You’re not stupid, so Im pretty sure youve figured that your buddy Zero found himself a property that caught his interest. Indeed I did. It caught my interest so much, in fact, that I drove out there today to look at. Glad I did because, in case you didnt know, what you see in a Google Earth satellite pic and a real estate website gallery may not always jibe with reality. In the words of the War Department “There is no substitute for boots on the ground.”
The property in question was two 20-acre lots that butted up against a couple thousand acres of private land that was in a conservation easement. Nearest power was a long ways away. The property had two storage conexes already on it. My biggest two concerns were the terrain and the roads. I don’t mind driving a dirt road but if the road was a winding, torturous affair that precluded things like a well-drilling rig and the like….well, thats gonna be a problem.
I knew it might be a challenging drive so I packed for it…shovel, hilift, straps, chains, extra fuel, extra water, radios, flares, smoke, first aid, rations, etc. Because in Montana you just don’t know.
We’d made it about 3/4 of the way to the property (amazingly staying on course, which was an incredible accomplishment all on its own) before I had decided in my head that this was going to be a ‘hard pass’ just on the strength of the truly horrific road. There was one stretch that was such a steep downhill run that I seriously doubted my ability to climb it on the return. In rain or thaw it would have been a Slip-N-Slide. How a couple conexes made it to this property is utterly beyond me.
Once there it only took a few minutes to see that this was not gonna be the new Beta Site. Altitude was a bit up there at 6000′. Terrain was all distinctly stingy with the flat spaces. And, more importantly, there were more houses up there than my careful Google Earth reconnoitering had shown. Combine that with the Highway To Hell and I couldn’t salvage the rest of my Saturday fast enough. SO, since I am definitely not taking it…here’s a link to it.
I have almost always regretted spending money more often than I have regretted not spending it. I am certain that this will be a case where I won’t regret not spending money.
But, for the last week, while waiting to get a chance to go look at this piece, my mind had to go and start addressing concerns that I really hadn’t given too much thought to. Things like maintaining privacy in the purchase, fuel logistics, septic logistics, water logistics, fuel selection, structure type, internet access, neighbor politics, vehicle considerations, etc, etc, etc. Some of these issues I’ll be bringing up in the blog later to get the opinion of the hivemind.
Following. Work smart not hard. You should have a 3 to 5 page spreadsheet of all the possible pros and cons considerations that you would template apply to any one property you would at first glance consider, then as a punch ticket on further research study or by way of site inspection, to either accept or as this case outright disqualify from selection. Of note, there may be as many disqualifiers with those purportedly idyllic rural locales or raw land options as an in townie property. You can handle making the numbers work on any choice, but I would not be overly adamant on getting that burt gummer perfect redoubt fortress property with no neighbors and only amish farmers nearby. Not likely to happen without millions of dollars liquid to spend to buy that ideal squat spot. I treated my move as a controlled evacuation from a blast radius blue hive. There may be some assessments in items on your list that turn your nose down, but a better than nothing, or better than where you came from assessment may be necessary to mollify any disappointments or lowered expectations. It depends on what one’s tolerance thresholds are or what trade offs there are. (Without a wife that only looks or nags at baths and countertops you can more easily make those tactical and strategic decisions pertaining to a subject property, so much easier without background noise. Sorry ladies, life and death thinking here) It will happen, as there is no 100% perfect property out. Time is not critical but getting it actually done versus the speed and trajectory of things going down should be a fire in the ass of anyone contemplating “a jump” to move their a.o. situation. Happy hunting, holler if you need readership muscle ‘evacuating’ to a new locale, many are nearby. Stay frosty during ecape and evasions.