My husband and I are looking for land to build a house somewhere north of the Twin Cities. We currently live at the cross-section of two 55-MPH county roads where noise from traffic and nuisance neighbors has increased. We're looking for a quiet sanctuary where we can eventually retire. Last week he sent me a Google Earth pin of 5 acres of property in a rural neighborhood about an hour north of the metro. I opened up the pin to see this in Google Earth: At first glance, it looks nice! There are existing trees to the south and east and plenty of space. Neighbors' houses aren't right next to one another. Could be the peaceful retreat we're looking for! Then I zoomed out. We've had enough negative experiences with several current neighbors riding noisy ATVs around the neighborhood that I always carefully examine the neighborhood around any property we're interested in. This, below, looks like our worst nightmare. We drove to the property to check it out and it looked idyllic. The neighborhood was very rural, there was a lot of vegetation, it was high ground, not wetland. Private, peaceful and quiet.
Then we drove by the property with all the dirt trails. It's important to note they own a tiny house and but have a huge pole building full of trucks. The trails had deep ruts - likely not from ATVs but from trucks and jeeps. Here's my worst case scenario: This neighbor regularly invites all his beer-swilling, redneck friends with their jacked-up 4-wheel drive vehicles and they go mudding around the property all weekend. Maybe there's a live band, speakers hooked up high on poles so everyone racing around in their trucks can hear it. They shoot off fireworks all night, tattooed women take off their tops, there's devil worshipping and a human sacrifice. Demons are summoned, dark thunderclouds roil overhead and Gozer arrives, unleashing Zuul and Vinz Clortho who rampage through the neighborhood, devouring everyone's small pets. Etc. Thank God for Google Earth. We could have made a horrible mistake.
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About Sally FarleyI'm a typical, hardworking Midwesterner, enduring (and sometimes participating in) the passive-aggressive complexities of life in Minnesota. ArchivesLinksAsk a Manager
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