Help on where to locate house on land

chuck t

Member
BIL is buying 98 acres. Really a weekend place. County road runs along the west boundary. He wants to put a cabin and shed on it. He wants to put it on the east side, out of sight of the road. His son says put it by the road on the west side. There are some neighbors near the sons site. You can see the road from there but not the neighbor's houses. Any thoughts? Concern is mainly thieves; but any other thoughts out there?
 
I understand the desire for privacy and keeping the house out of sight of would-be thieves. But consider these 2 factors. Say you need an ambulance or fire trucks. How long do you want to wait for them to find your driveway and then follow it up to the house? If the driveway is gated, they might not be able to make it in time. The other consideration, if you have good raportwith the neighbors, they can keep an eye on things better if the house is within sight. Stick it on the far side and they might not see the meth-heads come in to ransack it.
 
if you can keep people out, put it out of sight. If you can't keep people out, might as well put it in the most convenient spot & leave it empty of anything to steal & doors unlocked so they don't break the doors & windows. This worked the best for me. As soon as they're satisfied there is nothing to steal, they leave.
 
The closer it is to the guy next door that's there year round the less likely it's going to get broken into unless the guy next door is the resident bad guy in the area. No way you are going to hide the fact that you are putting it in. If it's hidden bad guy can take his time cause....he's hidden too. Happened to a snow bird buddy a couple of years ago. Someone when in just before snow fall and lived there long enough to burn up 400 gallons of LP.

Rick
 
I agree with Dan T. I"m the resident year-around guy in a neighborhood of lakeside cabins. Keep an eye on them & plow the driveways for those who come up weekends during winter. They have given me phone numbers, keys, authorized vehicle descriptions, homemade Christmas cookies, & either gas coupons or cash for keeping a watch on things.
If you build on the back side of the land, how difficult & expensive will it be to build & maintain the road/driveway?
Willie
 
Think technology; home security systems, ADT, break-in alarms, smoke alarms that ring at the 911 office, drive-way alarms, video-cams that transmit 24/7.
 
I have lived from 50 feet to 2 miles from a public road. Both have their place in my opinion. My favorite was the farm house 300 feet from the road for pets and children and 1/2 mile fram the house next door, see each other but hear.
 
If it were me, I"d build on the east side.
Why?? If it"s a dirt road you"ll get a westerly
wind.. More dust on the west side, at least
thats way it is where I live, & my house is on
east side....
 
Remind him the utility companies charge by the foot for installs and most want at least a 20' wide clear easement.
 
Ditto on the get it in plain sight. The more reclusive the more the
temptation to break in. Too much drug crime out there today.

There are woods in our area and even though the sheriff keeps a
good hand on problems of the sort, usually on a Saturday you will
hear an explosion or two periodically. We assume they are meth
pots blowing up. Sometimes in addition you hear target practice in
association with the explosion.

Mark
 
As far as thieves, they will find the house in either location. An alarm might help however in most places it would take the sherif a half an hour to hour to get there and the thieves could be done by then. I think Bil needs to build where he wants and not pay attention to anyone else including his son. It's his cabin.
 
Spend time walking the land. Which way does the wind blow, Snow Drift, Water drainage, Sub water, Sun comes up, Goes down, Witch the water, view. I did this for every building on my ranch, and only messed up once. build all building on a fill. South side of house lines up with travel of the sun in the winter.
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Build up a little iin a cove. Most people who live in the mountaion(large hills) stay out of the bottom and top, one for flooding and the other for cold and wind.
 
Been through that issue too. Local company will run the first 1/8 mile for free. After that priced per foot, if I remember correctly (8 years ago before copper went up) it was $4(?) a foot.
 
Seems about 700 feet off the road is a nice spot for a yard. Far
enough away the road noise, dust, and prying eyes aren't a
problem. Pets tend to not travel that far so there is less of
them run over.

Any farther than that, and the driveway maitenence, the
utilities install, and so forth get pretty spendy. Walking out for
the mail gets to be a chore on bad days.

Thieves will affect you either way. Kind of a rub either way, the
quick hit guys will hit those close to the road, the druggies will
seek out the remote sites.

I'd really really want to be 500+ feet off any of my boundaries
to keep away from noise, dust, and intrusions. Beyond that I'd
look for a nice spot that doesn't flood, sheltered from the
prevailing winds, and build there.

Paul
 
Put it next to the road. Most people buy a
secluded nature place to live because they like
nature and then bulldoze down half of it to make
it usable, and the whole time are destroying the
reason they bought it in the first place. If they
don't want to see the road put the garage along
that side of the house and the living areas
overlooking what they want to see. As far as
thieves go I this six in one, a half dozen in the
other as far as location.
 
He should spend some time there for a year before he builds. Put a camper in there. He will learn where the humans and animals travel. Then build according to winds high waters, and noise levels. I was going to build near road, facing the west road because of the view. Decided to wait. Learned that west neighbor would be clearing all the trees, and all the wildlife was to the east. And two really good neighbors to the South and North both over 1/2 mile away.
 
I just scanned the answers and you have some really good inputs
here. Better to check these out than to ignore them and then OOPS
later, I wish I would have.........

Mark
 

I would go to the center and build there, That way you will always control how close your neighbors are. Do not worry about thief or fire trucks or that stuff. If you have to worry about that stuff you would probably be better off not to build. Enjoy life.
 

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