Undecided Where to Move to Homestead

[gloryroad56]

Embarking on a thrilling journey to buy a homestead! After years of dreaming and planning, I've finally got the finances lined up. But here's the catch: I'm at a crossroads about which state to move to. Leaving South Carolina is bittersweet, yet the adventure that lies ahead is too exciting to pass up!
I'm reaching out to this amazing community because I know your experiences and insights can light the way. From climate preferences to community vibes, every piece of advice is a golden nugget for me.
What states have you found to be welcoming and ideal for homesteading? What makes them stand out to you?
Your recommendations could be the compass guiding me to my new home!
Feel free to share your stories, tips, or even what you wish you knew before embarking on a similar journey. Let's make this post a treasure trove of homesteading wisdom!

 

[LadyLocust]

I can’t really answer that for you. What is near and dear to your heart? I know I need to be in trees and mountains, but I knew a gal who said the woods made her nervous. I will attach a video below that I just watched- thought it made some good points.

 

[LadyLocust]

PS Good to see you!

 

[Sourdough]

I am pretty much in the same situation. but my challenge is where to move to within Alaska.

 

[dademoss]

Its hard to say, my desires changed as I got older, what I wanted when I was younger, isn't what I can do now. Only you know what your want, and what you can do.

We are moving to single story house, in a very small village, but close enough to the stuff we will need as we age.

I like Ohio, but I lived here forever, wait a couple days and the weather will change

My brother likes western North Carolina, we thought about it, but life happens.

 

[Amish Heart]

I like our area for homesteading, and you can see in my avatar photo, that the land around here is flatter than a pancake and easy for farming. Good soil, too. Good neighbors and community. Depends what you're looking for....isolation, mt living, farming land....

 

[Supervisor42]

I like our area for homesteading, and you can see in my avatar photo, that the land around here is flatter than a pancake and easy for farming. Good soil, too. Good neighbors and community. Depends what you're looking for....isolation, mt living, farming land....

Yes, he/she needs to list their wants/wishes in priority order.
No place contains everything.
My #1 priority was: "Where it never gets cold".
The Caribbean was my first choice, too expensive.
Florida, too populated.
So I ended up getting as far south as I could, close to 'the Real Swamp', and loving it.
Like you, land flat everywhere.
The highest elevation in the state... the top floor of the capitol building.

 

[TMT Tactical]

My top ten list.
1) Year long water supply on site.
2) Solid RED state , 2a support.
3) Weather --- NO WHTE FLUFFY STUFF!!!!
4) Low property taxes.
5) Reasonable property costs.
6) Low crime rate state.
7) Constitutional Carry state.
8) No sales tax or no income tax. -- Just one or the other.
9) Low minority population.
10) Stand your Ground State.

 

[Haertig]

I can't suggest a place for anybody to move to, because I can't even figure out where I'd want to move to myself.

My desires are hard to get a strong grip on. I want to live in a place with people that are like me. Screw the diversity stuff. I want people that look, think and act like me, not different from me (I think everybody does, but won't admit it because they feel the need to virtue signal and feign political correctness).

I want a scenic place. I don't like flat lands. If I'm going to be in a flat area, I want to at least be in a forest so I can feel like I'm a little separated from others and have a space of my own. But forests like to burn down. So I'd want a moist forest. But moist areas grow mold and mildew, it's humid, and temperature highs and lows are magnified. So I'd want a drier area. Catch-22.

I like deer and moose more than alligators and snakes. So I'd appreciate more of the former and less of the latter in my yard. I tolerate cold better than I tolerate heat, so this goes right alone with my wildlife preferences. Mosquitoes suck. So does just about every other flying insect.

I like food, supplies and medical care being available. So grocery stores, hospitals and a Home Depot can't be a 5 hour drive away. Cities suck. All of them. Ultra rural out in the middle of nowhere is maybe not the best choice for people that are getting older. So I would want something in between, leaning towards the rural side, but not to the extreme.

I want running (clean) water, electricity, gas, and flush toilets. The outhouse, candle, carry your water in a bucket lifestyle is not for me.

Now that I have excluded every place on the planet, I'm ready to move!

 

[Caribou]

I like Alaska. Most people don’t want to live here. That is a drawing point for me. I can’t weigh your preferences, only you can.

