How to Find Land for a Homestead

Living off the land. Being off grid. Having a piece of Earth to call your own. Away from the city.

That’s the dream of many preppers. It was certainly our dream and this year (2020), we made it happen.

We started our journey in an RV with the intent to travel across the US to find the ‘perfect’ piece of property. Of course, there’s no such thing as perfect. Even as we journeyed, we kept an open mind and knew we were going to have to compromise in some way or another.

Some considerations:

• How remote can you be from the city? As in, does your job require you to work in a city or can you work remote?
• Do you have any health concerns that would keep you near a bigger city?
• Do you have a 4×4 vehicle that can be a bit more remote on dirt paths?
• Do you enjoy snow or would you need somewhere that’s sunny?
• Are you looking to be completely off grid or be on grid for a while then off grid later on or not off grid at all? What are your grid goals?
• Do you want something that’s already established or are you good to build everything up from scratch?
• What’s your budget for property, then what’s your budget and timeline for building a home and getting the homestead up and going?
• When would you like to move onto property?

None of these are deal breakers. For instance, if you have a job in which you currently have to go into an office, that doesn’t mean you can’t find a remote job. If you don’t currently have a 4×4 vehicle, you could always get one, or it may not even be a concern.

You don’t have to have all of this figured out right here and now. However, these are just some things to keep in mind before looking into land. And eventually figuring them out as you move forward.

Can I build a homestead on public land?

Generally, no. That is, you wouldn’t be able to build a structure and live there for any extended period of time without eventually getting caught and kicked out, you may even be fined or worse.

We’ve stayed in national forests and BLM land for a month at a time and nobody cared. But that was with our RV and we did eventually leave. We also saw officials drive through every couple of weeks, if not every week, depending on where we were.

If you end up building your structure with nobody noticing the supplies being brought in, the path being created to your structure and potential fire from your no-doubt wood burning stove; then you’d still have to constantly be on guard, waiting for someone to knock on your door and ask you what the heck you’re doing there.

As much as you may think you’re in the middle of nowhere and nobody will ever find you, just like you, other people like to explore, too.

In the end, I would certainly rather own the land that I live on instead of squatting on public or private property.

Make a land wishlist

• What would you like to do with the land?
• What’s the minimum acreage that you’d like?
• How far from a major city does it need to be?
• How far off any main roads does it need to be?
• Should it be covered in trees or is a desert environment ok?
• Should it already have a house and well on it or are you cool with bare, undeveloped land?
• Are there any nearby resources that you’d like, such as a creek?
• Would you like to buy property that has a house and well already on it?

Keep in mind that you may need to bend on your wishlist. There is no ‘perfect’ piece of land. Making this list will simply give you an idea of what your wants and what you can live without. Our main requirement of owning land was to have as much as possible. Getting 40 acres was a good start for us.

How to find property

First, research the area that you’d like to live. We had some ideas of the states and even specific areas that we wanted to live, but what’s funny is that Arizona was never on that list. We happened to stumble across a beautiful area and realized there was more to AZ than most people realize.

My point is, even if you think you know where you want to go, I would suggest taking a trip there first. You may think you want to live in South Dakota, but once you travel around, you may think differently. Take a trip across various states, even if it’s just for a weekend.

Here are some things to look for:

• Look closely at any deed restrictions by the owner and by the county/city/state – such as house restrictions, hunting restrictions, shooting restrictions
• Ask about off grid living and if there are any county/city/state restrictions – you would be surprised how many places prohibit being off the grid
• Ask if there’s an HOA – many parcels of land are actually part of an HOA; AVOID them at ALL costs
• Contact local well drilling places and ask them about how much it would cost to drill a well for the area
• Look up average temperatures for the area
• Look to see how level the land is – is all of your land usable or is most of it on top of a hill?
• Walk around the community and local town to get a feel for the place
• Do some research about what permits are required for structures or building a home
• Look at local and state laws – you may discover something that you don’t like
• Look into homeschool rules and regulations
• Research taxes
• Look into local natural disasters and crime rates
• How’s the reception out there? – if you need some cell or internet service, look at what’s out there

If you’re planning to buy land, build a home and live there for many years (if not the rest of your life), I would highly recommend doing as much research about the land, local community, county, city and state as possible. You don’t want to buy land then suddenly be disappointed to find out that you can’t live off grid or you can’t even live on the land until you’re planning to build.

Trust me when I tell you that you want to be 100% happy with your land. Don’t make any rush decisions just because you want to get away from the city. I understand your desire, but you also don’t want to go from one stressful situation to another.

My last bit of advice is to talk to others who are already homesteading/living off grid. Reach out to them and ask them questions. You may discover a piece of the country or ideas that you never would have considered before.

Finding land is the easy part; the real fun begins once you begin to build it into a homestead!

If you ever have any questions about homesteading or more specifically, desert homesteading, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.