what do you look for when buying your first homestead land
 

my soon to be wife and I are going to look at several pieces of land this weekend in hopes that one of them will be perfect for our homestead dreams to take root. these pieces size wise are excellent ranging from 23-45 acres. other then a few animals( a pair of horses, rabits, ducks or chickens, and maybe a couple goats) we dont plan to have to many animals. what kind of features do you think we should keep an eye out for? things youd like to see there, or maybe things to watch out for.

watch out for open areas that get high wind. wind can be bad in places. we also watch water, flooding can be problem.

treed land often has better soil than cleared.

Check the soil survey maps here; http://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm

Also check the local town planning and zoning offices to see if there are any ordinances against whatever you want to do.

If its zoned residential there might be some restrictions. And, before you make an offer, see what the town valuations for the property are. Those are based on comparable property sales so will give you an idea if the asking price is way out there. You dont wanna pay too much and help push up the taxes.

Need more information

Do you plan to just have "upscale country living" where you commute to a job in the city but yet have a few acres to putter around on and keep horses, or do you intend to survive there with a degree of self-sufficiency and go "full hillbilly" off-the-grid?

Ive owned my place...well ok the bank owns it. Im making payments. ....but I have occupied it since aug of 92. The only thing I was thinking when I bought it was it was 80 acres, and it was cheap.

If I had it to do over, I would choose land that is more fertil, more maple trees, and consider property tax costs..

i guess the answer would be somewhat a combination of the 2. we do plan to continue to commute to work( the land were looking at is only a 30min commute) but we also intend to have as much off the grid, self sufficiency as possible. we realize this will take time to obtain but that will be the end goal.

thank you for that soil site. good information there. would these results be something good? Name Area Symbol Data Availability Version
Penobscot County, Maine ME614 Tabular and Spatial, complete
Survey Area: Version 11, Feb 15, 2012
Tabular: Version 9, Feb 15, 2012
Spatial: Version 7, Feb 1, 2012

The first questions we asked were

Legal vehicle access to the property.
Documented survey to identify legal boundries.
Plans for development of neighboring properties
Water/mineral rights
Zoning restrictions
Legality of hunting and shooting ON the property

Funny that the last criteria was the single most important one in terms of making the property desirable to us. Not so much that shooting was important per say, but rather the remoteness of the property that permited shooting to be legal.

I will add, try and meet any neighbors if possible.. A lot of times, they can tell you a whole lot about the land you are looking at, and area.

Here the "water" thing works both ways. Sure, we don't want a house in a creek bottoms, but it is not uncommon here to have drought in the later part of the summer and early fall. Most people have deep wells, but in a rural area, trees falling in wind/thunder storms may have the electric lines down for a week.

If it is July or August, and there has been little rain, one wants to make sure they have access to some surface water, preferably "live" water like a creek or spring that doesn't go dry. Non-electric water availability is one of the first things we look for here. It may not be the same in the Great Lake states.

Mineral rights, right-of-ways across the land, deeps soil and land fertility (at least in some area close to the dwelling), clear title, etc.

That all depends upon your plans for the future. When I began my search I looked for a moderate climate, someplace where plants and critters thrive without irrigation, a long enough growing season to be able to plant and harvest garden stuff. I also wanted some wooded land, stream if possible. With my plans south central Ky became my target area, and then it was just a matter of finding a farm that was affordable.

Lots of variables because people all like different things, but here goes:

Seclusion: I like living "out there" where there are few if any neighbors. This means getting a fairly large hunk of land, or a chunk that is strategically located.

Well treed yard. A park like yard adds to the pleasure of living. Birdlife, wildlife. It is what makes me tick.

A nice mix of open productive areas with good soil, and woodlands. The open areas for farm production, the woodlands for hunting, firewood, lumber, grazing, gleaning berries and nuts from, trapping. A mix of open and wooded provides ideal habitat for all manner of game, and should keep your larder well stocked.

WATER: You need a reliable, good quality source of water. This is one of the highest priorities.

Soil: Deep topsoil with few rocks. High quality soil, not soil that takes half your time clearing of rocks, and MAKING productive. It should be naturally productive.

Beware old fences, old wells, old fallen in buildings. They are an eyesore, they are dangerous for kids, they are hard on machinery. Find bare land that is not littered with ancient farm paraphanelia.

Hunting: To be able to hunt on your own property, you need a fair bit of land. If hunting is important to you, get lots of land so you can control it and its game productivity.

You need a decent town within reasonable distance. There will always be something you may need to run to grab. You need a place that sells feed, medications, staples, and other supplies. This is the one unfortunate aspect of farm life. The days one must go to town. lol

Climate: This is important. Irrigation is no fun, not enough heat is no fun. Too much rain is aweful. Too much heat is oppressive. Long cold winters are doable if the above needs are met, and make the summer that much more magical. A productive soil needs a productive climate. A cold enough winter to alleviate pests is great. ;)

These are some of my criteria. Granted, I love my seclusion, I love my space. I love my wild meat. I hope these ideas may be of some help...

Fair enough. Things do take time. :)

Property taxes are going to be a big thing. Hard to be "self-sufficient" if you've got a $6,000 a year property tax to pay.

Soil is good, but not as a tradeoff of price or bad location. You can always make better soil, but you can't move a 400 head hog-farm upstream from you.

