Rural Vs Suburban

[Terrel L. Shields]

not a hill you want to die on

or pee from

 

[andrew81]

if you can pee from your front porch, and no one sees you, it is rural.
if you do, people see you, and people complain it is suburban
if you do, people see you, and no one complains, it is urban.

If platted into lots it contains subdivisions. It also contains restrictions (most likely) or town laws. A subdivision outside of city limits is rurban. An incorporated town is suburban.

Rural is defined by PLSS or metes and bounds, it is not regulated until the county level.

thats a wonderful explanation!

i would like to counter by saying a rural community is not a suburb; therefore, not a suburban area. also we have township regulations.

I won't speak for Terrel, but this is my take

Grew up in 2 "small towns" (less than 15,000 people) but have lived in cities (over 250,000+) since I've been 16

Although my young, young years were definitely not urban, they also weren't rural (IMO)
I never considered myself "rural" and even talk about it sometimes with my wife, who grew up with 20 acres

To me, the double lot we now own (ca 13,000+ sf) is a "huge" property

if by how one feels then a 250,000+ population area could likely not be considered urban according to someone who is from a multi-million population area.

I think there was another test about getting a pizza delivered, but this has been covered before.
It is sometimes debatable, and not a hill you want to die on.

i was born 35 miles south in a town of 40,000. i moved here when i was 5 and have lived here since. i now have a family of my own and plan to die here.

also the town gas station delivers pizza to a 5 mile radius so i guess even those outside of town without a neighbor for 3 miles are considered suburban lol

glad to have this discussion, thanks

 

[Nick1985]

I don't supposed I have any real technical explanations on why I always considered it suburban, just one of those "appraiser's opinions" I guess. It just feels like small towns have more in common with being a suburb than a true rural area. There is no agriculture going on next door, there are town regs, a small amount of mixed use areas and business, no septic systems. Even if it isn't technically right outside a large urban area, it still has more in common with one of those "true" suburban areas than it does rural county. Is the proximity to the big city the only deciding factor here? If you go strictly by the definition of urban area, the city of 20,000 here should even be considered rural. There is no city close by with over 50,000 people. Is a house or apartment that is in a mixed use area, built up near 100%, down the street from a hotel, movie theatre and a mall really rural?

This is another one of those non-issues that isn't really worth diggin your heels in about, just another one of those giant grey areas that the appraisal business is full of. I wouldn't flat out call it wrong to say this area is suburban or rural. I was just kind of looking for feedback as this was the first time a lender has actually came back to me about the designation.

 

[chad hampton]

Just like everything in an appraisal report, square pegs don't fit through round holes. I use the term 'semi-rural' often when I'm in an area where I have to go out 2-5 miles for comps. Rare in my market to go out over 10 miles.

 

[norapp]

Happens all the time here. I choose which box the subject location is most like and add more to my neighborhood description. If it's like your town I say something like subject located in a small town/village surrounded by rural (farmland, mountains, lakes...).If my comps are in a town that has a large population spread out over a large area but surrounded by rural areas: the 1 mile guideline is easily exceeded in this rural/suburban locale. Go with your gut but also describe the locale. I never have a problem with this when it's explained sufficiently. My neighborhood descriptions are much more lengthy now. I go into detail about the subject area and the outlying areas if need be the distance to main retail/commerce centers, airports etc. If someone actually reads it they will have a good mental picture of the locale. I struggled with this when I moved North from Long Island. I was questioned when I called some areas rural. To me suburban is most of Long Island and as soon as you cross the line into the boroughs of NYC you are in an urban locale. Up here it's very different and not so clear. This is one state. We live in a big country and the intended user is usually thousands of miles away. I see so many arguments on this site and a lot of it comes down to not realizing this country is so big and every area is different. No one size fits all for many of the questions asked here.

 

[Tom4value]

I have gotten this issue from underwriters mainly if I have a comp over 5 miles away. Usually I remind them (without telling them to take their head out of their a--- , ummm, rule book) that the reason it is five miles away is because the subject is an oddball and not because of the neighborhood. However, I did get a request once because the town is "in the sticks". I told her that in appraisal terms, there is no set, universally agreed to criteria for rural. However, the conventional wisdom is if it is an unincorporated community and/or more than 30% of the local economy is agricultural, we call it rural. Any other type is suburban. If the property is located in an area of a city that is predominantly commercial or otherwise non-residential, it is urban.

 

[Nick1985]

I have gotten this issue from underwriters mainly if I have a comp over 5 miles away. Usually I remind them (without telling them to take their head out of their a--- , ummm, rule book) that the reason it is five miles away is because the subject is an oddball and not because of the neighborhood. However, I did get a request once because the town is "in the sticks". I told her that in appraisal terms, there is no set, universally agreed to criteria for rural. However, the conventional wisdom is if it is an unincorporated community and/or more than 30% of the local economy is agricultural, we call it rural. Any other type is suburban. If the property is located in an area of a city that is predominantly commercial or otherwise non-residential, it is urban.

That is just about how I have always considered it. One of the main reasons for the suburban designation was due to being inside city limits of an actual incorporated community. I have never considered it as a requirement to be near a big city. I have just always thought of it as a middle ground, not as develoeped as urban, so less than urban, but not rural.

Some food for thought:

Rural
Definition - of or relating to the country, country people or life, or agriculture
Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin ruralis, from rur-, rus open land

Generally speaking when people talk about rural they are referring to the countryside, not the town.

Suburb
Definition -
1a : an outlying part of a city or town
b : a smaller community adjacent to or within commuting distance of a city
c suburbs plural : the residential area on the outskirts of a city or large town
Middle English suburbe, from Anglo-French, from Latin suburbium, from sub- near + urbs city

Commuting distance is pretty subjective. There are many people living around big cities that commute more than an hour to get to work in the city. There is a city over 50,000 people about an hour and a half away. Does that qualify this small town as a suburb of that big city? If not then I don't think an area like this would fit either definition.