The $20k Homestead - Part 1 - Land, Money & Math
Welcome to Part 1 of what will become a series of posts on how we built our homestead for $20,000. I'm going to break this up into several posts to make it easier to read and allow me to write the next post as you enjoy this one. Be sure to read This Post to get more information on our backstory and why we did this.
Land
After we sold our house and were renting, we were offered a portion of some family land to build our house on. The terms of being given the land were simple:
No financing, mortgages, or liens could be placed to where the land could be taken away.
While these terms were quite limiting on our options, we embraced them, being fully aware of the amount of money we were saving by not buying the land and not wanting to be put back under the yoke of a mortgage!
We received 1 acre from a larger tract of land and began dreaming...
Our first visit to our new land. Hint: Now you know why we're called Green ACRE Homestead!
Money
Since our savings had been dwindled, we did not have any money of substance to work with.
Wait, didn't you just sell your house?
Good point! Yes, we did just sell our house. However... at a loss. We purchased our home back in 2008 right at the height of the American housing market and just before the roller coaster took a nosedive. It took us 6 years and many renovations and property improvements to almost break even to sell it and get out of our mortgage. In fact, we paid $1,000 to sell our home (bringing that money to closing to finalize our Mortgage). We count ourselves Blessed to have been able to walk away from our home. The yoke had been lifted!
Luckily, our credit was good enough that we were approved for a personal loan through a lender. We had $20,000 to work with, but everything to do... Could we do it?
Actual photo of the money paid to move our home.
Math
With our budget fixed, we set off to researching all the possible costs we could. As we researched, we always took the Do It Yourself option if it was available. Both to save money, but also because we are avid DIYers and love projects and being able to stand back and admire our accomplishments. Our to-do list consisted of the following:
- Grading the Land - House Site, Driveway
- Surfacing of the Driveway
- Permits - Building, Septic, Well, Electrical, Plumbing, Inspections
- Septic System
- Water Well
- Used Mobile Homes
- Costs to Move & Setup the Mobile Home
- Unknown Costs
Thank you so much for reading and following us. We hope you have enjoyed Part 1 of this series, and will join us for the many more to come!
Part 2 is Here!
Part 3 is Here!
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It sounds crazy to be able to build a homestead for only $20k! I'm intrigued, and looking forward to reading the next parts of this!
Thank you for reading and commenting! I'll admit.. the $20k budget was very challenging!
Yeah, I can imagine! It will be interesting to see how you solved that low-budget issue ;)
I agree!
This is encouraging. We are facing some big changes right now and not sure what the future has to hold for us. Still hoping and dreaming of that bigger piece of land some day, but are currently having to just wait since we do not know if we should stay in this location or move across country, so for now, making the most of where we are. In some ways, I feel like we are in limbo, but then again, we are still improving and building on what we have.
This reminds me of the military term "hurry up and wait" and how we could probably say that every part of our lives are in some state of limbo. :) I hope yours settles for you, and in a good way. I used to have dreams of moving to another part of the country known for its low cost of living and rural settings (not to put a spotlight on it), but the job market is too sketchy and my roots go too deep here. :) I trace my ancestry back 7 generations to the two or three surrounding counties. My wife originates from the native population of this area as well.
I wish I could do a laughing crying face on here. "hurry up and wait" is the epitome of my life
Love it! What an amazing gift from your family! Are the animals and garden included in your calculations or just the infrastructure? It's crazy how expensive those things can get
Just the infrastructure of the land, home & other property improvements to live there. Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
ah okay! I've been keeping a spreadsheet of all of our expenses just to see how much it ends up costing in the end. We homestead for the quality food but I want to be sure it ends up cost effective as well! It's a big experiment
For the food analysis:
I'm sure you are, but be sure to compare apples-to-apples. Judge your costs against their equivalent (local, organic, free range, etc). Also, don't take into account reusable costs in your price-per-unit figuring. Things such as coop, waterers, feeders, fencing, etc... things that will be used over and over. We can't hope to compete with the costs of our food vs. that of mass producers. Even though this will be the comparison everyone outside of the homestead bubble throw at you to justify their Wal-Mart chicken. 😒
I'd be interested to see/hear how your figures pan out when you have them. 😊
Yes! I will definitely be comparing it to organic although homegrown food is even better than organic in my opinion, just based the their farming practices. I don't expect to it to break even but our belts are tight and I'd love to see what we can do! I do plan on posting something at some point. I have to decide when would be good because it's obviously an ongoing expense sheet
I cannot wait to see what's next. I look forward to and wish you luck on your journey.
Thank you!!!
That is almost exactly the number I had in mind but haven't put in the research to know for sure. I can grab some land for %,000 or under. I an shooting for an acre or more. I figured I could get the well dug, septic and used home for the rest. I wasn't sure but you just gave hope to my dream! Thanks for that.
Absolutely! Depending on your local cost of living you might come out for less? We're in a relatively high cost area that has had a massive influx of people move into the area from out of state/country that has been pushing the locals out further to afford to live. :(
Wow! loved it... Looking forward for next posts.... Followed...
Thanks!
Excellent post can't wait to read more!
Thank you!
I love it!! Challenging, very much so, but how rewarding it is! With some hillbilly ingenuity you can do anything ;)
You've got that right! Thanks for reading & commenting. :)
Following here and at yt!
Awesome! Thank you so much! :)
Thank you for sharing your story with us and Helping to bring awareness to this side of the tracks :)) I only wish My family can be able to get our own place again :(( If I had $20k right now ,I would be looking into doing what you did ::)