If I had it to do over, I'd look for property with a little more elevation in it than what I have now. There's about a 4' rise from one end of my property to the other, which isn't enough to really have gravity water systems into the areas I need.

I'd draw out what you want your homestead to look like in terms of living space, outbuildings, water and power, etc. and then try to fit that on a piece of property.

I see that your in Maine :)

I settled in one of Maine's Unorganized Townships. The majority of Maine townships are UTs [52% of Maine towns are UTs].

I totally recommend that you focus on UTs.

We have 146 acres in 'Treegrowth' land-use tax status. I recommend that you buy treegrowth land. Property taxes are very low with Treegrowth, and you can still do many things with the land.



To anyone else I always first say for them to avoid Drought-prone regions. But your in Maine, so you will never be effected by water-shortage. :)



In our township, there are three homesteads already off-grid. Talking with them, we do not have enough wind to spin a windmill for power, unless it is on a 150' tower.

92% of Maine is forest. If your windmill is at 40' tall, it will never bite enough wind to make it worth the effort. Unless you are up on a ridge.



UTs have no zoning. Zoning is for urban areas. :)

When you buy land here, you get 100% of the water and mineral rights.
I have never heard of anyone around here with limits on shooting, hunting and trapping on their own land.



Good point.

Treegrowth land in a UT here costs $1.05/acre in taxes.

100 acres costs $105.

:)

I've "homesteaded " in a number of places. For me-the soil is number one. Then look at the things you just can't tolerate.-example- I'm having a hard time with the heat,never did when I was younger. Now it makes me sick, I try to keep hydrated,but that is only good for 2 hours max. Our house insurance-no rottweilers, no woodstove, no wood cookstove,no "tripping" hazards...I can handle snakes,but not spiders-Dh is the opposite. Most people want to be near - other people,not me, I don't even like the phone and could care less about leaving the farm, unless ofcourse it's to go someplace like the livestock auction,but would rather ( i'm thinkin here)---- than go visit or attend something like a wedding. You need to write down a list, and think about your future, I planted fruit trees in pots and took them everywhere we moved, finaly left behind the trees and the EX.

Even though there as been a ton of helpful responses already I'll add my two cents.

I would recommend writing down things that are important to you and develop a scorecard with a spreadsheet. Take this along and score the properties as you look at them. It's tempting to think you'll remember everything - but you probably won't if you're like me. I remember the things I want to remember and that's it.

Items on your scorecard might include (in addition to what people said above);
Home (future home) Southern Expose (1=poor / 5=Great)
Northern wind block (1/5)
Water Access -
Shallow Well (1/5)
Pond (1/5)
Creek (1/5)
Berry Plants (1/5)
Hardwood Trees (maple syrup?) 1/5)
No Invasive Species (we have Buckthorn in MN) (1/5)
Privacy (1/5)
Top Soil Condition (1/5)
Taxes (1/5)

You get the idea. Good luck and let us know if you find a property you like.

Let me add more things - get on google maps and take a good look on what's around you - behind all those nice trees over the hill could be a pig farm that can knock your socks off when the wind is in the wrong direction - when you find a place that you think you like - spend some time riding around the place at different times - and yes as already suggested - stop in to see a neighbor or two - tell them that your thinking of buying the place up the road and would appreciate their thoughts on the purchase -

Deeded access. We bought land with Forest Service on all sides that allowed us to travel to our property using Forest Service roads. When that Forest Service land sold to a lumber company, we had to get an attorney and buy the right to travel those same roads to our land. It took some time and back-and-forthing, but we have it now. Wish we'd have worked it out to begin with! Might've been cheaper and less nerve-wracking!

thanks for all the help, ive made a list of many of these thoughts and will use them to access the parcels we look at. tomorrow is the big day and im so excited. its almost like being a little kid coming downstairs Christmas morning in anticipations of whats to come :)

We looked for land for about 6 years before we found one we could really see ourselves living forever on. Our biggest priorities were:
- Acreage. We had to have at least 10 acres to be able to raise the produce and livestock that we expect to have someday.
- Scenery. We wanted beauty. Rolling hills, healthy forest, flower-filled meadows.
- Cheap. It's not worth it if you have to sign your life away to get it.
- Private. We've had some lousy neighbors and some total creepers - no neighbors is always better than the alternative.
- Water. Good drainage and a place for water to accumulate like a pond or ditch. We would have loved to be on a lake or river, but geez was that expensive.

We contemplated settling. We found many properties that had several things we wanted and one or two that we didn't. It would have been so easy to try overlooking the bad parts and just get going finally. I'm glad we held out and took our time, though. And I'm glad we took our time getting to build on it because now we've seen it through some pretty harsh seasons. We know where the sun tracks. We know where the rain runs off. We know where the wild animals come through. We know where the wind blows.

I guess I'm just trying to say take it easy. Go slow. It's worth waiting for "the right one" when it comes to buying land. It's out there. Good luck. :)

Here is story about people who bought near an old mining operation.
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/22383...-too-slow.html

Not very good for them.

Well it looks like we may have found the spot. 41acers, a nice "camp" to start out on, well and holding tank already in place. Very excited. Gotta do a little leg work on water and soil test and deed research before final decision is made but looks promising