What will the next big homesteading state be?

I don't have an AC unit here either. There are a few days when I wish I had one, but usually only just a few days are that bad. To me, anything over 85 is uncomfortable.

__________________
-Paul

"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." -Red Green

yea, but how long does your winter last, when is your first freeze, when is your last freeze, how many months out of the year do you use your furnace each area has trade offs.

my father is from middle tennessee and still owns his family farm. in the summer, they only avg about 3 degrees higher than us here in indiana. but in the winter, they average 15 degrees warmer.

get away from the heat and humidity (here in the middle USA) and you trade it for incredibly long and cold winters. er, I lived in traverse city for 2 years (150 in of snow a year, they set a record for 3 months with no sunshine in the winter, long very dreary winters). my parents were in upper wisconsin by the lake for one summer doing volunteer work. they wore a jacket to watch the 4th of july fireworks ! I dunno, I've always felt like I'd be happiest in a climate like england's. pretty cool and rainy. but I can't afford to live in either san francisco or seattle

I think Maine would probably have winters that were just a bit too long for me to be comfortable with. The Pacific northwest would be too rainy and dreary for me, I think.

I live in the southeast so I am familiar with high heat and humidity and very long summers.

Ideally, I would like, as does everyone else! 4 distinct seasons, warm but not swelteringly hot in the summer and snow in the winter but not 150" and -40 degrees for weeks on end. I love Ohio, Pennsylvania and parts of rural New York and Illinois, and most of Colorado and the higher elevations of Nevada, but they all have high taxes and cost of living, and most of them are so restrictive in terms of what you can and cannot have or do that I have had to cross them off my list of potential places to live someday. I don't want to live somewhere I have to have permits and building inspectors to build a henhouse or build a porch or shed or replace a toilet.

I guess there are just so very many people these days, multiplying exponentially, that no matter where you go, there is going to be someone right next to you.

We have about one week of -5 to -10 and maybe two or three cold snaps where it holds -1 to -5. We get weekly snow dumps of 4 to 8 inches, then during each week most of the snow melts off before the next dump. In the last three years, we had one snow storm that dumped 12 inches.

Winter does last a long time though. Generally from November/December [sometimes we do not get snow until January] until April.

It is not nearly as cold as Scotland [where I lived for eight years], and not as wet as Washington much drier.

The problem with maine is the boom/bust economy. The weather is not unlike where I'm at in northern pa. The coast kinda moderates the cold quite a bit. Back to the previous point. In most of Maine the economy is based on tourists. So the jobs available are seasonal/shorter term. Because of this you as an outsider are not real likely to get a well paying long term position. Now that said. The economy in maine is booming right now. Their are jobs to be had. But how long will is last? The state goes though cycles of prosperity it seems every 20 years or so. New money moves in. They bring up the property values. They find local work. Their income goes down. Then a cold Nor'easter Blows. They run back to the warm place they came from. The money dries up. The area stagnates. Property values sink. Then it's once again cheap to move there. So the cycle repeats.

P.S. It's been really mild in the Northeast for the last almost 20 years. My family in Downeast, Say it's been good even in January. I remember as a kid (80's) Winters that it didn't stop snowing and howling for 3 months. When my uncle cut standing dead to keep the house warm in Febuary. Everyone asked "WHY did you cut them off so high (5')?" That was the depth of the snow pack .

Now he's 7 mile to the ocean. So you that live farther inland........ Don't expect the weather to stay so mild. They built those barns connected to the house for a reason .

I do not live on the coast. So around here we see no tourism. A little forestry, a little industry, a little farming, a lot of retirees.

Land prices are low, taxes are low, and wages are fairly low.

Some folks work seasonal jobs, other work year around. From what I can tell the guys who work seasonally do so on purpose. They get into that lifestyle.

My understanding is that many years ago, they did get huge deep snow pile-up and the rivers all froze over. But that mostly stopped about the same time as when they brought in asphalt on the roads. Some of the old folks talk about those days, pre-depression.

Many towns try very hard to resist box stores moving in, and they try to not allow corporations to move in.

I have been able to buy woodlot, build a house and support my family on my pension. This year I have begun marketing eggs and veggies at an organic farmer's market.

A fellow can do this and keep his property taxes under $50/year.

I think the next big homestead state won't be a state at all. It'll be somewhere like Guatemala or Panama. Especially with NAIS.

Maine is a good state. I love it up there. But Will your family be able to stay in the area? All my cousins moved as they could only find low pay work even with collage degrees. I was making double without a degree here in PA.

As for the taxes..... Your property taxes are low but you have Sales,income, and personal property or stuff tax. Which can be avoided if you own little and make nothing and don't shop.

I hope not. But it really seems as if freedom is being lost daily.

Chuck, you may be exactly right. When DH & I were searching for our land he wanted to look very hard at Belize. I simply do not have the sense of adventure that he does. I figured I would have enough on my plate by transitioning to "farm life/self suffiency" that I didn't want to add learning a new language, customs, etc to the list. Call me crazy but I just couldn't go that far from everything I know. Maybe when I was younger, but not now.

