Say you lived on a small acreage with a nice house but you knew you just didn't have enough land to homestead the way you want. No one is selling the fields around you so you can't increase your pasture. Then a rich relative dies and you get some money. Do you : A) move to a larger but more expensive spread or B) make do with what you have?

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Answers

I think for me it would depend on how much "emotional" investment I had in the smaller place. Money could buy me a bigger place...for sure...but if I'd spent the time clearing and building on the smaller place, I'd probably hate to give it up (the blood, sweat and tears thing!). And at this stage of my life, I don't thnk I have enough confidence in myself to be able to do it all over again :-)!!

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

I think there are too many individual variables, Alison, to answer. Everyone has different goals and different wants and different abilities.

At YOUR age a new place sounds more feasible than at MY age (since I'm 15 years older than you are). Would depend on whether you could find a larger place that you REALLY loved too -- that would be important to me. I guess we should assume that the neighbors aren't leasing fields/pasturage either.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Easy answer for me, MOVE as quickly as a dream place can be found!!!

I love and "need" large tracts of land to feel secure and happy, Dad always told me the best investment is land, there isn't anymore being made, so buy as big a hunk as you can. We have 104 acres, can't see any neighbors, own both sides of the dirt cowpath that is the road so we will never have anybody across from us, and have a view that is to die for from the top of the three hills that cap our farm. Took us four years to find the place, but it was worth it!!!

Larger doen't always mean more expensive, here land is CHEAP, and if your not too fussy, you can get house and barns fit to use cheap with the land. Here the farmhouse is 120 years old, the barns are almost that old, some of them, took alot of sweat and more sweat to get the old place in shape, but again, it was worth the effort and time put in.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Since my husband can't wait to move to a smaller place, I'd take the money and go south. I said I'd be happy with an acre. He said he'd be happy with less. We both agreed not to have the animals. Well, I tried it and it didn't work for me.

Should have found someone to marry out in Colorado when I was out there. Only problem was, I wasn't ready to marry at 19 and any man my age was already married with three or more kids. Such is life.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2001

Hmmm...interesting answers all. I am leaning toward moving myself. Or maybe not...its a hard choice isn't it? Hypothetically speaking of course. :o)

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2001

There would be considerations such as the proximity of paying jobs, family, and friends, but if all factors were equal I would buy as much land as my budget could bear. Like Annie said, they aren't making any more land. We will be looking to move in the next 2-3 years, and I will gladly compromise on the size of the house if I can get more land with the money. The major reason why we built our current house where we did is because we were told the 11 acres directly east of us was a nature preserve. Six months after we moved in, the "nature preserve" was bulldozed and turned into a high- density housing development. We won't make that mistake again.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2001