Looking for land in Southwest Missouri

Hello all! I have been a lurker on hear for quite awhile. :) My family is looking for 25 acres or more within 45 minutes of Springfield, MO for a family homestead. We plan to build several cabins/tiny houses, just for family members, and we want to raise a few animals and garden. We would prefer mostly woods, but a little pasture could be nice, too. We would love a creek (tall order I know), but its not a deal-breaker. We want to avoid Christian and Greene Counties (too many building codes). We have been looking mostly at bare land but would be interested in land with a modest home as well.

If you know of any land in that area, that's great. But I'd also love advice about where to look for land. We have scoured several websites (Realtor(dot)com, Zillow, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, etc. We have been driving around and asking around. We have found a few things that COULD work, but nothing we were sure of quite yet. How did you find the land you live on? Are their any resources you recommend? Thanks so much!

Candie, welcome to Permies! I can't help with your specific area of interest, other than to say when we were looking for our place, it took time. We looked actively for about three years before finding where we live now. We did have to make some compromises, but it was all workable. We ended up with five acres in southern Appalachia, about half wooded and half cleared with a fixer upper house.

Sounds like you have given yourselves some good parameters, so hopefully those will help. And you'll find encouragement here too.

Watch the Land through the seasons.  may be I'd even ask to walk the land a few times.


Have you tryed dowsing for Water or your Creek.?

If you plan to garden Consider if the Open Land/Pasture is South facing or not. Sun is the garden's power source.

Shade can be planted with trees have a nice day and hope to can share pictures of the land and water you locate bee well.

Greetings. I live outside of Marionville, so SW of Springfield about 45 minutes. I work In Springfield.

I found my 10 acre propert on landwatch.com.  It was listed by a hole in the wall agency in Aurora that didn't even use the internet, but somehow it still pulled up on landwatch.com although the county listed was wrong on the website.  I'm in Lawrence county, no building codes, they do require a septic system.  My property taxes with a 40x50 shop and 10 acres is less then $250 a year. You'd be wise to stay away from Greene and Christian county. Lots of codes and high taxes!

Lawrence county is awesome!

I can keep an eye out around here to property for sale as well.

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the encouragement. We have been looking for a couple years. My folks just sold their little house, and with the rest of our savings, we are trying more seriously to find something.

Eric Hammond wrote:Greetings. I live outside of Marionville, so SW of Springfield about 45 minutes. I work In Springfield.

I found my 10 acre propert on landwatch.com.  It was listed by a hole in the wall agency in Aurora that didn't even use the internet, but somehow it still pulled up on landwatch.com although the county listed was wrong on the website.  I'm in Lawrence county, no building codes, they do require a septic system.  My property taxes with a 40x50 shop and 10 acres is less then $250 a year. You'd be wise to stay away from Greene and Christian county. Lots of codes and high taxes!

Lawrence county is awesome!

I can keep an eye out around here to property for sale as well.

We like the Lawrence Co. area, but we don't seem to see very many places out there we can afford. I have wondered about real estate companies that don't use the internet though. What company did you find your place with?

Are you saying they require septic systems for each dwelling? (Most of us would want that anyway, but some of my family has talked about composting toilets.)

Land prices have easily double in the last 8 years.  Lawrence county is really pretty cheap property around the area unfortunately. There is still some lower priced stuff around Springfield but it's super remote hard to get to, and further away then 45 minutes.

Multiple houses can be attached to the same septic, that's not a big deal as long as the leach field can handle the amount of water, and a house is only considered a house if its attached to the land.  If you build tiny houses that are built like a shed where they are setting on skids, this is not a permanent structure and not a house that can be taxed.  Honestly, if everyone used a compost toilet no one is going to know.

Candie, I live in Stone County between Reeds Spring and Branson West. The developer that built our neighborhood is now selling 700+ acres of land around Ance Creek in (I think) 20-40 acre plots, no restrictions. I don't have the realtors' information at the moment and don't see it online, but if you want to do a drive-by it's off of Ance Creek Road north of Branson West.

Matt Mill wrote:Candie, I live in Stone County between Reeds Spring and Branson West. The developer that built our neighborhood is now selling 700+ acres of land around Ance Creek in (I think) 20-40 acre plots, no restrictions. I don't have the realtors' information at the moment and don't see it online, but if you want to do a drive-by it's off of Ance Creek Road north of Branson West.

Thanks, Matt! But we really want to get out of the Branson/Branson West area. I am in Branson now.

P.S. I'm pretty sure I have met you and your family a couple times at church functions. I recognize your website. Your wife gave us a bunch of fresh dill last year for making pickles. It was amazing! Hope you all are doing well. :)

We just moved to a wooded acreage with a house in Seymour, MO. Our property is rugged with 100+ feet of elevation change. We used a good realtor, but actually found this property ourselves on the MLS sort of by accident after much, much looking.

Just wanted to post an update here and say we found our dream acreage in Dade County! We found 40 acres with a year-round spring, mostly wooded with some pasture. The access is great -- further from Springfield than we hoped but still close enough to commute! We closed on it a couple months ago, and we are now all wintering in town and preparing to move out there this spring! I have been visiting various threads here getting ideas. I'm so excited about starting our adventure!

Candie, congratulations! That's great news! Looking forward to learning more about it and your plans.

Congrats ! SW Missouri is a great place.

Congratulations! That is wonderful news, I am very happy for you and your family. I am sure you will love your new home. Best of luck!