# Looking for good land AND neighbors



## EscapeFromNY (Jun 3, 2020)

I am a single man in my early 30's looking to move to a rural area where I can have a few acres for a reasonable price (more if water, power, septic, less if none). I am currently in NYC and just finished my degree, but my desire to find land has been kicked into high gear after the last few months. While its very hard to consider land from hundreds of miles away, its even harder to judge the surrounding area. So i'm asking this community to help me with their knowledge.

I am single male in my early 30's and fairly educated. I would really like to start a family. I have traveled quite a bit in my younger years and have lived in alaska doing commercial fishing, to oregon helping on a farm, to california and NYC. I have done quite a bit manual labor over the years to earn money to travel, so I do have basic trade skills. 
If I had to label myself I would say I am quite conservative, but I'm starting to doubt there is much difference between the left and right as far as politicians go at this point. I have some savings and I'm not scared to start from scratch and put in the work myself. I have no debt and want to keep it that way.

In the coming months and years, I think its going to become increasingly important that we not only are able to be self sufficient, but also have people we know, trust and help in the areas around our properties. 2nd amendment rights are also a priority for me. (Living in NYC really makes you appreciate them)
If you think we have similar values and have any advice or ideas to help me find land, please feel free to let me know. Thank you all for your time.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

I would believe that locating where you can get a job would be of top priority. Most homesteaders have to work outside their 'stead.

If family is important to you, maybe being near them is a factor?

As far as neighbors are concerned, you have to be a good neighbor first.


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## MJR (Apr 2, 2020)

I was the same way in my 20s. Traveled a lot, gained a lot of skills along the way and eventually bought 40 acres of raw land to start a homestead from scratch. 

I was lucky enough to have family next door to ease the burden. It took me a couple of years just to get something built to live in, and I was still using their barn to house livestock and getting potable water from their well for a long time after that. I probably wouldn’t have made it if it was just me and 40 raw acres. 

Going from scratch is an incredible amount of hard work, it goes very slow and it can get very expensive just to get established. It will take years just to get a foothold, and actual self sufficiency is often many more years beyond that. It’s not absurd to say it can be 7-10 years, most of which you’ll have to go without a lot of things, before you get close to materializing your vision of building a sustainable homestead from scratch. 

I am now currently closing on a new property to homestead, but this time I’m buying an old camp/homestead with the basic infrastructure already there to build on: A cabin, 2 wells, power, furnace and several wood stoves, a few small outbuildings. Bought cash. No mortgage. 

Even with this, my own family to help and about $20k of start up capital to put into projects and needs upon moving in, it will likely be 3 years or more (including working for more money to build up the place in the process) before I’m really settled in and established enough to a point of making good headway towards self sufficiency. 

It’s not a romantic process, and to say it’s hard work is almost an understatement. 

I don’t want to discourage you at all, but I would advise taking a more realistic approach so you can increase your chance of success. 

Move to an area you want to settle down in before you buy anything. Find work, get established. Learn about the weather and how people do things to deal with it (what crops do well, what livestock breeds do well, etc). Get to know local people. Your odds of finding some decent property at a fair price will skyrocket that way, vs. trying to jump in as a stranger remotely from NYC.


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## GTX63 (Dec 13, 2016)

I say this fairly often because it is relevant fairly often.
Homesteading is a romantic term and it appears that way from the outside.
Watching people on an existing homestead is misleading because they are "maintaining" their lifestyle.
The truth about getting a homestead to that point is that it is both hard work and costs money to "create" that lifestyle.
Maintaining a homestead is much, much easier than creating one.


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## Dirtdigging101 (May 13, 2020)

I hear you I am 64, I want a small place. I do not have to work, so can devote time, have a small nest egg, willing to perhaps lease , rent, contribute, partnership.,
I am looking northeast Pennsylvania, just st aarted lookingl 

Paul


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