Need advice about my living situation

[ButterflyBreath]

Need some advice about my living situation.

I’ve always lived in simple small places and not had much. Right now I’mliving in a camper, which has turned out to be a good experience, but has made me think about settling down. I’m 40, not married, no kids. I have good credit, but I’ve never been good at saving so I don’t have money for a down payment. Ido have a piece of land worth about $10,000 if I can sell it, but it’s very rural and will probably take awhile to sell if I want to get anything out of it. I also have this camper I’m living in, worth about $3,500 but I thought I might keep it for extra living space or storage.

For about 15 years I have been interested in living in an intentional community, but there are no good options for this where I call home. I’ve tried to start acommunity here for a few years and we just don’t have the right people who are both interested, and have money. I have thought about moving out of the area, but I do want to be near my family so that’s not an option right now. Plus anywhere I would want to move to would most likely be more expensive.

So I’m thinking of buying a home and using the rural development loan since it’s 0% down. That seems like it would work well because I want to also do light farming and be as self-sufficient as possible so being a little ways from town is not too big a problem. I am a home health nurse and I should beable to find work no matter where I am.

I keep going back and forth about getting a small one or two bedroom home and maybe building other small spaces for others to live in, or just get a 3 bedroom and rent out 1 or 2 bedrooms. I am not very picky and do well with other roommates, however I do like having control over the noise level and my own kitchen because I have no will power and like to control what food is available to me. Also, thinking economically, it’s cheaper to split utilities with others than pay it all yourself. Ideally, I’d like to have a small community of 3 or 4 others on the property with me. It would be cool to have a tiny house community, but I would have to build the homes for others and rent them…none of my friends have money to build anything, plus they couldn’t build permanent foundation homes if the land is in my name. But I don’t have the money either….it would only come from others renting from me.

Ideas? Advice? Thanks

[razz]

Wish you well on finding ideas but the dollar values that you are talking about are so different from any places that I can imagine, I am of no assistance. What about trying to live on your current income and analyzing where you spend your money? Then you can plan on what it would cost to own and maintain a home and assume the risk that tenants present when they default on rent or similar issues. Your costs will increase a lot to include taxes, maintenance etc for a home.

[iris lilies]

Buliding codes will preclude some of the things you are talking about. Several small structures inhabited by humans? Rural zoning will limit what you can do. And if you are talking about renting out a shed, what kind of people are you going to get who move in? I think they might people who take advantage of you.

A small farmette, close to an urban area where you and others can get a job is just about the most expensive property you can buy.

You have got to develop a savings habit if you are going to progress in your real estate holdings. Real estate requires upkeep. If you dont have an emergency fund for repairs, you shouldnt be buying. While the $10,000 that you will get for your land is nice, you will need to put aside moe than that for ongong upkeep and eventually your retirement.

What exactly do you wish t fram? What does that mean to you? What experiences in farming do you have?

Honestly, this all sounds highly impractical. But people domthings ll the time that are impractical. I would say: start by saving money, a LOT of money. Understand where your money goes. Also, if You do not now have a garden make one this summer. Tend it and grow you own food. Star practic Nf the skills you will need later.

[ButterflyBreath]

I am almost done paying off my debt. I have about $700 on a credit card and $1600 on a hospital bill from when I had no insurance. I will be done paying my school loan in March. I pay $200 a month to keep my camper where it is at a friend's house and that helps them feel like I'm contributing. The camper is paid for. I pay 1/4 of the utilities since there are four of us on the property. When working full time I can save up about $1000 a month in my current situation. The homes I am looking at are about $90,000 and under, but essentially I will have not other debt unless I buy another vehicle and need a car loan.

