Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Anσnymσus Posts Allowed => Topic started by: Änσnymσus on May 08, 2023, 11:46:03 AM
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Food for thought for those considering moving to St Marys, KS. I just returned from a trip yesterday to assess whether I should relocate my family there. Here are my observations:
-There is almost NO housing available within a one hour drive of the chapel. Most houses are sold within days of going on the market. Unless you have about $400k to spend you are living in a suburb of Topeka. Forget the "back to the land" fantasy cause it ain't happening in this area.
-Properties are poorly maintained and rather shabby. Photos online are very misleading, heavily filtered and deceptive angles to hide major flaws. Even video walkthroughs are not reliable.
-Because there is a high demand for housing in that area, sellers and listing agents are unscrupulous. The house I drove a 1000 miles to view was priced at almost $300K yet it had mold and a collapsing ceiling. During a ZOOM walkthrough I noticed the seller agent wore a Miraculous Medal and that reassured me. Don't be fooled by someone wearing sacramentals and talking about their church. This agent lied about the condition of the home and avoided those areas during the walkthrough. And because of the housing shortage some trusting soul will probably buy that house even though it's 1.5 hours away from the SSPX chapel.
-There is a serious drought in central and western Kansas. This will keep inflation very, very high.
-Wages are low in relation to the cost of housing.
-Gasoline was $3.89 a gallon.
-Temporary housing really doesn't exist. So apartments or hotels aren't an option. BTW, no hotels available in the area due to a recent major leak in the Keystone Pipeline in Marshall Co. I had to stay in Topeka. Hotels rooms are about $150 a night.
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Food for thought for those considering moving to St Marys, KS. I just returned from a trip yesterday to assess whether I should relocate my family there. Here are my observations:
-There is almost NO housing available within a one hour drive of the chapel. Most houses are sold within days of going on the market. Unless you have about $400k to spend you are living in a suburb of Topeka. Forget the "back to the land" fantasy cause it ain't happening in this area.
-Properties are poorly maintained and rather shabby. Photos online are very misleading, heavily filtered and deceptive angles to hide major flaws. Even video walkthroughs are not reliable.
-Because there is a high demand for housing in that area, sellers and listing agents are unscrupulous. The house I drove a 1000 miles to view was priced at almost $300K yet it had mold and a collapsing ceiling. During a ZOOM walkthrough I noticed the seller agent wore a Miraculous Medal and that reassured me. Don't be fooled by someone wearing sacramentals and talking about their church. This agent lied about the condition of the home and avoided those areas during the walkthrough. And because of the housing shortage some trusting soul will probably buy that house even though it's 1.5 hours away from the SSPX chapel.
-There is a serious drought in central and western Kansas. This will keep inflation very, very high.
-Wages are low in relation to the cost of housing.
-Gasoline was $3.89 a gallon.
-Temporary housing really doesn't exist. So apartments or hotels aren't an option. BTW, no hotels available in the area due to a recent major leak in the Keystone Pipeline in Marshall Co. I had to stay in Topeka. Hotels rooms are about $150 a night.
-There is almost NO housing available within a one hour drive of the chapel. Not true, look again. See Zillow
Most houses are sold within days of going on the market. Partly true, if the house is a bargain, it will sell fast. Those that are over-priced or higher end are still on the market.
Unless you have about $400k to spend you are living in a suburb of Topeka. Partly true. The new SSPX Church increased the value to nearly double since 2013. So the closer you to Saint Mary's the higher the cost, you will get ore house for the money the farther you go. Try Wamego or Rossville.
Forget the "back to the land" fantasy cause it ain't happening in this area. True, land is expensive.
-Properties are poorly maintained and rather shabby. Photos online are very misleading, heavily filtered and deceptive angles to hide major flaws. Even video walkthroughs are not reliable. Partly true, depends on the age of the house.
-Because there is a high demand for housing in that area, sellers and listing agents are unscrupulous. Subjective, try using a different real estate agency.
-Wages are low in relation to the cost of housing. Partly true, depends on the house and your job. I lived on the West Coast and spent $1,000 on rent for a 1 bedroom, now I have a 4 bedroom house on almost half-acre, all for less than $900/month, i fi wanted to buy an equivalent house back West, it would be over 1 million!
-Gasoline was $3.89 a gallon. Yes, but it fluctuates. What is it in your area?
