Great off-grid bargains?

I was going to ask this in that other thread, but I'm not sure we'd ever get back on topic.

I'm a fan of going off-grid, though this may be along term dream (as much as 15 years away).

But my question is, with the economy completely tanking right now, where are some of the great real estate bargains that would work for this?

I love the mountains, but I was raised in the suburbs. I'd probably starve to death if I tried to go hard core. Really remote won't work.

I'm an Easterner, and a Yankee at heart, but I have a great fascination with cultures, so I enjoy living in the South, could probably enjoy living anywhere, but I'd have a harder time relocating my wife.

I like change of seasons, but my wife won't put up with it if it's too cold. Maine won't work.

I'm willing to live in an area that is a little bit economically depressed, but dead (and depressing) is bad.

I'm a big fan of historic architecture (yes, I'm jealous of you, Pete Gossett).

I need to be in reasonable proximately to people who appreciate education. I don't like always being surrounded by people who seem to really love striving to be as uneducated as they can. Perhaps something reasonably close to a small college town, etc.

Can't stand big cities.

OK, so where are some of the bargains out there??

I think it would be fun to go off grid (or at least low-grid) in the city. I know there aren't really codes in place for it currently (I highly doubt the city or county health department would appreciate a humanure system...) so it's a long term thing.

It really woudn't be homesteading so much as lessening the footprint. Use that of the infrastructure that you need...make the rest yourself.

Buy a cheap house in an old neighborhood that needs renovated anyway. While you're in there, put the systems in place that will meet your goals (solar heat, PV, some DC circuits maybe, rainwater collection, grey water system, etc)

Clem

Off the top of my head I would say the Appalachian Valley. I live four years in Radford, VA which is a small college town about 20 minutes from Virginia Tech. There is plenty of cheap land in them there hills. Being close to VT which is a large college means there is a mall, restaurants and modern life. It is about an hour from Roanoke with is a small city. Outside Roanoke is Smith Mountain Lake (man made) which is about the most lovely place I have ever vacationed. Land at the lake is not cheap however.

Something to check out...

NW AR. U of A Fayetteville ("Razorbacks"), Wally World HQ, Tysons, Hunt Brothers. In other words, there's some industry here for jobs. Fayetteville is a bit "hippy." Ten-fifteen minutes and your in the boonies. Mountains. Trees.

My back yard, 12 minutes from down town:

VA, KY, TN, AR although if you go too far off the grid you may have some fittin' in issues (part of the family has been in the area since the 1640s - they don't always take to new folks - probably explains the family tree with no branches) and the edumacation thing.

Okay...I found this site about 6-7 years ago when I wanted to take the Family away from it all.

Enjoy:

http://www.eaglestar.net/

I've never been here, but it is in our state and has a good rep:

Berea, KY

http://www.berea.com/

The good thing about KY is all the coal, in case you come back to the grid.

Central Florida may not be too bad. There's some small towns around Gainesville that might be very good for off the grid living. Plenty of lakes, lots of cheap land, not far from several small cities.

Weather is muggy and warm in the Summer, and mild in the Winter. The only weather worries are occasional severe thunderstorms (sometimes containing tornadoes), and tropical systems.

The job market is okay. In the town where I live, there are 2 power plants, a wallboard plant, a paper mill, a bridge yard, and a good deal of other small industry. Other surrounding towns are similar.

Overall, not too bad. I don't think it's a bad place, but my wife things it's too redneck.

you just described new london nh.

anywhere in north GA....

Central and western PA are remarkably overlooked places. Very rural, surprisingly cultured, minimal restrictions, fair number of homesteader type folk.

foxtrapper wrote: Central and western PA are remarkably overlooked places. Very rural, surprisingly cultured, minimal restrictions, fair number of homesteader type folk.

Agree, to which I would add Western MD specifically Allegany and Garret Counties.

Huntsville Al or surrounding areas, actually a decent tech area with the rocket industry being there. My wife is from there, I lived there for 4 years and it was pretty nice, you go further out from the city center and there is plenty of land to be found.

