How did you afford your land?

It can be done, and this economy provides lots of opportunity to pick up real estate on the cheap. That is how we got our California ranch. And the economy wasn't nearly as bad as this one.

We owned a rental house that we had purchased on a short sale from a bank at below market value, and we (me, since I was a stay at home Mom) fixed it up and rented it out. It was our investment, but my project. We had enough rent coming in to pay the mortgage, taxes, insurance and a little extra to cover repairs. We kept it for 4 years, and all that time the economy improved and the rental house gained equity as the housing market improved.

Meanwhile, we found a beautiful ranch in the mountains. The condition of the improvements was deplorable, but it was a magnificent piece of land, 42 acres with a 10 acre apple orchard, pond, and views for miles. It had been vacant for about 10 years. It was heavily vandalized, and judging by the thousands of beer cans strewn about the place, it was just a matter of time before one of the drunks that partied there let their bonfires burn the entire mountain range.

It took some work, but I tracked down the owners, and we spent the next two years trying to get them to sell it to us. The ranch was not on the market, and we weren't competing with anyone else to purchase the property. It was owned by Hong Kong investors who had failed in their efforts to turn it into a conference center.

Originally, we tried to use a trade of our rental house as part of the purchase price, but they didn't want it. I sold the rental house to my renters. I gave them a deal, since I didn't have to pay a real estate commission. Finally with all that equity now converted to cash in hand, the sellers were ready to sell. Hubby had received a small inheritance, which he applied toward the purchase. He borrowed against his retirement. Being a federal employee, he has the Thrift Savings Plan. Money is deducted from his paycheck each month, and he is paying himself (his retirement plan) 9% interest on that loan, so that benefits him all the way around!

That still left us $10,000.00 short of the purchase price, and we asked the sellers to carry that on one of the 5 parcels that comprised the ranch. We did it that way because if for any reason we defaulted, they could only foreclose on 1 parcel, and not all 5. We scrimped and saved and paid off the mortgage that first year. So we not only bought a ranch in California, but we now own it free and clear.

Because of the condition of the property at the time we bought it, we paid far less for it than the previous owners did. They had a loss of about 2/3ds of the value of the place because they purchased it in great shape. It was a working equestrian ranch when they bought it, and they sold it for land value only because of the terrible condition when we bought it. There are bargains to be had. Pick out several areas where you would love to live, and talk to realtors in each of those areas.

Also, if you find a property that is clearly vacant and horribly neglected, you can look up the owner at the county, and try to negotiate with them directly. That is how we got ours.

Good luck! Let us know what you find!

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I yam what I yam and that's all what I yam.

Popeye

we were fortunate we got our home and land in 1971 for $8,000. Even then we had problems paying for it..but we managed..it was tough sometimes..

i second the United country website when looking for land. Combine that with a land loan from Farm Credit and you'll be good to go. That's what we did.

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"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back..." Maya Angelou

Loquisimo, a young friend of mine advertized her business at all of the local grocery stores. She called her lawn mowing business "Have Mower Will Travel".

She asked at ALL of the local stores if she could leave a stack of business cards at the checkout, and several people picked up her cards and called her.

Then there is the grocery store bulletin board, the feed store bulletin board, the pet shop bulletin board.....

A lot of us middle-aged people grew up without computers. They simply were not available. We have learned how to use them but we are pretty darn weak on how to FIX them when something goes wrong!

Your business idea is a good one, though the competition from your competitors might be stiff!

We moved to where we could afford it. Our priority was being debt-free, and that clarified a LOT of things for us early on. It's very, very difficult to be debt free while living in an area with a high daily cost of living and inflated real estate prices.

You do what you have to to meet your goals, or you adjust your goals. Our goal was to be debt free and live relatively self-sufficiently -- which required giving up some other things that we would have LIKED to have had -- like living nearby family (none of whom want the same things we do, at least, not yet ).

Set your priorities, and accept the rest -- if your priority is living in a specific area, and land prices are out of reach for you, then accept that you won't be able to own land, or rethink your priorities.

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Ignorance is the true enemy.

I've seen the village, and I don't want it raising my children.

www.newcenturyhomestead.com

I think that I'm just in the wrong business. It seems that PCs are so cheap now that people just toss them and buy new when anything goes wrong. My mom told me that when she was a little girl (1950s) there were repair shops for virtually everything, watches, appliances, radios and TVs. Now all those are just throwaway items.

It seems that people just want a PC to work, and when it doesn't they call a few guys who are mostly morons, then they simply toss it and get a new one. And if you check Sacramento Craigslist, the competition for PC repair guys is HORRIBLE! There are dozens of them! A lot of them are out of work tech guys who have no hopes of finding another job and bills to pay and families to feed.

