It could be fucking mine

That was the words I uttered under my breath as I looked at this one house that popped up on Zillow outside of Coeymans for $250,000. Just a few meetings with a realtor, a lawyer, inspector, selling some stock and cutting a check. Ten acres, on a back road I used to explore a lot when I was in my younger years, looking at homesteads with their burn barrels and horses and cattle.

But I really don’t want it. I don’t want to have to drive to work, the commute through all those speed traps. Being trapped in a house and homestead, having goats and pigs to feed, leaky roofs and floors to replace, dealing with broken appliances and scheduling septic tank pumps, so they can haul away the shit to the local landfill.

Yet it had the acreage I was interested in and a woodstove.  It would be a commute but it would be mangable. Yet it also was New York State. It was rural, so I could have livestock, I could have fires, though I’d have to a bit careful what I tossed into the fires lest neighbors start complaining about the smoke. I could build my dream homestead, add solar, get a quad to ride trail and a tractor to work the land. But it’s also kind of rocky, marginal ground, though if I brought in some organic matter like food scraps and grain  and hay to feed livestock, I could build the soil up.

And the thing is buying now would block future plans. It’s true you can sell property, and that property gains value over time, but there is also the cost of commuting, maintaince of property, taxes. As an asset class it’s not very deversified. It’s not clear if I bought land today, if I could easily sell it and move out west eventually where there is more freedom to own guns and burn debris. I’m not sure if even want a grid tied property, O r all that technical equipment modern houses require.