Also near Asheville NC, went to school 14 miles outside of there, miss it a lot. The surrounding countryside is amazing, blue ridge parkway goes through there is you want a nice drive. Does get a bit of snow in the winder, but not enough to stay around for weeks at a time. When I was there it have a nice bohemian feel to it, this was about 10 years ago....

Im thinking ghost towns of detroit are going to be the best place to go off grid...Id be willing to bet you could get a permit to join several lots together in the outskirts of the burbs. Not much for employment prospects but land certainly cant be expensive there right now.

Warren, PA is happening little place in NW PA. I was there over the summer and decently impressed. The area is big into natural gas, but the town is really pushing forward thinking about different types of industry and stuff to keep updated.

Well, we have lots for new-construction for sale in town for $1. Seriously.

And there's wind-farms located within 30-miles of us on either side, so I think you'd do well with a couple windmills & solar panels.

Bolinas, Ca. Every year, the state installs a sign pointing the way to Bolinas. Every year, the citizens of Bolinas tear it down. Close to SF and Sonoma County. Right on the shore. People are tolerant. If you want to go off the grid, it's a whole town of folks who are at least halfway there.

foxtrapper wrote: Central and western PA are remarkably overlooked places. Very rural, surprisingly cultured, minimal restrictions, fair number of homesteader type folk.

That's what I was going to vote. The whole area east of the Allegheny National Forest over towards Scranton should fit the bill pretty well. It's full of ex-coal-boom towns with lots of gently decaying old architecture, but it's in the process of re-creating itself so there is some life. I'm most familiar with the Jim Thorpe/Tamaqua/Shamokin area, but a little northwest of there and it should be more remote without being Ted Nugent Land.

Go up in the Sierra's off of 49, plenty of places to go off the grid, but california is just too damned expensive.

If you folks are really interested in going off the grid get an issue of Countryside magazine. I used to have a subscription to it, great advice for homesteaders. That being said I think you'd be crazy to want to live off the grid, sounds better on paper. My aunt has lived up in North San Juan California for 30years in levels of comfort from getting snowed in and using an outhouse to now having a house with a good well, sound electricity, and big propane tank. I think it would be very difficult for most people adjust to the lifestyle the people up in the mountain live like.

Great. You guys have essentially claimed the entire run of the Appalacians.

I better rule out NE PA. I love it, but my wife had family in the Shenandoah area (coal mining territory), and went to school for a while in Scranton. No great memories, except, of course, Dunder Mifflin!

Think I'll rule out FL as well. Nice place to visit, but I don't think I could live there.

petegossett, please tell me why I shouldn't move right into your living room and never leave. Envy doesn't begin to describe... So what are the down sides to this Nirvana place you live in?

Thumbs up for N GA. Already have a place up there, beautiful area. But the balance between the job market and the cost of property are still not quite what I am looking for- real estate is pretty costly, and jobs are rare.

SVreX wrote: petegossett, please tell me why I shouldn't move right into your living room and never leave. Envy doesn't begin to describe... So what are the down sides to this Nirvana place you live in?

Seriously, look at central IL. Great place to live, IMHO. Especially on the Illinois River Valley, it gets really beautiful.

benzbaron wrote: That being said I think you'd be crazy to want to live off the grid, sounds better on paper.

I think you are absolutely correct, and you have read right through me fairly accurately.

I'm not kidding myself, I'm no homesteader.

I'd be much more likely to settle into a bit of a hybrid lifestyle. I might have solar, but I'd rather backfeed the power grid than try to be completely independent. I'm likely to have a garden, butstill want to hit the grocery store every once in a while. Livestock and I don't get along.

I'm really wondering about lifestyle/ quality of life issues compared to current real estate bargains.

mtn wrote: Seriously, look at central IL. Great place to live, IMHO. Especially on the Illinois River Valley, it gets really beautiful.

Job market?

maroon92 wrote: anywhere in north GA....

I wouldn't say "anywhere." The 5 million dollar mansions on the lake here in Blue Ridge are selling for a mere 3 million now. Jasper, however, isn't so bad.

Here's 10 acres for $6k. We could be neighbors!...wait, that's probably not a selling point

http://www.realestateblueridge.com/mls/189008/

^^^ ngmls.com is a GREAT resource for searching property up here, btw.