Thinking of moving, but WHERE???

[mrbstephens]

I'd like some suggestions as to where you people think I might want to live.
First let me explain my situation. I live on Long Island. I have a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch on .43 acre. My mortgage and property taxes is killing us. We pay $6,500 a year in taxes. With taxes included we're paying almost $2,000/month. My husband is a talented woodworker, works in a cabinet shop and is our sole income. He makes $90,000/year before taxes. It seems like a lot, but we're barely scraping by. I stay home with our two children....son is 6 and daughter is 3. I homeschool our son. I am educated in horticulture, which used to be my career before we had children. We enjoy living naturally and organically. I have a small vegetable garden which I wish was much bigger and we have 7 chickens for fresh eggs. My dream is to live on a farm and grow organic produce and raise live stock for the dairy and fiber. We bought our house 8 years ago for $256,000 of which we still owe $225,000. If we were to sell now we could get at least $375,000 even with the economy the way it is. We live just a few miles from the ocean and bays which is what makes the property value so high. We love the beach and fishing here, but recently I asking myself why are we paying so much for such a small piece of land. My husband works himself to death at a job he hates. I came across a farm in upstate New York......80 acres for $190,000. 60 acres organic farm land, 10 acres wooded and the rest is for the horses/livestock and living area. It has a huge barn and seperate 4 car garage. I'm imagining selling our house and buying this which would leave us with a tiny mortgage, fresh organic produce/dairy/meat to feed our family plus the profit of growing and selling the produce/dairy/meat. Plus my husband would use that garage as a shop to create and sell his woodwork. Not to mention, I could sell some of the acreage......because there is plenty to go around.

So, what's keeping us from just going for it? It's COLD there! Right not it's 20 degrees and snowing. It's close to Lake Ontario.......almost Canada. We don't like cold or long winters. The winters are too long here on Long Island as it is. Also, I'm not sure about the community there either. That's another important thing of course. I don't want to offend anyone, but I don't want to live among hicks, for a lack of a gentler word. I'm a strong democrat and not at all religious. I believe in natural healing and spirituality. I like an intelligent conversation and friendly, family oriented type people.

So, this is what I'm looking for;

1) Farm land with wooded areas nearby. A house that has at least 3 bedrooms and an outdoor structure big enough for a woodworking shop. Not costing more than $250,000.
2)Nearby to a beach/lake/river.
3)Comfortable climate.....snow is fine, but not too much.
4)Don't want to live too far from my family. Most of our family lives on Long Island, but a few in Massachusetts and Virginia.
5)A community like I described above.

I'm sure there's more, but that's the most important I think. Any suggestions would be fabulous. I like you guys and respect your opinions. Thanks so much!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Well, coming from a canadian who grew up in SW Ont, I hated winters, (and not so fond of them again) until I moved up to Northern Ontario--with all the snow. In the part of NY where you are thinking, you would get alot of lake effect snow. My advice would be to spend some time there in the dead of winter to see if it is something you can handle. When hubby had the job interview up north, we went in February and there was 6 feet of snow on the ground. It was so beautiful and the cold wasn't as cold as in S. Ont., if that makes sense. It was a drier cold, and if you were dressed proper, you were warm. I would give my eye teeth to go back up north right now. If you try it out first, you can get a sense of the community where you are thinking of living, and you can answer the rest of your questions. With all communities, you will get some hicks, some eccentrics, and whole handful of "normal " folks, whtever normal means to you. It will be what you make of it.

I hear ya on the taxes. With just 3 acres, we are paying close to $5000, with no services ( gravel road, no garbage pick up etc). If hubby didn't love his job so much (and it is a great, secure one), we would be back up north in a heartbeat. My advice is don't knock it until you try it.

 

[NurseNettie]

I don't honestly have any "where" suggestions for you, but wish you luck. We used to live south of Boston, near the coast, and rented a small house. Our rent was huge, and the possibility of buying a house was way way way out of reach (considering at the time a fixer upper started at about 300k). The down payment alone was out of reach for us- and if we had it, our mortgage would have been near the 2000/month range.

We started looking around, online, and found the place we live in now. It's in Northern Maine, and yes, we get WINTER here. It's cold in the winter. Very cold. We've been here about 18 months now- moved in March, during their worst winter in 50 years. Lived through last winter-- another record breaker. And, winter is upon us again. Big snow coming tomorrow.

