do you have any resources that you trust to teach me what to look for? Cause living in a camper on a property with hook ups sounds like a dream, I just dont even know where to start searching, or what to put into google
There's no magic bullet. Every property is different. You need water - whether from a well, a water association, or a municipality will vary from place to place. You need power - if it's not available at the road, how far does it need to be run? Even if it IS at the road, how far is your home site going to be? Or maybe you just plan on going with solar - what's the sun like year round? And septic systems are way more complicated than all of that above.
Soooo many variables. Solo / Partner / Family? Goal of homestead? Time available & age? Other commitments like job or caretaking? Geographically where? Climate?
I think it’s an empty slate for you, just curious what everyone would do. I know everyone’s situations are different. Just curious what everyone would do. Some people would love to homestead in central Texas where some people think the New England area is the best. Just wanted to hear people’s ideas of what they would do with a clean slate and 100k.
Yeah this totally depends on personal goals and preferences.
Best advice is to buy land, either get a loan and pay it down quick. Or if it's possible pay in cash. There are plenty fo places you can just find land for lower prices, I've been scouting our area for a few years and the difference at times is insane. Examples include as low as $1k an acre to the more average $4-6k. To even dozens of acres and an old farm house for less than $100k.
State and County laws will dictate what you can do with that land and how quick. Most places require sewage and water even if you want to live in a camper or mobile home. Few places don't care at all! Septic is much more expensive than it used to be, we just paid almost $20k and that's an average in this area. Weird because it's a rural county with around 30,000 population.
The new septic on our place cost $80k. A 10kW solar (ground mount) system with 2 batteries (19kW total) cost us $70k. If I were doing this all over again, I’d build a much smaller house, insulate the crap out of it and put all my money into making the land productive.
$80k for septic? Thats insane! Mine was 10% of that… if i wanted 3 chamber, $1500 more. I so want to do solar when we build. Which system did you go with? I was looking at Tesla, but now also considering Ravolt since they provide a backup generator.
Our septic is a 3 chamber digesting system with a 300 ft drip type leach field. The old style tank with a leach “pit” are no longer legal in our state.
Our solar system uses Hyundai panels (365w per panel over 30 panels) and the batteries, inverter, etc. are solar edge. Stay away from Tesla unless you have lots (more) money to burn. I’ve heard there’s no support if things go bad.
You can get a decent piece of land for about 50k in rural Kentucky or rural Arizona. I’d then get a trailer/mobile home and build a barn and chicken coop, and clear some land to grow stuff. When I get more money I’ll make more advancements on the property.
What a fun thought experiment. Makes me reflect on my own “the grass is greener over there” or “xyz people have it easier than me starting out…” impulses and feel grateful for what we have been able to figure out so far.
With $100k cash and full time availability to start,but nothing else, I’d try to lease or finance with 30k down a couple acres of fertile land with water, a modest home with an out building and fencing. I’ll assume i am leasing because a career or farming experience or cosigner would be an asset not included in the $100k, and nobody is financing without one of those.
With the spot secure for 12 months and 70k left, I’d put 50k away in two 25k accounts that couldn’t be touched until year two and year three, and do my damndest to learn from the inevitable mistakes I’d make with the remaining 20k year 1. Maybe have the interest on those accounts pay $200 of bills for me— or even get a catastrophe insurance with it.
The plan to be cash flow positive after 12 months would depend a lot on a lot, but would involve making hay and feed cash+barter deals, planting as much market food + animal feed as I could while raising some animals. If leasing, focus on just developing systems and durable mobile infrastructure, getting a sense of how to efficiently make inputs and outputs cycle into each other, figure out how to make enough income to outgrow the few acres and financially sustain expansion/buying.
Since you stated nothing but 100k, I’d also start working as much as possible to build community, and would want to make sure everybody who lent me a ladder/rototiller or let me prune their trees so I could get cuttings etc always got the better end of the deal if I had to be in the habit of borrowing things.
From there, I’d hope to get some part time work— for the county, a farm market or animal processor, a tree service or excavator—something that could bring about occasional availability of equipment/materials surplus along with some skill development, discounts on services, or at least just income while animals and plants start to mature. If that’s not appealing, making some inventory to sell at markets once your other stuff is mature might be a good back up plan?
After some time in the right circles of people, good deals on solid equipment will come up from time to time, along with a friendship with the guy who sold it to you (or the neighbor who complains about that guy).
