Posted on 11/08/2012 7:33:31 AM PST by swift15
Now that the election has been completed, I know that I need to relocate. I am recently retired and I will sell my townhouse and move from Northern VA. But I haven’t yet narrowed the field of possible locations very much. GF and I have been entertaining the idea of purchasing a piece of rural property and constructing our own house. But we really want to be among conservative-minded folks.
We have been actively reading this site for a long time and always appreciate the opinions of those involved.
I would like to have as many opinions and suggestions about where we should begin our search for a new locale, as well as ideas on what other factors should be considered.
The western part of VA, TN, TX, PA, even NH seem attractive from a CoL perspective, as well as seasonal change and the prospect of lower taxes. (I have lived in western PA, AL, FL, NC, CA, and VA.)
There is an interesting magazine on sale at the Giant here in MD, and I assume it’s available in the Giant in NVA as well. It’s called Pioneer Farmer or New Pioneer or something like that. Lots of good articles, but the first one is the best one for you. It discusses what you need to think about before you move from the ‘burbs to a rural area.
If you’ve never been a farmer or lived in a really remote area before, you may not know what’s involved. Oh, it’s one thing to read all about it, but honestly, reading is a lot different from doing.
The article begins with the tale of a retired couple who bought rural property and only then found out that it was a hard 75-mile drive for shopping or medical care. They learned how psychologically isolated they were when their friends and family were so far away, and how tough it was to keep life going when they couldn’t just call a repairman if the dryer broke down or the roof leaked.
If you have animals on a farm, there is no such thing as a day off or a late morning. You will be up early every morning to feed, milk, muck out, pick up after, repair damage from, buy stuff for, and otherwise care for animals, no matter how tired, sick, or hurt you are, no matter how cold it is, whether it’s raining, sleeting, or snowing, whether it’s 105 degrees and 90% humidity and the flies are biting.
If you run out of something in the middle of the week, it’s a big fat production to drive into town to get more. You learn not to.
Local tradespeople will know you’re a suburbanite and might overcharge you and/or not do a good job, because you won’t have your pick of a lot of tradesmen to do the work. Even if they’re completely honest, they may not have the sophisticated skills and training or access to the same materials found in more competitive areas like very upscale Northern Virginia. Again, you may end up doing a lot of the work yourself.
Sometimes it’s not easy to make friends with locals who have lived in the same place for decades, with roots that go back centuries. After all, they already have their established friendships. The level of education may be very different from yours, and they may have some suspicions that you’ll try to change and “improve” local conditions. People in rural areas have an extremely limited tolerance for newcomers who move in and then talk about how things were done back where they came from. Their judgements may not be fair, but it can take time to overcome that.
You will find yourself trying to fix things on your farmette by yourself and make tools with which to fix those things because it’s such a long way to the nearest hardware store.
You will be tired a lot. A whole lot. Sometimes it’s a good tired but quite often it’s not, especially as you get older.
I lived on a farm when I was young and I do some farm work now. It’s rewarding and I plan to go back to rural life ASAP, but there’s a lot to take into account for someone who does not have experience or have historic roots in an area.
I don’t want to sound too negative. Rural people can indeed be wonderful—models of Christian virtue and normal American values. But you should know what you’re getting into and fairly assess your health, your finances, and the degree to which your girlfriend will be prepared to labor alongside you in what can be lonely conditions. I’ve seen too many suburbanites move to places like Rappahannock County—not exactly the back of beyond!—then get upset because it was a 35-minute drive all the way to Warrenton if they wanted a burger, or had to drop something off at the dry cleaners, or wanted to go grocery shopping. They were worried about the mountain lions, mad because foxes got all their chickens, plagued by septic and well problems, and frustrated because they had to spend $30K on a big ol’ generator since the power was going out all the time.
If you don’t have experience, it might be best just to think of moving further south to someplace at the edge of the suburbs, where you can have a couple of acres without actually being out in the sticks. South Carolina offers a lot of places like that. It can be very comfortable and much less isolated.
I am in Red Hampshire (red for hard-core Communist)...I couldn't agree more...this state is a vile sh*thole...very expensive, full of nasty New Yorkers, ice cold, and so on. The only good thing I can say about this state is that they do NOT mandate seat belts (although they DO mandate flu shots for hapless health care workers, like it or not). They just went Obama by a very comfortable margin, and even worse; elected THREE far-left radical moonbat women...two to Congress, and a third to the State House (Governor). The new Governor is married to a man who invited Van Jones to speak at the academy he presides over...Christ is out, a Muslim chapel is in. I am trying desperately to move back to East Tennessee, which I consider damn close to paradise. If it matters; Red Hampshire is also regarded as the LEAST religious state in the Nation. They don't care much for Christians.
