# Homestead proximity to Interstate



## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

I'm still looking for my little country place and I do have an ideal list of characteristics that I suspect rarely exist on planet earth. I think most everybody that's ever looked for a place for their homestead has a list.

I found a little place that I'm contemplating that I think might be doable. It's not "perfect" but might work decently.

One of the things it has going for it is that it's 80% good, flat, tillable land. As someone who has "market gardening" and "hoophouses" in mind, that's a plus. And it's not exactly the easiest thing to find here as there are a lot of places that are steep slopes and rock outcroppings. 

It doesn't have a creek or a stream or a spring, but it does have a good well. 

It doesn't have close neighbors but it's not exactly isolated either. The house actually sits close to the road and on a corner lot but the roads don't go far beyond the place so other than about a dozen spread out neighbors, there really wouldn't be anybody back there that didn't live there, at least normally. 

It doesn't have much in the way of trees (firewood, privacy) except right around the house but I have wondered whether a perimeter planting of trees / bushes might provide for added privacy and perhaps a bit of firewood over time for the rest of the 7+ acres.

House is older, nothing that calls any attention to itself, in decent condition and quite livable.

That said, one of my hangups has been it's proximity to the Interstate. It's less than 1/2 mile from Interstate 40. And that's closer than what I typically would even consider. You can't see the Interstate from the property and really can't hear it much without really trying. But the particular exit that it's close to, well, basically, there's nothing there. There's no town at all, not even a little one. There's a gas station and I think one business where they make bark mulch. From there on out, it's basically a sprinkling of spread out houses and hay fields with a few cattle here and there, not a lot of either houses or cattle. On the other side of the interstate is pretty much the same, a few houses and some hayfields and woods. 

I do a lot of reading online, maybe too much, and of course there is the group that's looking for the end of the world as we know it and the traveling hoards of zombies and Rambo wannabees that will be roaming the countryside consuming everything they can find and saying we need to locate ourselves out away from anywhere even near where these people would be looking to pillage. And I get that. But would a "roving hoard of zombies" even bother stopping at a place like this? It would seem like pretty slim pickin's. 

As for the neighbors that are there, they seem to be decent country people. And unlike some other places we've looked, there don't seem to be an abundance of crack heads and sex offenders either, which was kind of a nice. And they're spread out. You don't know how many 15 or 20 acre places I've seen where despite the large plots of land, the house was like 50 feet from the neighbor's house. UUGH!!! (I still have no clue why people do that.)

So I figured I'd throw the situation out here and see whether any of you care to comment on the proximity to the Interstate. It's something that bothers me a bit but I'm not sure it's a deal breaker. 

Curious what you think.

Thanks!


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## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

How long you been looking? Never seen the perfect place but I have 3 near perfect and I'm always lookin' for that better one. My perfect place, list, changes daily. The older I get the closer I want to be to "someone", someplace, something. Heck, I got a perfect place right in town, actually 2 of them. Will be spending the winter in one, running hot water, beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean and no fire to build before hot water and nice hot dinner. Pay less, get more properties and enjoy the good life. My perfect place will be different on the 9th, not my 1st choice but it will be where I need to be....James


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## Teej (Jan 14, 2012)

My sister & b-I-l's farm is probably a little less than a mile from an interstate, no exit close by. You don't notice it much during the day but at night when all is quiet you can hear the big rigs like they were right outside your bedroom window. Doesn't bother them because they're used to it but when I spend the night it makes it hard for me to fall asleep.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

James, have found an area that we really like and have been looking for close to 3 years now. Have spent enough time to know that there are some sub-areas that are not such good choices, for various reasons. And it's been good to learn more about the general area as we've looked. And I hear ya about the "perfect" place changing over time. 

Teej, just the way the land lays, the noise from the Interstate doesn't travel as well. The exit has the Interstate running underneath the main pig trail of a road passing through which means that the Interstate itself is below the level of the ground on either side for maybe 1/2 mile through the area. Also, there is a bit of a knoll between the Interstate and the property I'm considering which probably affects how the noise travels. And to top it off, the Interstate is due north of the property so winds are generally not blowing from the Interstate towards us. While there is no "forest" in between, it's not wide open space, either. That said, I've been to places that were downwind of an Interstate maybe 10 miles away and on the right days, I could hear it. So I appreciate the thoughts!


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

You might want to check the property (especially near the house or where you would be out working mostly) several times in different weather conditions regarding the traffic noise.

My Grandparents had a farm that was nicely isolated at one time. Then the Interstate came through in the 60's, pretty much cutting the property right in half. Sadly, with the house being in the middle of the property, that meant the interstate was placed about 100' from the house.

