HELP!!!! sold our farm, looking for a new homestead

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

It finally happened, we sold our farm here in VA and now have to move in 31 days. We were offerred cash so its hard to turn that down. Anyways, we are in need of finding another homestead. Can anyone help? We are open to move pretty much anywhere, but were interested in settling in the Ozarks. We would like to find a small, 20+ acre farm, with a good barn for our goatie girls, and a watery supply such as a creek, etc, and this is important, VERY SECLUDED, as in no nearby neighbors and on a dirt road. i would like mountains but thats not a neccessity. If anyone knows of any such place please e-mail us. Thanks for your time and help.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 13, 2001

Answers

Good luck on your search! If you find what you're looking for, it will be beautiful. I also love seclusion. Our closest neighbors are about 1/2 a mile away. They both work so they're never home, so it's not bad. Good luck!!

-- Wendy (weiskids@yahoo.com), April 13, 2001.

Congratulations!

So glad you were able to sell your farm so quick. Hope you can find what you're looking for soon. Did you get the new magazine yet? The Bartons are selling their place for $40,000 up in Rawlins,WY.

Hope it all goes smoothly for you. Keep us posted.

Pauline NC

-- Pauline (tworoosters_farm@altavista.com), April 13, 2001.


Congratulations on selling your farm. I know real estate in Virginia is selling like hot cakes and I was curious if that was the case with larger parcels or just the postage stamp lot houses. Good luck in finding a new one, hopefully it will be in a state that lets you sell your goat milk and cheese without harrassing you. Let us know when you find the new spot.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), April 14, 2001.

don't live out your way, but found this web site ruralproperty.net they also have a phone 402-376-2617, hope this could help and best wishes finding your new place.

-- Joanne (ronandjo@sisna.com), April 14, 2001.

The thread is still in the active file. Just do a Control F and search on constitutional.

My recommended would be not to try to buy another place within the 30 days. Rent someplace while you look. Granted, with goats, that is going to be a problem. You might consider selling them and then buying new ones once you are settled. Moving is hard enough without the additional animal concerns.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 15, 2001.



This might take a bit of time, but it is how I found my farm.

Call the Arkansas Tourist Bureau in Little Rock. Ask for an information package on the state saying you are considering moving there. Once received, scope out the area of the state which most interest you. From the state map identify the counties in that area and their county seat. Then write to the Chamber of Commerce in each asking for information on the county and for them to put you in contact with a local realty company which sell acreage (they all do). Include in your letter your basic requirements. You will probably get listing packages from several in each county. Pick out the one you are most comfortable with and deal with them. I'd go with one which also auctions off properties.

Make an arrangement to travel to AR and spend one day in each county of interest looking at properties. On many you will only need to step out of the vehicle to see it is not what you are looking for. Reserve time at the end of the trip to go back and relook at the most promising ones.

On realty agents, I'm not sure they know how to do anything before 9AM local. Insist you start looking early, like 7AM, so you can get as much done in the day as possible. Also ask them if they know of properties which aren't currently for sale but the owner may be willing to consider an offer. Perhaps an older couple who need money for various expenses and may be willing to sell a portion of their property.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 16, 2001.


There is a site for our state, though it is a far cry from the Ozarks... In case you are interested, here it is:

boiseruralproperties.com

Best of luck on your search, and congratulations on the sale of the farm!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 16, 2001.


Hello Bernice, There a quite a bit of property for sale in the Marshall, Arkansas area. This is deep in the Ozarks in the Buffalo River Area. On the map you will find it in the north central west of Bull Shoals and the White River. Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), April 16, 2001.

Bernice, Its me again. When I first was looking at property in the Ozarks I talked with a realtor named Jack Mays in Marshall, Arkansas. He is a real nice person to do buisiness with and he still has a lot of property that is under $750 an acre. Again, this is in the Marshall, Arkansas area as I described in an earlier thread. His website, if you want to see some of the property he is selling is, www.jackmaysreality.com Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), April 16, 2001.

Well, guess what...we just bought our new homestead in....are ya ready??..Virgina! I keep trying to figure out why anyone would ever leave this place! We are right near where TN, NC and VA come together. God's land out here! I love it! Good luck with your new place!

-- KBall (db0421@yahoo.com), April 17, 2001.


Hi... and thanks for all your helpful suggestionas and thoughts. i think we are a little closer to getting a farm. I contacted a realtor, ozarks realty, he had the perfect farm. i thought, "hmmm sure, i bet he does!" and when he sent the pics i about died, its perfect, jsut like he said. Its 20 acres, forgot where it was, got to talk to him tomorrow. But it has a 2 bedroom ranch style house that is just lovely inside, even ahs a fireplace with a woodstove, an ozark model at that (it wa son the front of the stove), is fenced nicely, has the expensive cattle gates, wooden fence by house, a nice shop, barns, a storage shed, picket fence in back yard, a nice front roch with a swing, can picture me sipping my morning coffe while looking at that wonderful view of countryside side below. The price is a little more than we wanted to spend, but we don't have to do a thing, its all ready for livestock and is empty. He even dropped the price 30,000. so, i figured this, it would take us 15 yrs to make the farm we buy at a lesser price look like that and be functional (this even has a corral and pens) or we buy this one already ready and functional but a little more $. I'll keep you all posted.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 17, 2001.


Bernice:

Also consider infrastructure aspects, such as shopping, public school systems, access to health care, job opportunity (my observation is there is an inverse relationship between being a nice place to homestead and job opportunities), entertainment opportunities (you may experience cultural shock), road maintenance (e.g., will it be on a county or privately maintained road), tax structure and how you may be accepted by the locals. You have show goats, so what are the opportunities there? What are the chances of getting either snowed or iced in during winter if someone has to work off of the homestead. Local school system shuts down if we get more than about an inch of snow since the county highway department doesn't have equipment to deal with it.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), April 17, 2001.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