Which Is The Cheapest State To Buy Acreage In?

[lorihadams]

Virginia isn't too bad either if you go out toward the western part of the state. I live in central Va (about an hour west of Richmond) and the county I live in isn't too bad. I have an 1100 sq ft house with 3 acres and we bought it for $104000. My taxes are about $600-700 per year on my house but I get them lumped in with my mortgage.

I think you just need to decide what part of the country you would like, there are pros and cons to every one. If you want to go rural, just HOW RURAL do you want to go? The further away from civilization you get usually the cheaper the land.

My husband and I would love to just pick up and move and live off the land somewhere, build our own house and not have to be close to anyone. That is a distant dream.

The sad thing is that usually when you find land that is cheap it is cheap for a reason, i.e. poor employment opportunities, lack of access to anything, difficulty perking, etc.

 

[ducks4you]

Check out Wyoming. It still has the smallest population.

 

[patandchickens]

If you want to go rural, just HOW RURAL do you want to go? The further away from civilization you get usually the cheaper the land. <snip> The sad thing is that usually when you find land that is cheap it is cheap for a reason, i.e. poor employment opportunities, lack of access to anything, difficulty perking, etc.

There ya go, that is the crux of it in a nutshell.

The only way, really, to get an extra good deal is to be able to compromise on things that other people are not able to. For instance if you are retired and living on a pretty-sure retirement income, you may be able to deal with an area where there's little employment available (although, remember there are other social problems that can come with those areas); if you are in excellent health and fairly young and would be ok with living a number of *hours* from any doctors and hospitals and clinics, that would make some cheaper land available to you; and if you were willing to commit to hauling in water, using roof or greywater for some things, and/or battling local bureauocracies over composting toilets of other nontraditional methods of sanitation, then again there are some properties that may be more appealing to you than to the average buyer.

Honestly I think you have to start narrowing down your preferences and absolute requirements (like, how far from a supermarket? hospital? church of your faith?) so you can pick a region or two, and then spend some vacation time there, see how you get along with the topography and climate and *people*.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[enjoy the ride]

To be really happy, I think you need to pin down what you really like and don't.
So many many many years ago, I got an unsolicited job offer to move to the real northern part of California. California is where my families roots are and all my family had left Michigan. When the person offering the job sent me a map of the town with a picture on it of two Royal Palms in front of a Victorian house, showed the place a bay of the Pacific, I thought wow- that's the place for me. Especially since it arrived in the middle of an April blizzard.

I did think it was odd that the classifieds that I got sent to me so I could find a place to rent before I moved, keep mentioning sunny and flat as desirable attributes. Being in Michigan, it did not make a connection but...........

I move on impluse and spent the next 5 years being sooooo depressed. Sunny hah. There are periods where you don't see the sun for 30 days at a time. The temperature averages about 65 in the middle of summer. And flat is the flood plain between steep mountains. For the first year I became one of those awful people you get caught behind on a mountain road because I could not hold onto the curves with my truck on those steep mountain roads with NO shoulders.

I live in Humboldt county- a place many people consider close to paradise on earth. But only for those who can deal with a place where is doesn't rain at all for 6 mos followed by 6 months where it hardly ever stops. No one gets out a raincoat for a shower here and the rain is not a subject of discussion until it's about 6 or 7 inches a day and the valleys are flooding.

Of course I did gradually find it's great advantages over the years and get depressed if I have to travel south more than 80 miles- you couldn't pry me out. But lots of people can't stand the long rainy season, lack of big city facilities, rough people, etc. They move here based on the beauty and leave if it isn't what they really want.

My point is - it's better one acre in paradise than 2000 acres in hell.
What do you actually love to do where you live now? Do you get really depressed when it rains or drive with a death grip on the wheel in the snow? Do you like concerts and plays? Can you live without your relatives? Do you like to travel? Etc. Etc.
I'd figure out what life suits me first if I planned to stay there forever.

 

[deb1]

I suggest you take a look at the Central New York area (around Chenango, Otsego and Broome counties). The land is extremely cheap there mostly due to the fact that it was, until a few years ago, dominated by beautiful old dairy farms that have now gone under. The old farms are all being divided up and sold into smaller lots, 5, 10, 15, 20 acres. Its too far and inconvenient for the NYC crowd to buy up for second homes so land is cheap and plenty. Its absolutely stunningly beautiful there, lots of rolling hills as far as the eye can see (a lot like West Virginia as far as I understand), and youll have all four seasons to enjoy. One drawback of NYS is that the taxes are higher than some of the other states previously mentioned. If you do look into that area, be aware that you should feel comfortable offering considerably less than what the seller is asking!

thanks.

 

[deb1]

[
Honestly I think you have to start narrowing down your preferences and absolute requirements (like, how far from a supermarket? hospital? church of your faith?) so you can pick a region or two, and then spend some vacation time there, see how you get along with the topography and climate and *people*.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

that is why I am looking into this now and not a year from now when my hubby finishes his education.

 

[xpc]

One year will pass in no time as it has for me and am still looking for my final resting place. In 2004 I knew I had to leave Wisconsin in order to retire cheaply and without restrictions - no deed restrictions is a key word, not many places are (even here in west KY). Most are requiring a certain size house made out of certain materials like 75% brick and 2000 square feet and such - they want their property taxes and double wides just don't bring it in for the over priced politicians scrambling to keep their jobs.

What I did was pick an area south of Wisconsin that was within 500 miles to keep it inside of a 9 hour drive, most agents will not list with MLS on cheap acreage because they can not recoup the cost of the listing and advertising. Also sites like http://www.realtor.com which I used a lot are usually several weeks behind in removing sold properties and by the time I saw them and called they were gone.

If you like a certain area do what I did and rent for the first year and then look for your promise land once there. Buying land too far away via the Internet without knowing the area is like buying a pig in a poke. The same goes for buying property in a city, it may look good and have a good price but because you don't know the area it may have unreasonable restrictions or neighbors from the seven regions of nether hell.

I used http://www.city-data.com to do extensive research on crime, property taxes, and climate, plus they have a nice forum to ask questions once you narrow down an area.

Now that I have moved here to Kentucky (two years ago) my 2 hour search range covers northern Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, west Tennessee, and southern Missouri. I am leaning towards Tennessee right now and have made many one hour trips to check on land there.

Find your area and search for local agents as they will not always share the cheapies with other agents. You must call each on your own to find their non-listed deals. Get a disposable email and have at it, most of all have fun. More info on request.

 

[freemotion]

My folks are selling their house with four acres in Maine! While checking e-mail this morning, I glanced up in time to see a pickup go by with a large bull moose in tow....it is moose season!

 

[Iceblink]

How funny. My DH is in the Air Force, and we have lived most of the places you have too!

Maybe another thing to consider is the growing zones you will live in. We last lived in coastal CA, a zone 8, then moved here to a zone 5. I can't grow some of my very favorite veggies or fruits.

If you will eventually want an orchard and a big garden, you might want to consider areas by planting zones.