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Comment by Shad on August 24, 2008 at 8:00pm

I'm just continuing to be amazed at all the great responses, and valuable information everyone is sharing. I can't thank you all enough!

Comment by Dianne on August 23, 2008 at 10:51am

As we are building in Adirondack State Park, we have not an HOA...but the APA (Adirondack Park Authority)...and they also come complete with rules and regulations to protect the wildlife, rivers, streams and wetlands. We were scared (at first)...having to fill out a 16 page application and submit a land survey map detailing distances and having to comply with lots of regulations related to our wetlands, site clearing, creek and river.

We began the application before we even owned the land. Our purchase was contingent on approval, although I think we may have bought it anyway because we loved just camping on the land. The seller gave us permission to use the land as "our own" long before we actually closed on it. We even had cleared some "dead wood" from our clearing (okayed by the APA...anything dead could be cut and cleared).

The process of getting approval took 15 weeks and 2 visits from APA agents. The hardest part was waiting that long, yet as we still hadn't sold our home in CT, our project was not really held up by the wait. And nothing about our project had to be changed because of their "rules".

In the end, we found them to be fair. And of course building a log home on the land helped immensely, as they liked the idea of the home blending in with the natural rustic surroundings.

Comment by Mark Kushner on August 21, 2008 at 1:51pm

We are currently building in a small lake community in Northeastern PA. The community has about 40 homes, all with lots of 2 acres or larger. Ours is a 3 acre lot with neighbors within 1/4 mile. We do have a HOA and I was told by residents that they would be difficult as we built our home. Other than a few issues during the winter related to letting trucks use the roads, they have not been bad. They actually told me that they appreciate what our home will bring to the neighborhood which is mostly rustic, but smaller homes. Ours will be the second log home.

Comment by Marla on August 19, 2008 at 10:07pm

Hi Shad,

My girls are 15, 13 and 11. They all go to school in town, an hour and fifteen minute bus ride one way. They have plenty of opportunity to socialize as they participate in school sports, 4-H, gymkhana and lots of sleepovers with town friends. I also work in town so arrangements can usually be worked out for special events. If they go to the neighbors we let them take the ATV. My biggest concern when we first moved here was what they would do in case of an emergency so by 18 months of age my oldest knew about 9-1-1, our legal land description and the neighbours name and phone number. They have never had to use it. Rural living does have its challenges but so far the benefits far outweigh them.

Cheers, Marla

Comment by Dianne on August 19, 2008 at 11:28am

Shad...I think most people who want to build and live in log homes do so because of a love of nature. When I think of log home it always brings to mind looking out your windows to see trees, birds, and wildlife. I also think that people still need to be within a "reasonable" distance to their jobs, shopping, and medical facilities. Using that criteria we chose our land for the first log home.

The first log home was on 2 acres of woods in a small rural town about 10 miles from shopping and 18 miles from our jobs. In the summer you couldn't even see our neighbor's home on one side, and the other side was a 4 acre lot full of trees, that was owned, but never built on for 25 years. Alas, times change. Our wonderful quiet neighbors (of 25 years) retired and sold the home. The new owners had 2 teenagers and cut down most of their trees to install a swimming pool. The weekend parties at the pool were just that...entire "weekends" and sometimes mid-week get togethers of splashing, loud music and even louder conversations that always went well past midnight. To make matters worse, the vacant lot on the other side changed hands just about the same time and all those trees were cut and the home was built as close to our property line as they could get. Our peaceful little neighborhood was suddenly not the quiet retreat it once was. Still, given all that...we would have stayed anyway had things been different in Corporate America. What that experience did teach us was that our next piece of land should be larger and more protected from the whims of others.

When we considered our "next" piece of land we took all this into consideration. We suddenly knew we would want to protect ourselves from the same thing happening. We were looking for enough land that even if the surrounding land were developed it would still be far enough away not to affect us. On the other hand, we didn't have the $$$ to do this in CT. We began looking out of state in very rural locations. Of course we fell into the perfect 10.5 acre parcel with a rear boundary being a river...the right boundary a cliff...the left boundary a creek with wetlands (protected from ever being built) and the front 4 acres of meadow that we own all the way to the road.

The community...gee that was the question...sorry I guess I got off track! The new community is mostly rural farms, lots of farm animals, barns, horses and corn fields and a thriving Amish population. The closest larger towns in the north, west or east direction are 20 to 30 miles away and to the south lay the Adirondack Mountains (we are considered to be in the "foothills" of the Adirondacks). There is a little convenience store for those "oh my gosh I'm out of milk days" and a local hardware store when you just have to have that screw or nail NOW! Other than that you do have to plan you meals and stock your freezer and a trip to the mall will take more time (and gas) than you'd probably like!