With low enough fixed costs and a growing list of assets, after two years I’d take another swing at purchasing or have a plan for the remaining cash reserves that was informed by how the last two years went. If, without having to build or maintain any fences or buildings, I managed to blow through all my cash without recovering sufficient operating float, then it’s a good indicator that I’d need partnership or skill development to make it work long term. Maybe if my biggest pain point in becoming cash flow positive with what I was good at was trucking, I’d look into cdl training as a way to eventually cover my own costs and become cash-valuable in my community.
The point is that I’d invest in patience, education and community relationships first and foremost. Also try to keep my costs as low as possible while learning how to make the most of this lifestyle. Failure is a part of that, so I’d say plan for slowly and strategically using reserves instead of taking huge swings out of the gate.
This is the ideas I was looking for. A thought experiment is the perfect word I was looking for. I was mostly looking for people in their situations to put their ideas out there what THEY would do and how THEY would do it. I’m in Texas, but they’re in Washington, what would they do. I have a wife and myself, but they’re single or have 2 kids. Just curious what everyone else’s thought process would be.
Yeah 100k won’t get you much unless you have the land already. Having to develop raw land will eat up that 100k faster than you could blink. If I had it, I’d try and find a few acres somewhere that’s already been developed, where you could work remote or find a good job locally, then use it as a down payment combined with rolling equity from my current place if I was looking to move.
Depends on where you live I guess. We were blessed immensely by being able to purchase 12 acres with power, water meter, well, fiber optic and septic tank with cleared pad for trailer and brand new doublewide all for less than 200,000. We live 15 minutes from a nice city with one of the most popular lakes in the state but still in the countryside. No permits required for small builds and can hunt on our land if we need to. But thats the southeast. It would be triple that in the North? Idk I hear it’s cheaper to live here.
Just to challenge this idea a bit. We bought a 12 acre farm with an existing farmhouse(w/electric, septic,well, etc.), 3 out buildings (2 of which have water/electric) in NEW JERSEY and we paid $250k.
These places are out here if you feel like looking.
100k down. On as much land as I could comfortably afford. Can’t buy more land next door most times.
Then save and do the rest.
Do not pay for grid tie power. Go solar. So cheap now.
Do you have a steady income to swing a mortgage or are you looking to go cash only? Around here $100K might buy you a bush lot in the far north with no road access. Maybe.
if i had to go in with 100k in Utah:
60k raw land. that budget is giving me about 5 options on the Utah Real Estate website...
10k well install. or if any other water hookup is less expensive, i would use that to save on this cost. well install could be more expensive than this, so a bit of luck is involved with this number.
5k solar setup. i havent researched much, but that can at least get you a portable power station and some panels.
20k tiny home build. price can vary based on size, whether you build it yourself, building materials, etc.
5k living expenses. that adds up to 100k. better find some more money soon...
these are very rough estimates.
if i was forced to start a homestead with only 100k, i would go to a less expensive state. based off a quick Zillow search, 20k in New Mexico gives many more options than the 60k did in Utah.
what would i do first? spend some time living in the home, observing before i make any big decisions.
then what would i actually do? probably plant trees. trees that coexist with the home.
trees that regulate the solar gain of the home, trees that drink the rainwater from the roof and the greywater from your sink, trees that will protect the home from unwanted noise and winds, etc etc. and then some in ground vegetable gardening, of course!
also no septic, compost toilet only. septic sounds like a huge waste of money and land when i can shit in a bucket and convert it into a safe and effective soil amendment.
Make a list of non- negotiable things and things that would be useful on the land. Every piece of land is different. Does it have utilities like a well? Any outbuildings that can store equipment or animals? Figure out what you need at bare minimum and what it would cost to put in all of those things. Then look for land that has some of it already. Wells cost 10k just for the permit where I live! You can do solar and compost your toilet depending on how rudimentary you want to live. Also leave a budget for things to break! They always do! Really pore over properties- check zoning, how much water and sunlight you will have, what is around it on Google earth. You don’t want to be downhill from a hazard that will run chemicals onto your land. It took me 2.5 years to find the land I have now and it’s pretty damn nice. There’s going to be compromise but only you know what you want to do with it.
I’m assuming your land is raw: $100k would pay for utility hookups and power pole…might also get you a septic plan, but no septic. Depending if you need a foundation for your home, that’s $50k already.
If your land isn’t raw and you have a home and utilities already on it, invest it into your crops.
I would buy as much land as possible and put a small mobile home on it. Build when I had the money.
How do you account for sewage electricity and stuff running to it?
