Sondee Grande

There are some good ideas here. I especially like Jay's thoughtful reply of his experience. We considered buying land in an area that we liked & then realized after permits for septic, and paying for & installing electricity, with whatever method we chose, by applying & waiting on permits to build & hire licensed electricians & plumbers to meet codes, not even to mention having to pay rent for years to complete all this, we were way ahead timewise & financially to buy what we could afford that was move-in ready for us. If we stayed where we were living, we also had the extra time & expense of travel back n forth which just didn't pay off. I hope your idea works out for you, but we just didn't want to take the time to wait & extra expense.

Greetings from a sweet little acre of organic gardens near Columbus/ Madison WI. We live in an amazeballs place, that has it all for us. Food gardens, incl perennial asparagus, garlic, strawberries, unbelievable to most blueberry bed ( 9 gallons of berries this year ) elderberries, & herbs galore. We have many perennial gardens that are landscaped with natural materials.  Our lot has beautiful mature trees & all the wildlife Wisconsin has to offer. We have eagles flying over every day. We live in a nature corridor between 2 wetlands, so water life abounds. There is a wildflower field across the road. We are older now than when we developed our land & wonder if there are interested permies that might want to take it from here. We want to be creative. Rent to buy? Short-term roomies (before we leave) ? We are 30 minutes from Madison.

Sondee Grande wrote:So this exchange has piqued my interest & possibly of some organic farmers that I know. I don't know the details of how this really works but we are in south central Wisconsin & would like to explore this area of passing on our one-acre rustic, rural property in a rent-to-buy, work exchange, flexible roommate scenario. It would be a long-term exchange, at least a year for us, & for our farmer friends with a fully operating organic dairy farm, a possible 5-year commitment would allow a fuller evaluation of an agreed-upon goal. We are flexible & would like to hear creative ideas & different prospects.
Some projects could easily be done i.e. Gardening, Natural Building, Forage & Natural Medicine, Tool Care, Woodworking, Food Prep, Homesteading & repairing a veggie garden fence, & spring clean up as just a few examples. Bring your creativity & see what you have to offer.

So this exchange has piqued my interest & possibly of some organic farmers that I know. I don't know the details of how this really works but we are in south central Wisconsin & would like to explore this area of passing on our one-acre rustic, rural property in a rent-to-buy, work exchange, flexible roommate scenario. It would be a long-term exchange, at least a year for us, & for our farmer friends  with a fully operating organic dairy farm, a possible 5-year commitment would allow a fuller evaluation of an agreed-upon goal. We are flexible & would like to hear creative ideas & different prospects.

There is great info in this post. I am posting as an alternative to building. We have a modest ranch-style home on one acre in Wisconsin with organic gardens that we are considering selling next year. We are just exploring creative ideas & wonder if there is interest in rent-to-buy with an "approved"  family, where a portion of rent can be applied to purchase. This property is pretty unique in a very small subdivision.  We have eagles every day & all the wildlife that Wisconsin offers along with established fruit gardens (strawberries, amazing blueberries& elderberries) & vegetables like asparagus & garlic. This home comes with kayaks as water is nearby & it sits in a nature corridor.   Beautiful mature oaks, maples & a majestic willo tree in the front yard among spruce & pines. We are just pondering how letting go of this property could be a win for everyone. I am not in here very much but any personal interest you may want to explore I invite you to pm me.  I will respond but probably slow ...Thanks for reading.