# Just how does one go about finding land/farms?



## pookiethebear (Apr 29, 2008)

I see that some folks moved to other states to do the homesteading thing. I assume that they got their homestead at a steal of a price to what they are used to...so how do you find this land/farm? I have been browsing ebay, landandfarm, realtor, etc. and just can't seem to find that right place. Would it be better to contact a realtor in the desired area????? PA is getting way to expensive to live in.

also for the folks that do walk away from the rat race, what do you do for income? I mean there is gas, taxes, utilities to pay for. Waht kind of job allows you to work from home???


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## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

If you know teh general area you want to live in, contacting a Realtor is not a bad idea. Many realtors have websites with MLS listings in their area, Google +"real estate" +"the city or county" +"the state" you'll find a number of sites - some will let you look, other want your info so a realtor can call you.


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## nu2solar (Apr 20, 2008)

You can try searching on www.unitedcountry.com-they have a lot of land listings. You can sort by area,state, or city.

Once you pick a state or an area you are interested in you can go to www.city-data.com/forum. That site has a lot of good info.

Lisa


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## davisdj (Feb 14, 2008)

Another site is www.landandfarm.com.

We are in the process of buying a place in Kentucky. The area (south central, Russell County) doesn't have MLS. We looked at several properties that I found through United Country, but we ultimately found this place just by looking at individual realtors' sites. I googled something like "farm for sale south central Kentucky" or something similar and our realtor's site was one that popped up.

We know not a single person in Kentucky. We ended up here after we did some extensive research about the area. I spent much of the winter on the internet, looking. We're retired, so factors for us were basic living expenses and quality of life issues, rather than employment opportunities.

Sally


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## adamtheha (Mar 14, 2007)

I've been looking and looking, and all I can find is "Yuppie-type" properties that are way too small (2.99 acres?) or huge parcels 1000+acres. 3 acres won't support a cow in Alberta, unless you truck in hay. The good parcels, 20-60 acres or maybe even a bit more, are like hen's teeth...


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## CIW (Oct 2, 2007)

There's a 35 acre plot in Howard Co. Nebraska. Next to the Loup river. 35 miles from a major city 60,000 pop.) and Iterstate 80. 4 or 5 miles from a small town.
Really good bottom ground to farm. Asking $95,000.


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## Deb862 (Jun 22, 2005)

We have been looking for 1-1/2 years for a decent property, and I can say that what I've been seeing just about everywhere is not a lot of decent rural properties with acreage for sale. I think that people over the last year or so have finally started realizing the value in land and rural properties. Just about everywhere I have looked I can find literally a glut of homes in town or on 2 acres or less but not so much in the 8-10+ acre category that's actually worthwhile. I have also seen over the last few years that every year it has gotten worse with less and less available and if it is for sale and decent it's generally pretty pricey. From what I have observed this is going on just about everywhere now, as we've considered moving elsewhere also.

It is difficult to buy a property in an area you don't really know, and you always take a big risk, as you just don't know about things going on in that area such as gas drilling, etc., the history of the property, etc. Of course, you can find out some things with some research, but there's nothing like knowing the area firsthand. We've lived in numerous places over the years and are back home in NY now. While we aren't exactly happy with the prices and such in our area, we do know the area within a 2-hour range very, very well. We have been searching all over NY but have become reluctant to search in outlying areas that we are not very familiar with, as it's really a huge gamble when you don't know the area well. It could work out but.....

That said, I agree with what someone else said above. I do google searches on county name/state+realty or realtors or real estate and have found not only the local MLS (if there is one) but also the individual realtors websites and newspapers for the area in question. It does take a lot of time to wade through the search info but its worth it. Good luck and best wishes in your search!


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## bloogrssgrl (Jan 20, 2008)

pookie, are you looking to stay in PA? If so, what area? If it's anywhere near me (east central), I'd be glad to try to help - I'm an agent. You cam pm me if you are looking in my area.

Also, you might want to check http://www.pasafarming.org/opportunities/classifieds.html

That is the classifieds section of PASA's website. Sometimes there are farms on there. They seem a tad pricey to me though.


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

Also check out acreage.com. We saw an ad in MEN for affordable land in Kentucky and got on the mailing list of 2 realtors locally, united country being one of them. We bought from the other company because we liked their business ethics better. 

We checked out prices in other states/areas but found affordable acreage here. We made a trip up here and looked at several parcels and as soon as we walked onto this property, we just knew this was it! We moved up here from SW Florida and won't go back!


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## Guest (May 13, 2008)

I researched for almost 2 years before we just packed it up and headed for Maine. My husband left the semi conductor industry and now works at the local high school as a custodian. Money stinks(but that's relative to what you've been making), but it's enough to get us by--we have 80 acres and a remodeled farm house with a pretty big barn. We can grow almost everything. Raise whatever animals we want for the freezer, hunt, fish etc. Plenty of jobs in education or health fields. Many people up here have a couple of jobs seasonally-potato growing country you know, logging, etc.
We have been trying to sell for a while now-real estate market is slow here just like every where else...but take a look...here is a link to our listing...http://www.forsalebyowner.com/listing/7142F.


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## bloogrssgrl (Jan 20, 2008)

littlebit - WOW! What a nice place! You would never get that kind of property for that price in my area. Whoever buys your home is going to be a very lucky person.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

We went through local realtors and the websites.

Then toured the area looking at what properties were listed on the MLS.

We observed that land being sold FSBO goes for as high as 1/2 the price of land on MLS.

I spoke with a few people locally who each knew other locals who had parcels FSBO. Most of those leads were folks trying to do their own types of sub-divisions.

Then we located a forester who acts as a land broker as a hobby. He buys parcels from logging companies, and lists them himself. Six pages of listing, of properties.

We bought from him, at considerably less $.

Right now the property next door is on the MLS, listed at three times the per-acre price that we paid.


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## Spinner (Jul 19, 2003)

If you know the area you'd like to move to, you might want to subscribe to a local newspaper. Visit the area and check at some of the farm stores. 

I found my place by word of mouth. She had tried to sell it for 5 years and never listed it, didn't take out an ad in the paper or even nail a for sale sign up near the road. She just told her friends and waited for word to get around. We made friends with a family that lived here and they found it for us. 

The place 1/2 mile down the road was listed. It's not near as good condition as ours, it only has 1 outbuilding, no pond and they were asking 5 times more than we paid. 

If your not in a hurry, take your time and find a good deal. It's a buyers market. I'm starting to look around for a few more places to buy myself.


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## fantasymaker (Aug 28, 2005)

The most important part of finding land is to find your self.
What do you need to make you happy?
What are your goals? whats it take to make them happen?
then start looking into areas that might work for that. Look over the real estate sites and get a general Idea of land prices.
THEN MOVE TO THE AREA
Rent a place for a year and get to know the people and the area. 
PUT OUT THE WORD YOU ARE LOOKING.
Join everything you can and TELL THEM YOUR LOOKING!
Get to know the bank offeciers in charge of forclosres
Dont worry about how long it takes. 
Dont be afraid to offer less, a lot less than someone asks specially if you are dealing with a agent.


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

Make yourself presentable to the seller.

When a person appears out of nowhere and wants to buy property the seller wants to know a bit more. Usually the next question is "Do You Have CASH?" If the answer is "I ain't got no money, buy... The conversation will end there. Fix that part.


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## How Do I (Feb 11, 2008)

We just jumped in the truck and drove around the state on weekends, searching. The better places seem to be harder and harder to come by around here. As far as income, I drove OTR when we moved here, making local employment not that much of a matter.


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