Curtain, and have a beer with me at T-Man Land.. :beerchug:

[Prepared One]

I feel your pain Slip. When we bought Ten Oaks we had the same concerns. We have two acres cleared and I didn't want to spend my life mowing and weed eating fence lines so we hired the local guy that put our fencing up. He is good and cheap enough. Where it would take me hours or maybe days with my back issues. He does it with one other guy in an hour and a half and he is gone. We get it done every 2 to 3 weeks in the summer.

Our house is only about 4 years old and is all electric with underground from the poll to the house. The two water wells were already here plus a creek that runs the length of our property, spray foam under the house and in the attic so it's well insulated. The remaining four acres is heavily wooded, we sit in a heavily wooded area just off a dirt county road that they maintain out to the main hwy. We can't see or hear our neighbors. Nearest little town is 15 minutes away and not growing, nearest big town is 45 minutes to an hour. They just dropped internet fiber here but we used Verizon hot spots for back up. Pretty reliable. Since we are in the Big Thicket we have tons of trees so we do lose power in storms, part of the price for living here but manageable.

In short, we were looking for a place with low drag, little maintenance, a lot of privacy, already built and move in ready. I was looking for an acre surrounded by the woods and MG stumbled across this place. We looked at a lot of places and it took awhile but this joint checked most of the boxes. I am too old and too damn tired to be working in the fields all day.

[Slippy]

Sounds like a solid plan!

Also, consider property taxes... with 2 properties, taxes can start getting pricey. I am at about $13K a year between my 2 places. yet Hellinois is still broke!

Side note: If the driving route between Slippy North and Slippy South involves I-90 / I-94, you would have an opportunity to go about 10 miles off the interstate at the Chedder Curtain, and have a beer with me at T-Man Land.. :beerchug:

Thanks T-Man! The last time we headed north you and I discussed me taking the Illinois route and having that cold adult beverage! Hopefully 1 day!

We typically go through Western Missouri up I-29 and Iowa then I90 in Sioux Falls. There are 2 state parks that we stop at to break up our drive.

Your taxes are ridiculous! Slippy Lodge is +/- $3k

[Slippy]

Septic and Gray Water systems;

This is an area that we studied extensively for Slippy Lodge. Due to soil, I had to put in an aerobic water treatment plant as a septic. Only toilets and bathroom sinks go into the septic.

Everything else (showers, laundry room sink, washer, kitchen sink, dishwasher) goes into Gray Water.

I pumped our septic after 8 years mainly to check its performance and the septic guy laughed and said no reason to ever pump it again.

[Prepared One]

We've lived in Missouri, Texas, Georgia and Alabama. Summers in the south are killing me.

Our plan is a 2 step plan;

Step 1;

Find small piece of rural land in North AL, North GA or Southeast TN. +/- 5 acres. TN has no state income tax. Equal distance between both sons and grandkids. Mrs Slippy's main requirement is nearer to both sets of grandkids.

Build barn and small 2 bed/2 bath home to help with transition from Slippy Lodge. In 2-3 years sell Slippy Lodge, put part of the proceeds toward retirement. Part of the proceeds to fund Step 2. Spend winters here.

Step 2; In 4-5 years...Find very small but rural vacation home/cabin in Eastern Wyoming/Western South Dakota near Black Hills. Spend summers here.

Sorry Slip, I somehow didn't see your plan. Sounds like you have it figured already. Still you want a place with low drag, low taxes as T-Man mentioned, and move in ready. Looks like a lot of back and forth between the two places. Then again, I don't have family or kids so I can be anywhere, or nowhere. Me, I don't ever want to have to move again, to much of that already. I hear the Black Hills area is awesome.

[Slippy]

Roger that on the road. Ours is a shared access road and we have a gate. The owners of the land are Ok but particular about their gate. I used to maintain the road and mow but the owner retired so he has more spare time to do it himself. Plus his wife is kind of a bitch and wanted to dictate when I mowed so I politely bowed out. We get along well, usually a polite wave or a "how ya doin?" but we don't break bread or hang out.

For my new property, NO SHARED EASEMENTS !!


