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We both love the house, but I hate the neighborhood
My husband and I found a house that we absolutely love. Everything about the property is what we have dreamed of. Every house I have mentioned to my H has been something that I love and he has criticised except this one. He likes it because it is still very close to our families, and he is still able to be a member of the volunteer fire department he has been in for 10 years.
The problem is that I really do not like the neighborhood. It seems the road is split in half; the first half is huge brand new builds with developments going in like crazy. Then the second half is just what we want... quiet old farm houses with two working farms. We are rural people (H grew up in a small town and I work in agriculture), and I worry that in 5-10 years that little farm house that we love will be surrounded by developments and people complaining about our lifestyle (I know of many people in a neighboring town who have had this happen to them). I would feel so disappointed if we bought the house and find ourselves suddenly surrounded by a neighborhood we do not like.
What would you do? Pursue the house and hope that the neighborhood doesn't change too drastically? Or hold out for another home that H may not like as much?
Re: We both love the house, but I hate the neighborhood
Neither, I hope you both do not find a home and become homeless b**tch
-_-
You're so mature.
Do you like the neighborhood as it is now?
The schools, the location/commute to work?
I also just moved into a "neighborhood" that is being enveloped by urban sprawl. I put neighborhood in quotes because it's more like a street with farms/large property(1+ acre) houses, than a sidwalks and trick or treat neighborhood.
If you love the house and where it is in regards to how you live, I would go for it.
We think neighborhood is very important, if we did not like the feel of the neighborhood and felt that it's on it's way down, we didn't care how much we liked the house.
In your case, if there is urban sprawl, that may be a good thing, because your property value will go up, so although your neighbors may not like your lifestyle, but you can sell for a profit and move further out.
Find the county's current and 20-30 year zoning maps. They will be online and will give you a very good idea what the area will be like in years to come. Pay particular attention to roads, retail, industrial, and commerical zones.
Who are you? What's your deal?
None of your focking business
I probably wouldn't buy it, especially if development is right at the doorstep already. I've lived many places where I've seen just what you're talking about (new construction and the fight against farms). Buy further out.
I'm curious about the 30 year zoning maps that ML suggested. I've never heard of them and I would be stunned if my small, rural town planned that far ahead, but it's worth checking into. In a rural area, I have no idea how something like that would work - you can't stop a farmer from selling and the council (if an applicable one even exists) will zone whatever the heck they're asked to. Maybe they're more of a northern/urban thing.
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This reminds me of a house that hubby and I LOVED, and ultimately were out-bid on. 3 months later a mcdonalds was built half a block away. we would have HATED living there and smelling all the grease (and listening to the drive through all night!)
blessing in disguise.
that being said -- do you like the neighborhood at ALL? do you feel safe? are there good schools, and well taken care of homes? I agree that its a bit of a conflict with the rural/suburban mix, but like PP said -- your property value might go up as a result, and you may be looked upon as a resource for your neighborhood (sunday morning farmers market opportunity, etc)
most of the 'new build' developments in our area seem to have families that keep to themselves and inside their homes. i doubt you'd have too much trouble with them...especially if they met you and learned how good of neighbors you are (i'm assuming you're good neighbors. go with it!)
its a risk either way. do what you think will make you happiest. you can change and fix up a house. you can't change and fix up its location.
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Neighborhood was key to us. We actually settled for less house just to be in the neighborhood we loved. We really don't regret it. We could have bought a couple miles away for double the room but we hated the area.
I found myself telling DH this weekend "I was looking out the window and realized that I don't regret buying here even though I was hesitant at first."
Yeah like I would believe that crap
Wtf is going on here? Stupid trolls.
Schools are pretty good, and the half of the road that the house is on is pretty much what we would like. But I worry that a neighboring farm would sell out and suddenly that's 100+ acres available for development. My H and I are big hunters and the 11 acres this house is on is perfect land for it, but I have heard stories from sprawl towns where people call the cops during hunting season because they are not familiar with hearing gun shots all fall long. Also our families are a few minutes away so should we ever need child are or whatever, it would be close.
I am also very interested in those 30 year plans. I am gonna look into it now! Thanks!
I don't think an island of 11 acres is enough to hunt on. When there's adjoining land, sure, but by itself it's not enough, and I think you really have to look at this house like the other farms will sell out sooner rather than later. Also, check local ordinances to see if you can hunt on it today and what the local rules say if the developments move closer. There are lots of places where you can't discharge a weapon inside the _____ limits.
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I do think 11 acres is potentially sufficient for hunting (my H's family are hunters also). However my bigger concern, if that's something you are planning, is children from the neighboring developments wandering onto your land during hunting season, because that's just what they do. You would also need to be really careful about location when you hunt, because there are going to be restrictions on shooting in the direction/vicinity of the developments.
For us, the local regulation is that you can hunt on your own property provided two things - that you aren't shooting in the direction of a neighbor's home, and that you have permission from any neighbors touching your property *in writing* that they are okay with it. So definitely look into any requirements as well.
Personally I think it sounds like you are too close in to really hunt safely.
Right now, the developments are about two miles up the road. Everything around this homes 11 acres is woods and farmland. There is vast farmland behind the property, as well as some heavily wooded spots that I believe are owned by that farm. According to our state, we are able to hunt that area without any problems. If it developed further, then we may have problems.
We have a somewhat similar issue. We bought into our area for its rural nature, and have already attended one zoning meeting to argue against allowing subdivision of a local 100+ acre farm for eventual housing development. Even though zoning in our area requires no more than 1 house per 3 acres, we still think that 33ish houses are more than we are interested in adding to our area.
That said, we did purchase an "insurance policy" of sorts by purchasing a property that borders to watershed preservation land that can never be developed. It was the best we could do in our county. Honestly, when the sprawl of our area already covers 4 states, we'd have to move another 2 hours west in order to have enough distance from the current sprawl. It just is not practical.
I guess I really don't have any good advice. We rolled the dice that our county zoning, our vocal neighbors who value the rural nature of area as much as we do, and the slow housing recovery will at least fend off most of the sprawl for a while. But it may be inevitable, and we'll have to adjust out plan if it ever gets too close for comfort.
That's why we really like our spot also. There's a state park right behind us. That's not going anywhere!