One of my fears is that I will get stuck in the process of buying land and building a cabin on it. In many ways, it’s a much more complicated and drawn out process then simply looking at a house, going through a well established path of real estate agents, title searches, house inspection, and traditional mortgage but it also turns out not to be an impossible project without many construction skills or equipment.

In some ways buying raw or minimally developed land (such as an old trailer site or badly damaged home with some infrastructure), especially with cash is a much harder road to hoe. While I haven’t totally written off getting a mortgage — there are tax benefits, namely you can reduce your total income by the amount you pay in mortgage interest — the cost of money these days makes it seem like a waste. And I worry about getting ripped off, and regulatory issues more generally as all of this world is very new and complicated to me. I’ve always preferred to pay with cash, it’s generally cheaper though it will involve cashing out stocks and paying a shit ton of Capital Gains taxes.

Where I am today

Right now I am at the stage at studying parcels that are currently on the market and giving it some thought. What is out there without a home? What are the prices? How far from work? How close to neighbors or potential neighbors who could complain about things to the town? Since drafting my first draft of the homestead and cabin on Saturday, I think I have a better idea — the priority being having the right redneck kind of neighbors, general distance from neighbors, ability to homestead with livestock and have bonfires, ride an ATV around the property, heat with wood, compost, garden and use on-site solar to avoid being tied to growing expense of the dirty power of the electrical grid. Buy and build what I actually want, even if that’s somewhat more expensive then I’d like to spend and not what other people want from the property.

I’m teaching myself LibreCAD so I can draw my vision for the home and the property that I want in a way that is presentable to potential sellers or their real estate agents, town building officials, and architects. I am not a very good hand drawer, and knowing at least some CAD and floor plan design drawing techniques will be good to illustrate my vision to the appropriate people. While I am sure not all of my ideas can be implemented due to regulatory and cost reasons, being able to have a clear idea of what I want on paper, in an easily readable form will make it much easier to obtain what I want.

Maybe the best way to judge my progress is to have a rough time table :

Going forward

• Late Winter 2024
  • Apply for conventional mortgage to learn more about the process, see what credit resources are available and investigate conventional properties in rural areas sold by conventional realtors.
  • Read library books on the process of buying a home
  • Start the conversation with friends about what their experience is on buying rural land and homesteads, what resources they used, what contractors and banks they utilized
  • Draft up on paper what I am thinking I want my “practical dream” homestead and house would like so I can present my idea to various friends, colleagues, realtors, and town officials.
  • Change from buying additional stock to saving in an a high-interest savings account
• Spring 2024
  • Turn my paper draft of what my “practical dream” homestead into a CAD project that I can present to others to get feedback.
  • Learn more about the process of building a home by reading and talking to people, specifically the process of working with an architect, getting town approval, selecting a quality, reliable contractor.
  • Learn more about building materials and methods, including what is the latest in affordable off-grid solar.
  • Continue to study properties on the market and tax records, write code to analyze the pros and cons of various properties.
  • Grab the latest list of tax-delinquent properties from the county, match against county tax maps and records, and see if there are properties worth pursuing. Write owners listed on tax records via certified mail.
  • Drive the back roads, looking for abandoned or vacant properties then pulling up their owners from the tax records, searching to the internet to see if the owner passed away or what the story is about the reasons for being abandoned. Write owners listed on tax records via certified mail.
• Summer 2024
  • Develop a list of properties that meet my desired criteria and have been preliminarily vetted using publicly available GIS data like tax maps, LiDAR, orthophotography — new and old. Run my analysis code on the slope and direction of the land, along with consulting DEC wetland maps, distance to other properties, especially other homes, and other potential nuisances such as junk yards, barnyards, dumping grounds.
  • Reach out to property owners and realtors to confirm the property is still available and to get tours of the land, sharing my vision for the land.
  • Work with an architect to draft plans for the cabin
  • Develop a short list of contractors to build the home
  • Develop a short list of companies to drill the well, put in the road/improve the road, put in the septic tank and leach field
  • Meet with town officials to discuss my vision for the property, including showing a draft architectural drawing, or at least my own concept
• Fall/Winter 2024
  • Work to close the deal on the land after title searches, consulting with a real estate lawyer, getting the land perc tested for septic, speaking to neighbors about their experience with drilling wells and other potential nuisance concerns with the land, such as something they’ve heard about the land like dumped toxins or flooding that is non-obvious from public records and GIS data.
  • Do not renew my certificate of deposit but keep those funds in a Savings Account, possibly start cashing out some of the stocks and bonds I have saved, reserving funds to cover Capital Gains taxes.
  • Try to close the deal on property, paying with cash if possible. While I will have to pay a full year’s worth of taxes on the undeveloped property, having it on the bag with tentative approval for the cabin for plans would make it worth it.
  • Potentially have some infrastructure work done on the property — improving the road, water well, septic, etc. Might make sense to wait until the new year due to delay Capital Gains tax hit.
• Late Winter/Spring 2025
  • End my lease for the rented apartment and move out onto the land, camping or using my truck camper (assuming this is allowed — it’s possible at that point that Big Red will be replaced but can be taken off the road, used for hauling gear around the site and camping out of).
  • Live on the land, getting to know it well. Maybe get chickens and rabbits for eggs and mea, a shed to store things including the well pump and gasoline generator.
  • Have finished the infrastructure improvements, especially the driveway/roadway to cabin, site foundation.
  • Work on getting the septic and water put in.
  • Work with contractor to get town permits secured to build the cabin.
• Summer 2025
  • Work with the contractor to have the cabin built to the point it’s habitable with water and septic and plumbing but not fully complete inside, work with building inspector to get certificate of occupancy based on minimal legal completion
  • Get the cabin to the point where it’s waterproof and secure, start to move inside
• Fall/Winter 2025
  • Get woodstove and propane heaters professionally installed and up to code
  • Have cabin fully insulated and ready for winter so pipes don’t freeze and I have a comfortable place to spend the winter
  • While I don’t anticipate having the solar done at this point, I can string up extension cords from the gas generator, a few small solar panels and batteries, use small portable lighting through the winter — rather live “without electricity” for a winter to really get to know the land and spread out the tax costs
  • Finalize the design of the solar equipment, inverter, and batteries
  • Work on completing parts of the interior such as flooring and walls, working with an electrician to do the breaker box, while doing some of electrical wiring myself with review of the electrician and town building inspector.
• 2026
  • Have internal electrical wiring and fixtures finished and approved by the electrician and building inspector.
  • Obtain, mount and install solar panels, inverter, batteries.
  • Work to complete inside walls and flooring
  • Secure a full-size, energy efficient 120 volt refrigerator and full-size gas oven and range for the kitchen
• 2027
  • Add additional solar panels to the system
  • Add a chest freezer for storage of meat in unheated shed or building overhang
  • Build a shed or small barn, start adding goats and/or maybe hogs to the homestead
  • Various site improvements