• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

Tips for Finding, Assessing, and Purchasing a Homestead Property

 
gardener
Posts: 521
Location: Rocky Mountains, USA
309
homeschooling forest garden building writing woodworking homestead
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Having just gone through the process, here are some of my notes. Hopefully others find them useful.

For starters:
* Do you even need to own it, or can you lease, guerilla garden, or sharecrop?
  * https://www.farmleasepro.com/home
* Learn to find a good place with the stuff Curtis Stone has done
  * His premier product is the Homestead Accelerator (formerly, "Finding the Perfect Homestead Property")
      * This is all solidly based around P.A. Yeoman's "scales of permanence"
      * in addition to expanding upon the videos below
         he also has come up with a grading system and shows you how to assess many properties across many climates
      * NOTE: Permies currently has a bundle where you can get 2 free lessons
  * At least watch the high-level overview from his 14 part youtube series:
      HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING THESE!!!
      1 Time to get out
      2 Negotiables
      3 Threats
      4 Climate
      5 Geography
      6 Can't live without it
      7 This is critical
      8 Who's your neighbor
      9 Vegetation and Wildlife
    10 Microclimates
    11 Buildings and infrastructure
    12 Zones of Use
    13 My failed property
    14 Not every property is the same
   * He is also making a youtube playlist of all of the US states and Canadian provinces, assessing the best places to homestead
* Learn to spot physical/legal pitfalls
  * Somehow get a hold of Finding Your Place in the Country by Les and Carol Scher Even at full price it's worth it to not wind up in a bad situation. RECOMMEND!

My favorite places to search for properties:
* https://www.realtor.com
* https://www.landsearch.com
* https://www.land.com/
* https://www.redfin.com/
* https://findahomestead.com/
* https://www.landwatch.com/
* https://www.trulia.com/for_sale
* https://www.landsearch.com
* https://www.mossyoakproperties.com
* https://realestate.oodle.com/
* https://www.americanlisted.com/
* https://crownrealtyar.com/listings/

Tips for great deals:
* The book Scrapsteading has a great section on this
* https://billyland.com can sometimes be good
* don't overlook local want-ads, classifieds, newspapers
* Find properties that are behind
  * Bank auctions
  * Visit the county courthouse and they have books of everyone in arrears in their taxes (call and make an offer)
  * Remember: Know the situation before bidding. Good deals are one thing, being the guy who gets grandma kicked off the farm is another!

As usual, folks, feel free to add your own tips and resources in the thread below.
 
Character is the architect of achievements - Mark Twain / tiny ad
2024 Permaculture Adventure Bundle
https://permies.com/w/bundle
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic