posted on August 4, 2001 03:36:33 AM
gravid, Farm land here (30 miles to the city) is $5000 an acre which is what most land is at present.
Here is an example 60 miles from the city:
Great horse property, 11 +/- acres (pasture and total) with a 3 or 4 acre house spot. Rolling Hills. Additional 39.5 acres available across the street. $ 19,500
That's $1,727 an acre.
**
Here is a $114K home in my area:
Super nice 3Br/2Ba split plan. Large master bedroom and bath with whirlpool and separate shower; nice family room with corner fireplace and gas logs. Patio, privacy fence, great front porch - nice area.
**
Here is what you can get in one of the most expensive neighborhoods on the resevoir waterfront:
Beautiful home in prestigious Annandale Estates! You must see this amazing home! Lake front lot overlooking the tenth hole! Beautiful gazebo with arbor! Great views from every room! Hardwood floors, ceramic tile, and carpet, two-car garage with golf cart garage, formal dining and living, wet bar, study and more!! 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath. $340K
**
Here is what you can get for $175K in a small town:
Antebellum, seven bedrooms, 4 baths. Living room, dining room, sunroom, office. Bed and breakfast, offices, or apartments. All hardwood floors. (no photo available, evidently this realtor does not have a digital camera.)
As I explained earlier, my area closer in has grown by 50% in ONE year. 6 years ago, we bought 11 acres with a 4000 square foot house (older, built 1920, needed some work) and two road frontages for $75K. I THOUGHT it was worth twice that but an agent just told me it is now worth quite a bit more and only going to go up. My parents are trying to build a house right now and a the builder backlog is 2 years.
If you want to retire somewhere and do nothing forever in the woods outside a small town, just sell your house and move to rural Mississippi. You will be sitting very very nicely. People do it all the time... especially people to whom this was "home" at one time.
And you wonder how we can support a family of 4 working part-time on ebay? LOL
And the local gossip is....
Some undisclosed person who already owns 5 houses and a teeny tiny business and a for fee fishing pond is thinking of building a road and selling their land in residential lots. In the form of residential lots in a developing neighborhood, the going rate would be near $10,000 an acre. They have 120 acres. Nice. So the moral is, alwayssay nice things about people cause you never know if they might soon be a millionaire.
For Helen: I believe that your dad is buried just to the left of this photo. If you would like me to find his grave for you and send you a picture of his headstone, let me know. I would also be willing to place flowers there for you.
<<<end quote>>>
Terri,
First, I believe that being nice to people should not be contingent on their financial status. If I have something to say about those prospective millionaires I would say it without regard for their financial worth.
About my Dad...Althought it is very gracious of you to offer to photograph his grave and leave flowers, it is not necessary. I remember my Dad as the most outstanding human being that I have known or read about and that is a memory and a tribute that is not enhanced by flowers on a gravestone.
He had a wonderful sense of humor and would find it amusing that his grave location was pointed out on the internet...next to the new post office.
posted on August 4, 2001 06:36:00 AM
You may just be the NICEST, kindest, most considerate person that I have EVER met, Helen. You remind me so much of my mother-in-law. She's a gem.
And I forgot to mention your eternally positive attitude! Very uplifting!
Wish you lived closer.
T.
KRS, have you seem my sieve anywhere? I seem to have misplaced it.
[ edited by jt on Aug 4, 2001 06:46 AM ]
posted on August 4, 2001 06:51:11 AM
Wow, Terri...looks like terrific value for money there. I keep thinking about the heat though... You've sounded like you were in some serious misery, in the past. Do most houses have air conditioning, or do the folks there just put up with it?
posted on August 4, 2001 07:04:57 AM
toke - that's what I was thinking. Roasting in the summer, freezing in the winter. To me a house and land isn't worth it if you're miserabe most of the time because of the weather.
I've read that the companies here have tried to relocate to the south, but couldn't get their employees to move there, and they have a hard time finding qualified people there.
Of course I'm sure the weather isn't the only reason.
"You may just be the NICEST, kindest, most considerate person that I have EVER met, Helen. You remind me so much of my mother-in-law. She's a gem.
And I forgot to mention your eternally positive attitude! Very uplifting!
Wish you lived closer."
<<<end quote
Gee, Terri
Unfortunately, I cannot reciprocate and say that you remind me of my mother in law. Even you haven't reached that pinnacle.
posted on August 4, 2001 07:18:55 AM
I was wondering mostly because the real estate ads didn't mention central air. Here in Mass., they would mention it for sure. Believe me, Mass. has some miserable weather too...thing is I don't think the hot and humid lasts as long here...but cold and miserable does... From what I hear, Florida has rotten humid weather in the summer, but most places have air conditioning so folks aren't bothered.
posted on August 4, 2001 08:06:35 AM
Putting the weather aside. If people had to make a choice to move to either Mass or Miss, which state do you think they would choose?
Terri - that second house that you show would probably sell for over a million here.
posted on August 4, 2001 08:18:49 AM
I dunno...I've always found the South rather appealing. I like the southerners I meet, and heaven knows I like the cooking... Terri's place looks beautiful.
