My situation is pretty unique... but unfortunately as much as it feels like a betrayal to 20yr old me, haha, I think of this as just one more unexpected step along the way to whatever life I am meant to have.
Through a bit of privilege, hard work and sheer dumb luck I have come to have 3 properties in my name. I have 2 mortgages in my name, and the 10 acres which was purchased via a small inheritance back when
land was much cheaper around that '08 recession.
I have the house I am living in, on about an acre of land where I already have added a goat barn,
chicken coop,
greenhouse, garden, fruit
trees, and converted a shed to a rabbit barn. I am 5 minutes from my folks, and that has been wonderful with 5 small children. It's zoned agricultural in a small town neighborhood, sandwiched between the train tracks and the highway. Not quite what I wanted, but when I was impoverished and had triplets and a 2yr old and was living off grid in a camper with a husband who was neither "motherly" nor handy, and I was worried about keeping my babies warm, I was so grateful when an acquaintance basically took pity on us and offered us an incredible rent to own arrangement. We were warm that winter.
The other mortgage has been a mixed blessing... I while at a saw mill pulling green chain while living in a (also cold) unconverted school bus on my parent's place to save and buy a 4plex with my 1st time home buyer's loan, before I had kids. Well, turns out the 4plex had a terrible mold issue that missed the inspector's eye somehow, and I guess they were not liable for mold issues... the lower 2 units needed to be gutted to the studs. There went my savings intended to help establish us on the 10 acres, and by the time we were done renovating I couldn't afford to not rent it out. Hence me living in the camper on the 10 acres when the triplets were born. Sadly I never really fully caught up from that financial/planning setback, regarding the 10 acres... and having triplets changed a lot for me.
The 4plex is not really making anything aside from equity now, but once paid off it would provide a modest income with a great deal of flexibility to homestead on our mini farm and homeschool my children, even though I will be a single mother for the foreseeable future. Due to land prices I could pay off the 4plex with the sale of the 10 acres and survive this divorce with as little disturbance to the kids's lives as possible, so... it seems like the obvious choice right now.
It is my hope to revisit ownership of acreage again in the future, maybe via the sale of the house I am currently living in when the kids are a bit older and easier to work with, but admittedly I am just in survival mode these days.
Honestly, I am yearning to join or start an ecovillage, too. I have learned via Creating a Life Together by Diane Christian that acquiring the land for a community is often best a joint activity, anyway, if we manage to do that. Though at this point I really don't know what will happen next. Life is pretty unpredictable, haha.
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The fact that you are here on the permies thing-a-ma-jig is a good start.
