That's It - I'm Moving

[JRHaelig]

My wife and I enjoy teasing ourselves by cruising through listings on Zillow.  Our current home in New Jersey actually has some great points, but taxes, weather, congestion and taxes are inescapable.  Plus - did I mention taxes?

 

Our son and his wife are likely to end up in the DC area, so we focus on searches in Virginia.  From time to time some very interesting houses come up.  One of my favorites had a cathedral ceiling with the walls loaded with mounted game fish  Another had a couple of dozen other critters of various sizes and species.  Although not a sporting fellow myself, both houses were.....intriguing.

 

Today I came across this one and had to share:

 

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9566-Spring-Mill-Rd-Concord-VA-24538/84603711_zpid/?

 

 

 

[Paul Dobbin]

 Eight garage doors including the house.   Plenty of room to build more.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Paul Dobbin (see edit history)

[plymouthcranbrook]

I always wanted a garage with an attached house but my wife refused to live in a stall of the garage so…..

[rocketraider]

Concord is near Lynchburg which has an active AACA group. About 5 hr from DC and NoVA. DC area is no less expensive to live than NJ.

 

No school district taxes in Vajenya, please don't bring them with you!🙂

[Bhigdog]

NJ is a GREAT place to be from. I know. I used to live there.

Here in PA on my 100 acres with house, horse stable, 5 car garage, and additional 4 car old car garage with attached 48 X 32 work shop my taxes are about $3800 yr. Oh, I almost forgot. Uncle Sap pays me $2400 yr not to plant any thing on 26 acres of it.

Wondering what took you so long..............Bob

Edited September 15, 2021 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Whenever I get really fired up about building my barn here in the beautiful People's Republic a thread like this comes along.

[ILIKECARS53]

I was in New Jersey for about 35 years.  Moved to NE PA 2 Years ago.  My last home in New Jersey was a condo in Morris County.  Postage stamp size lot with 2 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bath, taxes were over $7000 per year.  The house before that was on 2 acres with a 4 car garage and  30 x 48 pole barn with a modest size house.  When I sold in the early 2000"s taxes were $14,000 and still going up.  In NE PA 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms,  28 X 70 garage, and 15 acres.......taxes are $2200.   Plus lets not even talk about the cost differential of car insurance.

[JamesR]

Very cool, but $330k for that attractively situated house with out buildings seems a little too good to be true. I personally would check for recent zoning changes or nearby toxic waste sites.

[Guest]

The phone booth is a nice touch.

[Akstraw]

Good luck in your new home.  When is the housewarming party?

[1937hd45]

I'd like to see the photos of the current residents, taken with the same lens the photographer used to shoot the house. Why does the less that 2 acres look like 20? 

Edited September 16, 2021 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[Flivverking]

Oh yea! Can see the value and attraction of a property with lots of dead fish adorning the walls and or dead animal carcasses scattered around.

 Cheap at twice the price to some,but we in modern New England try to keep the dead game out of our living spaces if we can.

We're just odd that way.😜

 

 

 

[auburnseeker]

1 minute ago, Flivverking said:

Oh yea! Can see the value and attraction of a property with lots of dead fish adorning the walls and or dead animal carcasses scattered around.

 Cheap at twice the price to some,but we in modern New England try to keep the dead game out of our living spaces if we can.

We're just odd that way.😜

 

 

 

Give me old new England.  This modern New England Sucks, and I'm just on the outskirts. More taxes less rights. new influx of city dwellers and people from downstate dictating how to save the forest,  they have never set foot in while decimating local industry. 

[auburnseeker]

19 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

I'd like to see the photos of the current residents, taken with the same lens the photographer used to shoot the house. Why does the less that 2 acres look like 20? 

It's that realtor Camera.  If I had one of those I could have made my new shop look like a Walmart distribution Center when I posted my build. 

[Pfeil]

2 hours ago, Bhigdog said:

NJ is a GREAT place to be from. I know. I used to live there.

Here in PA on my 100 acres with house, horse stable, 5 car garage, and additional 4 car old car garage with attached 48 X 32 work shop my taxes are about $3800 yr. Oh, I almost forgot. Uncle Sap pays me $2400 yr not to plant any thing on 26 acres of it.

Wondering what took you so long..............Bob

 

I think you did forget. Uncle Sam gets that money to give to you from all us taxpayer saps!

[Bhigdog]

It's a program to lessen runoff of fertilizer into the Chesapeake bay. So they pay me about $100 per acre per year not to grow anything on that land.  The wildest part of the whole deal is I don't drain into the Chesapeake. I drain into the Lehigh river that drains into the Delaware river, that empties directly into the Atlantic ocean. Most of my county does drain into the Chesapeake but my end of the county does not.

