In my heart, I want 2 acres out in a fairly rural area I know well. I do. I could care less about the size of the house. I want trees, and a place for veggies, and lots of room for kids to run and play and get wet in a creek.
But I love running. And so does DH (ok, it might not be love for him, but he likes it), and he likes biking, too. And this particular area is probably not going to be all that safe or pleasant for road running. No shoulders, so if a car comes, chances are good that we'll twist our ankles getting off the road. People drive fast out there. And nobody pays attention these days...
So there's this magical place. It's about 30 minutes from all my friends, and I'd have to commute north for homeschool stuff, but... The houses are cheap. And there's room for my whole family, even in law suites in a lot of them. It's closer to the big city for DH if he ends up working down there again. And it has walking trails around the community lakes, 4 pools, including and adults only lap pool, bike lanes in the subdivision, which lead to bike lanes/running paths along the river, all the way to two parks. Pretty much heavenly from that perspective.
The downside? It's in a subdivision (older one, so fewer rules) in a city, and lots are 1/3-3/4 acre. So very much not an old house in the country on a couple of acres... But plenty of community greenspace, and a very parklike atmosphere. One house I did a drive-by on backs up to a protect greenspace, and another has a pool and a trail to one of the lakes right beyond the tree line in the back yard.
I wish I could just plunk this subdivision (and the river trails and parks) down out here. The closest thing out here is a very fancy planned community I linked to in the new urbanism thread. Where the 3 br houses are twice the price of the 5 br house I'm looking at in the old subdivision closer to the ATL. Granted, the big fancy well planned community is freaking amazing, but I'm not a trust fund baby - it's so not going to ever happen.
How do we even start to shop when we want two things we can't have at the same time?
(btw, this is here because I also want to stay at or under what we sold our old house for, and that's another huge consideration. And y'all know I need to grow my veggies next summer or I'll go crazy).
I think I woudl go for the older one as well. 30 minutes really isnt all that far. You couldn't see everyone daily, but you could weekly-- esp if dh would be spending less on gas to commute. Is the neighborhood within walking distance of store/restaurant/library or bookstore?
I wanna know where you are looking too Atl is somewhere that we are considering
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Heather , mama to Liam, born 12-19-01, and Simon, born 04-17-05 wife to Mark, married 09-23-97
A person could bike or walk to two different shopping centers. Library isn't walkable, but there are two within a short drive. We don't use schools at the moment, but there's an elementary school in there, too.
We had a *really* hard time narrowing down, and then ordering our priorities when we moved to Cville.
Like you, some of our "wants" were mutually exclusive. What it came down to for me was being really honest with myself about my needs and my family needs. I *love* the idea of being downtown and able to walk to stuff and feeling like you're in the middle of a vibrant (small) city. But for the 8 months we rented a house downtown, it drove me batty. I didn't like having *no* privacy, having to be social every time I walked outside to get the mail or get in the car. Now, I'm all about being an involved member of the community, don't get me wrong, but I'm such an introvert that constantly living like that really wore on me The reality of the experience didn't match up with the fantasy of what life would look like -- for me. Someone could easily have the same experience about moving to the country and wanting to have a mini-homestead, and then find themselves going crazy after a few months being so far "away" from everything
I guess my very long winded point is to think about how the true day-to-day life would feel, without the rose colored glasses. Fortunately, it sounds like you guys have had a few different living situations where you've probably been able to feel out what works best for you and what doesn't.
