At first my inclination was to move very far from both cities and even small towns. I found that there were many downsides to this.

After after much traveling and seeing many properties here is what I concluded.

Being alone and very far out in the country makes you very easy pickens. Being in a town of 5000 to 15000 provides many benefits but there will be too main neighbors who won't be prepared.

Living in the center of a small village of say, 700, provides much protection but lacks the benefit of a large town with supplies and a hospital and commerce.

I am choosing a small community that is actually an agricultural subdivision of about forty homes. Each home has between 5 and 40 acres. You get to this subdivision by a small road that can be gated. Forty families can help one another and they are not new to the area. They are educated folks that know a little about country living. Each home has a well and septic. The families can feed themselves.

This subdivision is ten miles from a town of 14,000 which has a hospital, library, college, etc. I want to be near a town/city so I can start a barter business post y2k. The city is inhabited by many out of state people who have owned their own business. The population is composed of many out-of-staters. Outsiders are accepted. The nearest large city of 500,000 is 300 miles away.

I put much time, travel, and consulting money into arriving at this solution and I hope this provides some insight for others in their planning.

-- Tomcat (tomcat@tampabay.rr.com), February 01, 1999

Answers

Thanks tomcat, good parameters.

-- curtis schalek (schale1@ibm.net), February 01, 1999.

Tomcat- Been reading some of your other posts (see "If you move to the country is leasing a home better than buying?"). Appreciated your questions and comments there, but this one today is great. You must have taken a great deal of time and research to come up with this solution. Sounds almost "ideal" in an unpredicatable world. Like the position of being close to a college town for post Y2K activity. Did you have to move out of state to accomplish this relocation?

BTW if you are interested see my questions posted in "Feeling trapped: Preparations for relocation not going well."

-- PJ (Just@here.com), February 02, 1999.

Dear PJ and Curtis,

Thank you for the acknowledgement.

I hope that I did not give the impression that I have found something rare or uniqe. Something I did not mention was that I found many of these "Agricultural Subdivisions" outside of many town/cities (5000- 15000).

It got to the point that I would call a real estate broker and just ask "What kind of Agricultural Subdivisions do you have in your area?". Two thirds of them knew exactly what I was talking about. Some of these subdivisions are set up for "Horses Only", some allow "4H animals for 4H projects" and some allow you to "Farm For Profit". I don't want to be a farmer and the 4H option is what we are choosing because we have two children.

Many of these communities still have lots for sale and will allow you to set up a double-wide rather quickly. Five acres, well, septic, and a 1500 sq ft double-wide goes for between $125K to $150K in the areas I checked out. These areas were in fabulous parts of the country where land was more expensive so it could be done for less elsewhere. I feel the extra cost of being with a good community is worth it.

Once I got the concept of a "Gateable Community" where the road in could be blocked I began to find many properties like that by telling the real estate broke what I wanted. A safe community where people can work together really provides peace of mind.

Nobody would believe that amount time and money that I spent to come to these conclusions so I won't get into that. Maybe I am just slow so it took a long time. I just hope someone will find this information useful. There is no way I can pay back all of you who have contributed so much to this forum. I am indebted to you all; even to the trouble makers (who provide diversions, and humor to people like me who tend to get a bit serious at times).

-- Tomcat (tomcat@tampabay.rr.com), February 02, 1999.