The Old Folks Home

[BunnyMomma]

Oooh, this is great!

The ten acres has NOTHING on it but a graded dirt road up the incline, a well head and a huge barn. There are three good flat spots suitable to put something. Lots of oak, pine trees, a few cedars. The road washed out a bit next to the barn, so that would need fixing before the flat spot above the barn could be used. The property on one side is owned but vacant of habitation; there is an occupied house on the other side. It's higher in elevation than where I live, but only five miles away. Short sale.

The smaller property really, really draws me. The house is above flood level. Heated by wood stove, has a hot-on-demand water heating system. Yard water is drawn from the stream, but house water is on a well which requires regular treatment as it is shallow.... There are small trout in this stream (which I saw) as well as crawdads. And dragonflies and .... Oh, wait, the property has a few fruit trees, too! Two apple, a pear, two different cherry trees. This property is about 15 miles away, but nearer to "amenities.". Owned and occupied by sellers who are moving to more acreage which they have already purchased.

The major consideration here, really, is that either would be a second property, totally chicken and rooster legal. Where would I want to go every day to care for the majority of my flock?

Ah! I was leaning more toward the 10 acres, but after you described the smaller property and it's intended use, I vote for the smaller property!
I have 10 acres right now. I used to have 43, but had to sell all but 10 acres after my husband was injured in an accident. The maintenance for 10 acres is a huge commitment. I have been having to mow almost every day here, in addition to my other farm chores. I plan to fence in the 7 acres in the back this spring and get some Katahdin haired sheep! It cost's about 40.00 every week for gas to mow 10 acres, and I plan to let the sheep do the majority of the mowing next year. Plus, I will be able to sell the offspring as well as have some nice meat in the freezer. My husband loves lamb! He is all for this project. The sheep will cut my work load on mowing. Thank goodness!

Since this will be a second place for your animals I think the 2 acre place sounds wonderful!

 

[gryeyes]

The ten acres is much more susceptible to wildfire danger, too. It's not flat; anything starting down at the entrance or along the road at the bottom of the lot would wick fire right up the hill. Inadequate fencing. More wildlife. Pumps can be powered by generator as needed; probably would need a water tank up above the section with the barn, for gravity feed. Would need to buy and install a pump sufficient for a well 300 ft deep, purchase and install all water and power conduit; getting power to it would cost A LOT of money. No structure on the property but the metal walled & roofed barn. Great ventilation soffit along the peak. Needs big ole doors on both ends, repairs... Not pocket change. The non-flat, heavily wooded section of the two acre parcel is on the other side of the creek, away from the house. It the forest went up in flames, it wouldn't take the house with it. There are neighbors on either side. The garage could be transmorgrified into a coop, or a new coop structure could be built. Some run structure should be built for days I wouldn't be there to let the flock range freely. A roof "overlay" on the 660 square foot house - even a whole new roof - would be less than a fraction of what would have to be sunk into making the poultry barn secure and usable on the larger lot. I'll be sixty next month. I hire a contractor for all construction projects. Well, I can lay tile, replace light bulbs, plant flower bulbs, and build short retaining walls. It's just the price difference -and the size of the properties - that makes me wonder which would be the most sensible purchase. I have to tap IRA funds for either one; the large property would take less than half the amount of the smaller property. But there's no power, no septic.... Five times as much land with a fixer-upper barn for less than half the price of the property with a small, "fixer" but habitable house AND a mountain stream close enough to dabble toes on hot days. My real estate broker is making an appointment for us to see the latter (smaller) property together on Wednesday. In the interim, I am dithering around with pros and cons and "feelings." Hence the solicitation of other Old Folks Home participants' much valued input.

 

[BunnyMomma]

Good luck with your visit with the realtor! It sounds like you have found a really neat place. keep us posted~

 

[gryeyes]

Trust me, if I get either one, I'll be posting the real estate website info for everybody to see, plus photos I take, all that stuff. Plus I'll probably resurrect my "Retired" thread with even more info.

 

[drumstick diva]

Superchemicalgirl, I wasn't aware that Voldimort told jokes

 

[drumstick diva]

Linda, sorry I'm no help - by the time I read both descriptions, I forget the question- as they say CRS

 

[chickadoodles]

Good luck with your visit with the realtor! It sounds like you have found a really neat place. keep us posted~

X2

 

[drumstick diva]

are there- any other places she could show you? I'd like to think if you SAW "the' house you would just know it was the right one.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Oooh, this is great!

The ten acres has NOTHING on it but a graded dirt road up the incline, a well head and a huge barn. There are three good flat spots suitable to put something. Lots of oak, pine trees, a few cedars. The road washed out a bit next to the barn, so that would need fixing before the flat spot above the barn could be used. The property on one side is owned but vacant of habitation; there is an occupied house on the other side. It's higher in elevation than where I live, but only five miles away. Short sale.