So they are competing to see how low they can go. The IT industry was built upon contract workers, but with this latest depression there are no contracts, and guys who hopped from contract to contract for 15 years are now broke and desperate.

My local congressperson got a grant from Obama for our local community colleges to teach "green skills"-solar panel installation, biodiesel engines, green building architecture and design. I may get certified as a solar panel installer. It seems to be the latest thing. It would take me about a calendar year to get the certification. Then I would start my own solar consulting business.

If that worked, I might start my own homestead consulting business, because people will have realized that the food supply is fragile. Lots of people will be wondering how to farm, raise chickens, etc.

I suspect that by the time a year is up, the population in your area will have reached equilibrium. Things *WILL* be financially tight, but you are surrounded by city folk and raising food will be the last thing they will probably try.

They will try saving more money first: is it possible for solar panels to pay for themselves within a year? City folk usually value affordable electricity and saving money more than they value tomatos.

If you do not believe me, look at your block. The economy was BAD last summer, but, how many of your neighbors are raising vegetables?

On the GOOD side, the neighbors who stay will be the frugal ones with life skills. You might find more work than you figure.

There is no law saying you have to choose between them: advertize your computer skills locally, and ALSO learn about solar power. Then advertize your computer skills locally and try to find a job in solar power: being independant is lovely but so is a steady paycheck and insurance. Build your business on weekends, and you will know when or if your business is successfull enough to quit your other job.

What about diversifying your computer skills? I don't know how good your skills are or what you can do but my step-dad is a computer guy (he's actually a certified CPA too). He lost his job with the economy. He now is free-lance. He makes most of his money now working for companies on a consulting basis. Mostly he writes custom programs to keep track of their inventories or make payroll more efficient, things like that. Not knowing your skills I can't say but many many companies let their positions in their full time staff go but still have needs and might be very happy to get someone that they could contract with for only one specific job, it's worth checking around.

I wouldn't mess too much with people actually wanting to start raising their own vegetables and chickens, the economy is going to bounce back, we aren't heading into an apocalypse (don't visit too many homesteading sites/boards or you may get the wrong idea on this). BUT solar is something that can be going places and you could always do solar consulting along with your computer consulting. Something the down economy has provided is a wake up call to some people on diversifying income streams. Always good to have more then one!

Now that I think about, I did see a couple start a "farming" business in Portland, Oregon (about 2 hours from me). Basically for something like $200 a month they would come out to the backyard, design a "micro-farm", then plant, care, and pick city folks basically back yard garden. This was not really to save the home owners money but let them produce their own food (kinda). Last I read they were doing very well and had a waiting list, I'll have to track down that article.

As to your situation now. Autistic or not, we've all had problems, we've all been on the bottom, we've all had mountains to over come. You can't spend your time worrying about what could have happened or what you should have done or what could have been different. Take where you are at this moment and work from there. That's all any of us can do. If you have to live by this doctor, you have to live by this doctor, I can respect that. Only you can decide what is important for you.

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Idleness is leisure gone to seed

Our first 40 acres came this way.Knew there was going to be a Auction of farm land so went to bank and you are right only a few bank loan on land.Should have started search a little earlier.Found out about FHA bank it is a land bank and ag bank,they told me i needed 10% down.At the time i was willing to pay 1200.00$ per acre so made sure i could get 10% out of my 401K a little over 5000.00$ got lnd then whent to FHA got paper work and loan then payed all i could for four years payed down 20,000 on it and then used this for cllateral to buy 40 more acres at a better interest rate at local bank that made farm loans.They allways did i just did not check there at the time.All total 80 acres for 600.00 a month for 17 years.

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If you are still mowing the grass then the garden needs to be bigger

I bought a five acre plot that was all hillside and trees with a very old mobile home on it. Lived there six years, sold it and bought a small house in town, lived there three years; sold it and bought the place we now have. We have lived here 13 years this month; it is just a couple of months from payoff.

Sometimes to reach your dream you have to go up some steps.

I have heard Calf. Land is outrageous, I think look for a new doctor and move.
But that is easy for me to say, I wouldn’t live on the west coast if you gave me the land.

I had a great job for 18 months out of college, made a ton of cash and bought my 120 acres. Was good money but I hated everyday of work.

We are relatively 'old' and in 2002 had $$ from my mom's estate and DH's mom died the yr b/4 & left a little $$, Took some out of funds that were not doing well (market not good then) and bought our 20 ac for 40K cash.

Patty

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My book is out! Go 'like' it on FB:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Goo...83553391747680

See, now this is the BEST way.

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My book is out! Go 'like' it on FB:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Goo...83553391747680

Family Farm, I got it from my grand daddy & I am passing it on to my grand son ...,, skipping a generation every time I am #3 so far.

I would ask your doctor if he knows of other doctors who follow his regimen. It might open up some areas for you in different areas of the country....unless it requires medicinal herbs.