We Must Protect This House
August 28, 2011 5:23 PM Subscribe
Suddenly I own a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, 3000 miles from my home. How the heck do I take care of it?
I got married and my wonderful wife co-owns (with her brother) a beautiful farmhouse, built in the early 1800s, along with a few related buildings, on land that's in the middle of rural PA, 2 hours from a medium city and 3-4 hours from any major ones. It's a beautiful place, a truly authentic historical time capsule. But it's also a bit of a headache. We don't know anyone in the area (their family moved away 20 years ago), and it's not exactly a thriving community full of yelp-able landscaping and maintenance services. And even if it were, we'd have no way of verifying that work is being done, or that people aren't having parties in the house every weekend. What we'd love is to have someone interested in living simply, maybe farming on the land and tending to the buildings. They could be a local, a city person looking to do the Michael Pollan thing, or really anyone as long as they're honest and caring. There used to be someone like this, but he moved away.
Does anyone have any ideas on how we can find some arrangement that lets us stop worrying about this house? Web communities of people who want to move to the country? Anything? Thanks.
I got married and my wonderful wife co-owns (with her brother) a beautiful farmhouse, built in the early 1800s, along with a few related buildings, on land that's in the middle of rural PA, 2 hours from a medium city and 3-4 hours from any major ones. It's a beautiful place, a truly authentic historical time capsule. But it's also a bit of a headache. We don't know anyone in the area (their family moved away 20 years ago), and it's not exactly a thriving community full of yelp-able landscaping and maintenance services. And even if it were, we'd have no way of verifying that work is being done, or that people aren't having parties in the house every weekend. What we'd love is to have someone interested in living simply, maybe farming on the land and tending to the buildings. They could be a local, a city person looking to do the Michael Pollan thing, or really anyone as long as they're honest and caring. There used to be someone like this, but he moved away.
Does anyone have any ideas on how we can find some arrangement that lets us stop worrying about this house? Web communities of people who want to move to the country? Anything? Thanks.
Uh, this should not be hard to arrange. "How can I set up my dream organic carrot / llama / free range alpaca farm with very little money and a lot of good will, help and heart?" is a question asked on MeFi about 12 times a year. (Were I living in the US, I'd take this deal in a heartbeat, as long as the llama part was optional.)
posted by DarlingBri at 5:40 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by DarlingBri at 5:40 PM on August 28, 2011
If you're thinking of going the essay route, you're must watch The Spitfire Grill first. It won't sway you either way, but I can't imagine not having seen it if you're thinking about that.
It may not be a long-term solution, but maybe you should also consider posting something in MeFi jobs? I work from home and would be at least intrigued by the notion of being your caretaker, semi-Shining style, for a month or two. Minus the psychotic rampages, of course.
posted by argonauta at 5:41 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
It may not be a long-term solution, but maybe you should also consider posting something in MeFi jobs? I work from home and would be at least intrigued by the notion of being your caretaker, semi-Shining style, for a month or two. Minus the psychotic rampages, of course.
posted by argonauta at 5:41 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: thanks beccaj - that's a very good idea for vetting. but i have no idea who to publicize it to, or where to publicize it.
posted by malhouse at 5:41 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by malhouse at 5:41 PM on August 28, 2011
craigslist. it will take some time to distinguish sort out the nuts. maybe you ask for an essay as beccaj suggests in order to select people.
however, the person i imagine you want is a handyman type and the really good ones are often not also extremely literate. if you were to present it as a craigslist job ad, you are looking for plumbing, electrical and farm skills not writing ability.
posted by alcahofa at 5:42 PM on August 28, 2011
however, the person i imagine you want is a handyman type and the really good ones are often not also extremely literate. if you were to present it as a craigslist job ad, you are looking for plumbing, electrical and farm skills not writing ability.
posted by alcahofa at 5:42 PM on August 28, 2011
Also, a visit there may in order. A visit to the local diner/old man hang out. Someone may have lost their farm/home. Asking around you may find someone who truly knows how hard farm work is and you could give a farm family a real chance to get back on their feet.
posted by beccaj at 5:55 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by beccaj at 5:55 PM on August 28, 2011 [3 favorites]
Personally, I'd try to get in touch with someone already influential in that community and see if they have specific ideas. A pastor or the editor of the town paper or a long-established real estate broker or something along those lines. They want your buildings and land to be taken care of almost as much as you do.
posted by SMPA at 6:04 PM on August 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by SMPA at 6:04 PM on August 28, 2011 [4 favorites]
I'd suggest placing a classified ad in Hobby Farms or Backwoods Home. Lots of subscribers who aren't farmers. Yet.
posted by muirne81 at 6:05 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by muirne81 at 6:05 PM on August 28, 2011
Get in touch with the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture's (PASA) Land Leasing Program:
"Initially focused on the state's Southeast region, the program will use a website to connect new or expanding farmers with land trusts and private landowners. The goal is to assist aspiring sustainable growers by matching them with underutilized land and the people who control it."