The roar of the traffic is horrible - to the point where when some big trucks come by and you are outside, you have to yell to the person a little bit aways from you. And my Grandparents did have a few people walk off the interstate to their house to ask for help that their vehicle had quit.

If you can't see the interstate from the property, or the property from the interstate, you shouldn't have to worry much about the zombies, however, if the world doesn't end, how is the traffic noise?

Depending on the area and what is in between, it might not be an issue. But check it out on several occasions - at different times and different weather conditions, just to make sure it isn't an issue for you.


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

Every place has a compromise or two in it. You just have to decide which compromise(s) _you_ are willing to make.

The interstate is a pretty big deal for me as I really value quiet and seclusion. But I will be gardening in raised beds!


Tim


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## gibbsgirl (May 1, 2013)

We're 1/2 mile from "the hwy" but it's only really a 2 lane road. Still gets a fair amt of traffic.

It's very quiet when the corn is up. But, when it's plowed or soy, its louder. Not awful though.

We're visible to more folks than I'd like. But, irlts also enough good ones that bad ones probably would be deterred from trying anything in most cases.

I'd check how long places take to sell wherever you go. If you can't move on before selling financially, you can get into a pickle if life throws you a curve ball. But, that's something I'm mindful of anywhere we've moved.

It sounds promising, so congrats on that. It's always nice to feel you're finding real possible options when you're looking instead of just deadends and duds. I've found that true whether it's the right one or not.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

tarbe said:


> Every place has a compromise or two in it. You just have to decide which compromise(s) _you_ are willing to make.
> 
> The interstate is a pretty big deal for me as I really value quiet and seclusion. But I will be gardening in raised beds!
> 
> ...


I hear ya, Tim. It's kind of a big deal for me, too. If some of the other things about the place didn't look good, I'd have passed immediately. Still not sure what I think but glad for the replies. Thanks!


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

gibbsgirl said:


> We're 1/2 mile from "the hwy" but it's only really a 2 lane road. Still gets a fair amt of traffic.
> 
> It's very quiet when the corn is up. But, when it's plowed or soy, its louder. Not awful though.
> 
> ...


Thanks, gibbsgirl. The place I grew up on, my parents' place right now, could probably be "home" if I chose to pursue it. But it is right along a busy 2 land road that's way, way more of a deterrent than the Interstate is to me at the place I'm considering. Now, if mom & dad had bought the farm across the road years ago when they had the chance, I doubt I'd even be looking. 

Interesting thought about places selling. There are quite a lot of places for sale around here. Some sell quickly while others sit for years. The ones that sell are usually priced reasonably for what they are, many times not needing "work" to make them right. The ones that sit typically have a glaring defect that the owner doesn't want to fix or they're way overpriced (or both) or maybe in an undesirable place (such as downwind of a row of chicken houses). That or they won't finance. (There are a lot of rather tired mobile homes around that banks don't want to touch without large down payments, and a large down payment is something I don't have right now.) So that said, plus a few things, the number of potential homes that I have any hope of buying is pretty small. On the backside of that, when it comes time to sell again, it should make the place easier to sell than most as I will no doubt be improving the place and it will have a lot of things going for it that many others won't.

I spent several years trying to figure out where I wanted to be. Found the area. Now for the last couple of years, I'm looking for a place that fits my needs as well as my budget and financing options. That's tough to do. I've found wonderful places that won't finance. And there are a boatload of places that really just don't provide much of anything on my list of must-haves, nice, but just not interested. And so the occasional compromise somewhere in the middle gets looked at. We wade through listings and websites daily looking for anything new, and sometimes through old listings to see if there might be something we missed. Feels like looking for a needle in a haystack. But... if we find it... we've really found the needle in a haystack! 

Realtors come and go and I have yet to find one that has caught the "vision" of what I'm looking for, and if they have the vision, they haven't found anything any more than I have. Mostly, they show me their pet listing and I never hear from them again. 

Thanks for your thoughts!


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## homebody (Jan 24, 2005)

I know ya'll must be tired after all this time but hopefully the right place will be found soon. I can't imagine looking for years, I'd be so frustrated. What is your general area you are looking in? And how far from the bigger town would you want to live? (Such as where drs', hospital, big grocery store, ect. would be located)


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

homebody said:


> I know ya'll must be tired after all this time but hopefully the right place will be found soon. I can't imagine looking for years, I'd be so frustrated. What is your general area you are looking in? And how far from the bigger town would you want to live? (Such as where drs', hospital, big grocery store, ect. would be located)


General area is the TN Cumberland Plateau. There are about 3 or 4 counties that I'd like to stay within, mostly because of connections in the communities, personal, and perhaps future business where location really does matter. Mostly, doctors and things like big grocery aren't a major concern, the exact location and relation to "big city" isn't going to change much.

