Since we moved out to Southwest TX my wife has been talking a lot more about retirement liking my idea about buying land and building a home on it around this area. Now I know the first thing is to buy the land and within the next 5 years I should have the money for the land it will also allow me the time to get to know the locals through my job since it will be near the area I'm looking for land. After the land not sure how many years but we want to build a dome home on the land.  We want this to be an off grid home so we have started looking up things.

We want the home to run off Solar power and have a propane generator as back up also propane stove, refrigerator and deep freezer unless we can find something better. So we are looking for books, web sites (other then this one) to get more information from we are going to be in the desert so we know storage of water is going to be a big issue. I'm going to try to find land with a well but if I have to drill one then that's what I'll do but I know rain collection is going to be key and that it seems to work well around the area. We have looked into septic system and now looking at a solar composting toilet, raised garden beds and fruit trees.

So we are looking for ideas I have 20+ years until I'm retirement age but wanted to start doing this eight years ago but life! So any advice any thing at all that you feel that would help I'm open to hear it if you know something or have experience with something please tell me I'm not 100% on anything yet but Southwest TX! Thanks

I think the biggest issue with homesteading in SW TX is finding land with good water on it.

I have 21 acres in central TX that I am having cleared of cedars now. I plan to build a cabin and add solar later. My problem is that I don't have water on it and my nearest neighbor paid $25000 to get a well drilled on his property. Water ain't cheap around here.

The only advice I have is to be very sure about all zoning laws and the cost to run utilities in advance of buying the land.  

Good luck!

Thanks for the post OP, I just realized why all they old smelly guys I have known that lived in a dome house and didn't have wells smelled so bad, they showered a couple times a year when ever it rained. I sure as hell didnt work all my life to retire to a home without AC and heat or running water or a 50" TV. I have lived months at a time without all this cool stuff that I plan to keep till I cant change my own diapers anymore. That kind of life sound righteous and romantic and fulfilling but you can have it. Waiting around for a stupid chicken to poop out an egg so you can have breakfast is not a way to retire for me.

What makes you think OP fits your description?  Sounds pretty cool to me if you can afford to at least have the basics.

Study domes very carefully. If not done properly, they are very wasteful of materials and aren't as efficient as some people say.
Another thing: Building in this manner can be VERY stressful on the marriage. I can't stress this enough. Ask any building inspector about this.

Your right, he is not talking about living like a hermit, but he is talking about living "off-grid". To me that means no Telephone, no utilities, no internet etc. I just wish people could live that way for a year before they commit to it as a life change. I have lived in wall tents, horse trailers, trapping cabins, pup tents in my logging days. It was fun but it got very old fast. But thats just me. Some folks are born to live that way. I was raised on a farm, if I didn't keep the wood stove going the toilet bowl would be frozen in the morning. It gets old real fast. It just seems to me when I retire I want all the modern conveniences that I can afford. I didnt work so damn hard just so my kid can get a big payday when I die. Gonna spend and have some fun!

Makes sense to me.  Personally, I would like something off the beaten path that is somewhat self sufficient but I couldn't imagine living with telephone, utilities and internet.  I've spent enough time in Texas to know that I couldn't live there without a robust AC system.

Understand where you are coming from about no phone, utilities or internet. If you prep with some of this items in mind you can have them! Solar power for one I get a lot of sun in my area back up as said was a propane generator to charge the battery bank that will be set up. With what we have today living off grid does not mean you go back to being a cave person! Just mean taking care of yourself not having to worry about someone turning off my power or the power grid going down, growing most of my own food hunting off the land.

As for the A/C thought of that! We plan on the cement dome home because of how well they insulate in cold and warm weather I have talked to a few people from AZ who have them and been told that they have one Window A/C that cools the whole house and it runs very little. Same goes when it's cold when I lived in North Dakota a friend had one and he used a small wood stove and had to be careful to not heat the house up to much it got down to -60 degs when I was there. I'm not looking to jump into this next month I'm making a plan and making sure that I try to get everything covered.

I have 29 years before I can pull SS out (Like there will be any!) 12 years until I get my 20 years for Federal retirement. I'll more then likely stay on at the park I'm at as non LEO for another 15 years. I'm looking at this in long game wanting to start doing things to the land ASAP to get it ready for my home like set up rain collection drill for water or see if I can even do it. Also I have 5 years or more if I want to look for land one that might have a well on it and being that I want to live in the town next to the park I'm going to work at I will get to know a lot of the ranchers around the area and last time I worked LEO in a small town people got to know me and heard what I was looking for and had ranchers who came looking for me and telling me about land they know about.