I also think that I'd have "being close to friends" as a high priority. Sure, 30 minutes isn't *that* long. But it makes it tough for those spontaneous get-togethers that are such a wonderful part of a close friendship
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Christine
mama to Ethan (8) and Noah (3
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sigh.
i was waiting for this...i've honestly seen it coming since just before you got back (and even moreso this past 10 or so days.)
i'm torn too ( at me...i'm not the one buying a house here but...) not for the reason you may think though...(sure i have a really vested interest in having you closer...it's not 30 for me, it's *almost* an hour for me to drive to guina's most times of the day...) but for the following...
for years i heard you talk about the mini-farm. the chickens for eggs and the huge, lovely, ginormous gardens of veggies. at least 2 acres, but i heard a preferably 4 more than once out of you. few neighbors and certainly none close enough to be in your stuff...
which brings you to my neck of the woods. literally.
however, this past year has brought about a lot of change for you. really, really powerfully good change that i, for one, admire greatly. in order to maintain that change in practice, you are correct. trying to run on heardsville or watson or post is going to get you run over. bikes? i see them often on doc bramblett but that's only a 5-6m road start to finish. also on tribble gap, but same thing for distance...plus there are the hairpin curves up on the mountain (not good for car visibility.)
i feel that if you get a house up here you'll be miserable for trying to run. yet, if you get a house down there, you'll be running your fool head off and biking when that's not happening, but you'll be complaining in a year about the drive to homeschool stuff 1-3x a week, not to mention to me, as well as the lack of privacy and land plus the plethora of (close) neighbors.
clearly i don't have the answer either.
i love ML. guina lives there and even before i knew her, i loved the neighborhood. our group is doing our annual reunion there this october, at the clubhouse. i feel you'll get a lot of what you are seeking there, for now. you could always sell and move north if you get too frustrated.
that said from someone who will absolutely hate that you are almost an hour away (but i'm working on convincing myself it's a LOT better than 10 hours and that i work an awful damn lot...)
ahhh..we looked at several houses in Martin's Landing..didn't like any of them in the end. The community looked great but the HOA fees are rather high...and the houses were not very well built, TBH.
Maybe you'll find a great one..but man we looked at some awful houses in there..
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Meg
Mama to Alexis, 22; Jacob, 19; and Elijah 11/20/02 and Sophia Jane, 11/20/04
Elijah allows me to dress him nicely and take a picture!
35 minutes, woman. mapquest it. I realize we won't be doing the drive between 3 and 7 pm if we want to stay sane, but for crying out loud, it's just off 400! It's really an easy drive. The HSers are meeting at T's this year for co-op, and possibly moving park day to Central, so I'll have a little drive, but it's a straight shot and against traffic. But still, nobody will forgive me for leaving the county.
DH really likes the idea of being closer in. It's been a looong time since he actually worked where we're living right now, and being closer would make his life much nicer. He's just lived through a year of commuter hell in DC.
Hmph. I still do want acreage. Just near a state park with long trails and a swimming lake. Is that too much to ask?
Meg - the houses have been standing for 35 years, which probably makes them better constructed than my last house. I'm fine with the HOA fees. I paid nearly that much for a lot fewer amenities, and we actually do use the amenities. My favorite house so far is a trainwreck. It wants me to fix it.
Well, I vote for Martin's Landing, and not just because I want amenities when we visit. I think that right now running is a major priority in your life, and it sound like a nice place for the kids to find friends. I'm sure there will be acreage in the future for you. This season in your life is about running and after 11 years about you a little bit. Maybe you could coop garden with someone.
We are thinking about looking for some land a couple of hours from here (where it's still cheap), that we can camp on and then retire on someday.
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~Gael~
Mom to Grace 11 and Santino 8 months
To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.
Well, I vote for Martin's Landing, and not just because I want amenities when we visit. I think that right now running is a major priority in your life, and it sound like a nice place for the kids to find friends. I'm sure there will be acreage in the future for you. This season in your life is about running and after 11 years about you a little bit. Maybe you could coop garden with someone.
We are thinking about looking for some land a couple of hours from here (where it's still cheap), that we can camp on and then retire on someday.
funny you should mention co-op gardening. My friend with the horses said she'd do it at her place if people would actually help her weed. Maybe I could do my work and have Roro take a lesson at the same time. I can grow a surprising amount in small plots, too. The lots in ML are no smaller than my old neighborhood, and K and I grew more than we could eat in our little gardens.
Let me know about this here land. I might want in on that.
