New Media from a Journalism Veteran
Blog entries | Asking the right questions
The couple sitting in Oddfellas Cantina Sunday pored over real estate brochures and maps, looking they said for their dream country home.
“We’ve had it with urban life,†said the 30ish redhead, who introduced herself as Cindy. “We want the quiet and charm of the country.â€
Her husband, Charles, nodded agreement.
“We can afford the change in lifestyle and it’s time to move,†he said.
We see couples like Cindy and Charles a lot on weekends in Floyd, real estate ads in hand, scouring the countryside for their ideal escape home. They land in Oddfellas, or Café del Sol, or Blue Ridge Restaurant, and seek out locals for information on living here in the mountains.
They want to know about taxes and services and restaurants and nightlife and social amenities. They ask about the country club and golf and recreation and whatnot.
I’ve run into enough couples like Charles and Cindy to prepare my own list of questions.
Have you ever lived in a home with a well or septic system?
Do you have allergies?
Do bugs bother you? Spiders? Snakes? Coyotes? Bobcats? Bears?
Do you get midnight cravings for something to eat and want to dash out to the nearest 24-hour diner for a bite?
Is accessibility to shopping a priority?
Does the smell of manure offend you?
I ran these questions and others by Cindy and Charles. No, they had never lived in a home with a well and septic. Cindy is allergic to ragweed and pollen. She’s deathly afraid of spiders. Charles has a phobia about snakes. They like to eat out and eat late. Cindy loves shopping at malls. Neither has the foggiest idea what manure smells like.
Country living, I pointed out, has advantages and disadvantages and many find it is not the panacea they expected. They admitted they had not yet thought such things through.
I suggested they try one of Asheville, North Carolina’s faux country communities, the gated kind with dozens of houses littering the hillsides, lights along every street and a shopping mall just 15 minutes away.
They said they planned to visit Asheville the following weekend.
Good. I think they will be happier there.
so
April 12, 2006 at 6:16 pm
Great questions! Maybe the local restaurants will let you post them for the weekenders to see. Some others might be:
How self-sufficient are you? If something breaks can you fix it or are you always dependent on others? For GA, maybe not VA, can you tolerate the smell of wet chicken litter after a rain?
Margherite
April 12, 2006 at 6:26 pm
There’s a different set of issues for single women. The “good old boys”, married or unmarried, never did get the idea that I did not relocate in order to entertain them. Now that I’m in my 60′s, it’s time to try again; but I know now what my limits are … and my limitations that are easily overcome with a shotgun.
You also forgot to mention the woodchucks and bunnies that ate veggies faster than I could plant them and the rotten-ass skunk who thought my car was a wonderful place to shelter from the rain.
jd
April 12, 2006 at 7:57 pm
If you can keep up that line of questioning with all potential buyers and get your townfolk to do the same, you will have solved your rural traffic problems. No one will want to relocate there.
Mason
April 13, 2006 at 11:40 pm
I see Asheville as roughly equivalent to Roanoke.
Jackson County, a bit outside of Asheville, is similar to Floyd.
Macon County, even farther out, is more like Bath or Highland county, IE the real rural.
My MHO.
lauragayle
April 16, 2006 at 2:44 am
Can I add:
*can you identify poison ivy or poison oak?
*do you know what a skunk looks like and can you identify its smell?
*do you know how to get skunk smell off of a dog?
cindy lee
April 17, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Good questions. Also ask if they are handy. Plumbing breaks and stuff needs to be repaired. In preparation for my move to the mountains I am learning as many “handy man†skills as I can. I have listened to folks who live around there and it seems to me that one should be prepared to “MacGyver†things at least until a “real†repair man can get in. About manure I don’t like the smell but I love to watch and listen to the cows. There is a cow path that crosses my property and I hope when I move up there I can leave it open.
dusty
April 12, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I wish someone had asked me those questions when I attempted to move from Mclean to rural VA when I was roughly Cindy’s age. I lasted six months and moved back into the urban sprawl with my tail between my legs, so to speak.You can’t have peace and quiet AND fast-food,numerous nightclubs and shopping malls in the same place..duh
I was in love with the mystique of the rural lifestyle.The reality was I was bored with it very quickly in my early 30′s.
It has all come rushing back to me now after reading this post. At 55 years of age, I would be more suited now,but I will stay in the San Joaquin valley, which offers many of the same things as rural life and is only 90 minutes from L.A. over a 4k foot Mountain Range. Great buffer zone.
StevenR
April 12, 2006 at 7:30 pm
wow, you’re saying that my allergies will improve if i move to the big city??
How big does it need to be?
slightly more seriouly, as someone who lived with a well and septic tank all their life, why would that distrub someone?
as to the smell of manure: how else would you know it’s spring?
Virginia Smith
April 12, 2006 at 8:49 pm
As someone who has moved to 5 acres of wooded mountainside in NW Arkansas, I can add a few more questions. Are you allergic to poison ivy, chiggers and ticks? Can you use a chainsaw? Are you prepared to stay home until the ice melts? Are you prepared to carry water if the well runs dry in the summer? Can you provide heat if the electric is off in an ice storm? Are you allergic to dust? Our road is not paved and the dust comes right up the hill into the house.
I can tell you that anytime you are driving through the country and see a beautiful wooded homesite, you can rest assured that someone has done an awful lot of work picking up branches and clearing brush on a full time basis. BUT, being raised in the 40′s in the country “when country wasn’t cool”, I love it here and after each visit to family in FL, I return with immense gratitude for the peace and quiet.
connie
April 14, 2006 at 12:11 am
Great questions to ask – we have people moving here too. You would not believe – one family was feeding the bears and attempted to pet a cub! Luckily there were no dire consequences. As for well/septic maintenance the majority of people don’t have a clue. We never did worry about Y2K – cuz we have to live like we’re prepared for it all the time. hugs from PA
David St Lawrence
April 15, 2006 at 5:40 am
I have tried to leave a trackback several times and have failed, so here is an excerpt of a post you inspired with your post:
Country living offers a gradient scale of comfort with a corresponding gradient scale of price. At the lower end of the price spectrum, there is the fixer-upper dwelling with minimum amenities on the outskirts of a town that has a store and a filling station. The upper end of the country living spectrum includes gated mountain-top communities with shopping, spas, and all of the accouterments of high-end suburban life.
At the bottom end of the spectrum, you are literally up to your ankles in the countryside much of the year. At the upper end, you are safely insulated from the countryside and its inhabitants and your big-city guests will feel right at home.