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This past weekend I was up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the UP. I absolutely fell in love with it up there and could totally see myself moving there if it wasn't for one thing. First, I make my living online so I need the internet which isn't available up there, at least not fast reliable internet.
It's a shame too because I've seen properties up here with 10 acres and 300-500 feet of Lake Superior Lakefront you own going for around $100,000 give or take which is insane. Obviously it's so cheap because it's so remote, there's not many jobs, no internet, no cable, very little shopping to the point its a 60-100 mile trip to get to a Walmart even.
I'm actually still strongly considering maybe buying something to keep as a getaway spot, a summer home, etc although I couldn't live there fulltime.
Anyhow, one of my favorite things about this area was the sunsets. Here's a photo I took of my girlfriend taking a pic of the sunset with her phone.
It would be amazing up there. I really like Michigan. I person would really have to spend a lot to be setup to live up there like you said. You would almost have to go with Internet via Satellite..... etc. It would be a great get away spot if a person was ball'n out and could afford to have it as a get away!
Is that satillite internet any good? Obviously not going to be as good as cable or DSLR but do you know if you can at least watch youtube and upload a video all be it slow?
I'm thinking about this winter investing in a wetsuit and a surfboard and doing some great lakes surfing this winter. I love the summer and love the beach, unfortunately where I live isn't really condusive to taht so figured I'd find a way to take advantage of it anyhow. There's actually some pretty sick videos of people surfing lake michigan and superior.
Dude the surfing is fucking sick! I never knew that people surfed on Lake Michigan!
I think the satellite Internet is pretty fast but there is a latency to it because the satellite is in geo synchronous orbit so for gaming it isn't any good but Wild Blue is saying 30Mbps http://www.wildblue.com/plan-results/unlimited
HughesNet is saying up to 50Mbps which is way better than I have right now on Comcast.
https://internet.hughesnet.com
Upload speeds are generally terrible compared to the Download speeds so uploading videos would be rough.
Another option if there was a cell tower close would be to get a directional antenna and piggy back off the cell networks.
So there are a few options
Yeah I couldn't believe there's surf like that on the great lakes. I was watching a Youtube documentary the other night about a california surfer who came out here and was surprised by how big the waves were, he actually got in a barrel which is pretty insane for lake waves.
This past summer I was renting a lot of SUP paddleboars and really enjoyed it. Really on the fence about whether to pickup a surf board or SUP. Neither are cheap so getting both isn't really feasible unless I can find a good deal on CL. I have a feeling I'd get more use out of a SUP but surfboards just sound fun.
Yeah Surfing is bad ass for sure. And when you catch some of those waves and ride them it is an amazing feeling because the water is so powerful.
It is too bad you can get someone else who is willing to get into it with you. Maybe someone you can connect with some people on meetup locally and there will be some dude working some lame ass job in Downtown Chicago who is originally from Hawaii or Cali or something! That would be sick. Or message the guys in the video and see if you can join their crew. That would probably make the most sense.
yeah surprisingly I guess there's a pretty decent size community for it, I suppose not big but bigger than one would probably expect for people being in the water in 10 degree weather. most of the videos ive seen and even when ive been down there ive seen 6 or 8 guys in the water so i think thats pretty cool. another couple people areound for safety reasons but not enough to be crowded. there's a cool reddit subforum called freshwatersurfing was gonna try connecting with some dudes on there and maybe a local meetup as well but im sure ill meet some people out there and i hear its a pretty welcoming community so should be fun.
I've been thinking about living remotely for a while now. I like your post and it resonates with me. I could live with a slower internet connection but my boyfriend couldn't. I "made" him watch an amazon video about "Life off grid" and he sort of liked it. I like the idea of living off grid but maybe like you said- not completely , maybe have some kind of access to some modern life. Anyway I am rambling, can you please tell me where is this location. I would like to check it out, real estate sounds good. Thank you
Hey @dianaviola what's the documentary I'd love to check it out, I love watching that type of thing.
Yeah I think some areas are cool for off grid for example areas in North Carolina or even Tennesse, your remote and off grid but could also get into a decent size town with some shopping and stuff within say a 30 or 40 minute drive.
I love the UP but the problem I see is it's so remote I don't think the UP has a Walmart, I don't think they have a McDonalds even outside of say maybe Marquette which is a college town. I was watching a video a guy made who moved there and he said it's a 60 mile drive into Wisconsin to get to a Walmart.
I'm not a huge shopper, I don't need malls but at the very least I would like a Walmart within say less than a 45 minute drive and I think internet would be critical as well
The documentary is called "Life off grid" and it's available on Amazon Video. I think you have to have Prime subscription for that . If you don't have that , maybe you can find it on youtube or something like that.
I looked at things from UP but the prices were exorbitant. I am not sure exactly where were you looking. Please send me a link so I can check it out. I found some parcels available for like 100 k, but that's not going to do it for me. I am not by any means loaded or anything but I would like to buy something and I need it to have the home already on property so that I would only have to add my touches, but buying a land for 100 k and then start building it would not pan out for me. I mean there is a way I could do that , but that's not the point. The point is I would still like internet and electricity , I would grow my own food etc. I am not a big fan of Wal Mart at all, I don't shop there, so I would have to find somewhere else to shop.
My boyfriend lives in NC currently and we go back and forth. I am in FL, but we always talk about how it would be if we were living remotely. And he says that if we are connected to the grid then we are not off the grid. I am telling him that if we are connected to the grid but we don't have neighbors and other modern conveniences , and we are in a cabin or somewhere like that , then it would be remotely. Yeah sure NC, TN would be good states to live remotely. I think in theory it sounds so good, and I would like to live a simpler life but I wonder how many of us could do it.
I would get used to it eventually, I would so embrace living off my own land and lead a much simpler life.There is too much drama in the world right now. Gives me anxiety.
I hope you enjoy the documentary. Let me know if you watch it.
Thank you for your response.
Hey thanks for letting me know about the documentary. I do have prime and I love watching that kind of stuff so I'll be checking it out this weekend.
As far as property prices in the UP, the stuff I'd be interested in would have frontage on a great lake be it Lake Michigan, Lake Superior or Lake Huron so obviously those prices will be somewhat inflated however I have seen some for under 100K with a cabin on them. If you want lower prices and lakefront your going to have to go further north, more remote to the point your probably completely off grid, and I tend to notice Lake Huron has cheaper prices than Superior and Michigan.
While 100K isn't peanuts it still blow my mind you can have hundreds of feet of frontage on a great lake and it isn't half a million dollars or more.
If your willing to not be on water you can find probably for well under 10k and the zoning up there seems to be pretty lax your typically allowed to put a camper or a yurt or even build your own sustainable cabin out of tires or bottles or whatever you want.
If you want to be on water but not a great lake so think smaller lake or river for probably well under 50k you can find property on a river or creek or stream or even an inland lake with a cabin or even multiple cabins and bunkhouses on the property.
I typically start looking on Craigslist and then will branch out to real estate websites I don't remember any off the top of my head but many will have names like lakefrontland or northernmichiganrawlandforsale or something along those lines.
Hello.
Thank you for you for your response. Lots of good info. I hope I will be able to buy something at some point. Good luck.