Even if the Land Leasing Program isn't quite right for you, the PASA folks should be able to help you find a tenant farmer.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:17 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
"Initially focused on the state's Southeast region, the program will use a website to connect new or expanding farmers with land trusts and private landowners. The goal is to assist aspiring sustainable growers by matching them with underutilized land and the people who control it."
Even if the Land Leasing Program isn't quite right for you, the PASA folks should be able to help you find a tenant farmer.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:17 PM on August 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Is there a reason why you aren't looking to sell instead of finding a tenant? It sounds like you have no interest in using the property. There are people who find the nice properties of the farm house desireable, and they show that by being willing to pay. No need to grade essays.
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:47 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by a robot made out of meat at 6:47 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
In France (other places I'm sure) they have a community of small homes in "the country" and they are all owned by "city folk" as vacation getaways. Now, this works better because there seems to be a community built up around it, but the way it works is that you hire some locals to take care of the place and rent them out on the weekends when you aren't going to be there. This more or less pays for itself. Maybe you can cook something like that up that will work?
(As seen on Rick Steves' Europe)
posted by gjc at 7:44 PM on August 28, 2011
(As seen on Rick Steves' Europe)
posted by gjc at 7:44 PM on August 28, 2011
How much land?
You could write up an ad and send it to the Greenhorns, a network of young and start-up farmers. There are LOTS of enthusiastic folks out there who want something like this.
posted by librarina at 7:54 PM on August 28, 2011
You could write up an ad and send it to the Greenhorns, a network of young and start-up farmers. There are LOTS of enthusiastic folks out there who want something like this.
posted by librarina at 7:54 PM on August 28, 2011
You can also try advertising or running that essay contest in http://www.reddit.com/r/simpleliving or one of the other pretty narrowly-defined interest groups linked on the side.
posted by Nameless at 9:00 PM on August 28, 2011
posted by Nameless at 9:00 PM on August 28, 2011
Mod note: folks, please feel free to flag comments for deletion and not reply to them, thanks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:20 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:20 AM on August 29, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions. We'll check out every place that's been mentioned.
A robot made of meat -- we aren't looking to sell because in an ideal world, we'd eventually live on the east coast and be able to enjoy the place with our kids. But we'd love for people to be able to enjoy it until we can.
posted by malhouse at 12:23 AM on August 29, 2011
A robot made of meat -- we aren't looking to sell because in an ideal world, we'd eventually live on the east coast and be able to enjoy the place with our kids. But we'd love for people to be able to enjoy it until we can.
posted by malhouse at 12:23 AM on August 29, 2011
Seconding the Greenhorns. Also that PASA group sounds good too.
posted by The Violet Cypher at 7:46 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by The Violet Cypher at 7:46 AM on August 29, 2011
We have sort of this situation with my grandparent's farm (except I'm only an hour away instead of a continent away), and the best thing my Grandfather did before he passed away was to bundle up the property, along with another that they owned, into a trust. The trust has a local attorney who oversees the financial maintainable of the property (paying taxes, etc.) but because he's a local, small-town attorney he's also willing to drive over there and check on our tenants, he's vetted our handyman, those sorts of things. I can't stress enough how much work and worry this has saved us in trying to preserve this family resource for future generations.
Also: Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation Association deals mostly in the land-use side of farm preservation, but my experience with the Maine version of this tells me they may be able to help with finding a vetting a tenant as well.
posted by anastasiav at 8:12 AM on August 29, 2011
Also: Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation Association deals mostly in the land-use side of farm preservation, but my experience with the Maine version of this tells me they may be able to help with finding a vetting a tenant as well.
posted by anastasiav at 8:12 AM on August 29, 2011
If you're not committed to the land being farmed, another option might be sabbaticalhomes.com -- I can imagine a lot of academics who would love to spend a sabbatical year in a quiet place getting some writing done. One downside to this would be that there'd be turnover on a yearly basis so some of the other sites might be a better starting place.
posted by Wisco72 at 8:53 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by Wisco72 at 8:53 AM on August 29, 2011
Nthing Floydd. I have had good luck in the past with The Caretaker's Gazette when I had a similar situation. You may money to put in an ad, explain exactly what you need, get a ton of applicants [I received over 30 replies to my ad] and can pick someone who can be a live-in caretaker for you. Usually this means that you may the bills on the house and the person lives there usually for free. I suggest this over something like super cheap rent because then it's sort of clear which way the power dynamic goes, otherwise you may think you're giving someone a sweet rental deal in exchange for some help around the place, but they just hear the "sweet rental deal" part and treat you like a landlord.
posted by jessamyn at 8:59 AM on August 29, 2011
posted by jessamyn at 8:59 AM on August 29, 2011
I was also going to recommend Caretaker Gazette. But then I realized I had an even better answer. So I just sent you a MeFi mail with information about a good candidate: myself.
posted by seasparrow at 10:53 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by seasparrow at 10:53 AM on August 29, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by beccaj at 5:27 PM on August 28, 2011 [1 favorite]