If you are new to living in a rural community the changes you will experience can be pretty dramatic but after a few years you will learn to plan and life really won’t seem that much different except that you’re enjoying your life much more.
When you are looking for property it is important to inspect your home, facilities and property very carefully. You want to know all of the features and problems you might run into when you are moving in or building your new home. You are not completely on your own when it comes to living in a rural community but you will have to do a lot more to keep your property running well. Being self sufficient can mean you save money and time when things need to be taken care of.
Property Inspections For Rural Home Purchases
Property Lines are a very important part of rural living and if your property isn’t marked very well then it is important to hire a survey crew to put down stakes that mark the boundaries of your property. Every deed should have a good description of your property and with GPS systems it is easy for a surveyor to walk the perimeter of your land and install good markers. Once you own the land you can decide if or how you should fence your land or if maybe you should cut a trail on your perimeter that is an indicator of your property line. If you have animals then they will need fencing and if your neighbors have animals a fence might be in your best interest.
Septic and Well Inspections are a primary inspection necessity. If the property is established and there are already systems in place then a very careful inspection is necessary to let you know the quality and volume of water you can get from your well and the age and flow of your septic system. Either of these utility level systems can cost you tens of thousands of dollars to replace or fix and if the property is older then there is a higher likelihood that they will need maintenance. If you don’t have these systems in place you will have to talk with a local well driller about the approximate cost of installing a well and where on your property is best to locate it. For septic systems there are special plumbing companies that are certified to do the work. Depending on your perk test and quality of soil near your building location you may need to improve the soil with amendments like sand. You might even decide that after a septic and well consultation that the location of your home moves on your property to better accommodate and reduce the cost of these systems.Septic and Well System Problems are a primary concern for rural living and they can be very costly so pay close attention to these systems.
Home and Outbuilding inspections are the same as living anywhere. You want to inspect your structure and utilities. Hopefully your property and your building lot on your property is close to power lines. Many people want to install solar and go off grid but having access to the power grid is always a better solution. Make sure that all of your plumbing in your home is copper, cpvc or pex line and there is no galvanized or lead pipe in your supply lines. That means from your well to your sink faucet. Your electrical system should be reasonably new and include a circuit breaker box and your wiring should be 3 wire including a ground wire. Upgrading the services in your home like your electric and plumbing can be very costly so if you expect you need a required upgrade then factor that into your asking price.
Driveways and Service Roads need to be maintained and although you might love that feeling of driving through a tunnel of trees to get from the road to your house it is really important that you clear back the trees that overhang your driveway so that branches don’t fall during storms or snow. If you have a long road to your building site this work can take many weeks to accomplish. You might also need to install culverts and dig drainage ditches along the road for rain and snow. It is always best to have a crowned driveway so that water will run off of it naturally and be taken away from the road. The last thing you want is to be calling a tow truck to help you get out of your driveway so inspect your road and plan for any repairs necessary. Its important that the road work is done early. You might also want to clear a secondary exit from your property for emergency reasons.
Selecting Your Building Site
If you know you will be building then selection of your home’s site is very important and there are a lot of factors to consider. The first is do you locate your home near the road for convenience or maybe in the center of your property for privacy. Locating near the road will also mean that any available utilities are less expensive to install. It can cost a lot of money to run power lines, and if available sewer, gas, phone or cable lines to your home from the road. It might include transformers, amplifiers for cable and expensive equipment that the provider will make you pay for or they might say your home is too far away from their system and they won’t even install it for you. This can happen on large properties but it can also happen on smaller properties so being close to the road can mean you have or don’t have access to utilities. Cost for road maintenance is also a problem. Most rural properties will have dirt and gravel driveways but even the cost of 800 feet of 10 inches of gravel can be very expensive. Locating closer to your road means a shorter driveway. These factors and many others can effect the distance to the road that you place your home.
Delivery services are another factor and you might find that the post office may require you to come into the office to pickup your mail but other services like UPS FedEx and others might only drop off packages at your driveway entrance. This does happen and people have said they find their packages under snow. You could build an enclosure for them to drop packages in or having your home closer to the road may help.
Other factors are natural springs, ponds and other features that you might enjoy near your home. If you have springs near your building site that might be good for the location of your well but it might also mean that your septic system will be overwhelmed by ground water. It could also be a problem for your home’s foundation creating high moisture in your basement is not a happy experience. It can cause mold or may require a sump pump that runs constantly.