Neither of us like winter per se. I do like the cold snowy winter here better than the milder, wetter winter down in Mass where we came from, however. The state and towns have the heavy snow removal equipment, and the roads are always clear. We can get anywhere we want to (seasonal roads excluded), whenever we want to. We just bundle up and deal with it. The summers have been mild, and haven't gotten too hot for us. Spring and autumn are beautiful. Winters-- we sit inside by the stove, watch our satellite tv, play our internet games, and plan for spring. It's very nice, and we don't wish to be anywhere else.

OK, now that I've rambled, I guess I'm saying, don't totally dismiss your "dream" place because of winter-- it might be doable. Visit or spend some time in the area during the winter-- or just decide you're going to deal with winter, since you'll have everything you want!!

And, don't be too quick to sell off your acreage-- you may want it later

I'd love to hear where you eventually end up!!

 

[okiegirl1]

Other than not being close to family...

MOVE TO OKLAHOMA!!

We have very low cost of living, We bought a 3 bed/2bath/2 car garage, brick on 2 1/2 acres for $130,000. Close enough to the city to have everything we need, but far enough out we're still in the country.

We don't get much snow, but do get ice in the winter. But even the ice doesn't last too long.

We have TONS of lakes. I grew up on the ocean, so I understand the love of the water, but with the cost of living being so low, we can afford to travel and not pay the high property costs.

and we're SUPER NICE people. The people here can't be beat.

 

[ducks4you]

I agree, you need to do a lot of research before you buy a property somewhere else. I could suggest other parts of the country--Kentucky comes to mind, since it's not in the lake effect snow/snow belt and it's a friendly state with a growing population. We always wanted to move to Colorado. DD had a GM who was born there (in 1880!), his father lived there, and we've vacationed there for almost 30 years. Even our daughters know how to get around west of Denver without a map!! BUT, we had family and job considerations that ruled that out. Instead, I looked for 12 years to find just the right sized/priced/distance from work property. I absolutely LOVE my 5 acres with the farms behind us. Here are some questions to consider that might help:
1) GREAT time to buy, if you can afford to sell
2) Will you still have a job if you move?
3) If you move further away (from your job), will the costs of travel (to work) outweigh the savings?
4) Are there any family members that you don't want to travel far to spend time with, such as aging parents?
5) If you buy a property that is worth less than the one you currently live on, will you be willing to take a loss in the future if you want to sell and it's value is LOWER than you purchase price?

My last question is directly related to our situation. We bought our 5 acres with falling apart cattle fencing on 4 of the acres, a 100-year old, 6 bedroom house, a 4 car garage (the newest building on the property,) 1 barn with a loft that can store 500 bales of hay/straw/shavings, and 2 outbuildings for $89,900.00 in 2000. We spent 25K on replacement fencing, but the economy which raised the value to 110K, lowered it in 2009 to $85K. I'm okay with this. I own a usable horse property that cost less than 1/2 a million. If DH and I were to drop dead tomorrow, the property WILL sell (for my DD's) to another horse person. I probably looked at 30 or more properties before I found this one. With the internet, your search will be far easier than mine was. Don't be discouraged, and good luck in your search!!

 

[Ldychef2k]

If'n I had my druthers, I would move back to Oklahoma in a heartbeat.

However, I aint got no druthers !

Say, have you browed through listings on national websites like this one http://www.unitedcountry.com/ ? Personally, I would look for a place with low cost of living and no state income tax, or no sales tax. I am a tax hater...can you tell?

I frequently look at real estate ads as a way of dreaming!

 

[me&thegals]

Just a thought on winters: Find some great winter hobbies like skating, skiing, sledding. And consider getting a house or installing a woodstove with glass door. It is so beautiful and luxurious to sit in front of a fire that you won't care at all what it's doing outside, especially if you're both working at home and not having to drive. Just what works for me...

 

[ScottSD]

no income tax in SD.....

the unemployment rate is pretty low here too

 

[miss_thenorth]

no income tax in SD.....

the unemployment rate is pretty low here too

Seriously??!?!?!! We're at 13%, but that's good--it went down from 15%.

 

[patandchickens]

It sounds like you're talking about somewhere around the E end of Lake Ontario, like Watertown-ish... which is NOT a good place for someone who hates winter If it's actually somewhere along the S of the lake, that is not quite so bad; I lived in Brockport for four or five years, the snow wasn't awful.

One thought on the social aspect of things; it sounds like you would do well looking for land in the vicinity of a 'college town', ideally a larger state school or university not a wee little college. Properties are a bit more expensive in those areas vs non-college-town-y rural areas, but not by *much*, and it sounds like the kind of place you might be happier.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat