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Posted: 11/7/2018 11:53:35 PM EDT
Also looking for land. Secluded (very). Spring, woods, some pasture...did I say secluded? Wife wants to be no more than an hour from a town. I am fine with 2-3 but for her, an hour, hour and a half.
Dont want any public utilities, electric, water, mail. Want to build a small cottage that is powered by solar and battery and fire. Water is a must though (head water preferred). Where would you all recommend, how are property taxes for something like this, land cost, do I need a building permit or is it more hands off? Thanks. |
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Go back on Snowy Mountain along the VA.-WV border. It's pretty isolated from everything.
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You always gonna be within atleast hour of something, i thought i wanted to be way back in the hollers but im 6 miles from town, close enough to town and hospital but far enough to avoid “ town” crap. Its perfect for me.
This is WV , we have mountains and lemme tell ya a story, i live on the west side of a big valley , my neighbor lives a 1/2 mile across the way. Your thinking of solar, better look at land at sunrise and sunset, my neighbor gets about 2-3 hours MORE sunlight then i do, the sun dips below my ridge around 3-4 pm, neighbor’s property is lite up til 5-6pm, he is prime for solar, i am not. Raw land will out you in lowest prop tax category, as far as permits,i dont know. Water is hit or miss. Anything out of town wouldnt have municipal water or sewer anyways and if your back far enough mail wouldnt run ( im basing things on where i live ) You can find what you want with ready built cabin,it may have well and septic or some have cisterns, etc |
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Thank you all.
I will look where you all suggest. I used to live in a tiny town and it was at least 30 minutes from anything. I actually wanted to move deeper out but I moved to VA. This would be a get away cabin from the city. |
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BTW, if you need cell phone service get something cheap that uses ATT and take it with you if looking at property in Pendelton County. Forget Verizon, they have nothing in this area.
Close to Sugar Grove or Greenbank and you're not getting anything. I'm in Pendelton county and have some right at my place and in Franklin. It's pretty much dead outside of that. The higher up the better chance you have of getting a signal. |
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Quoted: BTW, if you need cell phone service get something cheap that uses ATT and take it with you if looking at property in Pendelton County. Forget Verizon, they have nothing in this area. Close to Sugar Grove or Greenbank and you're not getting anything. I'm in Pendelton county and have some right at my place and in Franklin. It's pretty much dead outside of that. The higher up the better chance you have of getting a signal. View Quote If you wanting in the boonies, Waldo, DT, and myself are about the best help you got, as we are pretty out there. Mind you I live outside elkins, but I know the boonies quite well. |
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Yea i live in one of the biggest counties with the least amount of ppl, lol
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2012 census
Pend - 7553 , 698 sq miles Poca - 8682 , 940 sq miles Randolph is bigger @ 1040 sq miles but with 29 k ppl Be interesting to see a current one |
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Thanks all. I will look in those areas.
As far as how remote, personally, I would love to be in the back woods with only a grassy trail that leads to my cabin. Hours out. But I will stay at least an hour, hour and a half. Really wanting to live off the land and not deal with buying stuff. Some things I have to but if I can, would love to only show up in town once a month at most and then back out. I know it was said water was hit or miss. Where is the best place to look? |
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Good luck, dont know you skill set, but based on your last reply, your gonna be busy fishing, hunting and trapping and then learn canning along with gardening, we have sorta short growing season, so id be thinking greenhouse also.