As far as heat, Im going with a Mini-Split HVAC with a LP gas stove for backup heat and ambiance. No more tree felling, wood cutting and splitting for me. I'll give my chainsaws away as soon as I sell Slippy Lodge !!


Heating. If you are going to heat with wood, you either need to buy it, or have land with woods to produce your own firewood. Maybe finding some younger guys to come out, cut trees and make firewood, they can have their wood free as long as they supply you, kinda like share-croping.

If you plan on gardening, make sure your property is not ALL woods, hard to find a sunny spot. Also, good soil, not just sand or rock.

Also, do NOT ever buy a property that has a long driveway at the dead end of a T-intersection. That is how this property is. We have had at least 15 cars run off the end of the road and wreck over the last 20+ years, three this year alone. Our power pole at the road was hit one of them times. That guy died. Another feller died, alot of injuries. Also, no matter how many "Private Drive" or "No Tress-passing" signs you put up, assholes will still drive right up acting like its a normal road. I have had drunks park down the lane, trying to hide from the cops.

I think if our driveway was 150' either side of this dead end intersection, we wouldn't have 1/10 of the problems we have now.

[Slippy]

Black Hills are great! The back and forth isn't too bad if we can stay at one place or another for a while. I'm still working and my main sales territory is the Southeastern US (LA, AR, MS, TN, GA, AL & North FL). But I can easily live a month or 2 somewhere else and not be missed as long as I bring in sales to my employer!


Sorry Slip, I somehow didn't see your plan. Sounds like you have it figured already. Still you want a place with low drag, low taxes as T-Man mentioned, and move in ready. Looks like a lot of back and forth between the two places. Then again, I don't have family or kids so I can be anywhere, or nowhere. Me, I don't ever want to have to move again, to much of that already. I hear the Black Hills area is awesome.

[MountainGirl]

Suggestions, tips and ideas, eh?

I've only one.

As you configure Step 1, do it AS IF it will be your very last place: small, nominal maintenance, comfortable, easy joyous living; like a vacation cabin! Can you still live there in your 90's if need be? Consider the dynamics of doing so. Doesn't mean you have to be or act old now... but you'd be set for when you are... cause you never know what's ahead.

Maybe Mrs Slippy will be willing to leave her grandkids in 4-5 years, and maybe not.
Either way, always remember - Man Plans, God Laughs. :D

[Slippy]

Good stuff!

We thought when we were designing Slippy Lodge that it would be our forever home but we sorely under-estimated what being OLD does to a person! :thinking:

I'll add that I don't expect to live to 90! I've always been middle of the road jack of all master of none so I expect to live to the national average age of 75.6 years old! HA!



Suggestions, tips and ideas, eh?

I've only one.

As you configure Step 1, do it AS IF it will be your last place: small, nominal maintenance, comfortable, easy living; like a vacation cabin! Can you still live there in your 90's if need be? Consider the dynamics of doing so. Doesn't mean you have to be or act old now... but you'd be set for when you are... cause you never know what's ahead.

Maybe Mrs Slippy will be willing to leave her grandkids in 4-5 years, and maybe not.
Either way, always remember - Man Plans, God Laughs. :D

[Inor]

When we bought the land for M.T. Acres, we started by making a list of what we wanted vs what we needed for the life we wanted to build here. (We bought the land in 2009 right after the property crash so our money went further then than it would now and it just sat empty until 2017 when we started the build.)

My requirements were the land had to be flat (so we could do whatever we want with it) and it HAD to have water under it. We knew we wanted to eventually raise all our own meat animals and have gardens but we did not know, at the time, what that required. We did not want to make those decisions until after we had the house done and we had a little more experience living in this climate. So having mostly flat and clear land was a good idea to give us flexibility when started making those decisions.

Mrs Inor HAD to have mountain views from every window in the eventual house and have some land for her She Shack.

The original 6.5 acres we bought did have plenty of water under it (although we had to drill halfway to Hell to get it). It did not have electric, but the electric was only about 1/4 mile away. So running electric was not terribly expensive (around $7-8K if my memory serves). The electric runs on power poles to the land, then underground from the pole to the house. We have never had any issues with it.

