Acreage vs smaller block living.

Hey peeps,

If you have lived on an acre or more, can you give me an idea of how much more time is required to look after the property, compared to a smaller block, under 1000sq.

I've lived in a house prior for years under 1000sq in the burbs and is pretty easy to maintain. Living in a townhouse now and it's almost maintenance free as the block is small.
Looking to move further out, with some more land as this townhouse space isn't to my liking.
What kind of things do you always need to do, I'm assuming always be prepared for fire danger but what is involved in doing this. Do you spend hours per month maintaining the land? Costs to water or look after gardens or other items required.

Cheers

 

Hi, I had 5 acres, pretty easy really, depends how fussy you are.

Best way to look at it so you don't feel it's all getting on top of you (+ the Mrs complaining) is allocate yourself a suitable yard area around the house as if you were in the burbs. That's your main maint area, no diff to the previous <1000sq you lived at, other city slickers etc.
BUT unlike them you have peaceful surroundings that you own (well the bank does but ya know what I mean), no traffic noise, birds whistling, breeze through the trees, bright stars at night, lots of room for kids, mini bikes, quads etc, horses, we even had a donkey (Donald the Donkey).

If snakes in the area and you have little ones and pets, it would be wise to secure/border that area with slightly buried fence, not high enough to obstruct views (old horizontal corrugated sheets will do, with something on the top edge to avoid cuts, slit retic hose will do, make sure any end gaps etc are filled, sneaky buggas will find a way in. Do the same with the chook pen).

As for the paddock
Fire breaks likely have to be done once a year, I gave a local neighbour with a tractor a carton.
If you have any stock you obviously have to keep the fences in order.
Wiltipolls (no shearing required) &/or Goats are easy and keep the paddock short, incl weeds. Just setup an auto water station for them, throw the occasional bale of something for a treat.
I'd occasionally do a run around the paddock in my 4x4 with trailer, let the kids have a drive, check the fence, pick up any fallen branches etc, whats no good for the fireplace got piled all up for a future bonfire night/party.

To be honest unless mucking around with the kids I rarely went in the paddock, it's just sitting there hopefully increasing in val.

If you're in dense bush area etc make sure you have plenty of clearance around the house, a bore setup with good retic all around it, keep the grass green and short, have an emergency plan, either way insurance premiums will be high.

Mild Negs are further travel to get milk, grog etc when ya run out, just gotta think ahead, be prepared etc.

 

We used to have 3 acres, now have half an acre. If I was getting acreage again I'd keep the formal garden area TINY and have mainly paddock and bush. The weeding and lawn mowing seemed endless and got in the way of other stuff.

 

Do you prefer this living over the burbs?

I think I need to rent first, before I buy, to make sure it's not a mistake. Love the idea of the donkey lol

 

Hey Barny, renting is a really good idea because there's a stat somewhere about how long people tend to last on lifestyle blocks before it all gets too much (not everyone obviously, just a trend). I can't remember the figure but lots sell and move back to smaller blocks, which obviously means further cost.

 

I think that's a great idea. We drove out and had a look at some areas which might not be to far away, and is still burbs or not to far away. Had a look at eltham properties and diamond creek, king lake, St. Andrews. Would love an acre. It's just so hard to know what area you would love without living in it.

 

A close family member lives on 3 acres in Western Sydney. From what I gather there is a bit more maintenance than the average block. The husband spends a whole day cutting grass about once every 2 weeks. It's pretty clear acreage so most of it is grass. There is a small garden area around the house no bigger than the average block. But other than that no really much more. I think it really depends on what's on the land. If really dense bushland then you need to keep the area around the house clear. The rest, just let nature do its thing. If it's all clear then you either need some livestock to keep grass short or you'll be cutting alot of grass.

 

Absolutely! miss it very much but try not to think about it, lost it via divorce, for now I live in a shietty 3x1 duplex unit next to a very noisy hwy with a pedestrian access footpath down the side where boggans get their kicks out of graffiting and kicking the crap out of the colorbond fence.

The traffic drowns out the birds which I hear if I get up at 4am, neighbours argue/fight often, slam doors, smashing empty stubbies in the bin, hear toilets flushing etc etc.

However I own it and it's close to my kids, once my son gets his licence I'll likely move to an outskirting rural town down the coast.

My ideal (dream) would be 5 acres with a small 2x1 open plan cottage, full wrap around balcony, on a tree'd point with horse (caravan at the other end of block for visitors) boat parked on a lift at the jetty of a river running down one side which leads out to the ocean that has constant 6 to 8 footers during the day, and a great reef to walk or dive off.

Depends, if its a great buy that if rented it would cover the mortgage why not.
Another consideration is renting out all but enough to stick a granny/caretakers flat on for yourself to live/weekend/holiday in, let the tenants maintain the rest.

As for anything less than 5 acres, above 1, not that I've done it but knowing others local on them, the whole lot seems to be structure or gardens, like being on a huge house block, too much to keep up with I reckon unless you have nothing better to do, or have free rent resident caretaker accommodation.

