Pro vs Con on Country Living

[Holladay]

Or "Why I should Live in the Big City"

Reading about the murder in St. Louis thread got me thinking. Why is good and bad to living out in the country.

Definition of "Out in the Country" is distance to buying stuff. I would say 45 miles. The ideal spot would be on 10-20 acres just outside of town. Those are cool CHEATERS. I am talking about out in the boonies.

Sorry about the format. I couldn't think of a better way

Pros:

Privacy is the biggest one.
I can go get the mail in my scuvvies.
Boff the wife on the trampoline.
No noisey neighbors including lawnmowers.
The closest neighbor in 1/2 mile away.
You know everybody.
Have a clay pigeon thrower in the back yard.
Can have multiple BIG dogs.
Dogs don't have to have fences. It's dog heaven. (when I whistle, it might take them 10 min to come because they were a mile away.
Get to have a big toys: big lawn mower, small tractor with all the implements.
Can have a big garden.
Can have a nice big green lawn to play football with the kids.
No neighborhood restrictions and guidelines.
Can play my guitar REALLY loud (if I had a guitar).
Get to sit in the back yard watching the sun go down over the valley with no noise at all except for those darn birds.
Can see vividly the Milky Way.
Can pee anywhere I want (fertilization).
Can plant a tree anywhere.
Get to have a 4 wheel drive vehicle for the snow.
Have a lot of space to do anything, like storing multiple vehicles.
Barns are cool.
Kids can play AirSoft gun fighting in the hay loft (except at night when they come in and ask where are the candles?)
No traffic, I live 15 miles from work and have only one stop sign and see 10 cars.
Property taxes are relatively cheap.
Have well water, thus no crap in the water to filter for my fish tanks...and don't have to pay a water bill.
I water my lawn for free!
Family and friends don't just stop by, they arrange a good time.
No City tax.
I don't have to lock my door (I don't know where the key is)
The BIG dogs keep the burglars away (Beware of Dog sign helps too. I added an "S")
Can own a bunch of guns and use them all.

Cons:

Isolation is the biggest one.
If I need a wiget to work on the house, it takes 2 hrs round trip to Home Depot.
When you DO go to town it takes all day, not only the drive, but you have to load up on everything because you don't want to go back soon.
Everybody knows you.
Big toys are expensive.
Mowing 2 acres sucks, weedeating is a real pain.
Kids can't hop on their bikes to visit a friend, you have to taxi them everywhere.
Gas is expensive.
Vehicles are expensive including the insurance for multiple vehicles (which you have because you have the space to store them)
If you have had a few, it is a loonnnggg way to walk since there is no corner bar.
I can't water my lawn because the well gives out.
Friends just don't swing by.
Finding a decent job can be hard.
Big gardens suck, weeding them and watering them all the time.
Big yards suck, if you fertilize well, your second home is the lawnmower seat and it better be a big expensive one.
Grass seed is expensive, I have to keep over seeding because my grass dies due to no water.
Up keep and maintenance is a lot of work (something always breaks) and expensive.
Guns suck. If you have a big place, people what to come over and shoot pigeons. They use all your guns and you have to clean them and pay for the shells.
Internet sucks...I have 3 different providers and none work at the same time.

That is about all off the top of my head. Please add more.

[Bugeater]

The country is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

[ModSocks]

Pro: Can build a shed to boink your wife in and you won't have any neighbors wondering if you're getting high on meth.

[ModSocks]

Con: You'll probably get high on Meth.

[ModSocks]

Pro: You'll probably get high on Meth

[Pablo]

I'd like to live out in the country a way, but that would mean a hellacious, awful commute into downtown KC every day. I just hope I can make enough money to buy some recreational acreage one day and go visit the country when I like, but I will stick with the city and having everything within ten minutes of me.

[Rain Man]

If I was retired, I probably wouldn't mind living "out in the country", so I can certainly appreciate that lifestyle and suspect I would enjoy it. That said, I'm a city mouse and here are my pros and cons to living in the center of a big city.

Pros:

Access. I walk to work, the grocery store, the dentist, the mall, the doctor, restaurants, movie theaters, and everything else I need.

Car Savings. Because of the first advantage, my household has only one car, which saves a lot of money. Also, we drive very little even with the one car.

