Won't get land before SHTF...what to do?

[Loquisimo]

I have sadly determined that I simply won't be able to afford land before things start to get really bad here in America. I looked from the Sacramento area all the way to Douglas County, Oregon, and the price for land is about the same. Cheap land seems to either be in a desert or it's vertical.

So it's time for plan B. I'm thinking of finding a mobile home in a park somewhere cheap, like SW Oregon, and taking out the ornamental shrubs that people plant around their trailers and putting in some potatoes and peas and an apple tree and maybe have a shed with rabbits.

I've been looking at used mobiles online, some have quite a bit of property (relative to a MH park, of course) with them so I could do some small scale food growing. I would of course clear it with the park owner before moving in, but I would think that it wouldn't be a problem in a rural park. Does anybody do this? I know we have some people here who live in MH parks.

This is the best I can come up with. I don't have a steady job (self-employed when I do work) so I can't qualify for a loan on land, and I'd need one, it's just too much cash to amass reasonably. But I could get a mobile for a few thousand, and the MH parks around Roseburg, Oregon have really low rents. Any ideas?

[Sawmill Jim]

If you can't move to a different state you can do all you can to save and help yourself . Near here a fallen down house with a good well and new garage man wanted $7,500 for it .Had 1.5 acres or more . He had owner financed and the folks had walked

[Terri]

I am going to post a link from a lady who lives in Canada.

She got permission to pick fruit on land that is apparently owned by the city she lives in, she asked about llama wool from someone who had llamas and the lady just gave 3 fleeces to her, and she got on a website for garden sharing and she is now going to work the garden for an 89 year old woman and keep half the produce. She HAS had some gardening experience because she had a plot on a community garden.

Do you have any elderly neighbors that you can help with their yards in exchange for the use of a small plot? In California you can raise a lot of tomatos on a 3' by 3' plot.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/v...879#post247879

[PhilJohnson]

If I were you I think I would consider other areas besides the West. Land on the left coast is pretty expensive for anything that has a decent potential for agricultural use. You could try looking in the mid-west. I've seen some super cheap places for sale. I bought my house and 5 acres for 30,000. I can be totally self sufficient and obtaining water is no problem at all. I think being self-sufficient on a mobile home lot would be pretty tough. I've seen people growing gardens and such but I'd hate to think what would happen to those folks when the rest of the park inhabitants start getting real hungry.

[FunnyRiverFarm]

I agree with Sawmill Jim--move someplace more affordable.

[ErinP]

I third that suggestion.

We paid $400 an acre for 40 acres in Kansas, two years ago. No buildings or services, but REA strings a line for free for the first half mile, so power at least is easy to come by.
We have about 20 acres of meadow and 20 acres of hills.

No trees. This IS western Kansas, afterall.

[Loquisimo]

I'd like it to be someplace where I can practice my trade (computer repair). I don't like the Midwest because it's too cold and snowy, and there's little surface water-it was once called "the western desert" in the early 1800s. I can't move too far away from where I am now. I also want to live in a place that has a diversity of agriculture, not just corn and soybeans. The west coast has that, it's just expensive.

[Terri]

Originally Posted by Loquisimo

I'd like it to be someplace where I can practice my trade (computer repair). I don't like the Midwest because it's too cold and snowy, and there's little surface water-it was once called "the western desert" in the early 1800s. I can't move too far away from where I am now. I also want to live in a place that has a diversity of agriculture, not just corn and soybeans. The west coast has that, it's just expensive.

It IS cold.

EASTERN Kansas has plenty of surface water.

We have plenty of diversified agriculture, it is just that we are FAMOUS for the corn and soybeans. We do have apples but we will never be famous for them, etc.

Your worry about moving too far away is valid: I recall that at least one of your parents is in poor health? And, it is a LONG ways from California to Kansas. We drove it with a u-haul when we were in our 20's.

Kansas has been good to us, but, it is harder to be there for family. Much, MUCH harder.

Oh.

Edited to add: instead of buying a mobile home at a mobile home park, can you rent it?

[clovis]

Could you amass enough cash to buy a foreclosure house somewhere?

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by Loquisimo

I looked from the Sacramento area all the way to Douglas County, Oregon, and the price for land is about the same. Cheap land seems to either be in a desert or it's vertical.

You can find cheap land in northern Nevada. If you need specific help PM me.

