Friday OT - I Got A Big Backyard

[JP4CY]

The quarter acre suburbia lot I'm on seems like where I was destined to be. I love our neighbors most of the time, the schools are good, the long cul de sac has always been safe for the kids to play on, and being near the city gives us choices. I'm not a super-exciting person (yes, that may be hard to believe) so this seems about right.

The thing is, no one really dreams of the suburbia life. But when kids can play with nearby friends, parks are nearby, double width sidewalks on main arteries for joggers and strollers, a few blocks from school-Caseys-Fareway, it all tends to make a little sense.

 

[NWICY]

Currently live rural, have lived in town but was blessed with good neighbors then so I liked that also. I think it's more who your neighbors are and you are liking what you are doing than where you live.

 

[jcyclonee]

I really like our semi-rural acre. Likely to eventually have development behind us but should have an ok tree screen by then. It's probably 10+ years out yet, land is still actively farmed. I wouldn't mind being a little closer to town.

Ideal ideal would be a nice breezy home with beach access.

That would be nice. Ultimately, Santa Monica or Mission Beach would seem perfect but I like acting like a goober sometimes (I don't care if the neighbor ladies see me wearing socks with my slides when I go to get the mail. Their husbands all do the same thing) and I'm not sure it would be allowed or even tolerated.

 

[dmclone]

It's changed over time.

From about age 10-18 I lived in a rural environment. Jump on a 4 wheeler and raise hell all day long. The drive to school was about 10 minutes. The drive to my part time job at Hy-Vee was about 20 minutes. I thought it was great compared to living in town.

Now that I'm a lot older, my dream scenario would be one of 2 things.

House on a beach-Every time I get back from Mexico I can see myself doing this but I wonder if it's one of those things that changes when you live their full time. The laid back lifestyle sounds great but I'd have to spend a few months doing it before I was sold.

City condo-Owning a top floor condo in a big city. I'd love to just ditch the cars and walk everywhere I need to go. The two biggest negatives about this that I see is that in the U.S. there are only a handful of cities that I can think of that would fit this bill and even if I could afford to live there(I couldn't) I don't think I would want to.

The reality is that we'll just stay living in the suburbs until retirement and then make a decision. Prices are not bad, crime is virtually non existent, you get a lot of bang-for-buck, quiet, etc.

 

[dosry5]

Capitalcityguy secretly wants to live on a cul-de-sac

 

[cmjh10]

Acreage or small town. Fresh air, less traffic, less stupid people

 

[Isualum13]

Anyone here watch the Off The Ranch YouTube channel?

I would gladly take the mansion on the hill once they are done with the renovation. Unfortunately I dont have that much money and they decided to live there instead of selling it.

 

[Chitowncy]

I always thought I was an acreage guy, but after living in a small town for 7-8 years, I think that's about perfect. Modest house with a decent yard, so I don't have neighbors breathing down my neck, but they're close.

I farm, and so I get my fix of being in the country. Plus an acreage has so much more maintenance. I don't have much free time, and I sure as hell don't want to spend any more of the little free time I have working on or around the house.

I can walk/ride my bike to Fareway, the bank, pharmacy, bar, restaurants, hardware store, etc. Super convenient. I rarely drive in town unless it's raining hard or absolutely freezing. A lot of my friends live in town too, so it's always easy to get together. On almost any given night I can go by so-and-so's house and know there will be a group gathered, bullshitting and having a few beers.

I have zero interest in living anywhere else (house and community) in the foreseeable future.

That sounds awesome. Aren't you an attorney, too? County attorney? Man of the people / public servant who the citizens can see / talk with waltzing around town. In my mind, this is what makes America great!

 

[ImJustKCClone]

As a child, I spent my summers on my grandparents' 3000 acre ranch in the Texas Hill Country. Nearest neighbor was 5 miles away by roads, 1.5 miles by horse. For a child who thrived on the outdoors and independence and solitude, it was my idea of Heaven. The rest of the time, my life was rooted in suburbia...but I always dreamed of living on a ranch someday. Adulthood and parenthood forced certain choices - being close to school & work were paramount, so I remained in a (sort of) small town where my kids could walk to school, stay for sports & other extracurriculars, and walk home without me having to take time off from work to transport them hither & yon.
My hubby grew up on a farm, and also wanted to "get out of town", so once the kids were all grown & moved out, we started looking at acreages (we were about 15 years from retirement at that point). We must have looked at 40 properties before we found THE ONE. The one that neither of us could find anything wrong with...that both of us liked from the get-go. We live on just over 3 lined up acres of woods. The house sits on the top acre, and the two acre back "yard" slopes down to a creek and halfway up the hill on the other side of the creek. We can see the back sides of two neighboring houses in the winter (but not the neighbors living IN them), but once the lilac hedge leafs out it's like we're totally isolated. It's just us and all the critters in our woods, and we love it that way. I don't plan to leave here until health (or death) forces us to make that choice.

