5 Common (wrong) assumptions about living in the country

[ZigZagZeke]

Most of his "revelations" are just plain wrong. I haven't lived in a suburb or urban environment for 20 years.

 

[joken]

The jobs are in the city. The percentage of people who live in urban areas has gone up from about 50% when I was a kid to about 80% now. Rural land has increased in value because it has decreased in quantity. Orygun has done a decent job of controlling urban sprawl, but yes, there are more areas out here now where people are putting up houses and less vacant land on which people are allowed to build. In WA county you can only build a house on farm land if the plot makes $80K per year for a number of years - and that is not easy to do. When we sold the 4 plots of land that made up our farm, only the two that already had houses on them could have houses on them. The other two could not - one went to Ponzi and they build a winery on it, the other is still a filbert orchard.

Where I live on the mountain the only reason the county allowed houses here is because it could not be farmed as it was too steep - only trees could be 'farmed' on this land, and with the zoning I have to maintain a certain percentage of forested land or get the zoning changed (not easy to do).

Most of the houses up here are either upper end houses, or they were already here before the land prices went up. Most of the people are upper middle class professionals who commute into the city to work, or are retired - not farmers. Most of the farms have been leased out or sold to larger farms as current generations no longer wish to farm - too much work for too little reward.

Our home is on 5 acres three miles north of Corvallis zoned RR5. We went to an estate sale here about 17 years ago and bought the place for cheap. The bare ground is worth much more today than we paid for the place with the house.

 

[The Heretic]

Our home is on 5 acres three miles north of Corvallis zoned RR5. We went to an estate sale here about 17 years ago and bought the place for cheap. The bare ground is worth much more today than we paid for the place with the house.

As is mine, but then my house has not really appreciated either; being a triple wide manufactured home they tend to not appreciate or at least not when they are 20 years old - but then it has not depreciated either. Being near a popular city with jobs or other attractive things (college, etc.) land does appreciate. At the very least a person can come in and live in my home while they build their dream home - or they can use this place as their summer home, or do what I did, use it as a place to live/invest in until I retire in a few years - if they don't mind the drive into work.

 

[Colts4me]

Our home is on 5 acres three miles north of Corvallis zoned RR5. We went to an estate sale here about 17 years ago and bought the place for cheap. The bare ground is worth much more today than we paid for the place with the house.

Just a point of view, what drove property values up so high?

 

[Provincial]

Just a point of view, what drove property values up so high?

Land use laws, which artificially reduce the supply of buildable land. In Western Oregon it takes a lot size of at least 160 acres to qualify as "buildable" unless there is some other factor to get an exemption. Most lots less than that size can be owned, sold, and operated on (as in farmed or managed for forest crops), but cannot be built on or occupied continuously.

 

[Camelfilter]

Didn't read the story, but am familiar with his writing & agree with much he has written which I have read (and learned a good but as well).

What may have been overlooked in as titled tale might be the true tenassity and grit of real Americans. Ad to that the availability if not direct experience with small arms we have in America (vs elsewhere on the planet), and rural survivabilty is markedly increased (again as opposed to elsewhere in the planet).

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Like everything in life ...there are pluses and minuses ...
The real trick is finding what works for you in the situation that you find yourself in...Before SHTF , and work on improving your situation and practicing and improving your plan.

Whether you are in big city , small town , rural area or the out in the country proper....all will require a different mindset and set of skills...to make matters more "interesting"...depending on which city or country area in the world you are in...the mindset and skills will probably be different....

Surviving means being adaptable...don't get "locked into" :
One plan...
One skill...
One mindset...
One man's experience or opinion... ( goes for what I have written here as well... )
Andy

 

[tallfoo]

It's good that the bad info is out there. Misinformation is always a good thing.

I disagree. Misinformation us usually a very bad thing.

 

[KKG]

I disagree. Misinformation us usually a very bad thing.

In my mind, it all depends on just which side you are on.

 

[The Heretic]

Land use laws, which artificially reduce the supply of buildable land. In Western Oregon it takes a lot size of at least 160 acres to qualify as "buildable" unless there is some other factor to get an exemption. Most lots less than that size can be owned, sold, and operated on (as in farmed or managed for forest crops), but cannot be built on or occupied continuously.