 

We are currently maintaining a 1000sqm plus a 10 acre (PPOR to be) and it's a little daunting at the moment but I'm looking forward to moving to the 10 acres.

We found land 20km from the CBD which is kind of awesome for being rural - but this is Perth lol.
Our plan is like @WestOz says which is a higher maintenance area around the house (but still seriously low maintenance!) then ultra low maintenance with some herbivores to keep it low.

We seem to be mowing quite often at the moment to maintain our 50mm height limit for fire season but can't put any animals out there until the fencing is done.

I can now drive a tractor to mow it though so I'm one skill up

 

What areas that at "West-Farmer"?
That distance with no fencing I'm guessing the rezoning out West Swan way?

 

Pretty close - Swan Valley (Millendon) by Great Northern Hwy. We have fencing on one side as our neighbours have horses but the grapes on the other side never saw a need for a fence - the grapes promised not to wander

 

HaHa, Cool! nice land around there, not far from Feral Brewing, and that crappy golf course.

Property will sky rocket if they ever get a train line linked from Millendon Junction Station to the Joondalup line via Ellenbrook.

If the grapes are on your property you'll have to learn how to look after them, get the mrs and her girlfriends doing the stomp dance in a big tub, pour out a nice drop of Westminster's Finest Red, perhaps some port.

 

We're moving to 10+ acres as soon as we find the perfect property. We'll be doing as said above small garden area around the house and the rest paddocks. Misses has 3 horses so they should maintain the paddocks just fine

 

That's a nice area! Went to the maze on Thurs id day we'll be back there a couple of times.
I didn't realise it was so close to the city! We came down through julimer, Chittering.
I liked that they were big blocks closer to the coast rather than up the hill. Is it a nest egg for a "westfarmer development" as @WestOz says.you and the Mrs build 30-40 houses there when Perth spreads out more

 

I've always said I need a wife
I doubt we'll ever be able to or WANT to subdivide it. The location it too glorious to ruin with infill and there are very specific measures put in place to protect the Swan Valley viticulture, river and tourism. A new draft for the Swan Valley Development Plan is out to community consultation at the moment Draft Swan Valley development plan

 

We are 'nomads', moved many times and extremely experienced with over an acre properties. All our properties during last 15 years have been an acre+

Also we know a lot about the areas that you listed above having recently (a week ago) bought the place close to the areas you listed. You can PM me if you want to change thoughts privately.

At the moment we have a little bit over an acre. All honesty this property (garden) requires more regular maintenance than our previous property that was on 5+ acres. Currently we live in the area that the neighbourhood has more like manicured high maintenance, English type gardens than natural bush setting with a lot of native plants. So it really depends on the setting and type of suburb you are living.

Previously on our 5acre property we had about 1.5 acres fenced off to so called house block and the rest of the land was paddocks or semicleared woodland. We created low maintenance gardens around the house with a lot native plants. Paddocks was cut once a year by the tractor owned neighbour. We loved to have bonfires with friends, so we kept bushy parts of the paddocks semicleared and collect branches or dead trees for either firewood or bonfire.

We really miss the space and privacy around us, so we decided to move back to large acrage. A week ago we bought the house on 30 acres. That will be our forever home and this time we are planning to create 'serious' hobby farm some sort.

About areas you have been looking so far. If you are keen on North East of Melbourne direction, in addition to those suburbs add the following neighbouring ones to your list:

- Hurstbridge (has a surbuban (Metro) train line and lovely village with a lot of acreages around it

- Kangaroo ground (really beautiful area close to Eltham and Warrandyte. A lot of 20 acre properties.

- Research and Warrandyte, (generally a lot of 1-5 acre properties, close to Eltham train line) regular smart bus service from Warrandyte to city

- Panton Hill, Smiths Gully, Cottles Bridge (a little bit further out than Eltham or Kangaroo ground but lovely areas with Large hobby farm acreages)

 

Thanks @Tillie , warrandyte is great, kangaroo grounds is on my list. We go around these areas regularly to enjoy time away from the burbs, and get more of a feel. We have decided to try rent first, when this lease expires and see what we think, happy to rent in different areas till we know, hard part is renting the homes we would buy, but that's ok for now.
So far the wife loves eltham, I can't decide yet. I tend to get a good feel for an area once I know the traffic/good local food cafes and restaurants, the people, gym etc etc. I think 2.5 acres would be more than enough, and would prefer land to be, as maintenance free if possible.
Cheers

 

Another option rather than being tied to a lease is House Sitting.
People need someone to look after their place, water the gardens, feed the cat, give it a lived in look rather than vacant while away OS etc

 

Eltham South might be the place for you. Go and have a drive around there. A lot of acre properties in bush type native gardens. If there also visit Montsalvat, old art colony opens to public, art exhibitions, cafe and beautiful surroundings.

 

I have a question relating to acreage. Hopefully your good self can assist. I see some lands are for sale in mid north coast but you can't build on them. Why would people buy it for? $20k for a land and not able to build on it.