Hey

[tortoise]

Hi rodeogirl! If I may offer unsolicited advice? I was coveting people with land for YEARS while I was a member of a forum. There may be some people here with adorable goats... When I finally did get out of the city and onto a farm, I regretted not making all sorts of habit changes and learning skills I could have learned in the city. It's very easy to feel limited by circumstances, but bloom where you are planted until you can get out of your pot. <3

 

[Mini Horses]

Welcome from VA.

There was a time when I was between farms for a couple of years and I rented a small garden plot very close to where I was living in a multi level condo. Wasn't expensive and I had a lot of fresh veggies from it. Was only like 15X30, maybe $30 or 40 for the season, like 6 mos.

Another thought -- anyone in your area who would let you garden in THEIR yard??? Sometimes elders have had a garden, still want one & just not all the work. Share the produce. Look at these type options and see if something comes up!

Post an ad on local craigslist where you are.

 

[rodeogirl]

Hi rodeogirl! If I may offer unsolicited advice? I was coveting people with land for YEARS while I was a member of a forum. There may be some people here with adorable goats... When I finally did get out of the city and onto a farm, I regretted not making all sorts of habit changes and learning skills I could have learned in the city. It's very easy to feel limited by circumstances, but bloom where you are planted until you can get out of your pot. <3

That's what I'm using this time in my rental for. To find out what grows best in my area and how take care of it. I might even learn how to spin wool next year .

Welcome from VA.

There was a time when I was between farms for a couple of years and I rented a small garden plot very close to where I was living in a multi level condo. Wasn't expensive and I had a lot of fresh veggies from it. Was only like 15X30, maybe $30 or 40 for the season, like 6 mos.

Another thought -- anyone in your area who would let you garden in THEIR yard??? Sometimes elders have had a garden, still want one & just not all the work. Share the produce. Look at these type options and see if something comes up!

Post an ad on local craigslist where you are.

Finding someone to let me use some of there garden around here shouldn't be hard. The only hard part will be finding time. I'm the one to call when someone calls in for work.

 

[baymule]

I just took a quick look at land in your area. Compared to northeast Texas, it is CHEAP! What I was looking at was blocks of 30-35 acres with no improvements, and acreage went up, prices starting about $1,000 per acre. That doesn't tell me what a 1-5 acre lot would cost and what it costs to get electricity, water and sewage put in. And I know nothing about restrictions imposed by governing laws.

I have seen and known people who buy a portable building and put it on their land. One couple I know bought one with a barn style, gambrel roof and put a sleeping loft in the roof part. They finished the inside and had a bathroom with a shower, toilet and sink in one corner and kitchenette in the other corner with a small living space. They were happy and over time, they added on to it.

Not too far from me, there is a family that set up two portable buildings with the gambrel roof and built a room between them, linking them together. They have made it a nice home.

So what are your building skills? What are your friends/family building skills? Could you, with a little help, build a 16'x30' gambrel roof building? It would be much cheaper to build your own than buy one. How much does an acre or two of land cost? What would materials cost for a building?

Is there any opportunity for scrounging for lumber scraps? I have pilfered through the big construction boxes and come out with useable lumber-just pull a few nails. My favorite is haunting the reject or cull rack at the local big box lumber/hardware store (Lowes). I can get it a half price or less.

You want a home. You want land. You want to give a better life to your son. You want to live a better, healthier and more self sufficient life. All are to be applauded. You need a plan. You need goals-attainable goals-not goals set so high that you'll never get there. Set a series of small goals and celebrate when you cross one off the list. Break them down to small increments such as looking at land one afternoon a week, or talk to real estate agent twice a week. Talk to everyone you know, tell them you are looking for cheap land or a cheap home. Tell them you are a single Mom wanting your own place. You might even find someone with a place they want to sell at a decent price.

What is your rent and can you find/buy a home for the same or close to the same price? Our daughter and family were able to buy a home for a hundred dollars higher than they were paying for rent. Look at repos. Look at run down properties that need work on them. If you can find something that nobody else wants, you might be able to negotiate owner financing. If a house has been on the market for a long time, that might be your bargaining point. Offer a higher interest rate than market rate. If the rate is 4%, offer 5 or 6%. Haggle, bargain, and negotiate.

Look into USDA loans. They will drive you nuts, you find the home of your dreams, then the agency runs out of money and you dissolve into a pool of tears when someone else buys it. Then they get funding and you can't find anything in your price range. Again, more tears of frustration. But if you work hard at it and don't give up when doors slam in your face, you can do it.

Look at FHA loans, interest rates are low, but starting to climb. This is a great time to buy a home, but as interest rates start to climb, it will get harder. In the early 1980's interest rates spiked to 21%!! In 1987 we bought a home, delighted to get a 10 and 3/4% interest rate.

We are here for you, and will listen to the ups and downs of life. Most of us have been there or are still there. You can do this.

 

[rodeogirl]

I'm planning on buying some land and building my own house. The thing right now is I don't have the money for land.

 

[tortoise]

You will have money for land. Save the bit you earn when you work for someone else and put it away. Money grows best in undisturbed soil. There is no income that money cannot be saved. I wish I had learned that at your age. Yes, it's frustrating and disheartening to get a slow start at saving money, but it will snowball slowly over time. I read minimalism books and blogs to help me deal with feeling "spendy". Project books sometimes help too - sometimes make it worse.

I've run into big conflict when I wanted to learn new skills and start new projects, but was using the money I should have been saving for something significant. Another conflict I ran into was after buying my first (city) house, the cost of the house was enough that I couldn't do most of the things I dreamed of doing on my own property. A decade later, hubby and I moved to this farm and his income is enough, but now I don't have TIME to do the projects because of kid obligations. There's always a reason why it's more difficult than it feels like it should be. But that doesn't make it impossible - it pushes use to make choices about how we will use our most scarce resource.

You could frame your situation as an opportunity. The restrictions of living in an apartment prevent you from putting your money on projects (goats?) while you save for your "someday."

Every time you turn off the lights, and use rags instead of paper towels, and hang clothes to dry and make homemade playdough for your son instead of buying - each tiny thing adds up, fractions of pennies and pennies closer to your piece of land. <3

 

[rodeogirl]

Hopefully after my tax return next year I'll be closer to getting land

 

[lcertuche]

Some home improvement big stores have tutorials on things like laying tiles, painting, plumbing, etc. for skill building.