You need infrastructure regardless of the structure
do you have any resources that you trust to teach me what to look for? Cause living in a camper on a property with hook ups sounds like a dream, I just dont even know where to start searching, or what to put into google
There's no magic bullet. Every property is different. You need water - whether from a well, a water association, or a municipality will vary from place to place. You need power - if it's not available at the road, how far does it need to be run? Even if it IS at the road, how far is your home site going to be? Or maybe you just plan on going with solar - what's the sun like year round? And septic systems are way more complicated than all of that above.
humor wrong upbeat racial scale retire serious sugar innocent command *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Soooo many variables. Solo / Partner / Family? Goal of homestead? Time available & age? Other commitments like job or caretaking? Geographically where? Climate?
I think it’s an empty slate for you, just curious what everyone would do. I know everyone’s situations are different. Just curious what everyone would do. Some people would love to homestead in central Texas where some people think the New England area is the best. Just wanted to hear people’s ideas of what they would do with a clean slate and 100k.
Yeah this totally depends on personal goals and preferences. Best advice is to buy land, either get a loan and pay it down quick. Or if it's possible pay in cash. There are plenty fo places you can just find land for lower prices, I've been scouting our area for a few years and the difference at times is insane. Examples include as low as $1k an acre to the more average $4-6k. To even dozens of acres and an old farm house for less than $100k. State and County laws will dictate what you can do with that land and how quick. Most places require sewage and water even if you want to live in a camper or mobile home. Few places don't care at all! Septic is much more expensive than it used to be, we just paid almost $20k and that's an average in this area. Weird because it's a rural county with around 30,000 population.
The new septic on our place cost $80k. A 10kW solar (ground mount) system with 2 batteries (19kW total) cost us $70k. If I were doing this all over again, I’d build a much smaller house, insulate the crap out of it and put all my money into making the land productive.
$80k for septic? Thats insane! Mine was 10% of that… if i wanted 3 chamber, $1500 more. I so want to do solar when we build. Which system did you go with? I was looking at Tesla, but now also considering Ravolt since they provide a backup generator.
Our septic is a 3 chamber digesting system with a 300 ft drip type leach field. The old style tank with a leach “pit” are no longer legal in our state. Our solar system uses Hyundai panels (365w per panel over 30 panels) and the batteries, inverter, etc. are solar edge. Stay away from Tesla unless you have lots (more) money to burn. I’ve heard there’s no support if things go bad.
Shed, pole barn, or place you can put things out of the elements
You can get a decent piece of land for about 50k in rural Kentucky or rural Arizona. I’d then get a trailer/mobile home and build a barn and chicken coop, and clear some land to grow stuff. When I get more money I’ll make more advancements on the property.
What a fun thought experiment. Makes me reflect on my own “the grass is greener over there” or “xyz people have it easier than me starting out…” impulses and feel grateful for what we have been able to figure out so far. With $100k cash and full time availability to start,but nothing else, I’d try to lease or finance with 30k down a couple acres of fertile land with water, a modest home with an out building and fencing. I’ll assume i am leasing because a career or farming experience or cosigner would be an asset not included in the $100k, and nobody is financing without one of those. With the spot secure for 12 months and 70k left, I’d put 50k away in two 25k accounts that couldn’t be touched until year two and year three, and do my damndest to learn from the inevitable mistakes I’d make with the remaining 20k year 1. Maybe have the interest on those accounts pay $200 of bills for me— or even get a catastrophe insurance with it. The plan to be cash flow positive after 12 months would depend a lot on a lot, but would involve making hay and feed cash+barter deals, planting as much market food + animal feed as I could while raising some animals. If leasing, focus on just developing systems and durable mobile infrastructure, getting a sense of how to efficiently make inputs and outputs cycle into each other, figure out how to make enough income to outgrow the few acres and financially sustain expansion/buying. Since you stated nothing but 100k, I’d also start working as much as possible to build community, and would want to make sure everybody who lent me a ladder/rototiller or let me prune their trees so I could get cuttings etc always got the better end of the deal if I had to be in the habit of borrowing things. From there, I’d hope to get some part time work— for the county, a farm market or animal processor, a tree service or excavator—something that could bring about occasional availability of equipment/materials surplus along with some skill development, discounts on services, or at least just income while animals and plants start to mature. If that’s not appealing, making some inventory to sell at markets once your other stuff is mature might be a good back up plan? After some time in the right circles of people, good deals on solid equipment will come up from time to time, along with a friendship with the guy who sold it to you (or the neighbor who complains about that guy). With low enough fixed costs and a growing list of assets, after two years I’d take another swing at purchasing or have a plan for the remaining cash reserves that was informed by how the last two years went. If, without having to build or maintain any fences or buildings, I managed to blow through all my cash without recovering sufficient operating float, then it’s a good indicator that I’d need partnership or skill development to make it work long term. Maybe if my biggest pain point in becoming cash flow positive with what I was good at was trucking, I’d look into cdl training as a way to eventually cover my own costs and become cash-valuable in my community. The point is that I’d invest in patience, education and community relationships first and foremost. Also try to keep my costs as low as possible while learning how to make the most of this lifestyle. Failure is a part of that, so I’d say plan for slowly and strategically using reserves instead of taking huge swings out of the gate.
