[paleogizmo]

A reminder for those of us seeking to leave the rat race and live in the middle of nowhere: The article describes Mr. Conover's decision to purchase 5 acres in the area, and reading between the lines, his neighbors have decided to do the same. Which is to say that no one is living all alone in the middle of hundreds of miles of forest, this is just very low-density housing with some hobby farming. This also means that houses are about 500' from each other. That is plenty close enough to be annoying if a neighbor or guest decides to play music at a bonfire party or spend the morning target shooting. You don't get to live in the middle of nowhere unless you are rich and can afford the upfront cost of hundreds of acres of undeveloped land.

Aside: It' a little unclear what area exactly the article is talking about. When I look up San Luis Valley, I see an area of mostly center-pivot irrigation (near 37.698, -106.009), so I assume that there is a non-arable part of the valley with low property values.

[nmcfarl]

> You don't get to live in the middle of nowhere unless you are rich and can afford the upfront cost of hundreds of acres of undeveloped land.

However, this level of rich is pretty obtainable for West Coast programmer. In parts of northeast Oregon an undeveloped acre goes for 1-2K, when you buy a few hundred. And couple hundred acres can be purchased with an on grid, but remote house for under $1 million.

—-

(You probably won’t like the house, and the nice properties mainly sell inside families, and the bank won’t likely give you a mortgage with less than 50% down, and insurance will not be fun. But this is all surmountable.)

[mealkh]

This is just so bizarre by German standards. It shows we live in a densely populated country: my 3 acres are considered a "kingdom" over here by many, and while it is as remote as it can get neighbours would still be in shouting distance. Probably not possible to be really remote here. Anyway, even such a property goes for several 100k here and is advertised for the "vast area". 100 acres would not be possible under 7 figures, I think.

[unwind]

According to my quick search, the area of Germany is 3.6% of the US'. It's many things, including big.

[CPLX]

True. But worth mentioning that Germany is in fact pretty big, as Alaska tends to skew the US number quite a bit.

Germany is twice the size of New England and 16x the size of Massachusetts.

[tenarshins]

Yes, but new england is tiny. It only take four hours to drive across the width of the length of it. (As the crow flies, no accounting for road geography here)

[CPLX]

Maine ain’t tiny.

[robocat]

Nice 100 acres “lifestyle” blocks can be found for €200k in New Zealand, although our government has made it more difficult for non-residents to buy here. For examples: https://www.realestate.co.nz/rural/sale?by=lowest-price&maxp...

Population density of NZ is 20/km2 compared against Germany at 234/km2.

Germans seem to like Golden Bay: they make up about 10% of the population there - cross between hippy and farmer and lifestylers. I think https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tākaka is the biggest town in that area with 1400 people.

About 30% of the population of New Zealand is immigrants (Australia is similar): https://www.visualcapitalist.com/countries-with-the-highest-...

[rcurry]

If you really want to get away from it all, I can recommend areas around the Chiricahua wilderness in AZ. My brother picked up 40 acres for $20k and it’s really beautiful country out there. You can get a few hundred acres for $100k or so if you time it right. On the down side it’s about an hour to the nearest real town.

[conductr]

Stress should be on the fact that 5 acres is just tiny in this context. Even Texas, very lax gun laws, has a 10 acre minimum in most areas to be able to fire a gun or hunt. My family has 100 acres in remote part of Texas and neighbors can still be a pain in the ass. They also see your coming and going so unfortunately you will likely he burglarized by a neighbor at some point. We keep trained guard dogs on the property at all times and have video footage of them chasing off several people from trespassing (likely there to steal stuff).

[chasd00]

Yeah 5 acres is an exurban neighborhood type setup. 5,000 acres would be more private.

[Tangurena2]

I didn't see any mention of water rights in that article. You need a permit to drill a well. In Colorado, it is illegal to divert rain from your roof - to do so legally, among several other restrictions, you must have an existing well permit and can only use the rainwater for the same usage that the well permit is for.

These folks are going to find out their hobby is rather expensive.

Earlier this month, there were some articles on water issues in Arizona here in HN. The people in those articles were not happy about having to find new sources for water as the drought was forcing some cities to cut off water deliveries to communities outside their city limits.

[ip26]

It’s definitely not in the forest. This is a high desert, a destitute part of the state that seems to be a locale of last resort for some of the poorest folks. It’s bitter cold in winter, remote, and rotten agricultural conditions. There’s no running water or sewage, despite living 500’ apart, which has been an ongoing topic of debate. (In short, the residents can’t afford that infra, but it could become a real health & sanitation problem)

Very much the opposite of what people dream of when they imagine building a lux cabin by a pond, growing their own food, and naming the dog Thoreau.

[jfk13]

> Aside: It' a little unclear what area exactly the article is talking about. When I look up San Luis Valley, I see an area of mostly center-pivot irrigation (near 37.698, -106.009), so I assume that there is a non-arable part of the valley with low property values.

Try looking at areas like around San Luis Valley Ranches: https://www.google.com/maps/place/San+Luis+Valley+Ranches/@3...

[ramraj07]

Plots like this maybe? https://youtu.be/WKTFB2X_WCs