With water, you simply need to talk to ppl in area your looking, our well is so so but down the road 1/8 mile they have water coming out of well head. Maybe talk to drillers in that area to. If you can find natural spring, youll be ahead of the game or go water front, esp with what your doin, its almost a must. If you get the right circumstances you could build a ram jet (google it, it is contraption that uses no power to push water) |
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Quoted:
2012 census Pend - 7553 , 698 sq miles Poca - 8682 , 940 sq miles Randolph is bigger @ 1040 sq miles but with 29 k ppl Be interesting to see a current one View Quote Pop 24,069 Mind you, about 2/3 of that number is between the south end of Weirton, Follansbee, and Wellsburg. |
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Thanks all. I will look in those areas. As far as how remote, personally, I would love to be in the back woods with only a grassy trail that leads to my cabin. Hours out. But I will stay at least an hour, hour and a half. Really wanting to live off the land and not deal with buying stuff. Some things I have to but if I can, would love to only show up in town once a month at most and then back out. I know it was said water was hit or miss. Where is the best place to look? View Quote A lot of the land here is National Forest, so that shrinks the pool of what's available. In the end you're just going to have to get out there and look in person. |
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The other issue, there is a big ass pipeline coming thru, this has effected some land availability and pricing. Also, you may end up competeing with pipeline ppl thst want to buy and settle in the area and some lands are being bought up to put in trailerparks for pipeline ppl and after pipeline done, gonna be trailer parks all over. Im in poca county and that is what is goin on here
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The other issue, there is a big ass pipeline coming thru, this has effected some land availability and pricing. Also, you may end up competeing with pipeline ppl thst want to buy and settle in the area and some lands are being bought up to put in trailerparks for pipeline ppl and after pipeline done, gonna be trailer parks all over. Im in poca county and that is what is goin on here View Quote |
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Quoted: Around me... Sugar Grove, Moyers, Snowy Mountain and there's some nice land back on Reeds Creek. Pasture land doesn't come cheap in this area though. A lot of the land here is National Forest, so that shrinks the pool of what's available. In the end you're just going to have to get out there and look in person. View Quote |
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Good luck, dont know you skill set, but based on your last reply, your gonna be busy fishing, hunting and trapping and then learn canning along with gardening, we have sorta short growing season, so id be thinking greenhouse also. With water, you simply need to talk to ppl in area your looking, our well is so so but down the road 1/8 mile they have water coming out of well head. Maybe talk to drillers in that area to. If you can find natural spring, youll be ahead of the game or go water front, esp with what your doin, its almost a must. If you get the right circumstances you could build a ram jet (google it, it is contraption that uses no power to push water) View Quote I do know of a realtor that has some announcements here in my area that also is licensed in WV. I may drop in and talk with them just to see. I am not needed a whole lot. Just enough to live. |
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Can never have too much land, even if you do nothing with it all, ideally, you would want water front , backed up or surrounded by national forest. ,im backed up to nat forest and only have seasonal creeks
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Can never have too much land, even if you do nothing with it all, ideally, you would want water front , backed up or surrounded by national forest. ,im backed up to nat forest and only have seasonal creeks View Quote How does that work with the National Forest? Are you allowed to use it or are you restricted to how you can go on the land and is there extra scrutiny? |
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Cant drive or ride atvs, otherwise, no restrictions on venturing on nf land, hunting / firearm rules apply. But You dont need license to hunt on private land. I dont know law / rules for cutting trees down in nf , probably a no- go, already downed trees probably not an issue
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Cant drive or ride atvs, otherwise, no restrictions on venturing on nf land, hunting / firearm rules apply. But You dont need license to hunt on private land. I dont know law / rules for cutting trees down in nf , probably a no- go, already downed trees probably not an issue View Quote |
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Cant drive or ride atvs, otherwise, no restrictions on venturing on nf land, hunting / firearm rules apply. But You dont need license to hunt on private land. I dont know law / rules for cutting trees down in nf , probably a no- go, already downed trees probably not an issue View Quote |
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Quoted: Need a permit to cut firewood in the NF unless you're camping. Even then, it's only for downed trees. That limits you to what's laying along the roads since you can't drive off them. Pretty much not worth it since you'll be driving around looking for it like everyone else. View Quote |
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Ive probably got a year or two worth of big ole downed trees jus inside of nf, other then the work, dont think there shortaged of trees. A couple good wind storms and trees come down.
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That is beautiful!
That is exactly what I am looking for. May not need that much land but that gives me hope in finding what I am looking for. Did you find that on your own or through a realtor? Amazing picture. Thanks for sharing. |
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Well tell us , if you care but what size land you looking for and budget.
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My 133 acres in Greenbrier Co costs about $600 a year in taxes. Several old overgrown fields, 3 springs and a seasonal creek. 45 min to Walmart. There are places out there, just takes some looking. https://i.imgur.com/isUvYr4.jpg View Quote SOme of our brethren in place like NJ would have to add a 0 to that number. |
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Sorry for the delay.
