My girlfriend and our children are looking to buy 20+ acres in South Carolina or North Carolina.Mainly to homestead and live on.We had thought about building a few small vacation cottages,cabins,and or lodges to help pay for the property.If we did go this route we would need a creek/river and a fishing pond or small lake.That'd give our visitors something to do.Maybe some canoes or paddle boats.No matter what we do we need an alternative way to pay for the property.My girlfriend works and I am disabled.I have a half acre with a house trailer that I am remodeling.It was willed to me when my father passed away.I was a property owner at the ripe old age of 9 years old.Sad isn't it.I really don't wanna sell it because it is the place I grew up and live.The city is sneaking city limits back farther every year.My taxes tripled this year and city limits is 500 feet from my property.When I was growing up,our area was considered rural agricultural land.My property is actually half acre of a two acre mini farm that was broken up.The farm was in my family.It still is but my cousin owns another half acre and my mother owns an acre with the farm house.After I remod the trailer and get it better than code,I could sell it for roughly $25,000 to $30,000.Which would be all profit except maybe $5000 or $6000.

So how did you manage to pay for your property?

I am starting a worm farm very soon.This will bring me some income through the sell of the castings and tea.If I could obtain the land,I could grow produce for sale.I have family that does this but they were given 300 acres by the government after WWII.Why,I don't know.They won't tell the story and won't or can't part with any of it.I've heard of people getting gov land very cheap,but that was back around the early 1900's.I tried selling on ebay and some other forums that people use to locate obsolete motorcycle parts.Sales dried up with the economy.We are looking to eliminate this problem by being totally self reliant or self sufeicent.Any ideas on how to turn a profit?Because the girlfriend and I have 4 children,we get a large tax return,which will help.That may go away depending on our new president and his tax laws.Doing what we are currently doing is costing us enough to buy the property in a few years.We could save $1000 a month just by growing our own food and raising our own live stock.That alone would pay for our power generation,solar and/or wind.Micro hydro if we had the right spot.So I am open to ideas no matter how outrageous they seem.

Sorry if this jumps around and back an forth a lot.I been up for a very long time.Now,I am off to take a quick nap.  =^)

Keep in mind that offering activities on your land to the public opens up a pretty big can of worms as far as liability issues goes.  I don't know what insurance would cost but likely more than profits would be. 

Looking forward to hearing more, Ben.

We used cash, credit cards and a small loan as well as some creative equipment financing to pay for this piece.  That way we were able to get it with no liens on it.

Greetings!

I agree with the insurance thing that Glenn brought up. Considering the litigious nature of our society one would need to have some insurance. Talk to a couple insurance reps and a lawyer.

As for how we bought our property, it all began in the 70's when we bought our first home. We both worked full time for a few years, lived on K's salary and saved mine. Extra payments on the mortgage whenever there was extra. Paid that off in a couple years. When we moved to NM the proceeds from the sale of the first home bought the new one. That was fortuitous timing and good luck in both widely spaced real estate markets. More hard work and saving money brings us to today with a piece of mountain property we paid cash for, plus cash for the materials to build the cabin.

Thanks guys.I had already thought about the liability issues,especially with it being a rustic setting.Real easy for the city folk to trip and hurt themselves.Don't really have to look down much when you used to walking on concrete all the time.  When we get closer to possibly finding a property,I will seek the advice of a insurance agent and lawyer.

I'm trying to find land cheaper or more reasonably priced.The cheapest I've found is $15,000 per acre.That was off the grid and in an area where it would be tough to build a conventional stick house.Of course I'm not looking to build a conventional house.I just can be main street main stream.I believe property prices are still high because of the build boom.It's estimated that our area has exploded by 500% to 700% since 1990, when BMW moved in and brought all it's suppliers.We wanna stay in the area because of family and her work.It's getting harder and harder to find remote property in the Carolinas.