We are very close to realizing our dream ,homesteading, but with one little hitch..could someone please tell us how we can find remote mountainous land to purchase without a real estate co. involved ...any information would be more than appreciated.

-- joseph e. baldwin (baldmountain@webtv.net), December 08, 1999

Answers

Well--in my opinion, and I tend to have a lot of them, you will probably need to find the property listed in the classifieds in a newspaper. In my opinion if you buy property that is advertised in a nationally published magazine, it will be overpriced. For online newspapers and their classifieds, go to: http://www.start4all.com/ There, go to newspapers in the alphabetical index, there you will be given an alphabetical index of newspapers in countries and states for you to choose from. Another way would be to drive to the area where you wish to settle and start asking around. Also drive the area to see if you can observe "For Sale" signs. I believe that will usually yield real estate agencies most of the time however. Good luck in your quest for land.

-- greenbeanman (greenbeanman@ourtownusa.net), December 09, 1999.

In a magazine's classified ads (I think it was a horse magazine) I saw that somewhere in Idaho (?) the government was offering free land (I believe it was several 160 acre packages. I called the number and found that the only conditions were that you had to be an American citizen (alas, I am Canadian) and over 18 years old (two years two young! :-) ). You might be able to find out if anything like that is currently being offered. I hope I have helped. In Christ, Jo

-- Jo (jocadasic@powersurfr.com), December 14, 1999.

Free Land in Idaho? I live in Idaho and I never heard of it.Southern Idaho is very barren rolling hills but ever there I don't think there giving away any land.If you look on a map most of our state has been taken by the federal government and Clinton is trying to lock out everyone from being in that. There is a Yellowstone to the Yukon plan.. A plan to have a 200 mile coridor so grizzly bears can go to the Yukon to find mates and this is the start,so land is getting more expensive NOT free. Doris in Idaho

-- Doris Richards (dorisquilts@webtv.net), December 14, 1999.

Doris, I don't know if it is in Idaho, and I gave away the magazine so I can't check. I'm sorry if I got the facts wrong. --Jo--

-- Jo (jocadasic@powersurfr.com), December 17, 1999.

Try here for advice on how to get land from the government:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/cady54.html

--Jo--

-- Jo (jocadasic@powersurfr.com), December 17, 1999.

Place an ad in the local paper were you would like to purchase land .You can also place adds on boards in grocery stores,gas stations ,ect.If you see property not occupied that you likeyou can get the nearest house #and go to the town hall they can tell you who owns it .Contact them they might consider selling .Good luck

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), January 24, 2000.

Joseph,

How exciting for you to be at this point in your lives! Congratulations! I live in the west and just have a couple of things for you to consider...

Remote, I think I understand. However, mountainous could mean a lot of different things...Mountains in Arizona have a different meaning than mountains in Washington state, Alaska or?? Or maybe mountains means the Catskills...Is there a geographic area that you are thinking of? Do you plan on homesteading exclusively or will you want to be within a few hours of markets or medical centers or??

There are homesteaders in the Okanogan area of E. Washington State. The land is "remote" (unless you define it by where you live in the bush in Alaska) and there are other homesteaders living there. You might try searching under Okanogan to see what you end up with. Towns nearby would be Republic or Okanogan.

Just an idea. If you live around there and don't want company....no flames please!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), January 24, 2000.

The first thing you need to do is to choose in WHAT area of the country you wish to settle and live on remote mountain land. Do you have an independent income from investment or inheritance? Or do you need to work? Can you work by computer out of your home or do you need to find work in a community? WHERE the mountain land is relative to the income possibilities has a big effect on price. For example, if you wanted to live in the Colorado mountains, in a big ski resort area, the land would be very very expensive. If you wanted to live in the mountains of West Virginia, you could find very inexpensive land, but probably no work! At one time I had some beautiful land in West Virginia between Berkeley Springs and Paw-Paw. It was part of a large tract which a developer had bought and broken down into five acre parcels and sold at great profit to himself. Climate is something to think about, and soil type and fertility and so on. For example, my West VA land was REALLY mountainous and none of the other property owners went there in bad weather (it was called "recreational" land). There was a road to my parcels (well, I had about 28 acres, more than one parcel) but it was not kept clear of snow in the winter. The locals would break into our cabins or whatever and steal anything they could get, also, which is another disadvantage to "remote."

But okay, once you have found WHERE you want to live, get a geological survey map and a tax map. Go to a copier place that does work for surveyors and have them make a copy each of the tax map and the survey map (you can get them at hiking stores for about $3 each) at the same scale. Have the tax map done on mylar so you can lay it over the survey map. then go to the tax office and get the name and address (and tax information and tax-assessment value) of each of the parcels you are interested in. To find out if you are interested, go view the property to see if it is occupied or not and owner-occupied or occupied by a tenant.

Then contact the owners of the parcels you are interested in. That's a lot of work of course but sure beats dealing with a real estate agent. Also, as suggested, you can advertise for what you want in the local paper. Perhaps ask for a "rent to own?"

As a last option, if you have some money, then find out when there are going to be tax sale auctions or auctions of land which the people weren't able to pay for, or land where the people died and the heirs don't want the land, they want money!!!!!

Read the classified, owners are also looking to sell their land without paying a commission. However, you can get badly cheated in some of these cases and you might end up wishing you had a real estate agent to watch out for your interest! You might consider offering an agent a flat fee -- say $500 -- to find you a place. This is tricky, but you will be better off if the agent represents your interests rather than the seller's!

Good luck!

Oh, and I have some land you might be interested in. It's wooded and hilly but not in the mountains -- it's in Virginia and uh has a few legal problems.

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), March 20, 2000.

try www.arizonajones.com for land in Arizona

-- david polk (sisking@aol.com), April 12, 2001.

Hi Joseph, My name is Bonnie Smith. I have a house on 7.5 acres near Libby, Montana for sale by owner. I prefer to sell myself and not use a realtor and not have the hassle of the commission, etc. I would use a local title company to handle all the legal contracts and paperwork for both families to keep everything in order for each party, share closing costs, etc. If this area of the state interests you (60 miles south of Canada, 60 miles east of Idaho) I'd be happy to send you more information about the house, property, and community. I love it here. Best regards, Bonnie Smith

-- Bonnie Smith (planning@libby.org), July 10, 2001.