Story Time Thursday

While researching and browsing forums on homesteading, I’ve come across a common question: how do you afford to start homesteading if you’re not rich? However, it’s not so different from buying any other type of property. For reference, me and my family would be considered lower middle-class.

We have a small amount of money saved from selling our house that we owned. It is unlikely we could buy a property and pay in full cash with it, but it should be enough for a down payment. After the initial cost, the monthly payment in the areas we’re looking at should be much cheaper than it would be even to rent an apartment. If needed, we could buy an RV trailer to live in until we save up enough to build an actual house or make do with whatever structures are already on the property.

We are also discussing pooling our resources with other family members interested in homesteading. By working together, we could afford to buy and build closer to our dream property than we would be able to alone. We can also take care of each others’ gardens and animals, allowing us to still occasionally travel.

The initial set-up cost being one of the biggest obstacles, there are other options for those who are not home-owners that can sell for a profit or don’t have family members interested in joining. One option is checking and applying for first-time homeowner mortgages. These generally require a much lower or sometimes no down payment at all and may have better interest rates. Although buying a place in cash is ideal, it is not a realistic goal for most of us.

There are also homesteading communities that are growing in popularity. Some paid programs facilitate the formation of these communities, but you can also sometimes find them through online homesteading groups and forums. This generally involves either pooling resources to buy land and build up the community homestead, or a landowner may provide a homesite on their property in exchange for help managing the garden or animals. Although extensive vetting is often needed by both parties to make sure it’s a good fit, this can be a great option!

Don’t forget that you don’t have to live in the middle of nowhere to homestead either. While it’s difficult, if not impossible to truly homestead in an apartment or the suburbs, that doesn’t mean that you have to move an hour away from the nearest town or have 100 acres. You also don’t have to build your own house if you don’t want to. There are quite a few properties with 5-10 acres of land and a modest house already built on it. If you follow efficient garden design or don’t want many animals, 1 acre can even be sufficient. It all depends on what you want.

To summarize, here are some ways to afford starting homesteading:

• Sell a property you already own for a profit

• Collaborate with family members or close friends; you may be surprised at how many are interested

• Apply for first-time homeowner mortgages and look at eligible properties

• Find and join a like-minded homesteading community

• Choose a cheaper, run-down property that is livable, but that you can make repairs and improvements to over time

Thanks for reading! Tune in next week to see how to continue making a living while homesteading.

Faith Smith