Looking for like-minded people to buy property with

I'm from western VA, and lived in WV, and western NC for many years. I moved southeast for a few years to take care of family, and now I'm ready to move back to the mountains. The affordable housing and property that used to be in those areas are now triple the price. My husband and I have considered if we could find the right people, maybe we could all put money down on property or fixer up housing together and help each other along the way.

It would be less like communal living and more like good neighbors.

Places were interested in: eastern WV, western VA, western NC, eastern TN.

A little bit about us: I'm a practicing herbalist, played drums in metal bands for 10 years, like to garden, DIY, have residential electric skills, and pretty good in basic trade skills. My husband is a tattoo artist, has good plumbing skills, pretty good basic trade skills, he's very laid back, born and raised in the Appalachian mountains. We're super down to earth, and pretty like minded to Appalachia folk, upcycle, use what we have, get creative, appreciate the land, and so on. We're not pretentious about our lifestyle, we don't tell anyone how to live their lives and appreciate when others do the same, kind of have a live and let live attitude towards many things as long as there's mutual respect. We're easy to get a long with and looking for others that are easy to get along with as well.

I know that's some pretty random info but no matter I say, it's pretty difficult to give anyone a sense of who someone is until you really talk to them for a while ya know?

Anyway, we'd definitely want to do things the right way, to make sure things are written up right with whoever we'd go in. Both having legal ownership of their part of the property. Things have gotten so expensive and I thought hey, it's a shot in the dark, but maybe someone out there is having the same issue.

I'm thinking it would be awesome to have like minded neighbors, we could help each other build, get set up, have a shared garden, but also have our own space and privacy. I'm also interested in permaculture and raising animals for food, definitely something it would be great to do together with neighbors.

This isn't something we're doing right now, but hopefully within the next year or so. If this is something your thinking about, feel free to let me know! Thanks!

Hi Sarah,

I think we'll probably be good neighbors, but our timelines are a bit off. I'm currently on the move to obtain some property. You're right, it's nuts how much home/land prices have risen in the last five years. I've been on the search for a wooded lot for a few months now with no luck yet. I have a stable monthly income and I'm handy with building. Though, my biggest issue is locating a landowner that's willing to owner finance a piece of land that doesn't have an HOA. Well, I'm rooting for you guys. Feel free to send me a message once you get some land... I'll be more than happy to come lend a free hand with building - and I won't even give you any unsolicited advice on how I think you guys should be living your life. 😊

Hi OP, my significant other and I are in the same boat and have been looking for land for quite some time at no avail in the Virginia  Appalachian region. I’ve been looking into grant programs and farm link to sink up with farmers and homesteaders looking to hand off operations to a younger farmer no real traction. Our next idea was to start more an intentional community, but after researching, it seems most fall apart. Our needs are really focused around having a community because farming and living an off-grid life style is extremely challenging with only two people!
A little about us: I’ve been working in IT for most of my career and my education is in engineering. I’ve been practicing permaculture at every property I’ve had the privilege to live for the last 10 years and have a Permaculture Design Certification. Ive helped many friends/my network on their farms throughout the years. I enjoy preserving and preparing food, Gardening, And some animal care. A little about my partner. He has worked in construction, commercial and residential, for 20 years. He is a master plumber and can fix about anything. Our goal together is to live a low impact lifestyle off grid and ultimately own real property & build a passive home to buffer for inflation and economic uncertainty. If this sounds like a match, please feel free to reach out.

Hi Sarah:  We have a 72 A. farm in Roane County, WV.  We are looking for like-minds as well to play on the farm.  We have a nice flat lot off of our one lane road that someone could rent and pull in a trailer while they are looking for their ideal place, or, if we sync, they could stay.  The farm is a bowl surrounded by wooded hills with several creeks.
   My vintage, 25 yr. old website will pretty much let you know where we're coming from.   www.pleiadiandreams.com
   At the moment, it's just my #2 son & I who live here now - my daughter and her son moved out and #1 son in California is planning on moving here.  We are not farmers - we are gardeners & raise chickens.  I'd love it if someone raised a milk cow - they finally legalized it.  Duh!  At 78 that's really not my excitement

I'm going to be looking for property in the VA/WV portion of the range you mentioned. What are your ideas for doing this? Would it be co-owned or split into separate tracts with separate ownership? What legal agreements are you thinking about?

Hey Sarah! I think arrangements like this are about to become way more common.  My husband and I are thinking of doing the same, except none of our friends are like minded lol. We just returned from a natural building class and cant wait to get a piece of land to apply what we learned and start growing everything.  We would love to connect with yall! Im really looking closely at Cocke county in East Tennessee, due to not having building codes. Also my moms side is from East tennessee, just a little more north.  What size of acreage are you aiming for? And are you planning on building yourself?

Hi, all, Cimarron here.

I'm working with a team of founders to develop a Permaculture community in south-central TN.  A little flatter than east TN and southwest VA where I farmed the last six years.  We are looking for experienced and serious wannbe homesteaders to share the land, labor, and expenses to get it productive in short order.

If this is of interest to any of you, please take a look at my post at: https://permies.com/t/373675/Permaculture-Community-Forming-Acres-South

My contact info is in the ic.org post in my signature below.

I am in same boat. I really want to remain in NC as the getting much above 36N latitude and high elevation. . well I like where the climate suits my clothes (heh). Longer growing seasons and the stones and clays big boon (as well as some Indian mounds to vibe with). I have been looking from Murphy area up to/through Cherokee.  Looked around Wilkesboro/ Hayes area for wide berth Taylorsville recent. . as Murphy area seems super -the long up and down over steep mountains are daunting. (I attended a martial arts camp in Brasstown for many years in mid-late 80s) I am narrowing thoughts down to areas around Sylva for price/unrestricted/ stream hopes/ granite quarry close/ and even hopes to rockhound as the precious/ semi precious stones are one of best in country not far away. Closed my house down, and after administration of father's estate settles -there it is. If others would want to increase buying potential for better/ bigger plots, I got mad skills and planning to get brick press (Qmr-40) or two. and maybe an excavator if can fund with builds (hobbit homes based). I worked with assisting intentional communities decades back, herbalist (presented at Duke U), permaculture/companion from earliest "Carrots Love Tomatoes" to Harvey Harmon via NC State in late 80s-early 90s. ..
Yes, I babble with text. . Any of searches I can assist with - - the compass land group gets nice properties (even paid attention to one in VA recent), though some are auctions and some are just liquidations. Again, glad to interact as I been out of networking for over a decade until about 5 years ago-