I'm trying to get more information about how to make this place something I'll stay at until I die! I have done my share of time in places that make any logging camp look like five star hotel. We understand what we are in for we know that there are some items we are going to have to give up but we also know there are also a lot of items we can still have if we plan right.

How are your going to harvest rain water from a dome home?

My area gets 8.67 inches of rain per year.   With a 10,000 gallon tank it collects enough water for 2-3 people to live comfortably year round, using a 1500 sq ft roof.     That doesn’t include a swamp cooler or a garden.

If you get raw land, you’re gonna need a tractor, and once you get one, you’ll never sell it.   Because it is so darn useful.  But  a decent one will run $15,00 used, $25,000 new.   I'm finding lots of expenses associated with rural living not needed with an urban property.   Rural doesn't mean cheap.   I'm spending $1200/yr on mice poison and still have a rattlesnake problem.

I’d buy land NOW while interest rates are still at all-time lows.   This will give you time to finish the site and actually enjoy it for years, instead of it being an endless list of projects sucking up your time and money.   20 acres would be my absolute minimum, assuming no close neighbors.

Backwoods Home Magazine Anthology CD set

There's an astounding amount of homesteading info here for forty bucks.

I've seen people use rain roofs in the desert.  Basically just a platform for collecting water.  Presumably someone living off grid will also have a barn for storing equipment and such.  If it were me, I would use every surface I could for water collection.

Here is what I would do. Emphasis on I. 

Buy your land that you think you want. Just sit on it, paying it off ASAP. Save/invest your money.

Once you are about 2-4 years from retirement, have your house built. In 25 years a lot will change. We will have more efficient this and that, better building methods for such and such. Plus, your wants may change. Maybe you need handicap access because of that "old" hip injury that you get in 5 years. Stuff like that. Maybe you have a different wife/girlfriend who wants a different lifestyle. It could happen, never know. 

When you are building from scratch a retirement home, keep in mind EMT services and handicap access in general. You want PLENTY of room for EMT to get a stretcher in the house, maneuver around the house, etc. Think handicap access, single level living setup (although not necessarily used immediately). Guarantee when you get older, having a bedroom on main floor with bathroom right next to the bedroom will be niiiiice. 

I guess to conclude with what I said originally: that far out, I would hold off on building anything substantial. Want to enjoy your property now? Buy an RV, go vacation on your land. You can even start working on gardens, using soil building crops. Now would be a good time to plant any trees that you may want that grow in that area. They are a long term investment. 

WISH I could buy land now! Yet its not going to happen! I'm looking at 100+ acres of land for less then most people have bought 20 acres!

Be careful. Some of that cheap Texas land is absolutely worthless. They package it nice and it seems priced good, but it has no water and no chance for ulilities. I looked all over and at some of those Texas acreages and bought a place in Oklahoma with live water. Also, if it is more than a few hours away, you will not get out to it very often and then you will have no way to take care of it.

My may is no where near self sufficient/sustaining but it does have a lot of standalone features.  House is all solar due to no utility lines nearby, water is catchment, cell phone and Ham radio for comms, satellite internet and satellite TV.  We use propane for cooking, hot water, and some limited heating.  I realize my location and climate are way different from yours but if you are interested in any of my setup, just let me know.

Also, make very sure that the parcel is not "land-locked." Many times, parcels look good but there is no easement from the main road, and the neighbors who own the parcels you'll need to drive across won't let you. They LIKE the idea of 20+ acres they can use without having to own it!

Yes I have seen this! I'm going to be a Park LEO Ranger near where I'm wanting to buy the land. I have been told by a few people I'll get to know the ranchers in the area and if they like me they will tell you where to buy your land. My boss told me there are a lot of old ranchers down in the area ones that are 70+ years old and they are the last generation that are going to be ranchers and they know it so they are always looking for someone who will take care of the land and respect it as there family has!


Thanks! You get a lot more rain then I do also easier to grow. Your set up sounds a lot like the way I'm going to set up mine. Not hard to have some items like internet as long as you set up for it!



Yes I know about that when I was a deputy I had to deal with that all the time during hunting! One guy who lived out in the area full time did not want to allow some one weekend a year hunter drive across his land. Hunter did not want to drive another two hours just so that they could get to there hunting land. I know this to well! A lot of people don't think of this when they buy land!