The smaller property really, really draws me. The house is above flood level. Heated by wood stove, has a hot-on-demand water heating system. Yard water is drawn from the stream, but house water is on a well which requires regular treatment as it is shallow.... There are small trout in this stream (which I saw) as well as crawdads. And dragonflies and .... Oh, wait, the property has a few fruit trees, too! Two apple, a pear, two different cherry trees. This property is about 15 miles away, but nearer to "amenities.". Owned and occupied by sellers who are moving to more acreage which they have already purchased.

The major consideration here, really, is that either would be a second property, totally chicken and rooster legal. Where would I want to go every day to care for the majority of my flock?

The one thing that stuck out at me was WOOD STOVE. Now, I'm from Maine, remember that. What kind of winters do you have? Would it get below freezing? Would you need to keep the house heated to avoid the pipes freezing? Would you just winterize the house and remove the water from the pipes in the winter? Have you ever used a wood stove? How big is the wood stove, is it rated for the size of the house? Is it a wood furnace and not a wood stove?

When I first bought this house it had an oil furnace, 2 wood stoves and a fireplace. The main living area had a small wood stove in it, as did the basement in case we lost power so I could keep the pipes from freezing, or use it to heat the basement and/or the floor above it. The small wood stove in the main living area has since been replaced by a pellet stove, and the wood stove moved to the fireplace. The wood stove was nice, but it wasn't rated to heat the entire area that it was in, although that improved with the addition of a fan for the top of it to disperse the heat better. The problem with it was it was a pain in the butt. I didn't feel comfortable scooping out red hot embers, so I'd let it die out to clean it (which got cold). It died out, anyway, many times. It doesn't last 8 hours, so you have to get up in the middle of the night to put more wood in it and stoke it. It died when I went to work. You have to carry wood in and store wood. It takes a while to heat up after it's been cold. That was the biggest kicker for me. I'd come home from work and it would be 58 degrees in the house, and I didn't want to wait an hour for the stove to start to produce heat for the house, so I'd just put on all the clothes I owned, turn on the heated blanket in the bed, and shiver until I got heated up. Then I really didn't want to get out of bed and mess with the stove. I do love the way it smells though, and I still use both wood stoves often in the winter, but it was just too much of a hassle to use daily for heat, especially when I was gone for a large chunk of the day, or sleeping. I changed to a pellet stove because that's automatic. It stays on while I'm gone all day, and the house remains warm. I can turn it up or down and the heat is almost instantaneous. The only issue is it isn't able to run when we don't have power, although a generator is the next thing I'm saving up for.

I don't know if any of that is applicable to your situation, but if this is going to be a second house, you won't be there often, so I'm guessing it's similar to my situation of being gone about 10 hours a day for work. I'm certain your winters aren't as bad as ours are, but if you need the stove for heat, just think about what that entails.

There's also the risk of fire with a wood stove. Keep it clean, use good wood, have it serviced and inspected yearly. Take care of your ash/embers appropriately, and consider that they're always hot, even when they appear to not be. We have a lot of fires each winter due to burning wood. Many people have chimney fires, but there's also people who burn their house down because they thought their ash was cool, and they placed it in the trash.

Oz, I know it is legit, but I also know that you are grinning right now............
so is SCG.

Oh no, I was snoring. After my skunk ordeal the previous night... had a good nights sleep last night. No skunks outside my bedroom window dousing themselves in gasoline and then setting themselves on fire (that's what it smelled like). The cats behaved. The temperature was right. No wood stove to get up to fill... It was glorious sleep.

 

[dsqard]

Linda as you have probably already found out, getting power to a property is very expensive. When we were looking at properties in Utah I found that out. Didn't even bother looking at properties without power. There is a reason they are so cheap. Ten acres that are overgrown, not flat, and in a wildfire prone area doesn't really sound that attractive. Another lady I am friends with on FB and on BYC had to evacuate her house in CO for a few days this summer because of fires. She was really happy they had spent the money a year ago to clear out the brush and some trees on their property and it isn't ten acres. If you are using the same real estate person that you did purchasing your current house, have him/her TRIPLE check the zoning in the area for not only chickens but ALL poultry/fowl. Now that you have turkeys and the pea you want to make sure the zoning doesn't only allow chickens. They are that specific sometimes. You might also want to chat with Chooks about trucking to another property on a daily basis to feed/water/enjoy the flock. I know it was a pain in the rear for me when I had my horses on another property and had to go feed/water/clean every day and it was only about a 10-15 minute drive from my house at the time. I know you have days when it is hard for you to get out of the "enchanted recliner". I am not trying to be a wet blanket, I just want you to think of all the negatives too before jumping in to such a big expense.