Oddly, there was already phone service run directly to the property. So for the first several years here we were using DSL for our internet. That worked fine for everything we needed. About a year ago, they redid our whole area with fiber so that is freakin' awesome (although about twice as much per month)!

We did not do anything special with the septic, just a regular septic tank for everything. - no separate gray water. No complaints so far but your post did remind me I should get the shit-sucker out here to check it anyway.

Since we got here, I have been buying up small parcels of land as it comes up in the tax auctions. Some of the land is adjacent to M.T. Acres, some not. So far, the only tax sale land that did not work out for us the way I wanted was a purchase I made last February. I bought 40 acres right in the base of our mountains but the current owner decided he could pay the back tax on it and got it back. (Even so, we ended up making 16% on that land for "owning" it for about a month. So yeah, cry me a river for not getting my 40 acres but I still made damn good money on it.)

[BucketBack]

Heating. If you are going to heat with wood, you either need to buy it, or have land with woods to produce your own firewood. Maybe finding some younger guys to come out, cut trees and make firewood, they can have their wood free as long as they supply you, kinda like share-croping.

If you plan on gardening, make sure your property is not ALL woods, hard to find a sunny spot. Also, good soil, not just sand or rock.

Also, do NOT ever buy a property that has a long driveway at the dead end of a T-intersection. That is how this property is. We have had at least 15 cars run off the end of the road and wreck over the last 20+ years, three this year alone. Our power pole at the road was hit one of them times. That guy died. Another feller died, alot of injuries. Also, no matter how many "Private Drive" or "No Tress-passing" signs you put up, assholes will still drive right up acting like its a normal road. I have had drunks park down the lane, trying to hide from the cops.

I think if our driveway was 150' either side of this dead end intersection, we wouldn't have 1/10 of the problems we have now.

I'm deciding on where to put the fireboard in the pole barn for a future wood stove . It would be a second home for laborer's ( me )

My 1/2 mile of trails are not safe to walk because of widowmakers, and a 3/4" sheet of OSB is heavier than it was last century.

This is Today's revelation to a Doubting Thomas.....

[Slippy]

I'm deciding on where to put the fireboard in the pole barn for a future wood stove . It would be a second home for laborer's ( me )

My 1/2 mile of trails are not safe to walk because of widowmakers, and a 3/4" sheet of OSB is heavier than it was last century.

This is Today's revelation to a Doubting Thomas.....

OSB nearly 80lbs 3/4"x4'x8' sheet! Yowza!

[BucketBack]

I bought 3 1/2 extra sheets, enough for another room :party:

[Jester-ND]

A thought.... Tiny house (Less to heat), 2 of them ( his/her houses or guest quarters).. couple of goats penned around to not have to mow. leaves more money for the perfect land. (put in a stocked fish pond?).. skimp on space and splurge on security!!!

[Jester-ND]

If I had my way, I would move into one of those fancied-up missle silos and leave the world behind already.....

[Prepared One]

I didn't mention our septic but it was perfect set up for us. 2 500 gal. tanks (The former owners had two trailers parked on the property before they built the house, thus two wells and 2 septic.) I have to get the one we use pumped every 2 or three years but there are no dosing pumps or field lines to maintain. I wouldn't do low dosing, aerobics, or grinder pump stations, they are a pain in the ass to maintain.

[BucketBack]

I have 2 tile fields with a switch every year or so

[Slippy]

A thought.... Tiny house (Less to heat), 2 of them ( his/her houses or guest quarters).. couple of goats penned around to not have to mow. leaves more money for the perfect land. (put in a stocked fish pond?).. skimp on space and splurge on security!!!

Our current home is 1756 square feet above ground and same below grade. The basement is a walkout unfinished. Above ground living is 2 beds, 2 bath and with 1 main room that is kitchen, dining and living. If I could take this same plan, shrink it 500-700 sf I'd build the same house.

It is a passive solar design (deep porches, north south orientation with few western windows etc). I researched it extensively before we had an architect draw it up. I would not do a basement again. No reason.