Any advice on what I need to know about country living/owning property?

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Wife and I purchased about 14 acres in northern Wisconsin about 7 years ago. Mix of dense hardwood forest and cedar wetlands. Bordered by state trust land and the Niagara escarpment on the other side and private uninhabited forest on the 4th. No neighbors. Not that we don't like people, just sometimes we like them better when they're not around lol.

Parcel had electric service and a 2 rut trail running about half way through it. Both a big plus as they can be expensive. Had to have a well drilled and mound septic system built. A bit spendy The phone company ran a land line at no charge, which was a pleasant surprise. Then we built a 1200 sq ft. Cabin in the middle. Added a full house backup generator as winter and spring storms often take down power in the area.

Look at the following as none are a given in rural, more remote areas:
Access
Water
Electric
Sewer/septic

We also put a satellite dish in a 90 ft oak tree to get cable tv and high speed internet. I was ok without, but the wife and kids were adamant. Installed a security system and a variety of wireless cameras to keep tabs on things when we're back home in the city grind. For peace of mind.

I also started small orchard and some raised veggie beds. Had to fence them in to keep the deer out. We hunt the deer and wild turkey which keeps the deep freezer stocked;) Look forward to retiring up there after the girls finish college.

Good luck with your property and enjoy the extra space!

Pat
 
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hemi71x said:
My sense of humor hasn't got anything to do with the "joke" that the respondent replied about.
I didn't "get it" as i grew up in a different part of the world that he did, and never heard of it before.
And what's wrong with that, never hearing of it before?
Answer me that?

That "joke" backfired on him, and it didn't have anything constructive, beneficial, to do with the question the op asked about, in the first place.

I gave a factual reply in the regards to fire insurance, and that's what the op is asking for, good responses, and not jokesters making stupid replies.
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I grew up in the Sacramento area...Not necessarily a huge hunting town. I heard of SNIPE hunting when I was in high school.
Again, HUMOR has never been your strong suit. You do reveal that frequently.
 
I was born in the country and with most of my life in a country setting. I don't know if anyone mentioned this already so forgive me if somebody did as I did not read everyone's post. My biggest suggestion is to buy a gun or two of them, one pistol and one rifle. If you're not already familiar with how to use guns, get yourself familiar with them. You're out in the country and the police aren't going to show up right away. Everyone else out there is going to have a gun and you need to protect yourself and your property. Post the property with no trespassing signs immediately.
Also, lock up everything. A lot of people think because they find stuff out in the country they can have it even if it's in your garage or your shed or in a car sitting out somewhere. That is my advice.
 
Since you want a shop, investigate county regs on shop/garage. Cities even get zoning restrictions outside their city boundary.
 
Here is the one that everybody missed:

Great Neighbors that help each other out in good times and bad, sickness and health and just because it's fun.

Worth way more than the property, I am always happy to get back to the neighborhood after having been away for a while.

Feel very fortunate to have such great people near me . . .


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I am fortunate to have the neighbors I have.
A lot of them are carrying their farms from previous generations. So we are all in our early to mid 30s, so we all have a lot in common and BBQ and party together and help each other. The guy next door doesn't say anything about my cars and I throw a blind eye to some weird habits he and his girlfriend have, and it all works out
 
Rainy Day Auto said:
I am fortunate to have the neighbors I have.
A lot of them are carrying their farms from previous generations. So we are all in our early to mid 30s, so we all have a lot in common and BBQ and party together and help each other. The guy next door doesn't say anything about my cars and I throw a blind eye to some weird habits he and his girlfriend have, and it all works out
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Just Great ! That's what it's all about.
Cheers . . .
 
Divenut said:
We also put a satellite dish in a 90 ft oak tree to get cable tv and high speed internet. I was ok without, but the wife and kids were adamant. Installed a security system and a variety of wireless cameras to keep tabs on things when we're back home in the city grind. For peace of mind.
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Do all your neighbors think it's one of those fake trees the Cellular phone company put up? Those things just slay me :rofl:
 
Be sure and check for drainage, flooding or erosion issues on your land.
Check easements and access.
Is it already developed? If not find out if the ground will percolate to see about septic requirements. Also talk to well driller about your area and what type of water to expect.
Also whats going on around you any farming, livestock? Up wind? Or?
I live in farm land about an hour south of Sacramento. I’m thinking hard about moving back into town as dirt clouds are getting really old.
Remember California is talking about adding meters to private wells.
FWIW I’ve lost 2 neighbors to Idaho.
 
Nobody even asked me about smellin for spiders. <snif>
 
Hey RustyRatRod, Please tell me more about this smellin for spiders! I really hate to see a grown man cry! Sometimes when I'm out at night with the flashlight checking things out I like to see all the glowing spider eyes lookin' up at me, Damn theirs a bunch a them critters! P.S. I really hope this thread doesn't get trashed, a little Humor never hurt anyone, come on guys.

Jeff
 
I live in Lincoln and frequently take Wise Rd into Auburn. A good friend lives on Bell Rd and Joeger. The property you're looking at is in a great location. Its 5 minutes from DT Auburn, 2 minutes from hwy 80, yet in a rural area. Auburn has a nice combination of historical gold rush feel and new development. Members bring up good points both pro and con, do your due diligence and if you still like the place I think you'll really enjoy living there.
Plus, May-Sept Auburn has a car show the 2nd Friday each month. They close off Lincoln Blvd., they'll be 300 cars. Last one is next Friday and I'm taking the Dart, you should check it out if you have the time.
 
