Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[SageHill]

You all have it good -- around here, if you can get it --- last year 2700 this year - IF we can get it more like 5-6K.
Thank you Gruesome who basically wants the state to burn.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

You all have it good -- around here, if you can get it --- last year 2700 this year - IF we can get it more like 5-6K.
Thank you Gruesome who basically wants the state to burn.

Yeah, ridiculously high insurance in CA. And a bunch are "declining to renew" policies due to the fire risk. So people have to start paying a ton more just for fire insurance or change to a different company.

We are thinking about doing solar, because the electricity bill was super high this year, PGE increased their rates, and is going to continue to increase them. The last 2 months it was over $1,000 for electricity. This most recent bill was much nicer, still over $550, but we spent at least half the month withOUT using the heat pump to cool the house. I'm hoping next month will be better still, but we will probably start having to light a fire overnight to heat the house a bit. At least we have a ton of wood.

Edit: without using the heat pump to cool the house.

 

[Mini Horses]

That's a ridiculous electric bill Rates high enough to cost a normal size house that much is bad. Did you leave the windows open to cool the garden?? I couldn't handle that, or pay the bill....really, insane.

Can see why you'd move away with other factors, too.

 

[fuzzi]

Yeah, ridiculously high insurance in CA. And a bunch are "declining to renew" policies due to the fire risk. So people have to start paying a ton more just for fire insurance or change to a different company.

We are thinking about doing solar, because the electricity bill was super high this year, PGE increased their rates, and is going to continue to increase them. The last 2 months it was over $1,000 for electricity. This most recent bill was much nicer, still over $550, but we spent at least half the month with using the heat pump to cool the house. I'm hoping next month will be better still, but we will probably start having to light a fire overnight to heat the house a bit. At least we have a ton of wood.

There are things you can do before sinking a lot of money into solar.

I have a small ranch style house, 1100 sq ft. It's hot and humid here during the summer, and my electric bills were close to $300 a month. When I had to have the roof replaced I chose light gray shingles to reflect, my electric bill went down to about $250. Then the gas pack (heat pump/central AC) died. The HVAC guy was someone I knew, he told me the 1.5 ton unit was too small, and was constantly running. I took his advice, got the 2.5 ton HVAC. My summer electric bill now rarely gets beyond $180.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

There are things you can do before sinking a lot of money into solar.

I have a small ranch style house, 1100 sq ft. It's hot and humid here during the summer, and my electric bills were close to $300 a month. When I had to have the roof replaced I chose light gray shingles to reflect, my electric bill went down to about $250. Then the gas pack (heat pump/central AC) died. The HVAC guy was someone I knew, he told me the 1.5 ton unit was too small, and was constantly running. I took his advice, got the 2.5 ton HVAC. My summer electric bill now rarely gets beyond $180.

We reroofed to light colored shingles already. And got rid of the electric water heater, installed a tank less gas water heater. The house has dual pane windows. We try to use the woodstove to heat in winter. I think the main problem is the house doesn't have decent insulation, so I think the heat pump is working too hard to heat or cool. PGE is charging us using different tiers based on usage, higher tier equals higher price. We can't seem to get back down to the first tier, keep getting charged for second tier.

 

[murphysranch]

PG&E is one of the many reasons we left Calif in 2017.

Here in Vancouver WA, our elect rate is 8.79 cents per KWH. What's your's now?

Why so cheap? Cus this is an area that also gets energy from hydroelectric, natural gas electric production, wind, solar and more hydroelectric.

 

[SageHill]

The solar incentives and rates keep changing in CA. Different tiers and plans --- eventually, in the not too distant future it won't be helpful to have solar unless you go "off grid" - then you're into batteries and all that goes with them - including replacement. Those cost a ton as well. Do the math before you jump. We DO have solar, and put back into the grid - but we got it when there were a lot of incentives.

 

[Ridgetop]

Yantis is a great little town - only 15 miles to Sulphur Springs (the Walmart, TSC, and Lowes in Sulphur Springs are on the Yantis side of town so only about 10 miles from Yantis for them). Yantis sits between the two forks of Lake Fork and is in Wood County which has lower taxes than Hopkins County where Sulphur Springs is located. There is a free boat ramp on Lake Fork and a beautiful public park with play equipment for the kids. Yantis is 15 miles from Quitman which is the County seat. The Yantis side of Quitman has the tax office, DMV, and library. Brookshires and Walmart are in Quitman too. Minneola is about another 10 miles and they have a lot more shopping there. We love Yantis and this area. We have had 2 tornados come through here but it went around Yantis - one to the east and one to the west of us. For some reason we don't seem to get them hitting in town.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/615-County-Road-1785_Yantis_TX_75497_M95738-44035?from=srp-list-card

Here is a new listing for $650K with a 3/3 2 story house already on it - heavily wooded - check AG tax - very nice inside

You can also put a new modular on the 19 acre property for yourselves and fix up the old one and rent it out for extra income. In Wood County you only need 5 acres to qualify for the Ag tax which reduces your property tax considerably. Insurance can be high because of the hail insurance but is not any worse from CA and you canget fire insurance. LOL Make sure if yo buy anywhere in Texas that the land had the AG desigation on it otherwise it will take 5-7 years to qualify it for AG.

Another option is to look for a house on the lake.

Come to Yantis!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

PG&E is one of the many reasons we left Calif in 2017.

Here in Vancouver WA, our elect rate is 8.79 cents per KWH. What's your's now?

Why so cheap? Cus this is an area that also gets energy from hydroelectric, natural gas electric production, wind, solar and more hydroelectric.

Tier 1 is $0.39834 per kWh. Tier 2 is $0.49918 per kWh.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yantis is a great little town - only 15 miles to Sulphur Springs (the Walmart, TSC, and Lowes in Sulphur Springs are on the Yantis side of town so only about 10 miles from Yantis for them). Yantis sits between the two forks of Lake Fork and is in Wood County which has lower taxes than Hopkins County where Sulphur Springs is located. There is a free boat ramp on Lake Fork and a beautiful public park with play equipment for the kids. Yantis is 15 miles from Quitman which is the County seat. The Yantis side of Quitman has the tax office, DMV, and library. Brookshires and Walmart are in Quitman too. Minneola is about another 10 miles and they have a lot more shopping there. We love Yantis and this area. We have had 2 tornados come through here but it went around Yantis - one to the east and one to the west of us. For some reason we don't seem to get them hitting in town.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/615-County-Road-1785_Yantis_TX_75497_M95738-44035?from=srp-list-card

Here is a new listing for $650K with a 3/3 2 story house already on it - heavily wooded - check AG tax - very nice inside

You can also put a new modular on the 19 acre property for yourselves and fix up the old one and rent it out for extra income. In Wood County you only need 5 acres to qualify for the Ag tax which reduces your property tax considerably. Insurance can be high because of the hail insurance but is not any worse from CA and you canget fire insurance. LOL Make sure if yo buy anywhere in Texas that the land had the AG desigation on it otherwise it will take 5-7 years to qualify it for AG.

Another option is to look for a house on the lake.

Come to Yantis!

I really like the look of the 19 acre property. With the price it is, and what we could probably sell our place for, we would have enough to build something or buy a newer modular.

Do you know what the rules are there for a secondary house on a parcel? Here in CA you can only have a primary house, and one accessory dwelling unit (ADU), regardless of the size of the parcel. So even though we have 10 acres, we wouldn't be able to build more than 1 ADU. We talked about having my mom move to our place into an ADU, but that would leave my brother without a place. He's currently living in an ADU at mom's. I dunno if they are on board for moving out of state though.