# Good place to homestead?



## BelleWithBoots (Sep 28, 2014)

Hey guys, 
My family and atleast 3 of my best friends familys, who are currently spread over the US have all been separately dreaming of a place where we can raise our familys in self sufficiency, stastainability and community. I know there has been a gowing movement of ppl. across the country who all seek the same thing and possibly a growing need for locations for neighborhoods with this design. My husband and I are not extremely well off and still very yound but probably the most able of this group, and would love to buy aprox. 1,000 acres or so on which to homestead and possibly offer plots to our friends to come and build homes/cabins/tiny houses on and live with a degree of comunity and likemindedness. It is a lofty dream and seems completely out of reach right now, but thats where all the best things start, right? 
so the question is, where is the best place to buy a large section of firtile land for homesteading at the most affordable price possible? Im a southern girl and love the rolling hills, warm weather, and deciduous trees, so the closer to the tn/ga climate the better  also, any rough estimates of prices you want to through out there would be a great starting point


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I have to ask.. do you have any idea of the scale of the question you are asking?

I'm going to comment about what I thought when I read your post. It's just easier for me than quoting and replying to parts.. 

It's not easy to find 1000 acres for sale, and if you do, will you be able to live in that place, pay all the land taxes and have a job that can afford it? Sounds like you like the foothills of the Appalachians...It's hard even finding more than 2-300 acres in a decent area with supporting jobs.. 

Depending on where you buy, you could be looking at pennies an acre for taxes, or you could be looking at hundreds or more per acre... 

Often communities don't work out well. Then in a case like you are talking about, if you remain the sole owner of the land, then you got so many other legalities to face concerning insurance, who owns what when someone builds, who is responsible for what as far as land upkeep and so forth. Money starts becoming a big ordeal between people....

You said you're young... I once dreamed a lot, but as I get older, I see that reality pretty much crushes most dreams... You can only chew on so big a bite without getting choked..

Please research communities, land taxes where you look, laws concerning sub dividing if need be and such..


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## BelleWithBoots (Sep 28, 2014)

lol, yeah after i posted this i reallized thats the type of response i was going to get. i appreciate the pessimism as all of us who have managed to maintained some semblence of optomism despite all odds can defianately use some sobering up. however I was thinking of subdividing the property (which i realize would requre a lot that allows this) so that no one feels taken advantage of and all can feel the pride and freedoms of ownership and still maintain the benifits of community. 
My husband has a great job and can likely afford to pay taxes and other expenses on a large property, and i plan to work as a nursemidwife to contribute to expenses. so depending of course on the specifics, and we have planned on acquiring a large plot for personal use when possible. the size of this plot, PRICE, and LOCATION options of such a plotis what i was hoping to gain from others experience and insight. along with of course, more of my own research. thanks for your constructive answeres. 

Christie


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I wasn't trying to be negative at all.. I was hoping to get a response back like you gave.. It does sound like you have thought about what you were asking... 

We do tend to see a lot of younger people come here with high expectations of living for free and having a pile of land to do it on, and not taking into consideration what kinds of jobs are available...

We recently moved to 58 acres in WV.. My wife and I... In his area, she has to drive 45 miles one way to do the kind of work she has all her life.. .It makes it to where she has no time for "homesteading". I stay home and do the majority of taking care of the chores.. she deals wit the bills.. 

When you have land, animals, gardens, so on and so forth, you realize that if you want to live as self sufficient as possible, you have to be home as much as possible, and in today's world, having money and "homesteading" don't go hand in hand very well. The more you want to be self sufficient, the less time you have to direct towards income... pretty counter productive actually.. 

You need to watch careful about what and where you buy as to how you can sell it off. Some counties have some pretty strict rules.. When I lived in IL, you could only sell off three acres or more at a time, and even then, you had to "get permission"... They were trying to maintain large lots in that area, but if they thought about it, smaller lots mean more income from a broader tax base.. 

I'm sure others will have a lot more advice since you've clarified you are looking at this realistically...


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## FrugalFannie (Jul 29, 2012)

check out landwatch.com


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## SouthBrookFarm (Jan 29, 2003)

simi-steading said:


> "if you want to live as self sufficient as possible, you have to be home as much as possible, and in today's world, having money and "homesteading" don't go hand in hand very well."
> 
> This is the crux of the matter, especially since the recession/inflation hit, and many of the best jobs in rural areas were shipped overseas. If a person didn't owe a mortgage payment, or if they were able to earn a living at home, then either would be a huge plus. You wouldn't need 1,000 acres for 4 families to live self-sufficiently. If each family had only 1 acre each for garden space, managed well, then they would have their hands full in tending and storing all that produce, IMO. Animals would need the most space, but my neighbor has LOTS of beef cattle on less than 75 acres. If it were me, I would do some research and add up the minimum amount of land that would be needed to produce the food needed, and add some extra acreage for solar panels or whatever, so you could arrive at the minimum investment it would take to make the project work. I love the idea of the communities, and would love to hear if any of them are working out for common folks like me. My daughter tells me there's a very upscale community near Canyon Lake, TX, with beautiful vineyards.


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## Esterot (Oct 21, 2014)

I like looking on www.landandfarm.com and www.landsofamerica.com for fantasizing about land. We haven't done a lout of research about county laws though.

"And don't spend your time lookin' around 
For something you want that can't be found" -Papa Bear


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## EAParent (May 31, 2014)

I agree that you should be looking for property sizes that meet, but don't over-exceed your needs. 1000 acres is more or less equal to 1.5 miles. That's a lot of land for even 10 families. It costs a lot of money to run water and power over that much space. Even digging wells would be a huge investment.