Brent speaks the Gospel truth...my wife and I moved to east TN in 2000, and the first words we heard were 'Welcome to Tennessee'...best people anywhere. Period. Now I'm stuck back in Red Hampshire (spit, spit, spit), and doing everything I can to escape.
No, they didn’t. They did retain the right to divide into more than one state
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I think you may be right about that.
The 59 acres next door to me is for sale. It includes Lake Front across the street that borders the second largest lake in Texas. He has a double wide manufactured on it; 32x50 I think. You could likely have he throw in his Kubota Tractor. The owner is asking $250,000 for it.
We are in the lowest property tax county in Texas. Sam Rayborn Lake has 800 miles of shore line and there are boat ramps less than a mile from the property each direction. The largest lake in the state is Toledo Bend on the Louisiana border and it is 20 minutes to a boat ramp there.
The neighbor has shot deer off his front porch... There is 669,000 acres of type II forest land in the area you can hunt for a $45 per year permit.
We are in San Augustine County with a population of only 8,600. The area is heavily wooded, pines and mixed hardwood and rural with a 60” average annual rainfall.
Are there jobs in your county?
LOVE,LOVE,LOVE Texas.
Hubby and I just sold our home in NorthernVA.
We wanted to settle in Texas . Went house hunting and found wonderful places.
Alas, the property taxes are too onerous for a retired person.
We are now pretty sure our next home will be in Tennessee.
Depends on what you want for a job...
There is a small oil & gas well presence in the area. Many of the non- college educated work in the timber industry which is not doing very well right now. Forestry (state and federal) have a presence in the area. Nacogdoches is a little drive away and is an old collage town. Lufkin and Lufkin Fabricators (they build oil field equipment, pump jacks and semi trailer). There is also a collage in Lufkin.
Other than that it is retail and food service mostly.
There is a business opportunity in that the two area heavy equipment, semi-truck and farm equipment mechanic shop owners are both getting elderly and retiring. That leaves a business need for an equipment and heavy truck mechanic’s shop. There are a lot of long haul truck drivers that live in the area plus farm & ranch and forestry trucks and equipment that need work. You are not going to get rich, but it is a fairly steady decent living.
Beaumont is an hour and a half away and Houston is two and a half hours away. I work refineries and chemical plants during the week staying in a RV trailer and go home on the weekends.
What field do you work in?
I’m a middle-aged lady, and not really up to driving a truck or doing physical labor in a chemical plant all day. I work in medical administration now after years of doing medical research. Unfortunately this doesn’t really sound like the kind of area where I could find a job working in a clinic or hospital.
Every small town in the area has a clinic and many have a hospital. The large medical center for the area is 45 miles from my place in Lufkin.
Fairly close are Hospitals in the towns of San Augustine and Hemphill.
There are large numbers of retirees that leave Houston and the Port Arthur area and move to their lake houses on Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend Lakes. With that number of middle class retirees, the medical industry does pretty well in the area.
Houston has HUGE opportunities in medicine.
Every small town in the area has a clinic and many have a hospital. The large medical center for the area is 45 miles from my place in Lufkin.
Fairly close are Hospitals in the towns of San Augustine and Hemphill.
There are large numbers of retirees that leave Houston and the Port Arthur area and move to their lake houses on Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend Lakes. With that number of middle class retirees, the medical industry does pretty well in the area.
Houston has HUGE opportunities in medicine.
Nice schedule. I wasn’t aware that we now schedule these. One of my former work buddies used poor wording when he called the observatory for one of his kids and asked “When is the next eclipse scheduled?”. Of course the guy on the other end said “We don’t schedule them sir, they just happen.” Being in Reno I guess we need to put some springs under the house in preperation for the swarm. Maybe “forecast/possible fault line events” would be a better way to put it. LOL!
FBOTUS paraphrase. “For the second time in my life I’m really ashamed for my country.” The first time was the way we were treated when caught out in uniform during the, uh, Southeast Asia police action.
Thanks to all for responding, particularly those that PM’ed me about actual locations to consider and what attributes prove to be worthy of consideration. My initial thought was to move to Pensacola (warm weather, beaches, etc) but many comments regarding other areas, (most cited Texas and Tennessee) have me searching the internet for specifics. Mostly due to an “arms-length proximity” to family and friends in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Kentucky, I think Tennessee is most favorable.
Any particulars anyone would like to share will be most welcome!
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