Homesteading: Finding a Home

A few of the nuts and bolts involved in finding your own bit of paradise

There are lots of ways to homestead and many different definitions. Homesteading doesn’t have to be “all of nothing”. It can be a way of life, a way of thinking. It is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency.

To that end, it is also the craft and art of preparing oneself and family for a time when homesteading on a massive scale may be necessary for maintaining quality of life.

Homesteading is characterized by a mix of small scale animal and plant agriculture, home preservation of food, developing and utilizing independent sources of heating (such as wood or solar), water (well, reservoir or stream/river) and energy (hydro, solar, wind, etc.) and may also involve the small scale production of clothing, textiles, furnishings and craft work for household use or sale. It often involves barter and community exchange of services.

Homesteading can be a great tool for a family that wishes to live independently off of one income. It can be a great way to save money by reducing expenses.

Homesteading adds to the quality of food we can afford to eat. To be able to grow food such as the bounty here is something I am proud of.

.To some extent, Jill and I have always been homesteaders, and ever since we first began our journey together we purposefully have incorporated these ideals into how we structure our lives. Jill grew up with British parents, who were young adults starting a family during WWII. During the war, her father served as an officer in the Royal Air Force developing radar in India, and her mother raised their two young daughters (Jill’s much older sisters) while first living in London and then in the countryside. Her mother came from a rural background, and when they immigrated to California in the 1950s, she brought that ethos and that way of life with her.

Jill was born in 1960. Her childhood was spent learning the art of homesteading, which her mother viewed as nothing more than being a “good” housewife. I don’t think she ever realized the extent of her skills. Chickens, poultry, vegetable gardens, food preservation, the making of clothes, cooking, saving, and DIY projects were part and parcel of Jill’s childhood. Her father also came from a similar mindset. Although he held a job as a senior engineer, at home - he repaired their cars, designed electrical systems - including radios and TVs, built out a small lemon and avocado farm and kept bees. Basically, her family grew up with the ideals of self-sustainability - homesteading. Only with a very British twist. I don’t think she really thought about how different her background was as a young adult or how it influenced her own life choices during the many years since we became a couple.

My family was also very oriented towards small farming. My mother grew up in Eastern Oregon on a large sheep ranch. She was a child during WWII and also grew up with an ethos of small farming, self-sufficiency, and victory gardens.

When we were teenagers and just starting out, our goal was that I would get my medical degree so that we could have a small farm in the country, where I would practice medicine in a rural setting. The muse of science modified that vision slightly but still, as soon as we were financially able, we purchased our first small farm.

Prior to that, we lived a life where self-sustainability was part of our bedrock. We kept chickens, had a vegetable garden, Jill sewed and did crafts, I made furniture, etc. Even when we were in college, somehow there would be herbs growing on the back porch of the apartment, we would go to farmers markets to support local production, etc.

The problem being that the life of an academic requires a lot of moving.

So, when by the time we landed here in Virginia, we had lived in four different farms, with four very different housing options. Our first farm in Maryland was 55 gorgeous acres and a 150 year old house built by homesteaders in the 1800s… that was literally falling down around us. Our farm in Georgia had an old brick rancher. Then we lived in a huge horse barn, with an apartment built into the complex and we also lived in another 100+ year old house. Each situation was different. But over the years, we learned to produce our own hay, maintain pastures, build and repair fences, keep poultry in all sorts of set-ups, have vegetable gardens in pots, raised gardens, tilled gardens, and straw gardens. We learned about septic systems, wells, pressure tanks, fertilizers, weed control, fruit trees, keeping sheep, keeping a small dairy herd and just about anything else relating to a small homestead you can think of. We have had lots of failures and lots of successes. We have learned that what works for one farm, may not work for another. That climate, soil, rain, erosion all play a part in the successes and failures. As does dumb luck and expected failure.

So, by the time we landed on this current piece of raw land, we relished the opportunity of a new fresh palette. We had intended to rebuild the old house, which had been abandoned for at least fifty years, but the county soon shut down that idea. So, with limited cash on hand and a need to build in a hurry, we looked for other options.

We knew where we wanted to build and spend a lot of time just hanging out at the spot. Thinking about how a house might fit into the land. Where would the front door be, the bedrooms? Where would the sun rise and set? I bought an architectural software program and spent time fiddling with that. We knew we wanted a single level rancher, but what style? We knew we wanted to be self-sufficient and we wanted a smaller house, easy to clean, well designed - not something ostentatious. Magazines and books on exterior and interior design were consumed. I interviewed a few local architects and in the end, settled on the idea of a modular home. As Nationwide homes is located in Virginia and there were builders in our area that specialized in their designs, we interviewed them as well. We ran through the specs and soon had maxed out what we wanted to spend and more with that option.