I am not really sure how much. I am still working on my budget. I am getting a slight raise next year and that will help. As far as land size, I am thinking just about 10-20 acres. I am wanting to be able to grow some crops, and have some small animals for meat and products. However, I would love to have enough grazing land so others can run pairs on the land. I will charge just enough to cover my land expenses, and in exchange, I want a head of beef for food. Almost a barter type system. Not as big in needing or wanting public utilities as I am wanting to have a place to escape the modern age and live on the land. I don't mind only going to town once a month or twice. I will look at other methods of power (solar with a battery bank, maybe a generator, but if I have a good supply of wood, I want a wood fireplace, open floor plan and use wood as much as I can). I am not able to make it my permanent home yet as I am still working, but I can use it for my vacation home and my place of rest. I don't know if that makes sense. ETA: Already doing this to a point. In my home right now, we use firewood to heat our house and we open the windows for air. I don't have a well so I am using water and I am almost in town and use public utilities. I don't have TV. My wife and I cut that, we also do not have net. Just what is on our phones. Our kids love reading and playing outside so they will not miss it. The land would be secluded enough I can let them play outside and at night, games and reading. Maybe I am seeking something idyllic, I don't know. In my career when I get a break, I just want to disappear. |
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Well, that is kinda what I wanted when I bought this place. I do have power and landline phone and net is on the phone line *dsl> that is the only part on grid. Water is well, Sewer is septic.
One thing to also consider is a root cellar, if your not going to have a fridge, learn to preserve foods, canning, smoking, etc. A root cellar will keep it a constant temp. While its all good in summer, winter is the great equalizer. as far as grazing land, that probably wont happen, anyone with animals will have their own land. So for now its just going to be a camp / vaca cabin. Thats a big diff then living full time. Waldo would be the perfect one for that. He lives in another state but stays at his cabin alot, but he is on grid like me. Solar is going to be an issue like i mentioned before. If your back in the woods, youll have trees, hills, valleys , ridges all blocking your sun. Not saying it wont work, but might not be as effective as your hoping. It really depends on what you need to power up. You could go truly off grid with oil lamps, hand pumps, compost toilets, solar hot water or heat water on stove for "bird bath" type personal cleaning. Really research where you want to be. If your too far from town, itll sux when you need things, and youll be needing things your first couple of years. When I moved here, I was running to town almost every day, ive settled it down to once a week , maybe twice, depending. Speaking of which, what are your provisions for getting clothes clean ? old skool style. ? Think of your every day, day to day life and see how that would play out in your mind with the type of living your proposing. Not saying its a bad thing, but its gonna be harder then you think. |
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Well, that is kinda what I wanted when I bought this place. I do have power and landline phone and net is on the phone line *dsl> that is the only part on grid. Water is well, Sewer is septic. One thing to also consider is a root cellar, if your not going to have a fridge, learn to preserve foods, canning, smoking, etc. A root cellar will keep it a constant temp. While its all good in summer, winter is the great equalizer. as far as grazing land, that probably wont happen, anyone with animals will have their own land. So for now its just going to be a camp / vaca cabin. Thats a big diff then living full time. Waldo would be the perfect one for that. He lives in another state but stays at his cabin alot, but he is on grid like me. Solar is going to be an issue like i mentioned before. If your back in the woods, youll have trees, hills, valleys , ridges all blocking your sun. Not saying it wont work, but might not be as effective as your hoping. It really depends on what you need to power up. You could go truly off grid with oil lamps, hand pumps, compost toilets, solar hot water or heat water on stove for "bird bath" type personal cleaning. Really research where you want to be. If your too far from town, itll sux when you need things, and youll be needing things your first couple of years. When I moved here, I was running to town almost every day, ive settled it down to once a week , maybe twice, depending. Speaking of which, what are your provisions for getting clothes clean ? old skool style. ? Think of your every day, day to day life and see how that would play out in your mind with the type of living your proposing. Not saying its a bad thing, but its gonna be harder then you think. View Quote I do appreciate your advice. It has helped out a lot! |
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No prob, most ppl that live where i do. Grew up this way, if you seen the area youd understand, i think your gonna need to start looking around and taking some trips,