The city we're closest to is about 10,000 population. And there's not much we can't get right there, or at least in the area, if we need it. Next closest town is 30,000 to the west. Better doctors, college town, a few more restaurants, but not someplace we go to often. Within an hour, we can be in Knoxville. Within an hour and a half, we can be in Chattanooga. Within two hours, we can be in Nashville. So we're not awfully far out there or isolated. It's not "convenient" to just run to Knoxville every day to pick up some little something. But we can pretty easily get there if we need to.

It has been tiring. I've really resisted buying something for the sake of buying something. I would guess we could go buy something that would really not be all that great with the hopes that we could build some equity and resell but I sure would like to have a good enough fitting property that if we were to get stuck there, unable to move or resell if such a time should come that we wanted to, that it would be a place we could live with on an ongoing basis. (Hope that made sense.)

Thanks for the post!


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## Jlynnp (Sep 9, 2014)

Bellyman said:


> General area is the TN Cumberland Plateau. There are about 3 or 4 counties that I'd like to stay within, mostly because of connections in the communities, personal, and perhaps future business where location really does matter. Mostly, doctors and things like big grocery aren't a major concern, the exact location and relation to "big city" isn't going to change much.
> 
> The city we're closest to is about 10,000 population. And there's not much we can't get right there, or at least in the area, if we need it. Next closest town is 30,000 to the west. Better doctors, college town, a few more restaurants, but not someplace we go to often. Within an hour, we can be in Knoxville. Within an hour and a half, we can be in Chattanooga. Within two hours, we can be in Nashville. So we're not awfully far out there or isolated. It's not "convenient" to just run to Knoxville every day to pick up some little something. But we can pretty easily get there if we need to.
> 
> ...



We live close to the area Bellyman is looking at. It took us 5 years of looking to find what we wanted. We are about a mile off of a 2 lane highway, which we can hear when we are outside at night but not in the house. Our property is hilly and rocky - not ideal for a garden but we did not want that, It is perfect for the cows, donkeys, goats, chickens and turkeys. He is right that so much of the property is older mobile homes which was not acceptable to us, a lot of the properties just needed to be torn down and rebuilt -would be cheaper than a remodel. I found one we liked until we met the neighbors and their dogs, a herd of free ranging pit bulls was not my idea of a good place. We finally found this place and the minute we walked it we knew it was right. Personally I would keep looking as that is just to close to the Interstate for me.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

Jlynnp said:


> We live close to the area Bellyman is looking at. It took us 5 years of looking to find what we wanted. We are about a mile off of a 2 lane highway, which we can hear when we are outside at night but not in the house. Our property is hilly and rocky - not ideal for a garden but we did not want that, It is perfect for the cows, donkeys, goats, chickens and turkeys. He is right that so much of the property is older mobile homes which was not acceptable to us, a lot of the properties just needed to be torn down and rebuilt -would be cheaper than a remodel. I found one we liked until we met the neighbors and their dogs, a herd of free ranging pit bulls was not my idea of a good place. We finally found this place and the minute we walked it we knew it was right. Personally I would keep looking as that is just to close to the Interstate for me.


Hi Judy!

Thanks for the encouragement!  

I think we may have seen some of the same properties. LOL!! (And some of them are probably still for sale.)

We are definitely continuing to look. Now, if the particular place I mentioned above has a significant price drop, we may have to reconsider whether it's worth the closeness to I-40. Otherwise, I kinda have my doubts.

I certainly have appreciated all of the feedback, though. Thanks to all who chimed in.


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## sustainabilly (Jun 20, 2012)

Over the years, I've had occasion to exit off 40 at all of the exits around Crossville. If you can get a relatively rural prop. that also has reasonably easy access to all Crossville has to offer, I'd say that's a plus. You say there's a knoll, or maybe berm of sorts, between the property and interstate? Would a perimeter planting on that border enhance noise reduction?

A lot of people inherit pieces of Grandaddy's farm. And, those places you see that have the houses of adjoining properties real close to each other like that, were probably sighted that way because kin wanted to be in close proximity to each other.


