You would be surprised at how much food you can grow on even a small plot of land. Lots of food can be grown up rather than out (tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, etc) and preserving food is pretty simple once you get started.
But keep in mind that unless it's super crazy cheap and/or you have a hell of a great amount in savings, you're almost definitely going to need a loan. Because no one can be evicted, and banks and China are buying up land and homes as fast as they go on the market, the supply is not meeting the demand, and prices are outrageous pretty much everywhere. Just get the shortest term loan possible (10 or 15 year most likely) and make extra principal payments each month to reduce the amount you owe as fast as possible.
There are a few places out there where you can get land for free, but you typically have to commit to building within a certain time frame. Lumber prices have gone down considerably recently (in most areas), but are still higher than they should be. There's also the issue of a potential multi-state move to get the free land, so it also depends on the work you do and how easy it is to relocate.
Do you think it might be a good idea to wait and see if the prices come down or are they only going to go up from here?
It's a huge effort to grow food and it's "in for a penny, in for a pound" due to huge economies of scale. Crops vary by region and season, so preservation is a second job. Not trying to be a downer, but you guys need to take a hard look at reality and history. Don't be dumb. It's far more efficient to work a minimum wage job and buy raw grains than to produce those grains yourself unless you have sufficient capital to begin with. And if you did, you would do best in a monoculture, which is basically specialization. You can't research all the diseases and requirements of every plant and animal as well as partition your land to handle it. You can as a hobby, accepting suboptimal production of course.
Wait a minute. All you have to do is put a seed in the ground and cover it with dirt. Right. Ha. You’re right friend. Growing food is a second job...at least if your goal is to preserve food. Two tomato plants, a cucumber plant and a squash plant, that’s doable for the hobby gardener. Even then, it’s a huge learning curve. But if you’re trying to manage survival gardens, it a job all by itself. Growing multiple types of vegetables is not easy in the slightest bit. “I’ll grow tomatoes and can them”, you say. Well to end up with 10 quarts of tomato sauce you need about 36lbs of tomatoes. Thats a lot of tomato plants, a lot of maintenance, everyday picking, for me every other day canning tomatoes. Throw in green beans, potatoes, etc. it doesn’t stop. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the learning curve. All this to say, [OP] start growing food right now, no matter where you are, where you live. You may not be able to grow a lot, but you will be learning. Trust me, to manage a successful survival garden can be fucking complicated.
When interest rates go up and housing opens up (both apartments and homes), prices will go down. But I don't know how much they'll go down, or how long it will take for that to happen. Right now is the perfect storm of low inventory, low interest, and people wanting to get the fuck out of the cities.
Do you know where you would want to buy a home? Do you know when you want to buy a home or how much you want to spend?
I'd work on figuring out those two items first and foremost. After you know those parameters, start looking for a relator. Not all relators are created equally, I have met some great ones and some really shitty ones. Find one who is willing to talk you OUT of buying a home.
They crash end of September when lockdowns return and inter state travel is closed. Be sure to be in the state you want to be in before then.
(Road trippin to Texas in 3 weeks myself)
Buy up cheap in December.
Nice! I’ll be on the lookout.
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