RBConvert said:
I live in Lincoln and frequently take Wise Rd into Auburn. A good friend lives on Bell Rd and Joeger. The property you're looking at is in a great location. Its 5 minutes from DT Auburn, 2 minutes from hwy 80, yet in a rural area. Auburn has a nice combination of historical gold rush feel and new development. Members bring up good points both pro and con, do your due diligence and if you still like the place I think you'll really enjoy living there.
Plus, May-Sept Auburn has a car show the 2nd Friday each month. They close off Lincoln Blvd., they'll be 300 cars. Last one is next Friday and I'm taking the Dart, you should check it out if you have the time.
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Nice I was actually just there last month. Checked out the car show and then went and watched the races over at Fast Fridays.

Yeah that's exactly what I'm looking for. Rural but still fairly close to schools and 80 since I may still have to commute to Sacramento for a while. I got some good feedback here which I appreciate from everyone.
 
So far Bald eagles, owls, turkey. deer, mink, muskrat, ducks, geese, swans, rabbit, possum, black and grey squirrel, raccoon and more bird species than I thought we had in Michigan. Oh, and the biggest buck in the county was taken in my back yard! BTW if you don't know what a firebow is move to the country!

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69conv said:
So far Bald eagles, owls, turkey. deer, mink, muskrat, ducks, geese, swans, rabbit, possum, black and grey squirrel, raccoon and more bird species than I thought we had in Michigan. Oh, and the biggest buck in the county was taken in my back yard! BTW if you don't know what a firebow is move to the country!

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About as picturesque as it gets for the common man. Love it.
 
If working on cars in the country either plan on buying all the parts to completely rebuild the assembly you are working on or plan to make multiple trips to get that part that you weren't planning on replacing but find it is bad once you get it torn apart. I live about 30 miles from the nearest parts store, took me 3 trips to town to get all the parts when doing rear brakes on my Dakota.
 
Buy all the land you can even if it means downsizing your homes square footage. Watch out for future state project where you could be affected. If you buy on a non highway funded road look for an association to cover road maintenance. This is a big one....

At one time I had a house on a knoll and nobody could ever get near me. Now that I have had the privilege of living beside a rental property and a POS renter and a true slumlord I wish you well with owning a chunk of land so as not to be bothered by crappy people.

JW
 
Back when I was in Jr. High school we had some new neighbors move from California, they were new to the backwoods life. One day on the school bus he told me his head was bleeding and didn't know why, I looked at it and he had busted a big tick in his head, I told him what had happened and he didn't know what I was talking about, he'd never seen a tick. I told him he'd have to start checking for them if he was playing in the tall grass or woods. So I guess when moving to another area you should "smell out as Rob said" any new critters in the area that might be new to you.
 
OP, check with the well records on the well flow. 5 GPM is very adequate for household use. But if you want to water things a lot, you'll have to be careful at that flow rate. 1GPM is low and you have to conserve for household use, and forget about watering anything.

Taste the water to see if you like it. Can be excelletn, can be pretty rough, If poor tasting but you like the house, then first check with a water treatment palce and maybe have them examine it to see what may be done to treat it.

Septic is probably OK, but see in the county records for what number of bedrooms the septic is designed. Sometiesm folks will pay for a 3 BR septic and then add bedrooms. Not a disaster but you don't want to be selling the house later as a 4 BR and find it has a 3 BR septic. Pump the tank to examine as part of the pre-buying inspection.

Quiz your new bride on what sha wants.....Good luck and I hope you find what you want. That linked property looks pretty nice. Can't add to what others have already said.
 
nm9stheham said:
Septic is probably OK, but see in the county records for what number of bedrooms the septic is designed. Sometiesm folks will pay for a 3 BR septic and then add bedrooms. Not a disaster but you don't want to be selling the house later as a 4 BR and find it has a 3 BR septic. Pump the tank to examine as part of the pre-buying inspection.
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that's something I ran into when we bought our house a few years ago
we did the inspection and found the septic system wasn't up to code

after doing some digging (paper wise, not in the yard) we found that the code was changed after the septic was originally put in
so that's something to look for aswell
 
I lived in town for 40 years and now I live 20 mins out of the big city near a small town and I love it. We have 6 acres and 5 of that is mowed so that takes up some time to keep the yard looking like a golf course. We deal with drifting snow in the winter and have a truck to plow snow. The wind can be pretty strong at times since it’s more open out here. We have a well and septic, many things I never had to deal with living in town.

My neighbors are great, 2 of them have horses so there is some distance between us but still close enough to go over if needed. One neighbor has a dirt bike track and sometimes the cycles get loud but it’s not that often or bad. I smell lots of animal poop too but that’s mostly “country fresh” air to me now. There is a gun club not far away and they fire off rounds there often, especially when hunting season is near. Lots of coyotes howling at night but not too many critters here to worry about.

We have amazing starry nights, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, big bonfires, parties every so often with a live band, old cars doing burnouts, plenty of room for the herd of kids to play, a big shed and big house, I love it. When some of the kids get older and move out we will downsize a little, less land and a smaller house would make things easier but I really enjoy living out here ❤️

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