Are you curious about how people afford the land for homesteading? You’ve got company. Someone recently took to a popular online homesteader forum and asked how people afford the property to live off-grid and for homesteading, and these are the top-voted responses.
1. Dual Incomes
One man noted that dual incomes have been crucial for his family’s homestead’s success. Their dream was to have at least one retire to work on the property full-time. Still, inflation makes the payments only possible with them working.
2. Corporate Work
Another shared, “I work in a corporate office setting, opposite where I want my life to end. However, I was offered a high-paying job, so I decided to work at this company until I had enough to work on my property instead of working for someone else.”
3. Renovate a Bus
“My significant other and I purchased a bus to minimize expenses until we could save up for our property. We both currently work full-time jobs and use a car with high gas mileage to get around. It has allowed us to put away thousands that would have gone towards rent,” one confessed.
4. Temporary Lodge Tent
Another shared that their family bought a lodge tent, a 12-foot by 12-foot tent that they have insulated enough to face the mild climate where they live. They put this tent up on the property as a comfortable place to live.
At the same time, they are saving money to afford their homesteading facilities. “We do forego some comfort, but it’s worth seeing our dreams come to fruition years ahead of our plan.”
5. Engineer
Someone explained they work as a full-time Engineer, while their sister tends to do most of the farm maintenance. “I would prefer to be helping with the homestead.”
However, my salary is enough for us to pay for the property and leaves me a bit of time to plan the following facilities we will build. I also make enough to hire the right companies to ensure everything is well-built and will last generations.”
6. Buy an Old House with Property Included
“I bought a broken-down house that sits on 30 acres of property,” replied one. “Since I pay the house mortgage rather than the fees for the land, it has saved me a lot of money. With the proper permits, I’ve slowly built up my homestead while my roommate and I work full-time jobs.”
7. Work with a Group of Friends
“My friends and I decided we wanted to design a homestead property,” answered another. “Since there are seven of us, we’ve decided to have some of us work full-time while others work part-time to maintain the property.
It has allowed us to all base our schedules around how much we want to work on the farm, so the contributions remain equal, and we are all happy.”
8. Save For Ten Years
Another volunteered, “My husband and I spent ten years saving to buy our property before affording the down payment. It was not easy to wait this long, but we could apply for a loan to finish paying off the property and build all the facilities needed for our farm.
Since then, we have had a very successful agricultural business and have both been able to leave our jobs off the property.”
9. Work Your Way Up
“We started with a few acres and worked our way up as our success increased,” one stated. “My husband and I bought three acres from an agricultural community where we were limited in what we were sanctioned to grow and raise.
Still, anything we didn’t have was easily attainable from other farms in the area. As we sold more of what we grew, we could buy more land surrounding our farm and increase our yield as demand grew.”
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10. Virtual Software Developer
Finally, someone explained, “I work as a virtual software developer. It has allowed me to afford my property and hire some friends to maintain it while I save enough to leave my job.
It has been challenging to live on my land without the time to work on it. Still, it is very satisfying to see many of my childhood dreams come to life since I work hard enough to afford them.”
We hope you enjoyed this Reddit discussion about ways people afford the property to homestead.
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Davin is a jack-of-all-trades but has professional training and experience in various home and garden subjects. He leans on other experts when needed and edits and fact-checks all articles.