retiring soon

[dixie_belle]

My husband and I are fixing up our house and will put it on the market by the end of this year (hopefully sooner, but you just never know), and we are looking for a place with less house and more land. We have 2 acres now and a big two story house. We want a one story house (who wants stairs) and enough land for our 3 minis and possibly a big horse for me to ride. So here's my problem. We are going to look at several places next week. They all have somewhere between 40 and 60 acres. They are fenced and cross fenced, and have the barn for me and a big workshop for him. But I've never lived on anything bigger than what I have now. Am I biting off more than I can chew? What all is involved in having that much land? Can I successfully handle all that by myself? I figure I'd rotate the horses from pasture to pasture and then once they have left one, I'd cut it (both to spread the manure out and to keep the grass down). And some of them have a 5 - 10 acre hay field already in place.

So tell me what is involved and truthfully if I should be looking at less land.

I want as much land as I can handle, both for the horses and because I have the neighbors from heck now and want as much property in between me and anyone else that it wouldn't matter.

So give me your thoughts, please.

Shelley

 

[miniwhinny]

HAHA been there done that lol

We retired 12 years ago and did exactly what you're planning. Built a custom single level home on a flat 5 acre no maintainence lot with plans on staying here forever.

Our 5 acres is High Desert so there is absolutely no work to ever be done on it. We irrigated an area for the ponies but the rest is still pristine. With the small paddock, barn area, house, lawn etc...there's already more than enough to care for and right just now I'm only 50 !!! I'd say unless you want to hire a farm manager then don't get anywhere as large as the places you describe...unless you plan on moving again. JMHO.

Also be very careful buying now unless your getting bank repos at rock bottom prices....things are going to get wayyyyy worse before they get better in the housing market and you don't want to get upside down on your mortgage.

 

[Bess Kelly]

Part of the answer lies in the actual property and it's location. If it is wooded, grassy, rough terrain, the weather in that area, etc. If a hay field, seems that is grassy but, is it irrigated and so on.

The property across from me is 40 acres. You can see all boundaries and it is grassy -- about half in hay. We live in an area where you would need to cut this every couple weeks or hay.....especially if you have only 3 minis and one possible big horse.

It's an easy chore if you have a tractor to cut the larger size parcels. Of course, you need to like to ride the tractor for a few hours, often

You could lease a portion out but, that could be good or bad -- depending on what it's leased for and your own feelings about the project for which it's leased (hay, crops, pasture, etc). So far, a lot of help, right? 40 acres with 10 in hay could be ok....do you have anyone to hay for you? That equipment is fairly expensive. Yes, there could be a lot of maintenance on this size property. Could it be subdivided and you sell half?

I have 15 acres, plenty of land. In fact, some days too much!! Again, I live where we have good vegetation growth and I have several smaller fields for the minis I own. 40 head and I STILL must mow in portions of the year.....rainfall rules

In some areas of TX 5 acres is fine, others you need 25 for same amount of "pasture". Decide how much you want to "do" and the cost of doing it once you have found the location you love and can determine what the land is suited to do.

 

[krissy3]

I can tell you where not to go...The Bay area California..It is beautiful , and a great place to live , but the soil is clay , and it is hard on horses in the winter , even pulls off shoes. In the summer its like concrete, and its dry and brown , . Not a lot of water there either.

I cant help you on how much land , but I always thought 5 acres would be enough for me to handle with a husband , and without , meaning if something ever happend i would like to be able to still "keep and run " the farm.. Let us know where you land. I like the idea of buying an acre or two away from your home pasture , so if there was ever an evacuation , you would have a plan B. Most people here have a lot of smaller pastures all over town , and they rotate their animals from one place to another. Its very pratical. I have another pasture in a town 10 min from here. The ponys can have a week or two "holiday" , but I worry too much about not being on site , even though I am in the Swiss alps where there is little to no crime . good luck

 

[dixie_belle]

We are actually going to visit some places next week. We've got several places to look at, in Kentucky, Arkansas and Missouri. They range from 17 acres to 60 acres. We're in Texas now so anything further north is a good thing from my standpoint! Some have lots of timber area so we wouldn't have to do anything with that portion and it would be a "buffer" area against future development. I am pretty excited because I will never have to buy hay again. And since we'll be retired, I'll have time to spend working the land. However, I really have no idea what all is involved in growing your own hay. Oh, I know the basics as I have read up on it, but the thought of baling 10 acres of hay is pretty daunting. But, I understand you can have someone bale it for you and just pay them with hay. Sounds like a deal to me.

Anyway, we leave on Wednesday morning and will return Sunday evening. If we see something we like, we'll make an offer. I don't mind carrying two house notes for a while until this one sells. And we'll keep working until it does.

I like the idea of being away from everything. Living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area has made me sick of traffic, people and conjestion. We live in the country now, but in the six years we've been here, it has gotten much more developed. I don't want that to happen again, hence the large acreage that we are looking at.

Couldn't we just leave some of it fallow? There is no reason to cut and maintain pastures that we are not going to use. I like the idea of letting it go "wild".

