"Moving away from the city". What to expect?

[Preacherman]

The down side of country living is finding out your bread has mold on it when you really want a sandwich. Experienced guys like me have learned to pick off the mold and make the sandwich.

 

[O4L]

The down side of country living is finding out your bread has mold on it when you really want a sandwich. Experienced guys like me have learned to pick off the mold and make the sandwich.

It builds up your immunity to the china flu.

 

[TwoForFlinching]

You can toast moldy bread... at least, I do.

 

[Parks 788]

Ok, so your moving to the suburbs!! Not much different than city life LOL.

This right here. I'm moving to OK this summer/fall so this is an interesting thread. THat being said it is my opinion that you may run into more problems with neighbors when you are separated by one to 3 acre lots as opposed to living on 10 - 20 acre lots a bit further out of the city limits. Crackheads and the like may not be able to afford the larger parcels and may give you the privacy and freedom you want while still being close to your needs and wants. I'm of the opinion with land and property, much like engine horse power, in that you always buy as much as you can reasonably afford.

 

[GC7]

The down side of country living is finding out your bread has mold on it when you really want a sandwich. Experienced guys like me have learned to pick off the mold and make the sandwich.

Freezer! Bread keeps great in the freezer and then you can microwave it for 10 seconds to make it soft again. I've had a loaf last me months this way since I don't eat bread often.

 

[GC7]

This right here. I'm moving to OK this summer/fall so this is an interesting thread. THat being said it is my opinion that you may run into more problems with neighbors when you are separated by one to 3 acre lots as opposed to living on 10 - 20 acre lots a bit further out of the city limits. Crackheads and the like may not be able to afford the larger parcels and may give you the privacy and freedom you want while still being close to your needs and wants. I'm of the opinion with land and property, much like engine horse power, in that you always buy as much as you can reasonably afford.

I am not opposed to buying more land, but it's as if everyone here is saying to buy more land without also explaining that it will cost more to maintain that land (taxes, fencing, inspecting it on a regular basis for issues).

 

[Snattlerake]

I've been a country boy damn near my entire life. Sorry, but I kinda giggled when you mentioned a half an acre and every item on your list has never been an issue for me.

I don't know how you city boys do it, I really don't. There's no way in hell I would wanna live almost an arms length away from a total stranger like you guys do in the city. I like my wide open space. My closest neighbor is at least 1/4 mile away.

Rethink your move. A half an acre on the outskirts of the city isn't really country living IMHO.

But...that's just me.

Me too. Coyotes and pumpjacks are music and cow lots and newly turned earth is perfume. We farmed over 4 sections. I forgot how small an acre is. I think our smallest field was the 17 acre field. Our home place was 90.

 

[Shadowrider]

It depends on what's on the property and what the previous owners did with it. If it's a plat on a bigger property (i.e, someone is selling off parts of a bigger property), it depends on which parcel you buy. If you buy a parcel on the edge, it may already have an established fence line, but if it's an interior parcel, it may not even have the fence lines cleared. My dad bought 10 acres like that, so it had a fence on the frontage and one side, but we had to clear trees on the other long side.

Another concern is access. That's not a big deal if your parcel has a frontage on a county road, but if it's an interior parcel, that could get spendy. As I understand it, it's not legal to sell a land-locked parcel in Oklahoma, but that doesn't mean that the easement for access will be an easy one. F'rinstance, I know of one parcel where they had to build a private road more than 3/4 of a mile long because nobody on the other side of the section (where it would've been less than 1/4 mi to the section road) would sell an easement. And not long after my dad bought the aforementioned 10, he was forced to grant an easement for the parcel behind his, so he did...on the side with the 20 foot deep gulley going through the fence line.

In a related vein, you need to look as easements on the property itself. If there's an easement for a natural gas line that crosses the property, or for access to an interior parcel, that'll limit where you can build.

Correct. I own an 1.0 acre tract right smack in the middle of about 100 acres about 1/4 mile from the shore on lake Texoma. It has a platted road right to it. Plat shows it, contracts for sale of on all of the other parcels have all the appropriate reservations for easements, R/W, etc. Sounds kosher right? One problem. The guy that had it platted never filed it at the courthouse. I found that this guy was good at not doing that with other platted subdivisions he did. My dad bought the first 3 lots of a "subdivision" and another local bought all of the rest and proceeded to just run cows on it, so the guy never bothered filing it.

Oklahoma has an implied easement doctrine and in theory you can't be "landlocked" by law so I could get a guaranteed easement award in a court action but...it'll cost money. I'll have to pay all the legal fees for the litigation and then pay the other owner for the easement, then I have to "improve" that road if he wants to be a butthead (I've seen that done). The owner has already offered me $5k for it but I've seen comps for as high as $30k and even $75k for lake frontage withing a mile of it but all those have access. If I can get him to $10k I'll probably sell it to him. And I might just hang on to it. lol

 

[TwoForFlinching]

I am not opposed to buying more land, but it's as if everyone here is saying to buy more land without also explaining that it will cost more to maintain that land (taxes, fencing, inspecting it on a regular basis for issues).

I'd assume more land equals higher taxes. Probably gonna need a bigger mower. Cost more time to care for it. But there's a priceless sense of value to peeing off your porch. Move to Cache, have a spectacular mountain view.

 

[dennishoddy]

Also if it matters to you also make sure you find out what your internet and telephone options are. Not everywhere has cell coverage or internet.

Satellite internet isn't cheap or reliable. And speed isn't very good.

Yes.
You can pay big money for Satellite but they are so far in space that you have latency problems that will effect the ability to use wifi security systems. Been there done that.