Waldo can vouche for that, he spent alot of time looking for the right place. The pipeline kinda messed things and when they fire back up next spring we’ll see the effects of the mass influxof ppl to an area like mine. If you really want a nice place, find one with free gas on property. They can be rare but out there, i found one but it was hour from anything. If your on facebook, sign up for various yardsale groups, diff towns and counties your interested in, alot of ppl want to avoid realtors so they sell land and homes on their own. If your on fb , send me pm |
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No prob, most ppl that live where i do. Grew up this way, if you seen the area youd understand, i think your gonna need to start looking around and taking some trips, Waldo can vouche for that, he spent alot of time looking for the right place. View Quote I looked on and off for 3-4 years. Much of that reason was because there just isn't a lot of new listings that happen. |
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No prob, most ppl that live where i do. Grew up this way, if you seen the area youd understand, i think your gonna need to start looking around and taking some trips, Waldo can vouche for that, he spent alot of time looking for the right place. The pipeline kinda messed things and when they fire back up next spring we'll see the effects of the mass influxof ppl to an area like mine. If you really want a nice place, find one with free gas on property. They can be rare but out there, i found one but it was hour from anything. If your on facebook, sign up for various yardsale groups, diff towns and counties your interested in, alot of ppl want to avoid realtors so they sell land and homes on their own. If your on fb , send me pm View Quote That is an interesting thought. I could just plug power up to the natural gas then? I am sure it costs a little more too but may be worth it. I appreciate the thought and help on Facebook. I am not on there. Funny thing is, when it really started, I never even joined up at the first either. I only have an online presence in four places. This one and three others. However, I can have my wife look at the different sales places. I can try to get her to sign up and just see what happens. I used to work for relators when I was in High School. We owned one of the first, Virtual Tour franchises. Some of the realators can be...interesting...to say the least! So I totally get wanting to avoid them. I am also not looking for absolute pristine property. If it requires a little work to get it cleaned up, I am good with that. I just have to have enough space to set up a small camp to start with. |
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Quoted: Yeah. Make a list of all the properties you're interested in, contact the realtors and make a day trip to put boots on the ground. Also make your list of priorities ahead of time that need to be checked off. Google earth can sometimes save you from making a trip (Property is next to a junky place, chicken farm, ect). Just remember, Google earth pics don't get updated very often out in the sticks. Don't pay any attention to the copyright date tag. I looked on and off for 3-4 years. Much of that reason was because there just isn't a lot of new listings that happen. View Quote I will also check the Google Earth. I do wish to make sure that I love what I am getting or what is the purpose of me buying it. My concern is that if the pipeline is going to come through, the area that I think is set back a ways, how long before I find myself in a neighborhood? Or am I thinking too much of the pipeline building? Thanks again for the guidance. I will probably try to get in to WV when I find a listing of four or five that I want to check out. Make a full day trip with my family . |
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Im in Pocahontas county, if you come down, lemme know , we can meet up.
I brought up the pipeline because I got screwed on a piece of property in Florida due to a pipeline coming through the area i was interested in . You can find the routes online. Check around in the WV Hometown forums (where your at) I posted a thread awhile back with some of the info on the pipeline and the route its taking. Its still early on and they just laid everyone off til spring. but come spring time, itll be full on. The route is pretty defined more or less. The pipeline is coming thru my county, I dont know the route before Pocahontas and the after route heads into Va. The issue is everyone thinks their land is worth 10x as much because of the pipeline. Anything can be rented (houses, cabins, trailers, apts) are all taken up by the pipeline ppl, that is why they started putting in trailer parks all over the place. Pocahontas is nice and can offer what your looking for, just have to get the boots on the ground and honestly, alot of places are word of mouth as ppl want to avoid the realtors, so those will be the ones hard to find. Google earth is pretty good, but take it with a grain of salt, esp around here, some of the images are outdated, on the rare occasion you can get a street view but not up the holler's. We also have a very good Property Tax website (this county anyways), so you can research how much ppl paid, when property was established, etc |