We're looking to get out of Taxachusetts, for sure.
posted on August 4, 2001 09:23:16 AM
Nice house, Terri! I love older homes. They have so much more "charm" and history. Who mows your lawn, by the way?
posted on August 4, 2001 12:47:56 PM
They don't mention centeral air because mine would be the ONLY house above a shack in the entire state that does not have it.
It's assumed.
They are building a GIAGIANTIC Nissan Plant here. I mean this thing covers miles! I hear it may change the entire city over time. There were some articles about how it affected the Nashville area in our local paper. Not sure if it's good or bad. It's ugly so far. A huge "earth scar".
T
Hubby mows the lawn with a riding mower and keeps a campsite and trails mowed back into some wooded land of a friend. There is a natural waterfall back there which is very rare for MS. It is about a 30 minute hike back in there to it. Not bad at all with the nice trails.
Sometimes we have the ranch hand next door cut the fields with a tractor. As much as we would like one, don't have.
[ edited by jt on Aug 4, 2001 12:51 PM ]
posted on August 4, 2001 01:07:17 PM
Ahhh. You must have very mild winters, right? My husband and I are westerners (even tho we live in the East now). I'm afraid that would make us hated "Yankees" in the rural South, wouldn't it?
Seriously though...I can't imagine any area of the country has a lock on vile, stupid people. There are quite a few right here, in this bastion of liberalism...
posted on August 4, 2001 02:37:05 PM
Came back to look after being out all day. Multiply the prices by at least 3 and maybe 4 . That is cheap living. I assume most of the wages are a little lower but no way the same factor for sure. Of course most things are the same - cars - food - but housing can be a huge chunk of budget.
You can find like minded people anywhere. Why worry about what % of the population they are? If you think most are not like you they need you to balance it out - It is your duty to move!
I have lived down South and there is a different mentality but some parts of it are attractive to me. There is a mind set of personal responsibility and honor that I appreciate. Sometimes the white people that would not accept the black people into their SOCIAL set actually were fairer in business and government to them than the Northerners.
There is a certain formality I like because it extends a minimum level of manners in public behavior that cuts across age and wealth. Some things you do NOT do to anyone and if you cross that line and someone shoots you nobody is surprised. The sanctity of a man's home is very much appreciated.
It appears to me, Gravid, that you have just decribed racism in it's most insidious aspect. You state that "white' people will not accept the black people into their Social set but are fair when money is involved. As you say, "they were actually fairer in business and government to "them" than the Northerners."
And, you say that when somebody shoots you nobody is surprised because the sanctity of a man's home is very much appreciated.
Gravid, I am speechless. Mississippi is one big hell hole. That is the truth. And it is the last place in the world that any reasonable individual will move to.
posted on August 4, 2001 03:56:20 PM
My hubby's family moved here from Minneapolis MN. His dad took a corporate VP job for a department store chain's headquarters. He retired well off. They are still here. (Not because of us either!)
Hubby married me. He TOLD me that was the first thing he noticed here...the Southern GIRLS are not Nothern girls. He-he.
Don't listen to Helen. I have NEVER seen evidence of ANY hate group...never.
Come and visit. We ALL LOVE Yankees because they are interested in boring stuff like how to cook greens, and cast iron care. Plus Yankees sound SO funny/cool that eveyone ASKS them to talk all the time just so we can listen.
What you said about manners- my new FedEx rep calls me "Miss Terri". He is gown, married, professional, and yes....he is white. (Not everyone does that to people their own age, however!)
No, Everything else is not just in Helen's mind. I have documented the hate groups today. You documented the crime rate yesterday. Gravid has just confirmed the racism that still exists. The schools are the worst in the country. People live in abject poverty all over the state and of course this leads to crime. Housing is poor, in spite of the few pictures that you posted today. The state is a hell hole pure and simple. And Trent Lott should be ashamed!
I am so fortunate that what is in my mind is not what is in your mind.
posted on August 4, 2001 04:35:10 PM
I sure wish we could have an ongoing thread without racism being brought up. Or maybe you could start a thread about racism, Helen. I've gotten kind of interested in Terri's commentary on small town life. I would like to know how to cook greens, cast iron care, real estate prices in small town. To tell the truth, I think it'd be kind of neat to mow our lawn riding around on one of those tractors. But then I'm a City Girl.
posted on August 4, 2001 04:54:25 PM
Well, KatyD Maybe you can hitch a ride with Hepburn and you all can cook greens and learn how to wash an iron pot...
posted on August 4, 2001 05:20:41 PM
Personally, I would never go to Mississippi except that it's on the way to New Orleans (love New Orleans!), or to go to the casinos at Biloxi. However, in its defense, Mississippi could be worse.. it could be Alabama.
I'm not a bigot and I think that it's unfair of you to suggest that I am. I care a lot about all people. That is why I object to racism so much. I object to any kind of oppression and intolerance. I believe that this is the opposite of bigotry.
posted on August 4, 2001 05:27:59 PM
Interesting. It appears that states in the south are not considered to be comprised of autonomous free-thinking individuals...
Pity. I'm sure many southerners will be most surprised to learn this.
You've sounded like you were in some serious misery, in the past. Do most houses have air conditioning, or do the folks there just put up with it?
Helen...