What the Hell? Close enough for government work..... Right?

BTW, thank you for your contribution.

If it helps, our good Uncle Sap also sends along a nice 1099 to claw back as much of the largess as possible.............Bob

Edited September 16, 2021 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

1 hour ago, JamesR said:

Very cool, but $330k for that attractively situated house with out buildings seems a little too good to be true. I personally would check for recent zoning changes or nearby toxic waste sites.

For those used to living in super high-rent areas- a nice spacious well-built home with outbuildings and acreage can be had for under $350k in most of rural Vajenya and in some areas under $275k. Now, north of Charlottesville and east of Richmond is a different story. Housing prices have gone stupid in those areas.

 

You will have to deal with the Liberty University influence. It's everywhere in south central VA.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

2 hours ago, JamesR said:

Very cool, but $330k for that attractively situated house with out buildings seems a little too good to be true. I personally would check for recent zoning changes or nearby toxic waste sites.

KILLJOY.

 

  Ben

[JRHaelig]

Sage advice, though. 

 

Just like buying a car....can't let emotions get ahead of you.

 

We're just poking around, but when it's time to get serious-without getting completely bonkers - you have to look at the 100 year flood zone, dock fees, the weekend flyover routes, water, sewage & utilities to that dream cabin,  HOA's....all of the yuckie stuff.

[nick8086]

Money and time.

 

I like it. It looks like a project..

 

Here is one that I did..

 

 

[John_S_in_Penna]

5 hours ago, JamesR said:

Very cool, but $330k for that attractively situated house with out buildings seems a little too good to be true. 

 

You may be right, James, but there are plenty of

similar places throughout America where that price

is reasonable or high.

 

Mr. Haelig:  Instead of moving from one expensive place

to another, consider making your money go farther by

moving to small towns or rural areas.  Development is

light, traffic is light.  If I took the back road to work,

I would see maybe 2 or 3 other cars on the road in 15 miles. 

How much more fun you'd have when driving your old car!

 

And with garages renting at $50 a month per car--or less--

you can spend your savings with a few more cars to enjoy.

[John348]

Our oldest son and his family relocated from Long Island to Charlottesville Virginia, two years ago. Very nice area to live, the wages are less, but the overall cost of living is a lot less then NYC Metro Area, besides a better quality of life

[John_S_in_Penna]

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/184-Congress-St-Bradford-PA-16701/127241589_zpid/?

 

Here's a grand old house for sale in northern Penna. for

$375,000.  Such a price might not get you anything in

the nice parts of New Jersey;  but here, it is one of the

more expensive properties.  Just an enticement:

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[Restorer32]

We live in small town South Central PA, 8 miles North of the Maryland line.  Identical new houses built by the same builder are $100k more in Maryland than in PA.  Plus we are only 35 miles or so from Hershey.  90 miles to DC and 100 miles to Phila.  Marylanders are flooding across the border hoping to enjoy our small town atmosphere.  On the minus side we now have a traffic light and I now have a brutal 8 minute commute to the shop. 

[alsancle]

That house is really nice.

 

When I was young and not as world wise about how a house will bleed you dry, even a new one, I lusted after a 1890-1930 mansion.   Not too big, lets say under 10k square feet with at least a 6 car carriage house.   What a bad idea that would have been.

[John_S_in_Penna]

26 minutes ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/184-Congress-St-Bradford-PA-16701/127241589_zpid/?

Here's a grand old house for sale in northern Penna. for

$375,000. 

 

And, just for contrast, here's a similar house in 

attractive Summit, New Jersey.  It's not as large;

the interior is updated and has no historic grandeur;

the price is $1,400,000;  and the taxes are $30,000

per year.  Less house and less beauty for almost

4 times as much!

 

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6-Valley-View-Ave-Summit-NJ-07901/40065986_zpid/

[rocketraider]

1 hour ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/184-Congress-St-Bradford-PA-16701/127241589_zpid/?

 

Here's a grand old house for sale in northern Penna. for

$375,000.  Such a price might not get you anything in

the nice parts of New Jersey;  but here, it is one of the

more expensive properties.  Just an enticement:

 

That is a whole lotta house for comparatively cheap money. If the basic bones are good, even here in Ruritania you couldn't restore that home for the asking price, much less build a comparable home new.

 

Mmph. That sounds a lot like old cars!

 

And old houses, like old cars, are viewed as inefficient money pits by those who have no sense of or calling to history.🙄

 

Historical restrictions turn them off too. These are the same people who want the look of an old car with 2021 underpinnings.