Well, if you are loving on a fixer, then Martin's Landing is pretty nice. We looked at a 5 bdr in there with a creek that needed major lovin'. It was filled with mold and mildew, though..skeeeeery!
I did love the neighborhood which is why we looked at so many houses in there.
Xt, it sounds like to me that everyone that loves you is saying go for it. Really you are just exchanging your commute for DH's-- thus giving DH a bit more family time each day, right?
I used to live in Prattville-- abt 30 min outside of Montgomery, and came to Montgomery daily. Currently I drive an hr each morning roundtrip to take Liam to school and an hr to pick him up (30 min each way). There are days that I complain bitterly LOL but honestly it isnt THAT bad. When I lived in Prattville I would drive into Montgomery without second thought (but that was back in the stone age when gas was .99c a gallon and I drove a ford tempo so 10.00 of gas would last me a week )
Location: Is she smart, so well-read Are there books, are there novels by her bed? And is she the sort that you've always said Could satisfy your head?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xt
35 minutes, woman. mapquest it. I realize we won't be doing the drive between 3 and 7 pm if we want to stay sane, but for crying out loud, it's just off 400! It's really an easy drive. The HSers are meeting at T's this year for co-op, and possibly moving park day to Central, so I'll have a little drive, but it's a straight shot and against traffic. But still, nobody will forgive me for leaving the county.
DH really likes the idea of being closer in. It's been a looong time since he actually worked where we're living right now, and being closer would make his life much nicer. He's just lived through a year of commuter hell in DC.
Hmph. I still do want acreage. Just near a state park with long trails and a swimming lake. Is that too much to ask?
i like what gael said.
(i know, i know...but mapquest lies. i do the drive every few weeks down to guina's. 45 minimum...BUT...i FULLY agree with gael.)
to everything a season. this is a really, really great time in your life for YOU. you gave it all to the kids and your dh's career. be about yourself for a while.
that said, um, if you live in ML and i get in a pickle like i did on tuesday where i really should have gone home to rest/sleep/shower but didn't and am stuck at north fulton in that manner, can i borrow a couch for a few hours in your basement? ML is minutes from my favorite place to doula...
When we moved to Charlotte, I really wanted to get some acreage in the country. But we didn't know anyone and we ended up moving into a subdivision, in large part so that we could meet people.
Now, a year and a half later, I HATE living here. The HOA is totally ridiculous. They had a hearing about our trash can covering. Ridiculous. And, I have had TWO neighbors complain about my dogs PEEING in their yards when I walk them. Not pooping, peeing. And (poor dogs) I don't even walk them very often, so it's not like they're peeing in the same people's yards every day!
But, the kids do have friends here, and I do too, and so that is good. And we were at our neighborhood pool nearly every day this summer, so I would have missed that had we lived in the country.
The running is a thing I hadn't even really thought of.
Anyway, I don't think I really added much here, but for some reason just felt like I wanted to butt in.
__________________ Chrissy,
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mamagael
Well, I vote for Martin's Landing, and not just because I want amenities when we visit. I think that right now running is a major priority in your life, and it sound like a nice place for the kids to find friends. I'm sure there will be acreage in the future for you. This season in your life is about running and after 11 years about you a little bit. Maybe you could coop garden with someone.
We are thinking about looking for some land a couple of hours from here (where it's still cheap), that we can camp on and then retire on someday.
Atl is somewhere that we are considering
The reality of the experience didn't match up with the fantasy of what life would look like -- for me. Someone could easily have the same experience about moving to the country and wanting to have a mini-homestead, and then find themselves going crazy after a few months being so far "away" from everything 
at me...i'm not the one buying a house here but...) not for the reason you may think though...(sure i have a really vested interest in having you closer...it's not 30 for me, it's *almost* an hour for me to drive to guina's most times of the day...) but for the following...
ML is minutes from my favorite place to doula...
No advice, as i don't know the area, and you are sick of hearing from me, anyhow, right? 
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