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Im in Pocahontas county, if you come down, lemme know , we can meet up. I brought up the pipeline because I got screwed on a piece of property in Florida due to a pipeline coming thru up there. You can find the routes online. Check around in the WV Hometown forums (where your at) I posted a thread awhile back with some of the info on the pipeline and the route its taking. Its still early on and they just laid everyone off til spring. but come spring time, itll be full on. The route is pretty defined more or less. The pipeline is coming thru my county, I dont know the route before Pocahontas and the after route heads into Va. The issue is everyone thinks their land is worth 10x as much because of the pipeline. Anything can be rented (houses, cabins, trailers, apts) are all taken up by the pipeline ppl, that is why they started putting in trailer parks all over the place. Pocahontas is nice and can offer what your looking for, just have to get the boots on the ground and honestly, alot of places are word of mouth as ppl want to avoid the realtors, so those will be the ones hard to find. View Quote I can imagine something like this, everyone thinks they have property lined in gold. The real value is the property itself and being able to own and use it. I will plan a trip. We are moving into our busy season so it may be a little while, but I am better equipped now. I will send you either an IM or an Email when we are coming. That would be great! Thank you again for the help on this. |
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Just send me an IM,
No problem. just relaying my experiences , the ins and outs of moving to an area like this. https://pocahontascountyassessor.com/ Click on MAPPING & GIS data and then click INTERACTIVE Maps up top. On the bottom of the Interactive page there are surrounding counties listed as well. I realize you wont know the area but for me, its fun to see who owns what and how much land, etc. Plus this lets you see the state owned properties. |
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Dont know if you seen this thread , but might help. granted he is hooked up on grid but doing so in a pre-fab cabin thingy.
Looks like he is on the western side of the state, bordering Ohio / KY area. https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Ive-been-living-off-grid-for-months-What-I-ve-learned-/5-2164422/&page=6 |
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Dont know if you seen this thread , but might help. granted he is hooked up on grid but doing so in a pre-fab cabin thingy. Looks like he is on the western side of the state, bordering Ohio / KY area. https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Ive-been-living-off-grid-for-months-What-I-ve-learned-/5-2164422/&page=6 View Quote |
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Good info here. I’m considering doing something similar just a bit farther North.
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Dont know if you seen this thread , but might help. granted he is hooked up on grid but doing so in a pre-fab cabin thingy. Looks like he is on the western side of the state, bordering Ohio / KY area. https://www.ar15.com/forums/general/Ive-been-living-off-grid-for-months-What-I-ve-learned-/5-2164422/&page=6 View Quote Happy to give advice. |
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Thank you. So far all my questions have been answered but if I do run into something, I will ask. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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I'm in Randolph County, one of the three most beautiful counties in WV (which includes Pocahontas), and each county of WV will have some breathtaking beauty, so it's a close race ;)
I would suggest looking around the Elkins area if you want to have a town with everything you need in it, plus still retains that small town feel. Make a 40 mile radius circle on a map around Elkins and start searching for property in that circle. Up where I am at we never have to use AC in the summer. This past summer was a warm one and we still only hit 80 degrees about half a dozen times compared to our usual of a couple of times a summer. Rarely do we go over 80. The winters up here are usually cold and snowy, however, this season has started out about 20 degrees above the local average, which sucks. Property taxes in my county aren't too bad, relatively. I live in a 4k sq. ft. home with a detached garage on 7 acres and pay about $800 dollars a year in taxes. We also own 141 acres up against Mt. Porte Crayon and the taxes on it are about the same. Both our places border the Mon National Forest. It may not be as much acreage as you are looking for, but my neighbor moved to Florida and is selling his 4k sq. ft. home with a barn and detached garage on about 5 acres. He wants 220k for it, but I think he will come down off of the number quite a bit. He hasn't listed the house yet. It also backs up to national forest. Good luck in your hunt and keep us informed! |
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Look at Doddridge,Ritchie and Tyler Counties. Lots of large parcels of land but it won't include any mineral rights.
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I do appreciate the help. As the house and land goes, i am very grateful for the heads up. But I am not able to make that kind of purchase right now.
However the locations mentioned are all solid places i am looking at and when i am able to have money to put down, i will be coming for a visit. |
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Have you thought about renting? What is your time frame for relocation?
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Have you thought about renting? What is your time frame for relocation? View Quote I dont have a specific time right now. It would be just a vacation place as I would like to keep working where I am. |
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