 

As an aside, as of 9/17 two of the four original Williamson farms that were carved out of the 1746 land grant now have "Virginia Century Farm" designation- owned by same family for 100 or more consecutive years- and working on the third one. Reconstruction and the Great Depression busted the largest one up pretty badly so not sure if "Roan" will join "Breezy Oaks", "Sleepy Hollow" and "Oralee" as Virginia Century Farms.

[Pfeil]

Only problem with houses like that are maintenance. Just painting alone on the outside is like taking on the painting project of the Golden Gate bridge. By the time you finish, it's time to start all over again. 

[Frank DuVal]

And if no one figured how to add insulation, maybe up to 2K per month for heat!

 

I can see painting the exterior to be $30k every 5 years or so.

 

But boy, does it look GOOD!

Edited September 16, 2021 by Frank DuVal (see edit history)

[Guest]

2 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/184-Congress-St-Bradford-PA-16701/127241589_zpid/?

 

Here's a grand old house for sale in northern Penna. for

$375,000.  Such a price might not get you anything in

the nice parts of New Jersey;  but here, it is one of the

more expensive properties.  Just an enticement:

 

 

Holy cow, this place is beautiful John!

It would be $8 million if it was over here.  

[Frank DuVal]

14 hours ago, JRHaelig said:

the weekend flyover routes

I'm close to the Flying Circus, so I do get to see Bi-Planes circling above for practice and the Sunday shows. Doesn't bother me at all. During the week we have military planes and helicopters, some sounding like they want to land on the roof. Got used to them too!👍

 

https://www.flyingcircusairshow.com/

[SC38dls]

Depending on your age rural VA or any rural area where you get cheap land to build your six car garage can be a problem. Medical facilities are a good distance away. It doesn’t do you any good to have the garage if you are incapacitated. Look for an area around a university town as they usually have a lot of facilities to enjoy and take care of medical needs. Many are surrounded by farm land. 
dave s 

[Restorer32]

I grew up in a 16 room Gingerbread Victorian. Dad made me paint it the Summer I was 16.  Not exactly what a hormone crazed 16 year old wants to do with his Summer.

[JamesR]

3 hours ago, John_S_in_Penna said:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/184-Congress-St-Bradford-PA-16701/127241589_zpid/?

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, beautiful house! Thanks for posting.

 

I'm just looking at the old "location, location, location" real estate meme from  a buyer's perspective. If the price seems low, there's probably a reason. Might be an economically depressed area or local crime stats are a problem...or something altogether different, but those things are all relative.

 

I guess I was surprised by the low price of that Virginia spread because I've spent all my life in the upper Midwest and have always heard the cost of living and real estate values here are low compared to the east and west coast. The price of that place seems to indicate that's a tendency and not a rule.

[Paul Dobbin]

16 minutes ago, Restorer32 said:

I grew up in a 16 room Gingerbread Victorian. Dad made me paint it the Summer I was 16.  Not exactly what a hormone crazed 16 year old wants to do with his Summer.

    My experience too, but i got $5.00 @ week along with Dad's inboard water ski boat and a 27 Ft. Gaff riggged Sailboat and use of his old Cadillac 

    convertables.   Good thing I had a job as a busboy at the Beach Club, but actually worked as the patio waiter.   Life in rural Florida was good in

    those days.

[JACK M]

18 hours ago, GregLaR said:

The phone booth is a nice touch.

And the parking meter next to it.

[zepher]

I seriously need to get out of the People's Republic of Kalifornia and move to somewhere cheaper.

That same $330k wouldn't even get you a one bedroom condo out here.

[John_S_in_Penna]

1 hour ago, JamesR said:

I'm just looking at the old "location, location, location" real estate meme from a buyer's perspective.  If the price seems low, there's probably a reason. Might be an economically depressed area or local crime stats are a problem..

 

For the Penna. house I pictured, it's a case of

limited job opportunities--typical of many small

towns and rural areas.  But the advantages are

there as well:

---Ability to tele-commute when companies allow it;

     but that's no problem if someone is retired.

---Friendly place to live or raise a family.

---Low cost of living.

---Plenty of scenic roads for driving antique cars.

---Pennsylvania location just a few hours from Hershey.

 

And Zepher, your old-car friends out here would love to have you!

Just think of how your budget, and quality of life, could improve.

Edited September 16, 2021 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[rocketraider]

1 hour ago, JACK M said:

And the parking meter next to it.

 

Wonder do all the neat accoutrements like that and the phone booth convey?

[GARY F]

When I was looking in VA I didnt see anything like that. I hope you are packing your bag. I am from N.J. Retired, sold out now in upper SC. 10 acres, house bigger than i sold and 5 car garage. Taxes after being here 16 yrs. 1042.00