I am looking at relocating to Bethany, MO; Thayer, MO; or Brainerd, MN areas. I am looking for insight on these areas and how they compare to each other as far as countryside life sytle goes. Any information on the areas would be helpful.

-- Steve (mtnman28@prodigy.net), January 01, 2001

Answers

Steve,I lived in Wheeling Mo.about 40 miles from Bethany for 6 years.Spents some time in Bethany,still have alot of family roots in mercer co.Good people in north mo. although hard to get people to open up.Land is good for growing very rich and furtile,and relativly cheap.I have since moved to salem mo. very pretty country rocky poor soil goat country.Land is higher,people from out of state moving in .Visited thayer last summer worse yet.In the ozarks people tend to keep to therselves more. easier to escape but the land is harder to find and getting HIGH.

-- Bill Preston (bpreston@fidnet.com), January 01, 2001.

We live in IA just north of Bethany. We looked at land in that area and found it to be a nice area, just that hubby didn't want to leave Iowa. Just watch where the hog confinements are when you buy. You don't want to get too close to one or several and there are a lot of them in that area of MO. We have them springing up around us and we are looking to move next year because of it.

As someone else said, it takes a while (might be years) for people to warm up to you.

Don't know much about Brainerd, MN except that it is very cold there.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), January 01, 2001.

Hi Steve: We live in MN about 1.5 hours away from Brainerd. There are a lot of farms up in that area but it is also very recreational with all the lakes and resorts. Tourism is a big industry in that area. However, I think that if you were willing to drive a few mintues you could find some nice land in the country. I will try to find Brainerd's website and post it for you.

-- Trisha (tank@linkup.net), January 01, 2001.

What can one expect to spend per acre on a farm in these areas? ( 20- 80 acres)? Hopefully with a older farmhouse and partly timbered? Thanks again for all the info and your time.

-- steve (mtnman28@prodigy.net), January 01, 2001.

Hi Steve. In 1995, I paid $71000 for 80 acre farm near Milaca MN. It included 1 house in awful shape, garage, a couple outbuildings, and a silo - the barn burned down long ago. We have pasture, cropland, swamp, forest, and a seasonal stream. the 80 acres south of us has now been split up into 5 & 10 ac parcels selling for 2 to 3000 per acre. I am buying the 20 ac abutting our farm for $35000 (Jan 2001). It is bare pasture - no trees, buildings, or even bushes.

On of the best things about MN is - WATER! Lakes, streams, rivers, swamps everywhere. We are onthe edge between USDA zones 3 & 4, and do have a big productive garden, but fewer plant varieties than would be possible in MO. MN's economy is good - wages are OK, jobs fairly easy to find though we do work hard.

-- Sandy in MN (jpevans_56353@ yahoo.com), January 02, 2001.

Here are some websites to check out:

The Brainerd Newspaper: http://www.brainerddispatch.com/

This is for Rural Real Estate. I don't know anything about the company itself but they list prices in the Brainerd area so that may give you an idea. http://www.unitedcountry.com/

A side note. One of our favorite hatcheries is located only about 15 minutes east of Brainerd. I know in that area we see a lot of farms. Not a lot of open fields but lightly wooded areas that seem rather rocky. However, for pasture and grazing, they'd be just fine.

-- Trisha (tank@linkup.net), January 02, 2001.

Hi Steve, I'm jealous. Two areas that I would love to relocate to, I wouldn't know how to choose. Missouri-----------my co-worker farmed about 20 miles east of Bethany for 8 years in the late '70's-early '80's and he still goes down there 3 or 4 times a year to visit. Land is still pretty cheap........but......this area is just starting to get inundated with people from Kansas City who are looking for vacation land. My co-worker said a baseball player from the Kansas City Royals just bought a 640 acre farm and put up a hunting lodge (mansion). So no doubt there will be more to follow. I occasionally see northern Missouri farms for sale close to this area for $450/acre in the Des Moines Register. That usually doesn't include a house, though. Minnesota------------We go through the Brainerd area on the way up to Leech Lake and I cannot believe all the traffic we run into of people heading back to the cities after a weekend on the Lake. My father-in- law has a cabin on Leech Lake and he told us that it has doubled in value in the last two years.....I told him he was nuts for not selling it, no more than they use it. Anyway, I doubt that market reflects much on the farm real estate market, just thought you might like to know. One final thought, the job market. If you need work, I be willing to bet there would be a lot more of it to be had in the Brainerd area. There's just not much in Missouri unless you want to travel to K.C. or St. Joe, maybe Maryville. Good luck from a hostage of Iowegia.

-- dave (IA) (tidman@midiowa.net), January 07, 2001.

Thayer Mo is a very small town as in don't blink!! But it is beautiful there. West Plains would be your shoping, doctor, movie, and better gas price gas station town to shop in. You can look on the map they are small drive apart. There are some parts of Thayer that has flooding problems because our high school football team games have been canceled before due to the high watertho just in some part of the town. One other thing about south central missouri, it is more ranch land than farm land. You have to go look a the land, if the price seems to good to be true it is more rocks than soil. You can get bare land for about 1,200.oo a acre but if it has a well on it you can double that.I have watch the price's amost double here in the last 8 years. Don't get me wrong I moved here 8 years ago from being born and raised in Northen California. I LOVE Missouri. Gods country, friendly people who just take to you like family. I have not been back to Calif sence. I live about a hr. from Thayer

-- Teresa Bourgoin (c3ranch@hotmail.com), June 04, 2001.