 

[sonya123]

Yes, he/she needs to list their wants/wishes in priority order.
No place contains everything.
My #1 priority was: "Where it never gets cold".
The Caribbean was my first choice, too expensive.
Florida, too populated.
So I ended up getting as far south as I could, close to 'the Real Swamp', and loving it.
Like you, land flat everywhere.
The highest elevation in the state... the top floor of the capitol building.

your post shows exactly that deciding where to live is a very personal choice. When we looked for ours the top priority was NOT hot ( we lived in Florida for 30 years) , not flat.
Caribbean would be my worst nightmare LOL ( been to several places there)

I love where we live ( SW Virginia for Gloryroad in case you don't know)
Not the most practical farmland, we are on a mountain and it is too steep to use equipment, so there is a lot of physical labor involved)
But I love mountains, and for me one thing was it needed to be near a ski area , but now I can't ski anymore....but I still love living here

 

[Mountain trapper]

A lot questions need to be answered first. Example, what are they going to do with the land, raise livestock, farm, or? Out here it takes up to 20 acres to raise 1 cow. A good homestead should have a good wood lot for cutting firewood. Water is critical, well, spring, pond and or creek.
The most important thing that's needed; a truck load of money. When building, whatever you think something might cost, double it.

 

[Tirediron]

Not here it gets cold in the winter and the hillbillies are ornery and difficult

 

[sonya123]

I can't suggest a place for anybody to move to, because I can't even figure out where I'd want to move to myself.

My desires are hard to get a strong grip on. I want to live in a place with people that are like me. Screw the diversity stuff. I want people that look, think and act like me, not different from me (I think everybody does, but won't admit it because they feel the need to virtue signal and feign political correctness).

I want a scenic place. I don't like flat lands. If I'm going to be in a flat area, I want to at least be in a forest so I can feel like I'm a little separated from others and have a space of my own. But forests like to burn down. So I'd want a moist forest. But moist areas grow mold and mildew, it's humid, and temperature highs and lows are magnified. So I'd want a drier area. Catch-22.

I like deer and moose more than alligators and snakes. So I'd appreciate more of the former and less of the latter in my yard. I tolerate cold better than I tolerate heat, so this goes right alone with my wildlife preferences. Mosquitoes suck. So does just about every other flying insect.

I like food, supplies and medical care being available. So grocery stores, hospitals and a Home Depot can't be a 5 hour drive away. Cities suck. All of them. Ultra rural out in the middle of nowhere is maybe not the best choice for people that are getting older. So I would want something in between, leaning towards the rural side, but not to the extreme.

I want running (clean) water, electricity, gas, and flush toilets. The outhouse, candle, carry your water in a bucket lifestyle is not for me.

Now that I have excluded every place on the planet, I'm ready to move!

most of your requirements would be met where we live actually
it's not so humid that we grow mold a lot , we don't have ac in the house
no moose and we have spring water however that occasionally gets dirty and LOL we do have the outhouse but also have flush toilets in the house

 

[sonya123]

A lot questions need to be answered first. Example, what are they going to do with the land, raise livestock, farm, or? Out here it takes up to 20 acres to raise 1 cow.

that depends on where you are at , very much more green here than out west for example

 

[Mountain trapper]

that depends on where you are at , very much more green here than out west for example

Yep. That was my point. Many people don't consider what it takes to feed a cow. They also need to consider winter feed options. We have to feed hay from October to May.

 

[sonya123]

one more thing I will say to this: look for some homestead already in place, even if the buildings are crap. It is much much easier to fix something old, than try to build something new unless you have a boat load of money. Old buildings do not have ALL the new requirements to build something. Our entire property is not up to current codes, but all the buildings are here and the repairs cost much less than even building one tiny house on the other property ( empty) we had

 

[sonya123]

Yep. That was my point. Many people don't consider what it takes to feed a cow. They also need to consider winter feed options. We have to feed hay from October to May.

we feed some hay year round since our animals are spoiled and go in the barn when the weather is really bad, plus the sheep tend to do better with a little dry food added daily , but we have to feed hay from about December to April here

 

[zoomzoom]

What's wrong with staying in SC?
Climate is temperate, prices are reasonable, depending on how close you may stay to your current residence, you already have "the lay of the land", know the people...

 

[Mountain trapper]

one more thing I will say to this: look for some homestead already in place, even if the buildings are crap. It is much much easier to fix something old, than try to build something new unless you have a boat load of money. Old buildings do not have ALL the new requirements to build something. Our entire property is not up to current codes, but all the buildings are here and the repairs cost much less than even building one tiny house on the other property ( empty) we had

That's also a good point. When I bought my place the only building on it was and old barn and an outhouse. I tore the barn down and built all new buildings, new house, new barn, chicken coop, fur shed, pump house, garden shed, pig barn, electric building, etc. 90% of the fence was down. I put in several thousand new fence posts and miles of barb wire.