Where to find cheap land for sale? Southern Alabama - Northern Florida

Howdy yall, Im new to this site woah what a resource! My Gran just passed and she left my sisters and I 50 grand to buy a home/land! weve always been dirt poor so this is beyond exciting for us. Weve always been fasinated with off-grid living but have always lived in a standard way renting but have chickens and a garden. We are looking for landin Pensacola/southern Alabama area and are not sure where to begin? Does anyone have a website to scope out land? Or is there a detailed forum on this already? Wed like to have clearing maybe a small house/yurt/trailer on it. Have woodstove/rain catcher/solar! Thanks yall newbie here this site is overwhelming but amazing.
My name is Ash I have a baby, husband and 2 sisters, any advice helps. preciate yall!

Hi, Ash

Welcome to the forum.

I like to use websites such as Zillow to look for land that meets what I am looking for.

Best wishes for your land search!

I would try https://www.realtor.com and put whatever county that you are interested in the search bar.  Under the sort bar place the search price from low to high.  These will be the cheapest properties available and going higher as you scroll through.  Also you can adjust your search under the "More Filters" bar and put whatever your minimum acreage size is, whether or not you want raw land or one with a home.  Zillow allows most of these filters too.  David The Good at https://www.thesurvivalgardener.com lives in Atmore, Alabama right on the Florida line just north of Pensacola.  His web-site is invaluable and with tons of information for gardening/farming those North Florida/South Alabama areas.

land watch.com I found very helpful. but do yourself a favor however you find a place, I found it very very important to go there and see exactly what your buying first before signing anything

another place to look is in the newspaper of record in each county are the legal notices that give legal descriptions of properties being auctioned off by the city, county and state governments , I have a friend who got about 10 acres in north Florida with an old house, that has electric service and a well for I think it was like $7000 plus I think he said there was also some sort of shed or a pole barn on the property. he sold about an acre off the corner to the neighbor for like $4000. pretty darn good deal. but you will probably have to learn how to read and understand the legal descriptions and then go to property appraisers office or learn how to use platt books to find out where these properties are on a map so you can figure out just exactly what and where each one is. and visit property before the auction. these auctions still take place on court house steps all though the country a regular basis last I knew.
you will want to research each one your interested in to be sure there are no liens against it Or stuff like that. it can be well worth the effort.

with your endeavor to find your own place keep us posted as to what you encounter in your quest.

Hello Ash,

Welcome to permies.  It is indeed a fabulous resource and has changed my life.  I chose Alabama over Florida or Mississippi because of laws and property taxes.  Realtor.com is a great place to look.  If you are interested in south Alabama I have lived here most of my life and I can definitely help you navigate this area and give you pointers based on your needs/desires.  

How much land do you need?  How big does your house need to be?  How soon are you looking to make a move?  Off grid is great but there is a higher upfront cost than starting out conventional and then transitioning to off grid.  You also need to find property in an unzoned/agricultural area so that you can have animals and be off grid without jumping through hoops.  I definitely recommend not only visiting any property you are looking to buy, but to spend a few days to a month looking at the surrounding area to see if it meets your other needs.  Does it have a library, health services, suitable employment, activities you enjoy, etc. (none of these may be relevant to you but you know what is)

Good luck in your quest and please do keep us updated.

thanks all! a few more details: we'd like 5 to 10 acres  -thats interesting about zoning laws and Alabama v.s. Florida I wouldnt have thought of that! Ive also heard homeschooling laws more freedom in Alabama although the Alabama Govener I dont know much about Fl Gov. is good. I think we'd prefer so. Alabama. We may have more like 100k to work with.
P.S. I miss my Granny she was quite the funny lady n loved midnite snacks

Also we would be moving in the next few months and Ideally a small trailer/house (2 rooms). on or near a river would be nice. and my sisters would like there own lil trailers or yurts eventually. the thing about zillow.com found only a few properties either so expensive or not even 1 acre. anybody know of cheap land site?
checking the newspaper is a good idea...

Ealtor, Zillow, Landwatch, LandsOfAmerica, though Realtor and Zillow are pretty tied to MLS and the otheres may have stale listings.  Hardest thing for me was to be patient... took a year and many miles of driving to find something in your area (that we hope to close on 15ac next month).  

Having lived in cities in all three states, before buying I looked hard at differences between AL, FL, GL... for our case
AL makes most sense, now that the guv is just an incompetent drunk, unlike those before her who were blatantly corrumpt
GA more expensive and unfortunately state level changes driven only by Atlanta needs, no consideration for anything else.
FL... part you're talking is beautuful but has all the problems of AL AND GA ('cept a govener hooked on drugs or just power, rather than booze)

Good Luck

Ash Hudak wrote:thanks all! a few more details: we'd like 5 to 10 acres  -thats interesting about zoning laws and Alabama v.s. Florida I wouldnt have thought of that! Ive also heard homeschooling laws more freedom in Alabama although the Alabama Govener I dont know much about Fl Gov. is good. I think we'd prefer so. Alabama. We may have more like 100k to work with.
P.S. I miss my Granny she was quite the funny lady n loved midnite snacks

Ash,

I have 6 plus acres of wooded land in South Alabama I'm willing to sell. Its less than 10 minutes from the Florida state line.

The land is heavily wooded, but has paved road access with public water and other utilities available and dirt road access. There is a creek running at the back of the property, close to dirt road access.

I also have a recent survey. You would need to clear a space for your trailer and/or cabin/rv, but I'm selling for less than 30k so you should have plenty to clear an area big enough fit for a trailer or rv.

If I keep the land I plan to use the trees to cut timber and build a cabin.

Not sure if we can message on this site [I'm new], but feel free to email me at snow dot shack @ yahoo.