-Temporary housing really doesn't exist. So apartments or hotels aren't an option. BTW, no hotels available in the area due to a recent major leak in the Keystone Pipeline in Marshall Co. I had to stay in Topeka. Hotels rooms are about $150 a night. True, no hotels in St Marys, nearest is Wamego. Where did you stay in Topeka, as there are reasonable decent ones for $100
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Just from reading this, I went to realtor.com, and entered a property search for the following criteria:
1) 5+ bedrooms
2) 2+ acres.
Only 3 properties came back within a 20 mile radius (one was duplicated).
Of the three, the prices were $415k, $623k, and $733k respectively.
Here's the reaults: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/St.-Marys_KS/beds-5/lot-sqft-87120
Supposing you had 10% to put down ($41.5k) on that cheapest one, you're still at $3k+/month mortgage payment, all in.
So if you had a sizable family, and any more specific criteria, the pickings are pretty slim.
But even if you're a newlywed/young couple, what are you going to do once you grow out of your 2-3 BR house?
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Some of you seem to not realize that Saint Mary's only has about 2700 people. It's a tiny place. My public high school that I graduated from in 2012 was bigger. So naturally, your options are scarce
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And many of these cheaper houses are not in good shape. Case in point (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/102-Mission-St-Saint-Marys-KS-66536/116050543_zpid/)
Honestly, if you want good jobs and more affordable housing, you could move to Topeka or Manhattan and make St Mary's your spiritual home. That's probably what many who attend Assumption Chapel/SMC/Immaculata do anyway.
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Just from reading this, I went to realtor.com, and entered a property search for the following criteria:
1) 5+ bedrooms
2) 2+ acres.
Only 3 properties came back within a 20 mile radius (one was duplicated).
Of the three, the prices were $415k, $623k, and $733k respectively.
Here's the reaults: https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-search/St.-Marys_KS/beds-5/lot-sqft-87120
Supposing you had 10% to put down ($41.5k) on that cheapest one, you're still at $3k+/month mortgage payment, all in.
So if you had a sizable family, and any more specific criteria, the pickings are pretty slim.
But even if you're a newlywed/young couple, what are you going to do once you grow out of your 2-3 BR house?
If you expand the radius out 10 miles (not sure why your search didn't find it), this one appears to be about a 9-minute drive from the St. Mary's compound.
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/16148-NW-70th-St_Rossville_KS_66533_M76689-81512
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So, here's a thought. This is about 6-7 minutes from St. Mary's SSPX ...
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/28950-Doyle-Creek-Rd_Saint-Marys_KS_66536_M88322-59949
234 acres for about 2.5 million dollars. Why wouldn't SSPX acquire this property? You could put about 100 2-acre properties on there and sell only to Traditional Catholics, making for a true Traditional Catholic development, where there would be an HOA that would enforce Catholics standards in the neighborhood, such as modest dress, etc.
That's about 10,000 per acre, so 20,000 for a 2-acre plot. Of course, they would need to be developed, etc. But I think they could sell out a neighborhood of 100 homes in there fairly quickly. And given that everyone would be Traditional Catholics, each home wouldn't necessarily need 2 acres, but you could have common areas like parks, and some acreage for growing food / farming, etc.
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So, here's a thought. This is about 6-7 minutes from St. Mary's SSPX ...
https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/28950-Doyle-Creek-Rd_Saint-Marys_KS_66536_M88322-59949
234 acres for about 2.5 million dollars. Why wouldn't SSPX acquire this property? You could put about 100 2-acre properties on there and sell only to Traditional Catholics, making for a true Traditional Catholic development, where there would be an HOA that would enforce Catholics standards in the neighborhood, such as modest dress, etc.
That's about 10,000 per acre, so 20,000 for a 2-acre plot. Of course, they would need to be developed, etc. But I think they could sell out a neighborhood of 100 homes in there fairly quickly. And given that everyone would be Traditional Catholics, each home wouldn't necessarily need 2 acres, but you could have common areas like parks, and some acreage for growing food / farming, etc.
Zoning would only allow 5 acres per lot.. so, less than 50 homesite. To develope into more sites would probably require very expensive impact fees. And then equal housing bs would require you to sell to anyone.
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Zoning would only allow 5 acres per lot.. so, less than 50 homesite. To develope into more sites would probably require very expensive impact fees. And then equal housing bs would require you to sell to anyone.
