The problem with living on the edge of the countryside is that eventually somebody else builds on the countryside part and you're just living in another crappy suburb.
this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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My advice in that case is to immediately plant some trees around the perimeter of your property and turn it into a little isolated grove
A man grove, with a man cave.
Exactly, this mindset just creates more suburbs, roads, cars, unwalkable districts, etc.
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I live in this. I pay 500€ rent, in one of Europe's most densely populated areas. I commute to work by bicycle, and I can take walks into the forest with my cats till we get too close to the Alpaka Farm, cause they're afraid of the alpakas.
Unfortunately, we're getting thrown out this year, and looking at 3x the rent for something worse which is further away.
It’s so rare you can have cats who will walk with you. I used to have one like that.
Where in Europe's densest areas can you rent anything for 500€?
Nowhere if the stars don't align.
I live in Heidelberg, Germany.
This house is worth 3-4x more.
But my landlady is a little special. She lives in a hippie commune in another country, is fighting with depression and simply didn't want to deal with the house at all.
So that was the deal, we could live there for cheap, I fix stuff myself and never bother her with anything.
I love her
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Unfortunately you cant, that's why they are getting thrown out and looking at paying 1500€ soon
Listed at only $4.3M
Everybody wants that edge of city and country feel. It makes them feel like they don't live in the city but they still have all the amenities a city offers close by. And thus the Suburban experiment was born and has ultimately destroyed north american cities and created an affordability crisis for housing.
well you can't blame it all on "living on the edge of a city". IMO HOAs have done a substantial part of the harm, creating the sterile and hostile-to-teenage-life experience, and then there's zoning laws which make it impossible to get communal activity, like a small bar or club right between the houses, and then there's the lack of public transport ...
I have dreamed of this lifestyle for over 20 years, and just moved here a few months ago.
Septic is installed, we live in an RV. Just got this land leveled and ready to move the RV into place next to the storage containers we have. Right across the driveway will be a large garden area, but right now we only have a compost pile so far.
A neighbor said they will help us with chickens, so we only need some fence and feed. Things move slowly, but we are excited to jump into this lifestyle. Fresh air and beautiful views.
What do you do for water?
Currently getting water from a purification machine at the store, it’s expensive but we use very little right now. (42 cents per gallon)
We just got a 2,500 gallon tank, after I finish the plumbing I plan to order water delivery, should be about $200 to fill the tank. (Less than 1 cent per gallon)
After that I’m making a roof and collecting rain water. (Free water)
If you don't mind me asking. Where are you located that you are able to do this?
Arizona has several counties that are not as strict and allow a lot of alternative living options.
how far away does the water delivery come from?
I think it’s a local company, Met them at a local event for the alternative buildings and living off grid. We also met a lot of YouTubers there, it was super chill.
When I call them, I want to ask if it’s from a well, is it drinkable, etc. I do have filters and the UV light for water that I will add eventually.
What do u do for a living
I run a few online businesses (streaming, YouTube, eBay), but had to put all that on hold as we were moving and getting settled here. Just about out of our savings, but we are very close to starting the business back up. I think maybe 1-2 weeks.
There is always set backs working here off grid, example is yesterday I was cleaning land to move the RV and the track came off the excavator. It looks like a simple fix on YouTube but it’s raining now lol
small bungalow
proceeds to list a 5 rooms house
EDIT: ok, apparently i do not know what a bungalow is. Their size ranges from less than 70 square meters up to 130, my mental image was of a large wooden tent of ~40 square meters
Just a small bungalow with its own private gym.
If you've got two bedrooms and only need one then having a gym in the other one isn't a luxury. Hell, it's less of a luxury than using it as a spare bedroom that is useless except for storage and getting visitors a few times a year.
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Which is a small bungalow...
Ours is 850 sq ft and we've got 3 bedrooms, so if we removed one we would be at 750 sq ft and rearrange the divisions and it could be smaller.
Post war housing built by the Canadian government was 600 to 800 sq ft bungalows with two or three bedrooms, 70s bungalows around here are 850 to 1150 sq ft with three or four bedrooms...
Usually it’s the other way around.
“This spacious 400sqft condo features scenic fire escapes and running water..”
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It's basically a two bedroom bungalow, that's not that crazy to imagine is it?
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That's what we used to have before landlords convinced you to live your whole life in somebody else's spare room.
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Lottery winner or parents' home?
Or just not living in the regions where it's super expensive to buy a house... We just moved out of a small city with all services (hospital, groceries, sewers, water, cultural events...) and a house like OP is describing would have been super cheap, hell in a village 10 minutes away there was a project to complete that would have cost about 150k total (purchase + finishing the project) and that was a two floors house with a half acre lot...
OP actually has an affordable reality here. Its cities that are expensive, not rural areas and small houses. It depends on the location, but this is usually the case. The further away from urban centers you are, the less expensive it gets to buy. From my experience, a small city apartment costs the same as a spacious house with land outside of the city. There's drawbacks to both, pick your poison.
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Bought 5 acres (with 1.5 of those acres flat on a hill) about ~20 min outside a medium city, ~1 hour equidistant from 2 very large cities. Geotechnical engineers have been to the property, report submitted to the county (took months). Sewage engineers have been out to the property and approved the drain field (took weeks). Well will be drilled once the county approves the build site. It's slow going but it will be worth it in the end! My only fear is trump cancelling the rural broadband fund as I am slated to get the fiber cable run to my property line within a year. Staying with starlink for longer will not be awesome, but oh well, sacrifice.
What counts as a big garden, I would like bigger but my bungalow is on a 150m² total property area, 60m² of that is the indoor area. Spent quite a bit to have the concrete paved across the entire garden removed and I did all the labour myself with a sledgehammer. IIRC it was 8m³ of that crap.
Now mine is the only house on the street that you can see real bees at. My "lawn is untidy"? Fuck off, that is a meadow and it is glorious! As I am British there is no HOA for you to cry to. I am free to make the bees happy.
Unless it gets to the point I am blocking out the sun to the houses nearby there is fuck all anyone can do about my garden.
I love it! Bonus points if it turns to a bog in the winter, so I can collect potion ingredients.
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One thing is missing. Family... A loving partner, maybe some years pass and some children...
So I'm longer in the tooth now nearing 50. Got 3 kids. My intention when my kids finish high school is to go back to the small towns from whence I came. City living is so goddamn expensive now. I can buy 50 acres for slightly more than what I pay for a 30*150 lot with a semi-detached home.
I'm gonna Christopher Robin my life when I nope out of IT and with luck build houses for my kids and build a homestead.
This is the way folks. Protect you and yours the best you can.
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I want either a Swiss Family Robinson style treehouse or a spaceship.
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Is Anon dreaming of dacha? Because it sounds same.
I want a house with a walled courtyard/atrium between the house and garage. I also want an underground space like a hobbit hole crossed with a bomb shelter.
Nah I'll take the city thanks. I would like a functional bus service and be able to walk places.
Also bathroom, kitchen and livingroom possibly together, bedroom, and maybe. Maybe! An office.
Man that was a good year before the rent increase and subsequent eviction.
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