The most common request I get from city buyers looking for a country getaway is "privacy". Commonly, that means a house set back from the road without another house close or even in sight, and also on a quieter backroad with little or no road noise. That can be a tall order to fill, particularly at lower price points. When I work with buyers looking in the mid $100's, that kind of hear-no-evil, see-no-evil privacy is very elusive. Occasionally you can find it, but there are usually some other compromises — the house may be quite small (under 1,000 sq. ft.), or in need of substantial repair.
The starting point to find that kind of privacy is typically about $200,000, and it can go way up from there for country charmers or contemporaries with views. But in the $200's, buyers can find a selection of pretty nice getaways with the privacy that many city dwellers yearn for. For buyers looking in the $100's, privacy and seclusion are arguably the biggest compromise factors.
Acreage alone isn't a reliable indicator of privacy. There are houses on 5 or 10 acres that aren't that private, with close neighbors or proximity to a busier road, while there are other houses on 3 to 4 acres that are blissfully secluded.
I've pulled together a group of 12 houses from the MLS in this link priced between $200,000 and $300,000 that offer a lot of privacy. Most can barely be seen from the road, and have settings where you can run around naked in your back yard, if that's your thing. Notably absent from this group are charming country farmhouses. The reason is that farmhouses weren't set back from the road down long driveways. Farmers didn't want long driveways to plow in the winter, so for the most part built their houses close to the road. Farmhouses set off the road do exist, but they're a rarity. Like anything rare, they're quite a bit more expensive.