Sorry..that was me
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234 acres for about 2.5 million dollars. Why wouldn't SSPX acquire this property? You could put about 100 2-acre properties on there and sell only to Traditional Catholics, making for a true Traditional Catholic development, where there would be an HOA that would enforce Catholics standards in the neighborhood, such as modest dress, etc.
Would they be allowed to restrict sales in this fashion?
Not that anyone besides traditional Catholics would even want to live in such a development, but that said, not being willing to sell to anyone who theoretically would want to buy could violate fair housing laws, viz. religious discrimination.
If this came to pass, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see someone try to buy one of these properties, someone antagonistic towards traditional Catholicism, just to make a point and to raise a legal stink. They might not go through with the sale, but they could throw a lot of mud into the fan, again, just to make a point.
Just thinking out loud, I wonder how the folks in Kiryas Joel (NY) handle this sort of thing. It's an all-ultra-Orthodox Jєωιѕн enclave, and again, given that, who else would want to live there?
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That’s a great idea, Lad!
And yes, there’s a way to restrict sales to trads, if you go about it properly:
You need one initial owner to come forward and buy all the land.
Then, without ever actually listing anything for sale, individual trads “in the know” approach the trad owner of the 234 acres and make him a proposition to buy 2 or 5 acres. You then file a split with the county, and it’s done.
Repeat until all the land is sold.
Or, just form a co-op comprised of those interested in living in such a development, and it’s a done deal.
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Just thinking out loud, I wonder how the folks in Kiryas Joel (NY) handle this sort of thing. It's an all-ultra-Orthodox Jєωιѕн enclave, and again, given that, who else would want to live there?
They have Jєωιѕн privilege.
A gated Traditional Catholic enclave. This is the way.
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Yeah, if I had Mel Gibson-like money, I'd be doing Traditional Catholic community development all over the place (I'm not a huge fan of SSPX right now). I would also work to make the communities as grid-independent as possible, and would plan it out so that every few homes could share resources. In my neighborhood and in most neighborhoods, there's a huge amount of waste. So, for instance, every person in this neighborhood has their own equipment (lawn mowers, riding mowers, trimmers, edgers, car tools, power washers, snow blowers, etc.) ... when, what?, many of these tools you use maybe once a week? There could be a little tool shed every few homes (situated close enough to them all) so that these could be shared.
I would also build/sell the homes for no profit and finance at 0% interest (maybe some fees just to manage it all). There would be a Home Owners Association, and violators of rules such as modesty of dress, public cursing, etc. ... would receive fines, with multiple serious infractions resulting in eviction.
Every few homes would have a little mini-park area with swing sets and other things so the kids could play (again, shared so that each home doesn't need a swing set), and then there might be some facilities like gyms (gender-segregated of course), perhaps a garage for people to work on their vehicles, a store, etc. ... so that the community could almost have its own little micro-economy. And of course there would be areas for farming, having livestock, etc. that could be commonly maintained.
And of course there would be a little chapel there where the Blessed Sacrament could be reserved for visits.
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Yeah, if I had Mel Gibson-like money, I'd be doing Traditional Catholic community development all over the place (I'm not a huge fan of SSPX right now). I would also work to make the communities as grid-independent as possible, and would plan it out so that every few homes could share resources. In my neighborhood and in most neighborhoods, there's a huge amount of waste. So, for instance, every person in this neighborhood has their own equipment (lawn mowers, riding mowers, trimmers, edgers, car tools, power washers, snow blowers, etc.) ... when, what?, many of these tools you use maybe once a week? There could be a little tool shed every few homes (situated close enough to them all) so that these could be shared.
I would also build/sell the homes for no profit and finance at 0% interest (maybe some fees just to manage it all). There would be a Home Owners Association, and violators of rules such as modesty of dress, public cursing, etc. ... would receive fines, with multiple serious infractions resulting in eviction.
Every few homes would have a little mini-park area with swing sets and other things so the kids could play (again, shared so that each home doesn't need a swing set), and then there might be some facilities like gyms (gender-segregated of course), perhaps a garage for people to work on their vehicles, a store, etc. ... so that the community could almost have its own little micro-economy. And of course there would be areas for farming, having livestock, etc. that could be commonly maintained.
And of course there would be a little chapel there where the Blessed Sacrament could be reserved for visits.