Ideally I'd like only 20 acres, but the ones we see that we like all have way more land than that. I want pastures and a barn and hubby wants a HUGE workshop. (We have one 50 x 50 barn now and it is not nearly large enough). By the time we put the RV in there, and the lift and all his race cars and parts cars, there is just room for two 10 x 10 stalls and hay along the walls and in the isles! I'd like my own dedicated barn without cars in it. And I know he is tired of having hay all over his cars.

Prices are incredibly good. We can probably sell this one for more than what it will cost us to buy another with all that land.

 

[Marty]

But, I understand you can have someone bale it for you and just pay them with hay.

No, not always but that is what we were told also. I have 15 acres in the valley, an old hay field. We couldn't pay anyone to put it in hay for us, nobody wanted to cut a deal, any kind of deal. The equipment itself to plant and harvest hay is beyond belief $$$$$$$ not to mention the cost of fertilizer and seed would be thousands. If it rains too much or you get a drought, you can loose the entire field for that year and loose all your money and hard work. Its also way too much land for me. I don't want the upkeep and do not want the cost of fencing it or having to maintain that much fencing. We've got more than I can handle up here where we are so a big area of land for a handful of minis doesn't get it for me but it may for you. We have considered moving there many times.

I like the idea of being away from everything.

Yes so I thought too. That was until we found out that the fire department is volunteer only and nobody joined it. My house can burn down tomorrow unless I can put out a fire with my garden hose.

911 doesn't always answer their phone

Be careful what you wish for. Do your homework a lot more thorough than we did. Sometimes, going too rural is not always what it is cracked up to be. Just be careful and check, check, and check on the important stuff and do by all means talk to the neighbors for the real heads up because realtors can sugar coat a lot of things. Good luck in your search and I hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[jleonard]

When my parents retired six and a half years ago, we went through the same thing, We were is So. CA and wanted to get out of the congestion and go somewhere with more land (we had one acre). Looked at 40 acres in Arizona, gorgeous land, but with the heat and the fact that it was 20 miles from the highway on dirt roads, and another 30 to the only nearby town (one lane, tiny town), we decided it was not for us. I had always wanted to visit Kentucky, so we went on vacation one year and fell in love with the Lexington area. We spent two days going around with a realator and ended up buying our house while on vacation! It is five acres, which coming from California seemed like a huge amount of land. Now we wish we had a bit more, I think 10-20 acres would be prefect. Anymore than that would be a LOT of up keep around here, we already have to mow once a week, the grass really grows fast in the spring. I know a lot of people have hay fields that they have baled by an outside party, I do not know what kind of arrangement they have with the people who mow it... Now, if a portion was wooded, that would be very nice and you wouldn't have as much upkeep then (fun for trail riding/ driving too!). I am jealous, it is such fun to look at new places! Good luck in your search.

 

[MBennettp]

In my opinion the more land you can get the better. You can definitely let some of it go wild. The only thing is that you really have to stay on top of keeping the cedars out or they will take over in a matter of a few years. If there are good fences already up around the perimeter, it is simply a matter of maintenance and that is not hard.

A used tractor and brush cutter are not that expensive. It is not hard here to get someone to cut your hay for you but they want 1/2. Native grass makes really good hay and if well established is naturally weed free.

I would love to have at least 40 acres. That would keep close neighbors away and give me plenty of hay field. Hauling it is not my favorite job though.

Best of luck on your search.

Mary

 

[CeeGee]

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement! I'm curious about why you chose the locations you have to look at...living in Wisconsin with 40 acres, I would like to have just as much land but to be in a warmer climate! As others have mentioned there are some problems getting services you become accustomed to in more populated areas. I have found that finding good horse hay is a real issue in the "dairyland." I have also discovered that living in an area that there other horses is very important for having local shows as well as vet care!

 

[miniwhinny]

Look at Central Oregon too. We have 4 glorious seasons. After living here for 12 years I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Low crime, incredible health care (world class doctors want to raise their families here) We're High Desert so we only get some 10 inches of rainfall a year. We have world class skiiing in our mountains, incredible lakes and views to die for...oh just everything you could imagine. Only thing you need to live here is an income...this isn't a place to find a job.

 

[minie812]

We have 20a and it is plenty. Three acres is our barn-house and small leanto. Our neighbor cuts our prarie hay and we get 1/3 of it for our minis. It is good natural grass and the minis do well on it. We are a 1/4 mile off a blacktop road and only have neighbors to our south and a huge wildlife refuge to our backside and cows to our other side and rolling pasture out front. We are 40 miles from Wichita and 15 from smaller towns. It takes us less time to get to Wichita cause no traffic. Already have more folks building out this way as it is untouched property out here. I am glad we only have 20a though as it is plenty. We are five miles from the lake and use to ride the biggies down the back road but now after my accident I sold them. It is alot of work and I am limited as to what I can do now so you need to keep that in mind. Good Luck on your search...remember it is not the destination, but the journey