Posted: 8/29/2013 9:38:49 AM EDT
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Although not in the foreseeable future, I'd like to start getting an idea of where I want to purchase land to fit the BOL bill. Two questions...... first is there any resources that help you find land for sale that is more prepper oriented, such as being able to have search parameters of water source on land, mineral rights included, etc? Second question (which I'm sure has been asked before) what would be your must haves for a land purchase and wants, off the top of my head.....
Must Have - Water source on property (aquifer, pond, creek but in what order?) - X miles away from major city (how far? Personally I'd still like to be somewhat close to a medium size city, I realize this is a trade off but I'm thinking 30-45 minutes outside of a medium size [<80,000] but 2+ hours away from any major cities) - X amount of acres (how many? I realize this will vary greatly by where you're at, for me I'm thinking it wouldn't be unreasonable to get 40+ acres) - Above sea level Wants - Mineral rights (or is this a must?) - Clean drinking water on property - Property backed up publicly owned land - diversity on the land - like minded neighbors I realize everyone situation will be different along with depending on where you are at in the country but just trying to get an idea if I'm forgetting something major to look for when buying land (I'm having a brain fart at the moment so I'll add more the the must/want later). |
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I think the biggest benefit would be running water on your BOL somewhere. I own property that has a small stream that runs along the perimeter. It's on a very quiet road that has only a handful of homes on it, and it's across the street from a state forest.
It all depends on what your plans are with your location. Maybe you want something defensible with lots of rugged terrain, or maybe you want to plant crops, and are looking for mostly flat land? A good mix of both would be ideal. |
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I'd probably add, some place you can get to in a reasonable amount of time, if your not going to live there permanently. What's reasonable is up for discussion. Generally, some place you can get to with a tank full of gas is ideal, but I don't know how close any feasible BOLs are to your current location. If its farther, you will have to keep extra fuel on hand because you may not be able to stop a gas stations along the way.
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| Both great points.... ideal situation for me is I'll be living on my BOL, at the moment all I can do is dream but if resources and money weren't an object I envision having 40+ acres with my home in one area and then a well concealed "bunker" somewhere else on the property that would act as a fall back if I/we had to leave the main home. I'm thinking a large accessible aquifer along with some type of stream (although I call them creeks ;) ) would be the ideal water situation. I'm going to update my first entry now that I've thought about it some more |
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Would this be a place you want to get away from it all, or do you want something preactical/livablle?
Being 30/45 minutes away from anythign adn two hours away from a city isnt exaclty practical nor is it cost effective. Got kids? Would they be going to school? Are they having a social life or will they hang out with bears, wolves and squirrels instead? Do you need to work or are you retired? again, the commute can be a big drawback. Are you mortal? Then being 30 minutes away from the nearest hospital reduces considerably your chances of surviving a medical complication. Same for life quality if yuo need frequent tratment (cancer, heart condition, etc) Do you want to farm or are you ok with a smaller orchard and thinking of stocking up food instead? When I moved I went for a neighborhood close to a 50.000 population town, a milking cow, move theater, hosptial or train station, its all witihn walking disance or a few minutes on bike. |
| All great things to think about, and some I haven't thought about (hence the thread). If we are talking ideal situation (realizing more than likely compromises would have to be made), I'd like to purchase land somewhat in the near future with the goal of one day being mostly self sufficient and living on said land with family and trusted friends. Right now I'm just trying to get an idea of what that "ideal land" would be for a person with a prepping mind set and see it someone brings something up I hadn't thought about. In the states I don't think 30 minutes outside a medium size city is to far, I currently live in a "medium size" city and I do enjoy some of the luxuries it provided but if things got crazy I wouldn't want to be in it. I hadn't thought the family aspect, I don't have one but if I do I wouldn't want to alienate my children. |
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Wants
- Mineral rights (or is this a must?) What "minerals" are there? Often times this is a general term too. I'd look for it if at all possible. - Clean drinking water on property You may have to drill your own well. This can be costly. About 2 years after I purchased our first land, an adjoining parcel with about 10 acres came up. It had an old house, septic and well. The house wasn't worth crap and should have been demolished. However the well was worth at least $5K in this area back then, the septic about a $1K back then. I paid $15,000. for the land, which was a little high then, but I valued the land at under $1K an acre based on the well and septic. We've seen put in 4 more wells, including two dedicated deep well hand pumps, the last two will be solar. Dug a couple small ponds in lower and naturally wetter areas for more water options. - Property backed up publicly owned land Not trying to kick you in the nuts here, but WHY? Oh I know, everyone reads these fiction stories and thinks that butting up to a national forest will be a "big backyard" and all that crap. I think it's a mistake. Public land=open to the public. Equals "we's own dee's lands!" Seriously, you have NO CONTROL over what scumbags come into public lands. They will be on your backdoor. When they grab a few worthless things and their flatscreen TV and bug out of their McMansions in the Mommy Bus SUV, they will think that they can make it in the woods cause they "camped one time" when they were 12. After a few days or weeks of that- and being hungry- then they are going to notice your nice little place sitting on the edge of the "public land". They MIGHT just bother you with begging, they might not..... Get my drift? Or it could be as simple as Prepper McFudd who fancies himself a survivalist cause he reads internet forums bugging out to those public lands and building too big of a fire- that gets out of hand and now it's in your back yard. Too many risks for too little rewards IMO. - diversity on the land I assume you mean diversity in topography, "lay of the land" etc. Yeah it can be a good thing. A few hills to hide your underground dwellings, some lowers areas that pretty much always hold some water during drought years is a good thing. Unless it's some organic farmland, your going to have to put years of boots on the ground work into ANY place to get it up to speed. We moved in 1999, been working the soil all this time and it was probably 2006'ish before we started getting really good harvests from the garden areas, the orchards, the ponds, etc. It takes time. Putting in an orchard and a pond should be one of your first priorities. They take the longest time to get going, so you want to do them first. - like minded neighbors Good luck with that. SOME country folks will be growing gardens, raising some animals, etc. Their IS scumbags in the country just like their is in the city, the key is THEIR IS JUST A LOT LESS OF THEM IN THE COUNTRY THAN IN THE CITY. In the end, it's always a numbers game, less people = less potential for problems. You can throw out every emotional "city vs. country" argument and look at it in cold hard numbers. In short, don't count on having survivalists next door, but their is a good chance that by the very nature of living in the country, they will be more accustomed to power outages, to fixing stuff themselves, to perhaps gardening and putting up food, etc. In short, not 1/10th of the way to being considered survivalists, but light years ahead of most city folks. Good luck. Be flexible in your plans, better to pay cash for 5 acres than finance 100 acres. Of anything in life, your survival retreat you should own 100% The S is NOT hitting TF tomorrow, you HAVE TIME, the question is and will remain what are you going to DO with that time? A fully paid for place in the country producing it's own power, growing most of your own food, etc. is a helluva good retirement plan. We have live for very little here in the country. And THAT is ultimately why you do it, NOT because you "fear" this or that happening, that's BS. Lowdown3 |
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Thanks for the input, this is definitely an evolving opinion one what I'd considering the "ideal land". I did stumble across a youtube video today which discussed a book that seem like it might be a good read, it's called "Strategic Relocation" by Joel Skousen, the only bad part is the book is pricey. I couldn't find it anywhere cheap but I went ahead and picked it up off amazon. If anyone is interested in the review the link is below.
Strategic Relocation Review |