One of my Walter Mitty dreams, if I would win a billion dollars at Powerball, is to buy my entire subdivision, make the present owners an offer they couldn't refuse (2x market value for their homes?), and then give the homes to traditional Catholic families from throughout the US --- there would be a vetting process --- who would be willing and able to relocate. Then I would gate the subdivision and have 24-hour security, and do things such as you describe (mini-parks, chapel, and so on).
Of course, with devout Second Amendment-friendly husbands embedded throughout the neighborhood, security might not even be needed. I have one neighbor, single mother with a mentally disabled adult daughter (presumably gets SSI), and we were talking about her being afraid living there, just the two of them, and I whispered to her that if she ever detects an intruder, I can be there in 20 seconds, packing heat. (When seconds count, the police are minutes away.)
I am in the process of retrofitting my drawing room and foyer into a small chapel, complete with a massive old entertainment console my father bought, repurposed into a simple altar. I couldn't host the whole neighborhood, but a priest could come to my home and offer Mass, if the occasion ever arose. I've assisted at home Masses with more humble layouts than what I have.
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Trad Catholics and Russian Orthodox should move to Arkhaven in the Ozarks. It's an Intentional Christian Community of homesteaders where they sell land by the acres. https://arkhaven.org
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I am in the process of retrofitting my drawing room and foyer into a small chapel, complete with a massive old entertainment console my father bought, repurposed into a simple altar. I couldn't host the whole neighborhood, but a priest could come to my home and offer Mass, if the occasion ever arose. I've assisted at home Masses with more humble layouts than what I have.
Please post pictures in the refurbished thread when you're finished.
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Please post pictures in the refurbished thread when you're finished.
Forgot to check that box!
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Trad Catholics and Russian Orthodox should move to Arkhaven in the Ozarks. It's an Intentional Christian Community of homesteaders where they sell land by the acres. https://arkhaven.org
I don’t think I would relocate to purposefully be in a community with schismatics and heretics.
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I don’t think I would relocate to purposefully be in a community with schismatics and heretics.
Oh, so tell us how you'd rather be surrounded by Godless worldlings and reprobates who love big government and trust the "science". :popcorn:
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Oh, so tell us how you'd rather be surrounded by Godless worldlings and reprobates who love big government and trust the "science". :popcorn:
I wouldn’t purposefully relocate to specifically be in a community with those people either ::)
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I wouldn’t purposefully relocate to specifically be in a community with those people either ::)
But you're surrounded by them now, if you live in the suburbs or city.
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Forgot to check that box!
What's a "refurbished thread"?
I'm almost done with it, but I have to do a lot of "working around" things in the room that I cannot move. I also cannot put any holes in the wall (I don't own the house, it's my mother's, I stay in it for reasons of convenience and security, so that it doesn't sit unoccupied all the time), so I am going to do this thing with sheets of plywood, to create a surface on which I can hang things. I have a large strip of upholstery fabric that I may use as a backing, though the pattern is kind of noisy. It's all a work in progress.
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But you're surrounded by them now, if you live in the suburbs or city.
Fortunately I don’t and never have. I can see how that would be an improvement if you live in one of those degenerate cesspools. I don’t know if you have looked at anything from “Arkhaven Ministries” but like most Protestant preacher-men he’s fervently anti-catholic.
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I don’t know if you have looked at anything from “Arkhaven Ministries” but like most Protestant preacher-men he’s fervently anti-catholic.
I'll check into it. Thanks.
Btw, I didn't downvote you.
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What's a "refurbished thread"?
I'm almost done with it, but I have to do a lot of "working around" things in the room that I cannot move. I also cannot put any holes in the wall (I don't own the house, it's my mother's, I stay in it for reasons of convenience and security, so that it doesn't sit unoccupied all the time), so I am going to do this thing with sheets of plywood, to create a surface on which I can hang things. I have a large strip of upholstery fabric that I may use as a backing, though the pattern is kind of noisy. It's all a work in progress.
I meant repurposed thread . Can't wait to see it.
Your comment about putting holes in the wall made me laugh. My dear mother (RIP) wouldn't let me make any improvements to her house if they would mark the walls as she didn't want the next owner to think poorly of her. Dad was all for it.
https://www.cathinfo.com/the-sacred-catholic-liturgy-chant-prayers/repurpose-entertainment-console-into-a-home-altar/