3 WAYS TO FIND CHEAP LAND (How We Found Our Homestead Property) - Podcast Episode 121

I looked on Zillow: I searched for at least two acres, at least 3 bedrooms, and under $50K. And we found it, too! 3 bed, 2 bath, 5 acres, 3 wells, a barn and a 50'x60' metal building for $50K (they wanted 75 but it had been on the market for many years). I have built a chicken coop and now have chickens (I butchered 8 of them last week), I am putting in raised beds as soon as I clear the 2 decades of weeds and brush from the property - I have two acres cleared so far, and we are a year in. The house needs work, but we are living in it just fine. We work remote, and we have the rest of our lives to get our homestead where it needs to be.

I lived on a 3 acre homestead, when I met my (now) hubby who wanted to move closer to his ailing grandfather. We bought a modular home and had it set up in a small field on his grandfather's 55 acre farm. 2 years in grandfather's health had taken a dramatic turn for the worse and he needed around the clock care. We closed up our house and moved into grandfather's house and spent 6 years caring for him until he passed. He left the farm to my hubby. We live and farm/homestead here full time. It is No Where close to the perfect homestead. It's on the side of a mountain with almost No flat land, the soil is clay so I have to amend anytime I want to plant, erosion is a constant battle, we grow more rocks than anything else and the house (which I am remodeling) is in constant need of repair. But it's paid for and has excellent water, so here we are.

As a woman in my 60s, trying to figure this out for retirement is so stressful. Thank you for making this.❤

This is exactly what we did! We asked 😊 We found a home with 3 acres and the neighboring property of 90 acres had 3 of those parceled acres adjoining with our land. We have horses…and it turns out the land owners were an older couple who also had horses. I brought them an apple pie and we talked horses for 2 hours. We all got along great and they were happy to sell to us.

Honest realtors can absolutely be worth the money paid for them in terms of their fiduciary duty. Mine steered me away from several pricier houses because she knew they had foundation problems or something about the listing made her worried for other fundamental problems. What she found me was a diamond in the rough and got me a good price for it. Additionally, she made sure that everything was legal and I got every document I needed, even ones I didn’t know to ask for.

On Dec 25th, 2022 my husband, my mother and myself found 6.25acs in the Ozark mountains of Missouri . Raw land, nothing there. In one year we've put on a cabin shed that we are finishing the on inside. We put in a small but very sufficient solar system. We have a decent graveled driveway, set up a 2000gal. rain catchment system and a flock of 20 chickens, with roosters. We will be putting in raised beds and a couple high tunnels because the Ozarks are really good at growing rocks, and we sre completely off-grid. Oh, by the way, we are all over 65 yrs of age, and doung it on our Social Security, thats the only income. It can be done.

With cows, pigs and chickens, you can start creating top soil immediately. It will be a few years before you see super rich soil…but it happens fast when using animals to restore the soil. Their hooves make nice divets that hold water and nutrients. The hay they eat can add back seed. And you can throw clover and beets and buckwheat after they move to the next cycle area. We also used goats to remove what wasn’t wanted. Our cycle was goats, then pigs (American Guinea Hogs) and chickens, ducks and turkeys (when possible). In three years our pastures looked good. We don’t run cows. Enjoy your beautiful project!

Just closed on our diamond in the rough a week ago! We looked for two years. What we bought wasn’t perfect, but it was what we could afford and something we can make shape and mold into our diamond . Can’t wait to build our homestead and follow your journey.

We lived off grid for 14 months. We went to bed early in late fall and winter. I enjoyed my oil lamps. We invested in solar outdoor lights. It was a very precious time.

I feel like I've been in the dream state for years! I think we are finally coming into a season of change; selling our business, paying off our home, starting with livestock. Saving for land and renting our home!! We still have a year or two, but we're getting there, debt free. We're ready for hard work, been doing that our whole lives, with less fruitfulness. Thanks for the inspiration.

What worries me most is frittering away all i,ve saved on lawyers,real-estate people,surveyers,all kinds of people who you have to deal with their hands out.l,ve met people who spent thousands just on permits n infections n tests n getting some guy to sign his name on paperwork,etc.and still did,nt whind up with anything. how do I avoid throwing my money away ?

The bald mountain property has a good view, you’re not buried in the trees but see trees. I like it.

My realtor absolutely did pressure me into paying higher. I was younger and ended up overpaying. I thought I could trust her because she was a friend of the family, but I learnt that day to not trust your realtor! I ended up finding out later that the other bids were at asking price. I initially said I was comfortable paying 5k over, she talked me up to 16.5k over asking

Nice. I found my property from a realtor who found it from a person he knew that the house wasn’t even for sale. Talk to your realtors. The good ones will hunt for you.

Awesome podcast! I did something similar after purchasing 5 acres of remote property in Alaska. I reached out to neighbors introducing myself, and ended up purchasing another acre with a log cabin on it from an older remote cabin owner who couldn’t make the journey to their cabin anymore. Story and being genuine is everything!

Realtors definitely do advise people to offer more these days

I hate to say it, but your husband is correct. We have been looking for houses that are way overpriced for one thing, and every realtor we have talked with has told us to put in an offer for a bit more than what they're asking if we even want to be considered. We had one that we called to go and see and were told by the realtor that the owners would be going through the offers that night. They already had 5 offers and we would need to put in an extremely strong bid to even have our offer looked at. That was a couple of months ago and the property is still sitting on the market. So, yes, the realtors do tell you to put in an offer for more than asking price no matter how far overpriced they are and work that needs to be done.

I'm 73, so will probably start with a window sill "garden"..... herbs lol...and I'm still disabled from a stroke, don't think I will ever be able to deal with chickens, which I've always loved and wanted......and cows, oh my! My love since I was 3.So I'll do herbs for now

I recently got raw land in northern Ontario Canada….blessed to have found a property that is remote, in an unincorporated township (no building codes or permits needed), with land rights, tree rights, and mining rights. My boyfriend and I are starting our cabin build this year, and going off grid. The process will be a huge undertaking, and take time, but we’re really excited about building a generational homestead. I’ve been binging your homestead content. It’s unbelievably inspiring. Thank you for sharing your experience. And you’re right, putting in a well is INSANELY expensive lol

Sorry Kay... He's correct about bidding more. Not so much now but a couple months ago everything went over list.