Anybody moving to Kansas? The free land thing

[zbdent]

Seriously, did anybody here want to essentially move out to the middle of nowhere?

I am referring to any of the small towns in Kansas that are giving away free pieces of land if you promise to stay there, build a house within a year, and live there for more than a year.

One town in the story had a population of about 266. They want to get people to move out there to start building up the population before they dry up and blow away. Especially "enticing" young families.

One of the drawbacks, NOTED BY SOME OF THE PEOPLE RUNNING THIS, was that these small towns had little to offer in incentives to move there in the first place.

Think they'd get pissed of a bunch of liberals came into town and took over? I bet they're probably hoping for more "faith-based" funding from W, although I've heard that Kansas ain't totally Left or Right. But think about it, a rural area in a state that tries to come off as rural, homespun. (Bob Dole country, even though the only time he really left his apartment in DC was when he was trying to get re-elected).

[Cleita]

1. I spent two years in Kansas going to college.

Thanks, but no thanks, they couldn't pay me. There is a reason people are moving away and not into Kansas. Also from an environmental point of view, scientists have recommended that the prairie states be returned to the grasslands they once were, giving them back to the buffalo.

Even farming is not profitable without government subsidies. The weather is more often bad than good and in the winter time there are only a few barbed wire fences between you and the chilling wind from the Artic.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. Are people hiring there?

Otherwise, why move? To be unemployed and have the land (with a hoiuse you built on it) reposessed by a bank?

[zbdent]

4. I think that they have a short-term idea - all those people moving

in for "free land" (if I could afford to purchase wide open space land, I'd probably invest in a small condo in Maui) HAVE TO BUILD A HOUSE ON IT.

What happens after the "free land offer" "expires", and the year from the last sale is up? No more people building houses, all your taxes go up to build a small school, what's the incentive?

Yup, there's a reason why people move away.

In Ohio, my money would be on this reason why Ohio lost its population status in the 90s: State House, State Senate, Federal House Reps, Federal Senators, Governor - All either GOP or GOP majority.

[amazona]

5. no they're not hiring there

The folks I knew who moved there worked through the mail (early 1990s, maybe late 1980s, memory is getting vague). I think the husband was an artist. It's cheaper than living in New York, and you should just mail the work to your publisher. There are more people today with small incomes through writing, telecommuting, etc. who can't afford to live in big cities but who might be able to take advantage of something like this...well, maybe...see my other posts. As I said, I have serious concerns about investing in building a house with no resale value. The cost of building is through the roof. OSB/plywood alone has gotten almost un-affordable since the start of the Iraq war, and a house is not built of plywood alone. A house needs to have resale value unless you plan to die there. A rural area far away from medical care will not be a place you can live when you're older.

[trogdor]

6. Telecommuter hell?

I can imagine a writer setting up shop there because it's a cheap squat, and wiring the copy back to New York, but wouldn't you run out of ideas in such a sterile environment?

Maybe they can open one of them there call centers like the ones popping up all over Bangalore, India. I mean, Kansans have NO DISCERNABLE ACCENT. Imagine - speech so clear any English speaker in the world can understand it. Oh, I forgot. You can't get Americans to work like dogs for $200 a month, even in Kansas. My bad.

[amazona]

3. got more information ?

I'm not sure about building a house there. I knew some folks who moved to Kansas I guess a decade or more ago in some de-populated area...the house was already built and cost like $10,000? It seems a waste to spend money to build a house with no resale value when there are homes standing empty all over various parts of the state? I did not investigate in Kansas but when I looked into some free homes being given away in New Orleans in 1990 I discovered that the cost of restoring them would be more than all of my assets. Eventually the owner just ran away and let them go back to the parish, which complained it was going to cost over a million dollars to knock them down or make them habitable...never went back to that area to see what they ended up doing. These were the "Scottish" streets on the west bank, if anyone else remembers those townhouses. Pretty sure they did get knocked down at state expense. All of the walls had been torn out and the air conditioning units destroyed so crackheads could sell the copper for drugs. There really wasn't any way to restore these townhouses. I didn't even place a bid.

Most $1 homes or free homes I have heard of -- you have to prove you have enough assets to restore the homes.

In the case of the free land, would you have to prove you have considerable assets to bring a builder into a rural area and build a house which could cost a hundred thousand dollars? Or could you just get some friends together and build a yurt? It makes a big, big, big difference. If it's the yurt side, sure, I might be interested and I could maybe get others too. If it's putting substantial investment into an area where I couldn't resell the home in a few years, no way.

One man's lack of incentive is another man's peace and quiet but if the towns yap too much about free land and don't have some controls or incentives to bring in decent people, they'll end up being most attractive to meth manufacturers that can walk away from the mess they've made when the year is over. Most decent people can't afford to invest big money in building a house with no re-sale value.

[terisel]

7. Better to buy one of their houses no one wants

If you are moving alone find a town with people you can tolerate and good inexpensive housing-some town built in the early 1900s with craftsman bungalows and other solid houses that are very inexpensive.

Make sure you have reliable internet and can afford some great vacations for when you get to missing what isn't available there.

I think there are big differences among small towns, and being able to get along with people is a big plus.

If you are doing a group thing you may be able to quietly take over whole towns. I think there are parts of the midwest and west that present great opportunities for large numbers of liberal homesteaders to move in.

Each state gets 2 senators whether they have 800,000 people or 35 million.

[LynneSin]

8. And have Brownback as my senator?

NO WAY

Bad enough I had Santorium for 6 years!

[DiverDave]

9. Would I like to do it? Yes.

Is it a practical idea? No.
I grew up in a small town, I would love for my kids to have the same chance.
But no jobs, no way to support my family?

Nope, but it is a romantic idea to think of.