Back in CT log homes were around...but I can't think of any place that had an entire log home community. Mostly (back there) the log homes were all built deep into pieces of land surrounded by trees and rarely visible from the roads.

Here in North Country you see many more examples of log homes. Some are very old, and many appear to have been built by owners cutting their own trees and heavily chinked over the years. Many appeared to be heavily coated with creosote or left natural with no protection to the wood at all (or maintained too infrequently). I do know there are many newer log homes here in North Country, but once again they are tucked away in the woods and hidden, so although I'd love to be able to look them over, I'm not into invading someone's privacy by driving down a private driveway just to look!

I do have a good friend who purchased a log home in Maine in a log home community. He loves it! If memory serves me he as a one acre lot in a development of log homes. His back yard leads into the woods and his view is of log homes in all other directions. They are not all the same, as the developer had about 6 different styles and floor plans and if you purchased soon enough you could modify certain aspects of the interior to what you wanted. This friend is extremely happy with his home and neighborhood. He's sent pictures of moose and deer wandering through his yard.

Hope that helps...and answers your question! I know you've been over to my blog so you can see what we are building and how we've gone about it.

Comment by Neighborhood Host on August 19, 2008 at 10:34am

This is such an awesome discussion that I hesitate to jump in with this, but I did come across an article the editors just put online profiling 5 log home communities. (I would say it is a "Top 5" list, but at the end of the day, that's an opinion - and we'd rather hear what you guys have to say anyway.)

So, check it out or ignore it - I just wanted to add it to the conversation! Click here to read it.

Comment by Shad on August 19, 2008 at 8:04am

Hi Marla,

Wow, sounds absolutely fantastic! And yes, an HOA is very similar to what you've described. But let me ask you this; not knowing how old your girls are, do you worry that because of your remote location, they might not be getting the social interaction children usually get growing up? In my current neighborhood, both my daughter (11) and my son (15) have a lot of friends they can call up and go visit, without my wife or myself having to drive them. If my closest neighbor was 1/4 mile away, I'd feel the need to make sure they got there and back OK. Do you find this to be an issue?

Looking forward to seeing some of the developed pictures! And thanks for commenting :-)

Comment by Marla on August 18, 2008 at 10:31pm

As a Canuck I am unfamiliar with what an HOA is. If I were to hazard a guess I would have to say that it is similar to a gated community that has a covenant that restricts the type of home you can build, whether or not you can have a clothesline, or park your RV in your drive or sets time limits on how long your guests can visit ??

I am happy to say that I live on a 1320 acre ranch on a gravel road that dead ends at the neighbours a 1/4 mile away. The neighbours place was homesteaded about the same time as ours, late 1940's. We are 30 miles from the closest hospital and 90 miles from a cinema, Costco or Wal-Mart. I love it !!
Our community is close-knit, everyone helps one another when needed. From the deck of our new home I will be able to watch the deer watering from the creek and the coyote pups play on the bank. And if I walk up the creek I can admire the intricate architecture of the beavers. I will post some pictures as soon as hubby develops the film in his camera. (He prefers SLR to digital, says he will leave technology to our girls - LOL)

Comment by Shad on August 18, 2008 at 9:15pm

Meant to post that article about the Texas HOA... it's quite ridiculous:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-friscopickups_17met.ART0.West.Edition1.4d8a269.html

Comment by Shad on August 18, 2008 at 9:13pm

Thanks for all the great, well-thought-out feedback folks. I didn't really mean for it to turn into an HOA-type of conversation, but that's not a bad thing. And as far as the HOA, it really does depend. I was just reading an article about a Texas HOA that won't allow specific kinds of trucks to be parked in driveways. In Texas no less. There are some strange, crazy HOAs in this country.

Before moving to Northern Virgina, I lived in Tucson. I owned a condo, which was really converted apartments. I paid $115 bucks a month in HOA fees for a pool that was cracked, an unusable jacuzzi, and 'landscaping'. The landscaping in this community (hell, most of southern AZ) consisted of rocks and cacti. Which, obviously, don't need much attention. That really soured me on HOAs, but the one here, in which I pay about half what I did back in Tucson, has been very worth it. Three pools, playgrounds, tennis courts, free concerts with free drinks and ice-cream. It's nice. Hell, compared to the HOA back in Tucson, it's heaven. I think the HOA board was ripping us off.

Joe, we had something similar happen to close friends of ours; they had a nice lot in an unrestricted neighborhood. Someone purchased the lot next door and built a three-story house that was a complete eyesore. They have since moved.

Ted, I think you're right, a log home neighborhood could be boring. If there were several variations to that theme - timber, hybrids, even rock - it could be doable, but all logs would feel like one of those dealers you visit that have three or four models available to walk through.

Thanks again - and keep the feedback coming!

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