Choices. I have a lot of choices on everything. If I don't like my massage person or dentist or whatever, there's another one within walking distance. Within 10 minutes I can walk to four different grocery store chains (King Soopers, Safeway, Whole Foods, and Trader Joes). I have tons of restaurant choices. This is huge.

Home appreciation. As the metro area grows, central city housing gets more expensive. My home may be valuable enough when I retire to fund my retirement because it's a pretty high-value asset that's appreciating.

Labor pool. As an employer, there's a big labor pool available when I'm hiring.

Client pool. As a business owner, there's a big client pool that I can easily meet with.

Amenities. I have two enormous parks within walking distance, and a trail system five blocks from my house that extends probably a hundred miles (no joke).

Priority treatment. My street is on a snow route, so it gets plowed in real time with snow. Power outages and stuff like that get repaired in my area first because of the volume of people.

Anonymity. Some people might not see this as an advantage, but I really like being anonymous. I don't necessarily want to run into people I know all the time. Is that bad?

Peoplewatching. People walk by my house all the time, and I actually kind of like that. It makes the view more dynamic.

Cons:

Noise. I live in a very dense area, so I hear constant car noise in my backyard and an occasional semi or bus can be heard in my house.

Pollution. While I can't see it, I'm sure my air quality isn't as high.

Ne'er do wells. When I walk to work, I inevitably pass a fair number of people who look like the drug dealers on the "Just say no" ads. I get asked for money pretty much every day.

Small outdoor space and close neighbors. I don't really see this as a con, but others might. I live in an old neighborhood where the yards are small because everything was built in the horse and buggy days. I have good neighbors, but live in fear that someday they'll leave and a nasty person will move in. My house is probably only 10 feet from one of my neighbor's houses.

[eDave]

"If you ever really want to be alone, move to New York City"

- Someone

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by eDave

"If you ever really want to be alone, move to New York City"

- Someone

Ha, nice quote.

When I really want quiet alone time, I go on a cruise without my wife. (She's not interested in them.) A cruise is the perfect place for alone time, because it's mostly couples and they're all distracted. I have dinner with random people as my daily social contact and then am on my own for the other 23 hours.

[kccrow]

The biggest cons for living in the country are lack of employment opportunities or long commutes to decent employment opportunities and long commutes to conveniences, such as theaters, restaurants, and stores.

Might as well just say Country = Commuting

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by kccrow

The biggest cons for living in the country are lack of employment opportunities or long commutes to decent employment opportunities and long commutes to conveniences, such as theaters, restaurants, and stores.

Might as well just say Country = Commuting

I'm an electrical engineer and live in the county. My commute is 13 miles one way on 55 mph highway. In the little burg near me there is an aluminum boat factory, a wood and gas stove factory, a refrigeration coil factory and two saw mills. There are also several small software/engineering companies. There is a surprising amount of industry hiding in some of these small towns.

I do have to go into Spokane about once a month or so to go to Costco and a couple of other places. However, there is a Walmart, three grocery stores and several hardware stores nearby so I don't have to go to Spokane if I don't want to.

By the way, OP missed one of the biggest cons - slow, expensive internet.

[EPodolak]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Ne'er do wells. When I walk to work, I inevitably pass a fair number of people who look like the drug dealers on the "Just say no" ads. I get asked for money pretty much every day.

You're in Denver, right? I imagined ex-Broncos.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Ne'er do wells. When I walk to work, I inevitably pass a fair number of people who look like the drug dealers on the "Just say no" ads. I get asked for money pretty much every day.

Unfortunately, this is becoming a problem in the country too.

[srvy]

Say you forgot you had 2 beers left in the fridge and your very thirsty. The nearest town is 12 miles away that has a grocery and liquor store but it's closed at 5 and it's already 6. The wally world is in a town 50 miles away and is open till 11 pm. But there is a filling station out on the highway 3 miles away but he gouges you at 7.50 a six pack for shifty nat light what to do what to do. Drive the fifty get your 30 pack and an ice cold 40 traveler with a sack for the journey home or get butt reamed and settle for a 6 pack of of shit ty beer or drink your only 2 beers and chase with ice water rest the night. That's country living your choice.

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[rockymtnchief]

Pro: Pissing off the back deck or wherever you want. Seeing all the stars on a dark night. Shooting off the back deck. Wildlife in the yard.

Cons: More mileage on vehicles. When power goes out, you're not as high up the list as city folks. Wildlife in the yard.