This time, we were determined that we did not want to have a mortgage and if we did, it needed to be small enough to pay off quickly. We knew that conventional home loans would not be available, because of the way the federal government has structured the mortgage industry. So we spoke to the local farm credit, discussed USDA loans - which come with so many terms and conditions, we also soon rejected.

A note about conventional mortgages and loans. Don’t get one, unless you absolutely have to. But if you have to have one, try to get one for a five year term. If not five, then ten years, if not ten years, then fifteen years and if you really have to, then 20 years. These loans are money makers for banks. They will take money out of your pocket. On a twenty year mortgage, national average 20-year fixed mortgage APR is 7.76%. That means, over the course of twenty years- you will literally pay double the amount amount of the loan principal in interest.

Examples of interest paid for five, ten and twenty years.

So… if you have to do a 20 year loan, the most important thing is to design a plan to pay it off quickly. That means each month budget as if it were a five or ten year loan. If you get extra cash from selling something, a bonus at work, whatever- put it into the loan. Pay off your loans before you save - except for that emergency account, if you have one. Generally speaking, your savings account will not accrue interest faster than what you pay for on interest.

Back to how we came to housing decisions. Our county is very detail oriented when it comes to new buildings and is known for making the live’s of building contractors very difficult. This can literally add years onto the time needed to obtain an occupancy permit. As discussed in another essay, we didn’t have years. We had a breeding horse farm and we must live on site. So, as we were living in a 400 sq. foot office trailer with a port-a-potty, and using the local health club to shower, we needed to build something fast.

Locally, there is a Clayton Homes distributor. Clayton Homes is a national chain of mobile and modular homes for sale. Jill had swung by it one day, while shopping and insisted that we needed to go look at their options. I was not convinced. I had always said that the one thing I didn’t want to live in was a “trailer” home. But off we went to the local dealership.

I came away with my mind completely blown. What I learned was that this housing option offered the best value for the money, if one bought the homes for cash or paid them off relatively fast.

As a caveat, if financed, these loans are done as “chattel” loans and this can be a costly option. A chattel loan is basically an unsecured car loan, and the interest rates can be very high. Furthermore, because they are chattel loans, it is easy for the mortgage companies to repossess the buildings. Warren Buffitt owns both Clayton Homes and the Mortgage lending companies that will loan on mobile homes. So, it is an integrated system. Buyer beware.

However, if one pays for a higher end mobile home in cash, these can be some of the best deals on the market. Furthermore, for about 20K more - most mobile homes can be built as a modular home, that is they placed on a foundation. These are then converted to a stick-built house by assessors and future conventional mortgages can be obtained. Whereas trailer homes will not be considered the same as a stick built home for normal mortgage lenders. Again, buyer beware.

For the homesteader, mobile and modular homes have many advantages. First, they are built to a high energy efficiency standard. For our two houses, we pay about $150 a month in electricity. These houses are semi-custom built in a factory - so carpeting, cabinets, appliances, siding options, roofing, paint colors etc. are chosen by the buyer. As long as a more quality product is chosen, the interiors are of decent quality. Once ordered and paid for, delivery time to the site is about 60 days. Finally, these houses are inspected and approved by the Federal government (HUD), which somehow has managed to supersede state government regulations. That means that the local housing inspectors don’t get to inspect the house. The only inspections the county and state can make are septic, electric to the house, well or water source to the house and the set-up to the house onsite - which is done outside of the HUD inspections. Ergo - the lengthy process of getting a house built narrows down to from the start to finish of about three to four months. When I did the calculations in my head, it was a no brainer. However, we did our homework. We visited the Clayton Homes factory in Pennsylvania that would make our house. We upgraded everything possible. That means windows, siding, pitch of roof - to be the same as a stick-built house, cabinetry, carpeting, paint, etc. Also, there are other options besides Clayton Homes for these types of houses, but Clayton is largest distributor of such housing options in our region.

Then we acted fast and within nine months of having purchased raw land, we had our first house on the property.

Here are some photos of the process:

The costs: $93,000 for the house from the factory. $25,000 for the set-up, $6,000 for the septic, $2,500 for the electric installation (including the trenching to the house but I DIY’ed the breaker panel and initial set-up) and water well $7,000 (450 feet depth) = $134,000.00

The house is 1600 square feet. This came to eighty-three dollars per square foot with the well, septic and electric).

