Many people moving to the country do not realize how much different life can be. They are used to city services and city ways. The following represent some items people moving outside city limits need to consider. Some times, people already living in the country need to be reminded of these items as well.  Contact Dakota Properties for more information and suggestions on your South Dakota real estate needs.

• Be sure you know what water rights are available with your property: Is there an appropriate well permit? Is there a right to a spring on or off the property? If water is provided by a well or spring located off your property, do you have an easement allowing you to access and repair it? If you have water rights (for agricultural or domestic use), listed as "acre feet," or certain "cubic second feet," find out what that really means for you. You may not be able to drill a well, or have "real" access to a water supply without getting approval; you’ll need to know what kind of time and expense that may entail. You may need to contact an attorney or an engineer, as well as your realtor to get this information.

• Not all wells are permitted to allow watering of landscapes or livestock. Make sure that you have obtained, or are protected in the event you cannot obtain, the appropriate permits, before you move ahead with your development plans, including pond construction. 
   
• All water wells used for livestock or household water should be periodically tested, to make sure the water is suitable for human or animal consumption. Testing might also be required by your mortgage lender.
   
• You may or may not control the water that runs through your property in a stream or irrigation ditch. Unless you have actually been allocated water rights, the water can’t be legally taken out of the stream or ditch. Check with your attorney to make sure you have adequate, legal water rights with your property.
   
• Some of your utility service lines may have to cross properties owned by other people in order for service to be extended to your property. Make sure the proper legal easements are in place to allow lines to be installed to your property.
   
• Power outages can occur in outlying areas more often than in more developed areas. Not only can these disrupt your computer modem’s Internet connection; you won’t be able to get water from your well.
   
• Other property owners may have easements which require you to allow construction of roads, power lines, water lines, sewer lines and other utilities, as well as maintenance of irrigation ditches across your land, which may restrict your own development and building options. Other easements, such as conservation easements, could prohibit certain land uses. There may be easements that haven’t been recorded, but are "historic” or “prescriptive.” Title abstract and title insurance companies, or an attorney, can help you track this information.
   
• Many property owners do not own the mineral rights under the surface of their land. By state and/or federal law, owners of mineral rights have the right to extract the minerals, even if that activity changes "surface characteristics." It’s important that you know what minerals may be located under your land and who owns them. Check your deed, and if you don’t understand it, you may want to contact your attorney or another professional to help you.
   
• Fences that separate properties may or may not be on legal boundary lines. A land survey is the only way to confirm the location of your property lines.
   
• Homeowners and property owners associations often are responsible for the maintenance of roads, utilities and other common elements within subdivisions. Check the subdivision’s covenants to learn if an association has that responsibility; check with your Realtor (or some of your future neighbors) to learn if the association is functioning. A dysfunctional or non-existent association can cause problems for you, and even involve you in expensive litigation.
   
• You are responsible for keeping your dog on your own property. Avoid a real tragedy and do the neighborly thing at the same time: Keep your best friend in his own yard.

• Trees are a wonderful environmental amenity, but can also endanger your home in a forest fire. If you start a forest fire, you could be found legally responsible for paying the costs of putting it out and the damage it causes. Helping to prevent the catastrophe before it happens benefits you as well as your neighbors and the forest. Contact the local fire department or Forest Service Office regarding defensible space programs that will protect your property investment. 

• Steep slopes can slide in unusually wet weather. Large rocks can also roll down steep slopes and present a great danger to people and property. 

• You may be encouraged to have a geotechnical study conducted before you can obtain an individual sewage disposal system permit, a building permit, or a driveway permit. Geologic hazards such as mudslides, rockfall, avalanche and unstable slopes are common. Collapsing and expansive soils can buckle concrete foundations and twist steel I-beams.
   
• Be cautious about placing any improvements on north-facing slopes. North facing slopes or canyons rarely see direct sunlight in the winter. Snow may accumulate there and not melt throughout the winter. 

• Building designs which avoid "valleys" over outside entrances, and have roof slope direction which prevent "dumps" of snow and ice accumulations on sidewalks and garage entrances will help prevent dangerous conditions and headaches during our long winters. 

• A property owner who builds his home in a ravine finds that the water that drained through the ravine now drains through his house. The topography of the land can tell you where the water will go when run-off from rain or snowmelt occur.

• Wind can be a major hazard in many areas. Find out what direction prevailing winds come from and what directions large storms come from. It is also important to know the wind speed you can expect. Knowing these things will influence building and other structure design and placement.