[palani]

You go up to the sheriff and ask if he has any land in his county on his inventory that the tax has not been paid on. Not lots or houses or such. Just odd shaped pieces left by highway projects.

Find a parcel and offer to pay the tax on it.

[Lyra]

You don't need a lot of land to homestead or prepare for SHTF. It is amazing what and how much you can grow on a sliver of land and the mom & pop businesses available to cover the other necessities. I live in the city. All you need is the right amount of sun and prep the soil.

[jacqueg]

About buying an older mobile home in a park - be sure to check out the laws regarding mobile home park tenants rights. Your state's Manufactured Home Association would be able to help you.

When you rent space in a park, you are at the mercy of the park owner. It is not unknown for a park owner to sell the park for development. And there you are, with an older mobile home that may not be acceptable in other mobile home parks.

I agree with the folks who are telling you that you can do a lot on a regular urban/suburban lot. There is something to be said for not needing to travel 30 miles for animal feed, etc. THere is also something to be said for decent neighbors rather than isolation.

[Tricky Grama]

Our 20ac-1/2 wooded-was about 2K ac. TX is hard to take in the summer but easy winters. If you don't need to be real close to a large city, land is not too expensive.

[MaineFarmMom]

Patti Moreno does a lot with gardening and small livestock in an urban area. She has great information on her website and in her videos.

http://gardengirltv.com/

[Jackie]

I have heard over and over again that virginia is the place to buy.

[Loquisimo]

Land prices keep dropping here. Just checked the Sacramento MLS and there are a number of cheap (under $25k) parcels of several acres north of Placerville. It's up in the hills, but not too far away from town. I'll have to check on wells, as some places up in the mountains have problems with groundwater being too deep, like several hundred feet. (That's a big problem east of Oroville, and it requires heavy duty pumps.)

Palani: California law no longer works like that, I believe. Nevada, sure, you can have land for the cost of paying a tax bill, but not here.

Nevada: I actually looked into Nevada for a while, but determined it wasn't feasible. Most counties force you to pay all sorts of fees-that's in lieu of having income taxes, no income tax means that the state has to support itself in other ways-to place a mobile on land. Well fees are several thousand dollars. Nevada also makes it difficult to maintain a small business-the tax code mainly helps the wealthy and the large number of low wage casino workers. Also, the soil in much of the state is too rocky to be of any use to grow anything, and where it isn't, such as the Lahontan Valley, not much will grow. Fallon farmers mainly grow alfalfa. Elko rancho land is pretty much useless.

[palani]

Originally Posted by Loquisimo

California law no longer works like that, I believe.

Are you of the opinion that law comes from the state? If you are not the source of the law then what makes you believe others law is superior?

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by Loquisimo

Nevada: I actually looked into Nevada for a while, but determined it wasn't feasible. Most counties force you to pay all sorts of fees-that's in lieu of having income taxes, no income tax means that the state has to support itself in other ways-to place a mobile on land. Well fees are several thousand dollars. Nevada also makes it difficult to maintain a small business-the tax code mainly helps the wealthy and the large number of low wage casino workers.

Maybe so, but California certainly isn't an improvement over that.

Originally Posted by Loquisimo

Elko rancho land is pretty much useless.

I lived on a "rancho" parcel in Elko for over 3 years. It depends on the lot. Mine was close to pavement and next door to power, but I still got it for $800 (2 acre parcel). I built my cabin on it and sold it 3 years later for $17K when I moved back to Las Vegas. It was worth more but I was selling it from a distance.

I know most of the people who live in that area. It's a small community because Elko mostly grew south into Spring Creek, not east to where the ranchos are. But I expect the Ryndon & Osino areas east of town to really take off before long. I say that because they just completed a rail port at the Osino freeway exit this year.

[PhilJohnson]

Originally Posted by Loquisimo

I'd like it to be someplace where I can practice my trade (computer repair). I don't like the Midwest because it's too cold and snowy, and there's little surface water-it was once called "the western desert" in the early 1800s. I can't move too far away from where I am now. I also want to live in a place that has a diversity of agriculture, not just corn and soybeans. The west coast has that, it's just expensive.

Wisconsin is in the mid-west and it has plenty of surface water. I have to disagree on the diversity of agriculture. There are a lot of different types of veggies and fruits that can be and are grown here. However if you don't like cold and snow it probably isn't a good place for ya. I don't mind it but then again more than one person has given me the nickname Eskimo. Good luck with your search.