Those scheming a citybreak would do well to
acquire their land as soon as possible. Diminishing supply and increasing
demand are pumping prices of the most desirable country property. While
stratospheric city prices max out their markets, rural prices are still
refreshingly low--but are moving upward, especially in areas within
commuting distance to collar county workplaces.
In country-chic places prices are moving as
fast as leaves in a tornado. Ron Powers, in Far From Home: Life and Loss
in Two American Towns shows how dollar-burdened buyers such as Henry
Kissinger have disfranchised natives from Kent, a small town in
northwestern Connecticut.
Wily Will's wry observation quoted above
was made more than sixty years ago. (Many of Will's observations were wry.
Some were pure corn. Few were whole wheat.) Not only is there a finite
amount of land, quality rural property is disappearing as fast as ice
cream at an August picnic. Cropland, pastures, woods, and civil war
battlefields have been targeted for or are already becoming roads,
shopping centers, office buildings, factories, airports and theme parks.
Penturbia replaced suburbia as the home choice of Americans in the 1970s.
In the first half of this decade, 1.6 million Americans moved from urban
to rural places. All of the big cities but New York City are losing
population while three-quarters of all rural counties are gaining.
Demand for rural homes is accelerating due
to both urban conditions and rural opportunities. The quest for ideal life
in the information overload age finds many Americans desperate for basic
peace and safety for themselves and their families. Public school
conditions have made homeschooling widely utilized. Cities have become
unmanageable. Even weather seems to be signaling change. Natural and
manmade disasters are reported ad nauseam by mainstream media. Each
earthquake, fire, riot, bombing, murder, or rape heads more wagons for the
hills.
Gold fever has been replaced by green
fever. Baby boomers are rejecting corporate servitude and incityous frenzy
for country home businesses amidst scenic vistas. Burned-out corporate
climbers of all ages are repotting themselves in small towns and small
acreages. For many, the current consciousness is phooey on big incomes
with high price tags--let's live better on less where the financial and
psychological costs are sane. Property far beyond the sidewalks is
increasingly seen as a superior place.