Here's what you can do with just one acre: http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...cient-homestead-zm0z11zkon.aspx#axzz3HjIX5iba

If 10 families had just 2 acres each, that would still be plenty for everything they'd need, plus a few good ponds here and there, and space for privacy. I'd say you could easily do what you're dreaming of doing for less than 100 acres. Heck, you could probably incorporate it and become your own official city for less than 100 acres. 

That's just me though, so don't let us old grumps crush your dreams gre:

I know that in West Virginia, as long as you don't connect to any utilities, (water or electric) they could care less what you build. Plus the prices are pretty reasonable. Finding enough flat land to grow food on is the bigger challenge.




eta: Here is a video from Fair Companies that is of the guy who does Tiny Texas Houses, (Brad &#8220;Darby&#8221; Kittel): http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/tiny-texas-houses-willy-wonka-on-doing-magic-reusing-wood/

He has a whole lot of advice, and he's been trying to do exactly what you're talking about for several years now. This should give you an idea of the scope of work that's involved.


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## Trailsend (Apr 20, 2012)

We have three independent homes and outbuildings on 80 acres in SW Missouri for sale. Perfect for homesteading. Asking $697,000.


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## obleo+6 (Jul 21, 2008)

Your dream is out there. We bought our place, 27 acres, backs up to Nat'l Forest, mostly wooded, well, leach field, not septic, pond, had to clean all the garbage out from the previous past three tenets, huge chicken coop, huge shop, had a mobile home on it and we put another for my dad... about 5 miles off the main road, between 2 towns about 20 mins each direction.

We have neighbors but can't see them from our place. We're very spread out here and NO traffic on the road, only those who live here and we've come to know everyone.

We paid 50,000. Owner financed, yeah our interest rate is a bit higher but we pay almost double on our mort. payment every month. We've turned a 20 year mort. into 8 years to date.

We're in the Ozarks, in Ozark Co, MO. They could give a hoot what you build on your property. No permits, no inspections. They figure if you build something and it falls down it's your own fault and the County could care less.

Taxes for 2014 were 184.00. Our vehicle tags for two years were 36.00. They do have a personal property tax but we only had to pay 3.84 for our pick up.

I checked all the places that were mentioned on here for a place but ended up finding this place on Craigslist, believe it or not.

Don't give up. The good Lord found this place for us and it's, with all it's glitches, is still our dream place. Took, and is still taking, work but it's so worth it.

Prayers that your perfect place is out there.


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## Eagle-eye (Sep 16, 2014)

That amount of acreage is a little shocking to many of the people here. Let me assure you that, if you have the money, it can be had. Look on Landandfarm.com Most plots that size are timber plots though you might find a few farms here and there with large acreage.

That doesn't mean that you necessarily will need or want a plot that size. You say 10 families but, realistically, when the chips are down and its time to actually move you'll be lucky to get 3. Your dream is definitely doable but imo you should be flexible about the details.


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## GaryS61 (Feb 26, 2013)

I wonder what is extremely well off? It is a matter of what it is you are really looking for. The areas of the US South you mentioned is nice and can grow a lot there is much to be said for a mild climate, however there is much to be said for the more temperate areas as well like my Montana while I do not have the mildness of the southern winters I also do not fire ants, many poison plants or snakes, large spiders, chiggers many more things come to mind but you get my drift...... So the further north you go the more land you need for the garden or pasture or what ever. Do not limit your self to a single area!!
Land is expensive but they are not making more of it and thus it is the best investment there is in terms of paper money which they are making lots more of as we speak!
You might find as push comes to shove your friends are unwilling to really make the move so think in terms of your selves and invite them to join if they can. It is really hard to go completely back to the land and off grid as many dream about, it is much easier to simplify and get very near to the Mother Earth. 
So if I was "extremely well off" I would buy a working cattle ranch some where in the Western USA, most likely you would have someplace to have irrigation for a very large garden and what ever other livestock you want like milk cow or goats, chickens turkeys, pheasants or even homing pigeons, again you get my idea. The cows will take care of the land while taking very little off of it. They eat 10 pounds of forage can gain a pound of flesh on that and leave 9 pounds of good fertilizer back on the land, and the pound of gain is worth cash. They can do this on very marginal land at that. They are also quite good to eat. I more than make my land payment with them, I hesitate to call my self a homesteader, but do consider myself a back to the lander. My wife has an off the ranch job and the kids go to school in town and all of that so I am not near off grid but it is a real good life. I have about 550 A in North Central Montana......believe me there are worse places to live. There is a lot of land for sale now, as large amount of the people doing what I do are near retirement age. Just look it is out there follow your dream and God Bless and good luck!


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## BelleWithBoots (Sep 28, 2014)

thanks guys, i really appreciate hearing yours stories and the encouragement that at least in a little way our dream could come true. Im sure when push comes to shove I would be willing to consider other areas and Im sure that we would be and would consider ourselves extremely blessed to acquire just 100 acres, heck even 20. In fact I feel pretty lucky right now to just be finally out of an apartment and raising livestock on my little two acre lot in in the suburbs. Room to breath the fresh outside air, gather & raise some of my own food, a place for the children to run and play and my world is so much better. Im not depressed anymore and I have hope. I dont really want or need to be wealthy, have a large net worth, bank account, or fancy possessions, but the land, family, and friends are what matter most. and some semblance of community is what I lack. maybe one day I will be lucky enough to pursue the simple life with not only my family but also like minded friends who understand what it feels like to need to see somethin green growin, feed your kids eggs that are moments old not weeks, and see a new calf born every once in a while.


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## okiemom (May 12, 2002)

That is fairly easy to get here in parts of OKla. the problems is there will be no high paying jobs for a 2+hr commute. If you work 3 or four days on then days off that would be no problem. The amount of money needed would start in the 2-3million dollar mark.


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