Thursday, September 16, 2010

Buying Land for a Prepper Retreat

I recently purchased a very rural piece of property. The farm was 87 acres and had been used for generations as a producing farm. The former owner was aged and unable to maintain the farm. The price was right and negotiable, and so were the other prepper retreat criterion. The area has…

· Plentiful water--preferably spring fed or an artesian well. (Pumped well water would be an inferior second choice.)

· Good exposure for gardening and photovoltaic’s.

· Temperate climate that offers a lengthy growing season.

· Plentiful game and the opportunity to hunt it.

· Likeminded neighbors.

· Not on a flood plain.

· Southern exposure.

· “Panoramic views.” This usually means a hilltop location with defendable terrain.

· A low crime, socially conservative, practicing Christian population, diverse and healthy local economy. (See the City Data web site to do your research on demographic information.)

· Remote area that is not near population centers and is not in the path of real estate developers.

· Look for property that has an existing house, even if it is old, it can most often be modernized.

· Low housing costs. As discussed in detail in some of my previous blog posts, don’t overlook examining as many factors as possible including home and car insurance rates, property taxes, and so forth. This useful Internet tool compares cost of living in two cities.

· My personal preference is to select a retreat in a mixed farming/ranching/timber region in low-humidity area.

Alone I could not afford to buy this land outright, and I did not want to go into debt to purchase the property. So what to do?

In my church there are five very middle class families that are paying attention to the state of our nation’s fiscal policy. We have been prepping for some time and longed to extend our preparations to a place where we could retreat if the need ever presents itself.

We began shopping together, looking for the perfect place. It took some time but eventually the right place was found. When it became evident that the farm was what we were looking for, we pooled what money we had, and bought it. This was a good solution for our group; however I would not make this kind of arrangement with just anyone. The people I partnered with…

· Have a common world view. (Biblically, politically, and socially conservative.

· Have complementary skill sets. (Engineer, Attorney, Registered Nurse, Chemist, Minister, Farmer)

· Are mature enough to work through problems.

· Each of us have a deeded parcel of the property that is uniquely our own.

· Each are hardworking, self motivating, people.

If you would like to get out of dodge when TSHTF but can’t afford to do so? Consider creating a partnership with likeminded friends.

CK in Southeast Texas

12 comments:

Mayberry said...

An excellent idea. It's time all of us "land poor" folks start banding together.

HermitJim said...

The main point here is certainly "like-minded" and useful!

But it is indeed time to start thinking about partnerships like this!

Jimmy (pen name) said...

I would like to join or start up a group so that we can actually buy a piece of land.

If anyone is looking for a new member of a group that already owns land
or
If anyone would like to group together to buy some land (preferable east of Dallas)
let me know.

I just got back from looking at some land in SE Oklahoma. The land is beautiful, but it did not meet my requirements for a retreat.

1) Must have good access to water.
2) Must be able to grow crops
3) Must be defensible (either isolated or in a small community)
4) Must be able to get to it within 1-2 hr drive.

I've been looking for 10-30 acres of land- I've been unsuccessful thus far. Either thwarted by price or disappointed in that it did not meet the basic requirements. Mostly price.

I know most of us are pretty good on OPSEC, but we really need to get together and make this "network" work for us. It may require a little trust, but we can do this.

HermitJim and Mayberry- indeed, let us "like minded" and "land poor" partner up.

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Anonymous said...

Hi
I am new at this Blog stiff However I prepping for our event , whatever it may be .

Bowtie

Riverwalker said...

To: Bowtie

Welcome aboard!

RW

Anonymous said...

BACKGROUND: I recently inherited a lake lot at Lake of the Pines in east Texas. It was originally purchased from a developer about 40 years ago by my grandparents. So I called Marion County, TX to get some information on it. Turns out, there are HUNDREDS of these lake lots at Lake of the Pines which are uninhabited and virtually deserted. Seems you have to own TWO of these small lots to even be able to put in a septic tank and erect a structure. So the owners of these $300 valued lots- unable to use them - simply quit paying the taxes on the lots (about $5 a year). Many owners haven't paid taxes on them in years. And they can't sell them because one lot is useless since you need two for a septic tank. The county won't foreclose on the lots because the cost of legal proceedings is more than the value of the lots, which are wildly overgrown.
IDEA: Seems to me that this is a perfect situation for "not afraid of a little hard work" preppers who are looking for a bug-out location near a water source, and for a cheap price. I would be willing to bet that many of the current property owners would part with their titles for little to nothing. Even if you want enough land for a compound, at $300 per lot, it's a cheap purchase. However, I don't know anything about how or if utilities are brought to the properties, as I have not visited the area. But if you are looking for a primary bug out location or an alternate location, it might be worth it to check this out.

bowtie said...

I really like this site , because I can talk to poeple that have the same outlook on preping as me . I have just obtained a peice of land in Bastrop Texas . It is only 90 feet x 110 feet but there is a lot of property on all sides that is not cleared and I amtrying to see if I can maybe get some more land . Anyway . I am getting on-site sewage a deep well and will have electrical power ( on grid and solar ). Also a mobil trailer with my son to live on site also we will dig a root-ceiler and have a green house with as much garden as we can put to-gether . If i could get some other like-minded people to throughin with me I will know how much food to put up for any upcoming events in 2012 . Well I have to go now , so bye now .


Bowtie drew1632@sbcglobal.net

Shirley Billingsley said...

I am in. Let me know more thethreekims@gmail. com

Anonymous said...

My family is looking to get out. We have 24.80 acres to sell in order to do it on. When we bought the property we had to travel 2mi. Down rock road. Now it is becoming to congested for us. We are located 15 min east of Conroe Texas. Because of the pop. Explosion, airport expansion, Exxon chemical soon to be built, industrial park expansion, we figure it could sale around 850,000. It is boardered with san Jacinto national forest and has a creek running through it. My question is how to sale it. We are wanting to move to east Texas off toledo bend somewhere. Any helpfull sugestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

Unknown said...

Do you have any info ,or can tell people where.

Unknown said...

Do you have any info ,or can tell people where.