Without the well, septic and electrical costs, it came to $74. per square foot.

Here is a current estimate of average costs for a new home:

New home construction costs $100 to $155 per square foot on average with most homeowners paying $155,000 to $416,250

For us, the benefits to buying a mobile home were significant. But yes, we lived (and still often live) in a doublewide.

However, buying a old house and renovating it has also worked very well for us in the past. In that case, you either come with a construction skill set or you quickly develop such a tool kit. In our case, I have a lot of construction experience, and over the years, so does Jill. She can lay a hardwood, pergo or vinyl floor. She does most of the painting. Both of us can refinish furniture. I can build a patio, pour concrete, build an addition, change out a toilet or bathtub, replumb a kitchen, shingle, fix a roof, etc. I didn’t start homesteading with all of these skills, they have been built up over time. If I can do it, so can most.

When we bought 55 acres in Maryland, the house was in such poor shape that a conventional mortgage lender and the USDA program would not lend on the property. That meant that the house was basically a “give away.” We bought the property for the price of the land. As we came into that deal, with cash on hand from equity, at the time we were able to obtain a less conventional loan for a decent interest rate. That option is no longer available - as after 2008 housing crisis, such options dried up.

While we were “building” the first house here on the current farm, my elderly father had a number of crisis of his own and he no longer wanted to live by himself. However, assisted living was not an option for him, as he could not handle the strict rules and living conditions of such places. Although we had spent years estranged, mostly due to my mother’s strong control issues, after she died - that changed.

During 2018, my father and I had become very close. I had flown out there to his California home a number of times and determined that as he really couldn’t live alone and be happy. I asked him if he would live with us on the property and he thankfully agreed. So, we decided that the best course of action was to quickly build another modular home on the property.

For that one, there was a “demo” home on the Clayton lot that we bought for $99,000 (discounted from $130,000). It is a much “fancier” home, with a interior peaked ceiling and was put together as a modular package. At $1800 sq. feet and a total build out of $160,000. we paid $88 a square foot.

Sadly, my father passed away shortly thereafter.

Another option for these houses is to find the repossessed websites and foreclosures.

In homesteading, one learns that compromise is a must - unless one has unlimited amounts of money.

However, remote work is one way many people are able to find cheap land and farms, and these days people with a trade can work almost anywhere. I think the upper southeastern states still have some great opportunities for cheap farms. West Virginia in particular is almost undiscovered. I did a search on West Virginia, ten acres and under $400 K (link here) and under 200K (link here). With Starlink for internet, such homesteads are much more doable. However, in many places - the school systems can be sub-par. This can be both opportunity and justification to homeschool.

These rural areas are also great retirement options.

Here are some examples of the properties I found during in a two minute search:

Finally, when building out a homestead - think about income potential that can be generated outside of traditional work.

Having been in this community for many years, including our strong ties to various Amish communities (from when we used to breed draft horses) we know that specialty animal breeding is a niche that actually can generate money. The key is that it has to be a breed that has a high demand and fetches a reasonably high price. Many times this might require specialty training in animal husbandry - such as incubating exotic eggs or learning the genetics of a specific breed.

For instance, we kept a couple of registered mini-jersey cows for a few years. Not only did they supply us with milk but their (female) offspring generated top dollar at $5,000 each. These cattle were hard assets. When we needed to move, it was easy to sell these lovely girls for what we paid for them.

Homesteading means being self-sufficient and resilient. It means failures and lots of them. It means some successes. It means planning for failure and success. It is not easy, but it is a grand passion.

Finally, small farming has allowed us to take many children and shape them into adults who have absorbed the lessons of hard work, animal husbandry and farming: what it means to train and show an animal at a state fair, learn to drive a horse, ride, garden and more. These children have come to us through home schooling programs, the children of friends, knocked on our door, interns (we will be taking on an intern this summer from Germany). Many have remained friends. They have grown and become more mature because of our guidance, often at critical junctures in their lives. I think both Jill and I are very proud of this contribution to our community in teaching the next generation. Build it and they will come.

Some photos of our journey along the way.

As Americans, homesteading is in our DNA. Our country was built by homesteaders and small farmers. The skills of our ancestors, combined with new technologies, can also be our future. So don’t be afraid to jump into working towards self-sufficiency. The lessons and memories made will last a lifetime.

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This was our farm in Maryland - those buildings were all falling down when we bought the place, which had previously been occupied by a Baltimore motorcycle gang of ill repute.

Taking on a run-down old farm is always an option to consider when homesteading.