I would rather have farm land being cultivated than farm land being built upon. If it wasn't for the laws we have, my family's farm and my fathers farm would now be apartment complexes instead of farm land. Yes, it meant that when we sold the farms we got less money because they could not put houses on some of the plots and could not put more houses on the plots that already had houses on them, and could not sub-divide, but it also means that Portland and its suburbs in WA county do not look like LA or Phoenix.

 

[winsler]

Work in Gresham and live in Kalama. It is absolutely worth the 2.5 hour daily commute to get the hell out of the "urban areas" and i am more than happy to burn the evil fossil fuels to do it!!!!

 

[Provincial]

I would rather have farm land being cultivated than farm land being built upon. If it wasn't for the laws we have, my family's farm and my fathers farm would now be apartment complexes instead of farm land. Yes, it meant that when we sold the farms we got less money because they could not put houses on some of the plots and could not put more houses on the plots that already had houses on them, and could not sub-divide, but it also means that Portland and its suburbs in WA county do not look like LA or Phoenix.

True, but it results in a trend where it becomes too expensive for working people to iive in the rural areas within commuting distance of cities. Notice that most houses built in these rural areas are pretty expensive.

The same trend appears within the cities, where "gentrification" is driving the working people out of close-in neighborhoods.

It even gets harder to leave your land to your kids, since estate taxes are not indexed to inflation.

 

[Argonaut]

Markets are very simple........when more people want the same thing (particularly one that can't be manufactured) the prices rise. I am decidedly bias.......but who wants to give up the freedoms we enjoy in rural areas to live in a city? The last time I lived in a city, I parked a small forklift in my car port......the city had an absolute fit but whenever anyone needed to lift or move something.......I got a knock on my door.

 

[Colts4me]

Land use laws, which artificially reduce the supply of buildable land. In Western Oregon it takes a lot size of at least 160 acres to qualify as "buildable" unless there is some other factor to get an exemption. Most lots less than that size can be owned, sold, and operated on (as in farmed or managed for forest crops), but cannot be built on or occupied continuously.

You are right in part of it, land use is one tool to drive the value of property up. The state used that tool because Siezemore got a law in to limit your property tax so the state had to drive values up to get more tax money. Add to that they flood the state with illegal as a sanctuary state and property values soar.

If people plan to move on then it's good values soar but if you stay here the higher taxes eat you alive. My taxes went up $400 last year.

 

[Colts4me]

I look just as much at the man who wrote the article as what he says. I found after decades of shooting matches life is just like the match so I compare the writer with what I know. If he was right in the middle of hell making his report then it' his view of where he is and still he would have to believe what others tell him to report what they said.

He could only give his view of what happened around him and all else is hearsay. If he didn't spend time on the farm he really has no right to talk about choices to people. So what he does is tell you his choice and justifies it with hearsay. Not a person I would take seriously.

 

[bbbass]

At my ranch.......we make our own food, power and water what can city dwellers make?

Meth, BS, smog, noise, traffic jams, protests, attacks on gun owners.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Meth, BS, smog, noise, traffic jams, protests, attacks on gun owners.

And all the other s#it Mr FerFal had to protect himself against.

 

[bbbass]

Markets are very simple........when more people want the same thing (particularly one that can't be manufactured) the prices rise. I am decidedly bias.......but who wants to give up the freedoms we enjoy in rural areas to live in a city? The last time I lived in a city, I parked a small forklift in my car port......the city had an absolute fit but whenever anyone needed to lift or move something.......I got a knock on my door.

My best buddy has lived in the Bend area off/on for 40yrs. His house used to be on the outskirts north of town, where the KOA was and hardly anybody else. Then more and more houses over the years. He had two outbuildings/shop and kept a backhoe, a front end loader, some forklifts, etc and did a lot of work there. His neighbors complained so much that he developed his property into houses (9 lots... lost his butt thanx to the city changing demands), and moved out north of the Bend Airport on 10 acres. When he went to build his house, the city came out and gigged him for all his unpermitted outbuildings and electrical. Oh my.

 

[rupey7]

I'll take my quiet rural lifestyle clinging to my guns and religion thank you!

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

Tenuous, but for the fun of it; here's number 6 of common fallacies of rural living...

Neighbors will respect anything that which is not theirs..

My 12 acre experience & sobering reality:

Even if a person owns 10,000+ acres; there will still be a shist-head waiting right on the other side of the fence; acreage between a boundary and the curtiladge, is merely a buffer....