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

sustainabilly said:


> Over the years, I've had occasion to exit off 40 at all of the exits around Crossville. If you can get a relatively rural prop. that also has reasonably easy access to all Crossville has to offer, I'd say that's a plus. You say there's a knoll, or maybe berm of sorts, between the property and interstate? Would a perimeter planting on that border enhance noise reduction?
> 
> A lot of people inherit pieces of Grandaddy's farm. And, those places you see that have the houses of adjoining properties real close to each other like that, were probably sighted that way because kin wanted to be in close proximity to each other.


Hi Sustainabilly! Sounds like you may not be that far from me.  

The exit I'm thinking of is 10 miles or so west of the three Crossville exits. Like I mentioned earlier, there's no town there at all and I'm not exactly sure why they even put an exit there. If you're familiar with the Crossville exits, you may know which exit.

There are already a fair number of trees between said property and the I-40. One such group is on property adjacent to this one on the side of the interstate. It would indeed be possible to do some perimeter planting, and since the place is mostly open, I had thought that doing that might add some privacy as well since it's mostly open. 

Actually, one of the things I'd like to maintain is a connection to Cumberland County's farmers markets, not necessarily buying, but the opportunity to sell. I've been making some connections and I think there might be some potential there for joining a good thing. I just don't have the place to grow yet. 

Crossville isn't a bad place but even though it's a small town, I don't want to be "in" it. So I'll just say we're continuing to explore. 

Thanks for your thoughts, neighbor!


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## frogmammy (Dec 8, 2004)

That interstate might come in handy in the winter after a snow, for an emergency trip to the hospital/doctor.

Mon


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

OP, a possible side effect of being that close to the Interstate can be poor air quality. Hope you find something "more better" soon! LDC


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

ldc said:


> OP, a possible side effect of being that close to the Interstate can be poor air quality. Hope you find something "more better" soon! LDC


Thanks! Depending upon which way the wind is blowing, that could be an issue. The prevailing winds puts this place pretty much upwind for any winds coming from the south or the west, which is the majority of the time here. It's more possible with a wind coming from the east (almost never happens except when there is about to be a very nasty storm) or from the north, which is mostly likely in the coldest parts of winter. 

Certainly a worthy consideration, though. Thanks for the input!


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## farmerted (Dec 21, 2012)

we live a half mile from the highway, four lanes, most of the year you cannot hear it but when the leaves disappear, the cold air carries the sound further and the wind is coming from the south, where the interstate is, sometime it sounds like the highway is 1/2 a foot away.


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## MoBookworm1957 (Aug 24, 2015)

Belly man, you live near Bolivar?


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## susieneddy (Sep 2, 2011)

Bolivar is near Memphis. Crossville is in between Nashville and Knoxville


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## Bellyman (Jul 6, 2013)

Thanks, susieneddy. 

I should have updated the thread. The place I was referring to sold to someone else so it's not even a consideration anymore. 

Yes, Bolivar isn't even close, like 275 miles to the west. 

FWIW, I did finally find a realtor that's really working for me. There's a place we're considering making an offer on this coming week. 8+ acres, small pond, mostly open with some fencing, old house that someone tried to make look good that didn't really know what they were doing, a home-brewed septic system that will have to be replaced, but very private with no visible neighbors from anywhere on the property. House is kinda scary and will take a lot of work to make nice but sorta feels like there's potential there. I think we're gonna make a low offer and see what happens. Been for sale for over a year now and the owners are anxious to get rid of it. Was listed around 129k, then 109k. Offer is probably going to be somewhere around 80k to 85k but we'll see. Our other choice is a nice place on 10 acres, more woods than open, a couple of visible neighbors but not close, and mostly when the leaves are off the trees, but move in ready newer house. But I don't think we'll get in at under about 140k on that one which doesn't leave much room for sweat equity. Adding a garage would help value and would be on the short list of projects. So we'll see what comes.


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## eXo0us (Nov 14, 2015)

Bellyman said:


> Thanks, susieneddy.
> 
> I should have updated the thread. The place I was referring to sold to someone else so it's not even a consideration anymore.
> 
> ...


I live about 3/4 miles from a 6 Lane highway, and about 2 weeks out of the year, it's annoying. Yet the other time it's just great to go to places very fast. 

About visible neighbors, there are some trees or shrubs which are growing really fast and you can block out neighbors in no time. Two years ago we had 4 visible neighbors, now we are down to one. 5 acre lot.


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## Mike CHS (Apr 3, 2011)

The worst thing that can happen is they reject your offer. It never hurts to make a realistic offer. The place we bought was a foreclosure that originally listed at $129K but the house needed to be completely gutted. We made a bid for the price of the land ($39K) and the bank accepted.


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