I know we all have family and roots. But would love to hear a few stories of buying a place. Not necessarily moving full time to. But a place that appealed to you to spend time at that you had never been to or have an ties or connection too. How did it work out?

As I mentioned a while ago. I am thinking of selling a property and reinvesting in another property. I am open to where. It just needs to have some size 50-400 acres. So rural. Some friends are moving to MO. Not necessarily thinking there. But AR. possibly. But have never been there.

I do not like really hot and humid. A couple of months would be doable. Not crazy about a ton of bugs either. I would prefer the Western third of the US but that may not be possible on my budget and requirements. Rocks and desert are not over appealing to me either.
I like water, fishing, boating and big game hunting are a big plus.

Give me some thoughts. Thanks guys and gals.

If you want to do the part time thing, try the Yoop. Come up in April or May, and enjoy the beautiful (but short) summers. Doesnt get dark until just after 10PM. Cool temperatures and pretty low humidity most of the time. Stay until mid October for Fall. The flee for your life before winter. Property can be affordable, too.
Bugs can be an issue, though, depending on location.

I'm a mountain man, by nature and by choice, followed by Forests, and cities last.

I'm pretty done with flatlands, swamps, plains, suburban sprawl, neighborhoods measured by the proximity to Home Depot and Chili's, and all that.

It is not my thing. I like being nearish to and occasionally in big-ish to big cities, or in the country / mountains, and very little of the in between. Suburban life is my least favorite of all. Too much compromise, not enough benefit. Flyover country is just that, to me.

Why do Kansas and Mississippi even exist. North 1/3rd of Louisiana, useless, pointless, give it to Texas and Arkansas. Everything in Colorado more than a few minutes East of I-25? Give it to Kansas. Fun fact, the Denver airport is basically West Kansas. Flat, treeless, windy, gross.

And the best part is, relatively few people agree with me on this, and most folks huddle together close to cities, leaving loads of beautiful country available. It's amazing what an extra 20min of willingness to drive does to real estate prices.

Especially if you don't mind being an hour or two out of town. All over the southwest and rockies, tucked into places in the Yoop and the Appalachians, too. Parts of Arkansas of all places has a nice mix of rural, mountains, and freedoms.

It's amazing what you can find when school districts and chain restaurants don't matter to your day to day experience. My Colorado spot is but 16miles from the nearest real grocery store but it feels like it's 100mi away when I'm home.

Less light pollution, no road noise, fewer neighbors and knuckleheads, win win.

I had no family in Colorado when I started coming years ago. Now it's my favorite. Low humidity, big mountains, purple politics, all four seasons, it's awesome.

I have not bought yet because I am so broke even buying Ramen Noodles is tough..

I spent the spring and summer of 2020 hiding in Bismarck, ND. I went up for a government job but after I told them to pound sand I stayed in the area.

I love the area, the people, lifestyle etc..

That is going to be my go to spot when I get back to work and pay off any bills.

I am surprised because I am a Midwest person and I thought I would head back to Ohio or Indiana.

If you would have asked this question a few years back I would have listed the outer region of Loveland and/or Greely, CO but since that time it has gone crazy expensive and parts of it is getting overly crowded.

Not the reddest state around, but give northern New Mexico a look.

I know I didn't want to stay in California. So I started googling lists such as: states with lowest income tax, best places to retire, places with lowest cost of living, states with the best gun rights, places with weather closest to what I'm used to in California, safest places to live, etc.

Didn't matter if we know anyone there. Ashville, NC kept coming up near the top of every list except it has a higher cost of living.

Prescott, AZ was one of those that showed up more than once. I was decided after I collected the lists but my wife wanted to go visit first.

There was a moment when I considered switching to TX but extreme weather conditions and apparently, the no state income tax is made up through other taxes.

We finally settled in Prescott Valley, AZ with the cold and heat just a little bit more than the range we're used to but nothing too extreme. We're renting now but plan to buy maybe 2 years down the road.

We've started to get to know people here. Even met a Sigforum member, Captain something. Joined the same VFW post he's part of. We also brought our dogs with us so we're set. Very nice people. First week, I blew past a four-way stop sign as I was in the middle of the road. An SUV apparently had to stop as I went through; I thought I had the right of way. They stopped alongside us and were waving their hands. I roll the window down and they said, "Did you know you blew past a stop sign back there?" "I did?" "Yes." "Okay." And that was that, all the time they had smiles on. I told my wife, if this was California, they wouldn't be waving all five fingers at me, just one. We can always drive back to CA if we have to to visit relatives.

NW Pennsylvania has a lot to offer, land is fairly inexpensive and folk are highly conservative. All of the things on your list are possible and them some, except "Big" Game. There's a large amount of other game and lots of deer need culling, that's for certain.

I think about it a dozen times per day.

Arkansas in the summers is hot, humid, and buggy.

If you were strangely interested in rural land in upstate western NY hit me up.

I’ve got 76 acres there and a nice little cottage.

If you’re talking about pulling up stakes and moving someplace I have not, but if you mean an additional home someplace with no connection then yes I have.

It worked out but in my case I have to fly 5,000 miles each way back and forth which is a pain in the ass so I don’t do it anywhere near as often as I’d like but aside from that I’ve been doing it for 17 years and have a deep connection to both places.

Good luck!

We’re working on it now. We have a sale on our Montana property. We’ve lived in Mexico for about a year, but too dangerous now. We lived in Destin Florida for the past 4 winters and loved it. Now we’re looking at an adult community north of Tucson Az. We’ve visited it and love the level of activity. We hope to start house hunting very soon.

Yes, with the primary motivation to get far away from Chicago.

Yes. We up and left an entire life friend s and family in the SF a Bay Area and love dog the Florida panhandle. I had been here once in my life for a total of maybe 36 hours. My wife had come often to visit her grandparents as a kid. So we moved here. Her aunt and uncle live in the area and 1 cousin. And her dad has since moved from TN back to our town. I was able to do it based on a promise form my employer to be able to work remote. 6 months in and no problems. Still adjusting to some culture shock but overall it’s all pluses.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
I think about it a dozen times per day.

You and me both.

ORC, yes, last spring the Wife and I bought just over nine acres of land in Tennessee, east of Kentucky lake. No family or friends anywhere near. We plan on looking for a builder this spring and plan on getting out of Illinois ASAP!

We just bought 57 acres in South Eastern Tennessee. No connections. Plan is to build a family vacation compound. Flying out next month to meet with the engineer.

Thanks guys and congrats to all of you who could and did follow a dream you had. I have done it three times in my life. Two where permanent moves. All have been enjoyable outcomes.

Darth, do you have reservations about things like weather, terrain, tornado's, bugs, termites, etc. That is a pretty big move from Utah to Tennessee. Gonna be a ton of different stuff in Tennessee than you are used too.

The Metolius, Camp Sherman area in Oregon. Love that place in the spring and fall.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Thanks guys and congrats to all of you who could and did follow a dream you had. I have done it three times in my life. Two where permanent moves. All have been great outcomes.

Darth, do you have reservations about things like weather, terrain, tornado's, bugs, termites, etc. That is a pretty big move from Utah to Tennessee. Gonna be a ton of different stuff in Tennessee than you are used too.

None of that could be worse than the flood of Californians pouring into Utah.