Locating your house at a higher elevation normally will help with ground water problems but not if the spring originates from that area. Moving your home 100 yards from where you initially planned or bringing in clean fill dirt from other parts of your property may do the trick.
Phone and Internet Access For Rural Homes
Phone and Internet access for rural home owners can be a real problem. In some areas you will find that you are served pretty well with 4G Phone and Internet and this provides an option but you might find that you have zero coverage at your property. An option for that is Satellite Internet that can also be used for phone service however if you have long ping times and lag you might find that Texting is a better solution than calling someone. Elon Musk is trying to bridge that gap for rural communities but the service is not available everywhere and if it is available don’t expect it to be as good as Fiber might be for your friends in town. You can expect 100-200mbit per second service that should be able to provide enough data to get you Television Service, VOIP Service and Internet Service. Its a great option for a lot of families and I have seen the change it makes in their lives. The downside is availability is not guaranteed so if you make your living by remote work over the internet you might still find yourself driving to the nearest town to use WiFi at a Library or Restaurant and that is not easy when the nearest town is some distance away.
If you do have some type of cable, data or phone lines that run up your road then it might be a consideration to build your home closer to the road just so you can get the services installed. Another option might be building a workshop or garage near the road to get the services and then finding a way to get them up to your home yourself. It is a consideration you might have to make.
Clearing Snow Is Not Just Your Driveway In A Rural Area
One thing that many people run into is that rural roads are normally not maintained and if they are they are normally not well maintained. This means that to get from your house to a public highway you might need to maintain a few hundred feet or maybe 2 miles of road if you want to travel safely in the winter.
This will probably mean that you need a dedicated pickup truck with chains and a plow to service the road but it may require you to service the road and your driveway during storms to keep up with the amount of snow. This should be a shared duty of your neighbors but unfortunately you can’t always count on your neighbors to do the right thing.
Keeping the road and your driveway clear of trees also means the sun will be able to melt some of the snow. If you can’t get agreements with your neighbors to trim back trees near the road then talk with the county and they might send a crew out.
Collecting Firewood Is A Full Time Job For Rural Living
We talked about clearing areas for your driveway and building site but the fact is whenever you are cutting down a tree you want to save that wood to heat your home. If you can you should save some of the best straight trees for building materials and then the rest of it should go into your wood stove. Straight posts can be coated with asphalt and used for fence posts or it can be used to build utility sheds. You don’t necessarily need to get a lumber mill but it is an option. If you need a shed for your goats or chickens there is no reason you can’t build one from materials on your property. The rest and more should be saved for heating your home and out buildings. What you don’t use can be saved or traded or even sold. The saying goes next winter’s firewood should be cut by May 1st but if you have dead standing trees that aren’t rotted or bug infested then you can normally use them anytime. Moisture content is the important thing so splitting your firewood will speed its drying and putting it under a shed roof will help keep it dry.
When planning your property, clearing your land and managing it never build a bon fire to get rid of wood that can heat your home even if you think its not the best because you never know what the winter will bring and having that extra log to put on the fire might be the difference of being comfortable or not. Discarding or not respecting firewood is one of the worst things you can do as a rural property owner.
Final Note
Although we only hit on some of the primary considerations for a new rural property owner many of them can be overlooked or not held at the right level of importance for many people. Some things you expect to be the way they are but others you may not take as seriously.
Having a clear road to your home in the Winter, Gathering and not wasting firewood, making sure your septic system is working properly and can withstand a rain and still work well. Many other things including just having stable internet and phone access are not on the minds of people that want to live in the country or the woods.
The fact is to a great degree you have chosen to live on your own terms. The life you have will only be better if you plan for all the circumstances that face you and then take them seriously.
Just being able to flush the toilet can be a serious thing if you can’t. Not having enough wood to make it through winter can be a very serious thing as can disputes over property lines and the list goes on.
People think they can buy a couple packets of seeds and throw them on the ground and magically they have food for a year but they don’t realize that harvest time comes in the late Summer to Fall and if you want squash or carrots in April or June you are either eating last years harvest or buying them from the store. Just imagine how many bags of carrots your family might go through in a year and you need that many and more to last from harvest to harvest and you have to be able to store them. If there is a storm or a drought or bugs or your goats get into your garden then you are buying it all from the store which is fine if you plan for that but not good if you didn’t.
So rural life can be tough and the responsibility level is very high but the rewards are that you get to live on your own terms a bit more.
Its not that hard but it takes a lot of planning, educating yourself and hard work.