Where do we start being self-sustaining?

[writteninkursive]

Where do we begin???
DH and I and our three children (4,2,and 10 months) live in the city (Columbus, OH to be precise). We don't mind where we live, just how we live. We rent a big house in a so-so neighborhood, with admittedly some crime problems. We have about .35 acres to work with - we garden.
What we want is to build a house (ourselves, and out of stone) on a larger patch of land. We don't want to go far from Columbus... we like it here and DH has a good job and I'm in school. But we're starting to realize that this lifestyle leaves a lot to be desired. We want room to seriously garden, a safe place for our kids to run around outside, a house that we built and land that we own. We want to be as self-sustaining as our lifestyle permits. We're getting there, slowly... starting with things like growing our own produce and making our own cloth diapers and whatnot. But we're pretty new at this.
I want to buy land. I know nothing about buying land or property. We are relatively young and neither of us have ever owned even a home before. We refuse to ever take out a home loan (especially in light of the current housing market in Ohio - yikes!). We want to never have a loan again as long as we live. It seems pretty unlikely that we would find land in Ohio, near here, that we can buy. I have no idea where to start looking, how much we'd need to save up, etc.

Obviously, some of you have done this/are in the process of doing it. Please, tell me where to begin!!! Thanks in advance.

[brittneyscott]

If you don't want a loan of any kind then you'll obviously be saving a good deal of money before attempting to buy. There are a few things to consider though when looking at land prices to figure out how much you may need.

First off is school district. If you are sending your kids to public then you'll want a good district and this is going to up the price. If you know you are going to homeschool then I'd suggest finding the least desirable district in your area and buying there as land prices and property taxes will be cheaper.

Undeveloped land is cheaper than developed but you need to know how much it'll cost you to "develop" it if you buy it. Look at estimates on clearing the land, putting in a driveway, electric, water or well, and septic.

Find out about building permits and restrictions in the area before you buy. Some counties/cities will have a lot of building codes and red tape to jump through while some will have less to have to follow and this means cheaper for permits and such. There will be closing costs in purchasing land also that needs to be considered. (For a simple cash purchase transaction in my area this runs about $650 for attorney fees, title search, and deed recording if no issues arise)

Watch out for land locked property!!! It can be purchased and is usually a good bit cheaper than property with road frontage but MAKE SURE you have a deeded right of way/easement. If you don't you can be prevented from accessing the property and it is VERY expensive to fix. Make sure that the paperwork is straight and includes the easement when you purchase.

I'm not sure what else you may be looking for but these are the main things I can think of when looking for land. If you have some more specific information on what you're looking for or any other questions I'll try to help if I can.

[writteninkursive]

Thanks Brittney! Good advice. I'm sure a lot of what is available around here is landlocked, since the populated areas are in patches, leaving large spaces of just land or woods in between.

Our schools here... are so complicated. There's a lottery system, since so many of the public districts are crap. You can lottery your kids into a better district or an alternative school (which is what we're hoping to do next year for our oldest). There's a TON of private schools, but we definitely will not be sending them to the main city schools... ack! No way! Something to think about though. Homeschooling is not for me, so that's not really an option for us.

Okay. I'll make a list of these things and start an info collection. I appreciate your input.

[laohaire]

You'd probably enjoy reading No Impact Man - a guy experimented with a zero-impact life (as he defines it, obviously everyone tried to pick it apart but I think that totally misses the point) in New York City.

As it turns out, the city can offer advantages in leading a sustainable life. As well as some drawbacks. The book might be an interesting read and give you some ideas to start where you live. I hear you on wanting to get some land and I think that's great, the book was just my idea for your current city life.

[limette]

Have you looked at land with houses on it? Part of being sustainable is limiting waste and while we all dream about having a house built to our precise specs, it's less wasteful to buy a house that's already there.

Besides septic, well, electricity (if you're hooking to the grid) is not cheap to set up. Neither is building and it takes forever. Ditto what a previous poster said about building codes and also house insurance if you want it.

Just a thought.

[laohaire]

About septic, take a look at the Humanure Handbook before you make plans to run a septic line.

Of course, in some (many?) areas, septic is required to meet code whether you actually hook up to it or not. Sigh.

[MommatoAandA]

We are talking about homesteading in the city, where we currently live, actually. My DP's grandaparents own the land and plan to pass it down. We have a half acre here and plan on trying to be as self sustainable as we can. Our land needs to be cleared of some things, ok a lot of things, but it has a lot of potential. We like the are though and the schools here are decent.

Just wanted to say good luck!

[CherryBomb]

I agree with looking for land that's already got a home on it. If you really want to build your own, you could always buy land that has a cheap trailer on it and live in that until you get the house built, especially as you want to avoid getting out a loan.