Hubby built himself a 30x40 2-story barn-style building we refer to as the garagemahal. He wired it for 220, put enough outlets around the outside walls that he never needs to use extension cords, moved his woodworking big boy toys upstairs and his drillpress & other heavy crap in downstairs, and he has his own world out there...everything but plumbing. And as he puts it - all he has to do is step out the back door of it and choose a tree.

TL;DR - we're lucky enough to be living in OUR dream home. No compromise necessary.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Being 6 years from being an empty-nester and hopefully nine or so from retiring, I've thought about this more and more every day. My living situation changes with age.
- I loved the farm growing up, loved the dorms in college and then loved living off-campus for my last year.
- Got an apartment after college because that was all I could afford.
- Got married, had a kid and am now in a house in the burbs that is walking distance to school, the library, restaurants, grocery store and right near a bunch of walking/biking trails.

When we retire, I want access to trails and things to do. I'll want to be near a larger city, but somewhere in the burbs still. Ideally, we'll be close enough to the amenities, but far enough that I'm not constantly in the middle of it all.

 

[Angie]

I think, as I get to retirement age, I will want a place where there is zero lawn or snow maintenance. Janny does all of the mowing and we share a lot of the snow. I hate shoveling when it's -15 with the wind, and I can't imagine that gets easier as you age. I don't know if a townhouse or something will be ideal then - I hate sharing walls with people, but I'm guessing retirees don't throw ragers as much. :shrug:

 

[srjclone]

Doesn't matter the size or space, as long as it's perched on a hill or mountain and facing west.

 

[ISUTex]

I live in the hellhole that my wife was raised. A bunch of inbreds (literally, second cousin marriages only because first cousin is illegal) who are stuck in 1970 and enjoy the big fish in a little pond, but the pond is shrinking. Wife is not from the inbreds from my knowledge but these people won’t leave. If you are a male Who is not a native, they despise everything about you.

So my preferred place to live is anyplace but here.

Ahhh, small town Iowa. .

 

[ISUTex]

I would love about a hundred acres or two. Half timber, half rolling hills of grass. With a nice pond smack dab in the middle. No cornfields. No windmills. You know, heaven.

 

[jcyclonee]

We can see the back sides of two neighboring houses in the winter (but not the neighbors living IN them),

At least now without our high-powered binoculars.

He wired it for 220,

Why didn't he wire it for 221?

 

[ImJustKCClone]

At least now without our high-powered binoculars.


Why didn't he wire it for 221?

Because that would be one toke over the line, sweet Jesus...

 

[jbindm]

I've lived in the country, in a small town, and the city (pauses for people in larger metro areas to laugh at the idea of calling Des Moines a city).

I'd rank my preferences as:

1. City
2. Country
3. Baseball bat to the knee
4. Small town

I think I like the idea of country living more than I would actually living out there again. I'd like the quiet for sure, but it would be tough to get used to the isolation and inconvenience of it again. I think I'm most likely an urban dweller for the rest of my days. I like the parts of town here that back up to woods or parks. There's one particular street south of Grand that I'm blanking on at the moment (Shriver, maybe?), but it's houses on the north side of the road and woods on the south. Nice and quiet. And quite out of our price range.

 

[Frak]

We lived in the city (Omaha and Ames) for 10 years and ended up building out in the country in western Iowa on 2.5 acres right on a county highway. Closest neighbor is 1 mile, town is 3 miles, closest grocery store is 15 miles. Gotta say, we love it. We do miss the amenities of town, but the benefits outweigh it. The wife wasn't sold at first, but now she can't imagine living with neighbors right next door.

 

[NickTheGreat]

I'd like to be smack dab in the middle of about 10,000 acres of timber and farmland. No one around for miles.

No city lights, no cars driving by at 2:30 am, no neighbor not mowing his yard, nothing.

 

[BuffettClone]

I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I opened this thread. I saw "big back yard" and assumed the "junk in the trunk", Sir Mix-a-lot style. Unfortunately it's about actual back yards, property style.