I live in Chenango County which is one of the poorest in the state. My taxes are really low compared to everyone else that ever posts on this board. I'm not sure if it is because we are in Chenango County or because we are off the grid. But I'm not going to ask anyone.
What I did was to look for properties that nobody else wanted. Our house was a hunting camp, no electric, no phone, no running water, on a dirt road in the state land. So we got it pretty cheap with owner financing too.
My girlfriend recently bought a house (big two story one with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms) on 5 acres, with a real nice pond on a dirt road for $70,000. She did have to put a new furnace in it. It had also been used for hunting camp for many, many years. Most of her neighbors are hunting camps, as are mine.
This is an area of farmland, the dirt is good and very good for gardens and livestock. I have lived in several different states in my life, traveled the whole country in a over the road truck. But no place was prettier than the green mountains and thick trees of PA & NY. Even now, I go out to my backyard and it is so green, it almost hurts your eyes. In the whole time we have lived in this house (7 years now), even in times of drought for other parts of the state, we haven't had one. We use a handdug well for water and have never had it low or muddy.
I have discovered you can look for years for the "perfect" homestead, or you can buy what you can afford or find, and make that the "perfect" homestead for you and your family.
Here is a link for our local pennysaver, which has many ads from realtors:
Norwich Pennysaver.
katlupe
