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Some towns are literally paying people to move or invest there. Find out where in this article
In between being a stay at home Mom and becoming a real estate entrepreneur, I worked for a home builder for a year. One of my jobs was to find a place where they could build a warehouse and have materials shipped in. I found a foreclosed property in a small town by talking to a bank president. He told me to talk to Economic Development because they probably have grant money to buy land or build warehouse. They actually did BOTH! And they helped me get a 5 year property tax abatement for the company.
You should visit with Economic Development in the smaller towns near you. They may have grant or other incentives to invest there.
No competition in smaller towns either.
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I realize that Jackie addressed checking out smaller towns near where you live, even though the article is about moving to such areas. Let me address the article’s moving side of that discussion:
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In no particular order of priority, these are some possible issues to check for, and contend with if found — before committing to a rural lifestyle:Medical professionals shortage, or total absence.
Water supply issues: possible dwindling, possible decreasing quality, possible regulatory backlash that demands expensive solutions far in excess of what the local tax base can sustain. There is also an advertising war among the manufacturers of water filters, reverse osmosis systems, and water distillers as to which is a better solution for homes in such areas, especially when the local city water solutions are less than certain, outrageously expensive, or unable to cope with the thousands of possible existing and future contaminants that regulatory authorities can’t possible keep up with. My own vote is in favor of kitchen countertop distillers, which handle drinking and cooking water perfectly for all known and future possible contaminants, which none of the other solutions can address. I don’t believe that you need to pay for perfectly pure and expensive water to flush toilets, wash the car, or water the lawn, unless the water is so bad that it must have a community solution.
Internet access issue problems: 1/3 of rural America is still stuck with now-ancient dial-up internet speeds — in this era when there is more video traffic over the internet than text. And there is a lot of higher and higher resolution video that even DSL can’t handle.
Dwindling populations where schools are being converted into assisted living facilities.
Possible pockets of old world religions that treat all outsiders like dirt, whether in local commerce, in property sales, in local employment or in total ostracism in schools.
Cold weather regions known to generate lots of elderly migrants to Florida, Arizona, Texas, etc.
Employment or entrepreneurial opportunities, depending on your resources and skill-sets.
Changing economics: much of rural America was created for a farm economy. In 1880, some 80% of the population lived and worked on farms. By 1930 that number had dropped to about 30%. Today the economics and competition of large scale farming has made small scale family farming very difficult. Of the roughly 2.2 million farms left, the majority are family farms which are forced to supplement with non-farm income, whether working part or full time in driving-distance cities or using some work-from-home skills — which increasingly can mean reliance on faster and faster internet speeds that are often not available in some rural areas. Fiber-optic speeds? Forget that. There is some expensive relief from HughesNet satellite service, and down the road there are stories about a global network of micro-satellites that are being called Halo-Fi — for dirt cheap pricing — which means the mega-monopoly high-priced ISPs like AT&T and Verizon will likely fight tooth and nail in Congress to block that competition.
Sad to say, in the pre-internet era I had bitter personal experience with several of those issues from the rural community that I fled after high school. And some of my relatives experienced some of those I missed. And a few friends left there are still struggling.
In contrast, it is now possible to learn how to do property flips or long term deals virtually — from across the country — without having to pack up, move, and commit to long term living in such areas. Which would you rather do?
–Dee
PS. There’s a classic saying that three moves is as bad as a fire. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, and now thoroughly understand the basis for that saying.
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