Subject: Re: Different Approach

From: [email-masked] (Barb Bruns)
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 95 09:41:12 EST

Here is a concept that hasn't yet been mentioned.  Is it possible to buy an
already self-sufficient homestead?  Understandably, once someone has achieved
a degree of self-sufficiency through their own blood, sweat & tears, they
probably aren't planning to sell it.  But surely it must happen, due to any
number of factors.

Is it feasible to buy one?  Are banks reluctant to mortgage non-traditional
homes?  Is a house fitted with working solar, etc. likely to be way too
expensive (say 1.5X a comparable traditional home)?  Do real estate 
inspectors know HOW to inspect alternate energy systems?

I know price will depend on location and a number of other things, but I 
wonder what a modest self-sufficient homestead of a few acres would cost 
in maybe W. Va.?  Would the usual real estate avenues be the ones to use 
to look for such a thing?

Barb

[email-masked]
I don't speak for LEXIS-NEXIS.

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 4 Mar 1995 11:38:05 -0500

Barb - Buying an already operating self-sufficient homestead is no more
impossible than buying a working ranch/farm. It happens because of financial
problems, divorce, illness, burnout, etc., but they definitely are not a
plentiful as your average urban/suburban single-family unit.

Places to look are  classified ads in homesteading magazines, like Mother
Earth News, Countryside, etc.; also magazines and farm/ranch/rural real
estate brokers' publications. One of these is United Farm Agency, which has
an 800#, and will forward flyers on places available in whatever state you
want. They will also pass your name onto the nearest United agent to you - or
you could ask them for his/her #.  

This is how we bought one place we owned and how we made plans on which part
of another state we wanted to look for prospective land. We got the flyers,
compared prices, types of land available, called some of the brokers, and
lined up places to look at when we arrived. 

A  homestead is a major investment and should only be done after extensive
search, visits, family discussions (do you want to be isolated or
community-oriented, do you want fruits orchards or animals or gardens or all
3, etc) and possibly spending time on working homesteads. 

Some things, like priming a frozen-up pump by flashlight in below zero
weather, don't seem to be part of most people's dreams but can be very much
part of the reality of homesteading life. If you're the type who uses the
yellow pages for repair, you may find that homesteading in the boonies is not
your cup of tea. However, having a "gentleman's half-acre" in the outskirts
of an urban area could be a choice. 

I'm probably telling some things you already know, but re-inforcement and
fresh viewpoints is one reason I've signed onto the "homestead" list.  I wish
you success in your search. Lynn