We also looked very hard at Nova Scotia. Yes, there would have been some language and customs issues, but it is part of an industrialized country - many more known fctors.

We finally decided on Eastern Kentucky. Right, wrong or indifferent we plan to carve our farm out of raw land. We will have some customs issues - every area of the country has their own unique customs, and at times we may have a language issue - or at least a comprehension issue. We hear and speak Midwestern USA English and will need to tune ourselves into the regional dialect.

We chose KY for the 4 seasons, low taxes, low crime rate and slow economy. Yes. We purosely chose a slow economy. I will certainly struggle with the heat and humidity, but coming from the very dry west I was going to have that struggle just about anywhere we went. My thoughts are "millions of people do it every day I will just need to get used to it."

Additionally, we chose this area because we could get so much bang for our buck. After living in Wyoming for 30 is years we knew we needed space. We made several "land hunting" trips over the last 4 years and knew what we were looking for. We knew we did not want a place that had neighbors close by. We looked at many great peices of property that were more like little towns - five or six or more houses all together within a quarter of a mile or so - presumably at the confluence of the various property lines. This to us was a "neighborhood" not living in the country. Again, this is coming from a Wyoming perspective, where you can drive for 40 or 50 miles and only see one or two houses. Anyhow, we purchased 180 acres in Kentucky for less than we could buy 40 acres in Wyoming. I am sure we won't "farm" the entire 180, but we will use it for privacy.

I got a bit OT - sorry. I do think that looking outside of the US for a homestead is a great option for a lot of people. It will grow in popularity as long as the world political conditions allow. As long as political conditions are strained I think Canada, Australia and New Zealand look the best ~ just my HO.

Anne
CGR

Cold is always easier to deal with than heat, for me. I love snow and I own three snowmobiles. I will take zero over 90 any time. You can always bundle up to get comfortable, but you can only take so much off without getting arrested in summer. The drawbacks are that heat can get expensive and the growing season is shorter. At least I don't have the expense of AC. My mom in Southern IL is already harvesting some things in her garden before I am even planted.

I like crisp cold weather, but not damp, 40 degree transitional weather. I rarely get sick when it is fridgid out but can if it is in the 30's-40's and damp. I always know if I am fighting a bug because that is the only time that I feel the cold.

Unfortunately, our winters have not been good lately: too warm and not enough snow. I waited all winter for a good snow base and we didn't get it really until the first week of March. I hope this coming winter we fare better.

Anyway, it is good that lots of suckers like hot climates. I wouldn't them all moving here! ;-)

__________________
-Paul

"If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." -Red Green

What is land going for now? How long are the winters? How much snow do you get? How much does the sun shine? If all is good, I may be heading that way!

West Virginia is cheap, water is plentiful, there are plenty of areas with no restrictions. Lots of gardens, farms, etc. But they tax you on every thing you own - every building, tractor, ATV, car, implement...

__________________
Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Households in Maine enjoyed a higher net worth (Maine ranked 13th among the states),
... more small business ownership (9th)
... and lower debt (3rd in median installment debt) than most Americans, then most states.

I just transfered our last car from Ct to Me plates, the excise tax cost me $5, and the plates were $20. These 'high' costs are killing me.

I do not understand your question. I bought land here in 2005. Is that too long ago?

I paid $900/acre for riverfrontage, my inlaws paid $350/acre with no riverfrontage. We are 7 minutes from the freeway, 20 minutes from a city with an international airport / military base / shopping mall / etc.

We seem to get our first snow in January, and we have weekly storms through March then maybe a bit just to linger on until the first of May.

Most of those storms will dump anywhere from 4 inches to 8 inches of snow.

My first winter here I did not use our snow shovel. This last winter I did use it. We had one storm which dropped about 12 inches of snow. The roads are always cleared within one hour after each storm.

Been considering purchasing land down in Panama. Prices are very reasonable, great growing season; it's a place DH and I would likely retire to in a few years.

__________________
Joy at Secretplace Farm

So long as land costs less than $300/acre than it is cheap

To bad to hear about the taxes though.

Here they charge a tax on vehicles that go on the roads, but none on off-road vehicles.

If you don't mind me asking, how many acres did you buy at $950? I know the more acres you buy the cheaper per acre in most places. I am not going to be able to afford 100+ acres no matter if it is 300$/acre.

Oops! With the homestead exemption I pay zero tax on my 10 acres with the house and 4 outbuildings. I do pay under $10 for my animal tax, but could cancel that if I wanted to give up my tax exempt card for farm purchases.

Ok is homestead friendly.

__________________
.
.

Quote:
Originally Posted by georgec
I just moved to Southeast Oklahoma, mostly because I could afford a bigger chunk of land here than just about anywhere else. I bought 60 acres for $134k, had a 1820 sq foot home built for $95. ... .



Ha, ha, and here I was thinking, wow, that's really cheap!