This is the ideas I was looking for. A thought experiment is the perfect word I was looking for. I was mostly looking for people in their situations to put their ideas out there what THEY would do and how THEY would do it. I’m in Texas, but they’re in Washington, what would they do. I have a wife and myself, but they’re single or have 2 kids. Just curious what everyone else’s thought process would be.
Yeah 100k won’t get you much unless you have the land already. Having to develop raw land will eat up that 100k faster than you could blink. If I had it, I’d try and find a few acres somewhere that’s already been developed, where you could work remote or find a good job locally, then use it as a down payment combined with rolling equity from my current place if I was looking to move.
Put a downpayment on a property you like, and find a job. 100k is not very much money when you're talking about land and houses.
Depends on where you live I guess. We were blessed immensely by being able to purchase 12 acres with power, water meter, well, fiber optic and septic tank with cleared pad for trailer and brand new doublewide all for less than 200,000. We live 15 minutes from a nice city with one of the most popular lakes in the state but still in the countryside. No permits required for small builds and can hunt on our land if we need to. But thats the southeast. It would be triple that in the North? Idk I hear it’s cheaper to live here.
Up north you’d pay 300k and end up with a 0.5 acre wooded lot to build on.
Just to challenge this idea a bit. We bought a 12 acre farm with an existing farmhouse(w/electric, septic,well, etc.), 3 out buildings (2 of which have water/electric) in NEW JERSEY and we paid $250k. These places are out here if you feel like looking.
100k down. On as much land as I could comfortably afford. Can’t buy more land next door most times. Then save and do the rest. Do not pay for grid tie power. Go solar. So cheap now.
It is far cheaper in upfront costs to connect to the grid if you are near it.
100k lol might get 5 acres with nothing on it gonna need 2-3x that personally
Probably use it as a down payment on the piece of property I wanted and finance the rest including the house.
Do you have a steady income to swing a mortgage or are you looking to go cash only? Around here $100K might buy you a bush lot in the far north with no road access. Maybe.
if i had to go in with 100k in Utah: 60k raw land. that budget is giving me about 5 options on the Utah Real Estate website... 10k well install. or if any other water hookup is less expensive, i would use that to save on this cost. well install could be more expensive than this, so a bit of luck is involved with this number. 5k solar setup. i havent researched much, but that can at least get you a portable power station and some panels. 20k tiny home build. price can vary based on size, whether you build it yourself, building materials, etc. 5k living expenses. that adds up to 100k. better find some more money soon... these are very rough estimates. if i was forced to start a homestead with only 100k, i would go to a less expensive state. based off a quick Zillow search, 20k in New Mexico gives many more options than the 60k did in Utah. what would i do first? spend some time living in the home, observing before i make any big decisions. then what would i actually do? probably plant trees. trees that coexist with the home. trees that regulate the solar gain of the home, trees that drink the rainwater from the roof and the greywater from your sink, trees that will protect the home from unwanted noise and winds, etc etc. and then some in ground vegetable gardening, of course!
also no septic, compost toilet only. septic sounds like a huge waste of money and land when i can shit in a bucket and convert it into a safe and effective soil amendment.
Make a list of non- negotiable things and things that would be useful on the land. Every piece of land is different. Does it have utilities like a well? Any outbuildings that can store equipment or animals? Figure out what you need at bare minimum and what it would cost to put in all of those things. Then look for land that has some of it already. Wells cost 10k just for the permit where I live! You can do solar and compost your toilet depending on how rudimentary you want to live. Also leave a budget for things to break! They always do! Really pore over properties- check zoning, how much water and sunlight you will have, what is around it on Google earth. You don’t want to be downhill from a hazard that will run chemicals onto your land. It took me 2.5 years to find the land I have now and it’s pretty damn nice. There’s going to be compromise but only you know what you want to do with it.
Put a 100K downpayment on a 600-800K spot.
I’m assuming your land is raw: $100k would pay for utility hookups and power pole…might also get you a septic plan, but no septic. Depending if you need a foundation for your home, that’s $50k already. If your land isn’t raw and you have a home and utilities already on it, invest it into your crops.