[ButterflyBreath]

Iris Lilies: I am a regular gardener and have kept chickens. I volunteer at a local urban farm, and have volunteered at others. I did the master gardener class. It's not completely foreign to me. About owning, I feel it's the only way I'm going to be able to move in the right direction and ever stop renting. My plan is to include other people to make it affordable for all. The county I'm looking at allows almost everything, but yes, I need to look into it more specifically to see what I can and can't do. I do know that the county told friends of mine they could build a cob home. Not sure about the number of homes or people, but it's very country and rural, yet 15 mins from downtown Chattanooga just across the state line. Just wanting feedback and ideas here so I don't make a horrible decision. I like the freedom of not owning, but it is getting tiring.

[ButterflyBreath]

And I guess "LIGHT FARMING" would be like a large garden, chickens. I don't need more than that. Goats would be nice but are hard to contain. I don't eat meat so I don't need rabbits. I want to grow as much as possible, but I understand that it takes money. Over time I can build the soil up and develop it.

[Williamsmith]

Are you independent enough as a person to homestead on your own or do you need interaction with others emotionally as well as sharing the burden of work and finances?

[iris lilies]

Thats great, then, if you Already have a garden and chickens and have experience at growing food.

Building an addition to an exisitng house structure is another way too expand liveable space.

[mschrisgo2]

ButterflyBreath, I think you need to find your tribe! Seriously, I am sure there are like-minded people around, you just need to find them. Meetup Groups for intentional community, ic.org, bulletin boards at the local markets, community college, cohousing.org, camps, resorts. Meet people, talk to people, keep looking, sharing ideas, etc.

[SteveinMN]

BB, I think you need to do a lot of thinking and some research to find out how you may proceed.

If you can't do what you want to on the land you own, it really has no value to you until it's sold. I don't know where you got the $10,000 figure, but I'd verify (based on comps, etc.) that it's a realistic number before I used it as (literal) seed money.

It also sounds to me like you want more than roommates. The term "intentional living" (at least in my view) implies to me some shared goals beyond saving money by living with others. Can you define how you see intentional living as different from just having roommates? Is it possible that your experiment can start with "just" roommates and eventually become an intentional community once interested people are willing to commit to it and roommates move on?

As iris lilies pointed out, you do need to check local regulations on how many unrelated people may live in a structure with particular zoning. The rural-development loan you mentioned may have restrictions on the kind of structures or even uses to which the land can be put. And you'd need to do some math on how you could pay for property taxes, timelines for "improvements", and so on.

Finally, have you considered how your doing your nursing job would fit in time-wise with even a large garden or effectively being a landlord to those living with you? What you would do if a roommate just leaves town or becomes too sick to work and pay rent? Have you protected your nursing income with appropriate disability insurance? Will you be driving around enough to spend lots of money on fuel or car repairs or a new(er) car? It might be very helpful to sit down with some paper and a calculator and come up with reasonable numbers for the cost of living this way and see if it's feasible. Not to take away from your dream, but poor planning will not help you achieve what you want.

[Dhiana]

In all of the above ideas mentioned, I'd stay away from the one that has you renting a couple of rooms to friends
because you've stated they don't have any money, either.

Investigate the plans that keep you as self-sufficient as possible with any rent money you receive as a bonus to add to retirement/debts, etc.

[shadowmoss]

Is there a reason you can't improve the land you have and live there? In a camper it wouldn't take a lot to make if off-grid, reducing the amount of improvements you would need to make.

[Tenngal]

look up a place called "The Farm" in TN. Might be just what you are looking for.

[Gardenarian]

Hi BB,

I'm curious about your ultimate goals, as they'll determine what would be the best living situation for you.

[ButterflyBreath]

ShadowMoss, the land my camper is on is not mine, but a friends, because the land I own is over an hour away on top of a mountain and very rural. I could find work there, but (A) restrictions that my grandfather put on the land prohibits campers unless building a home on the property, and any homes have to be at least 1200 sq ft, and (B) it would be hard to convince my current social circle / friends to move up there with no income potential and although an introvert, I do need my "tribe" as someone else called it. I don't want to be isolated.

I've given this more thought and I don't think I would feel comfortable in a large home. Since I've been an adult I've always lived in small apartments, and now this camper. I don't even own furniture anymore except a fold down bookcase! There is definitely a positive small and tiny house vibe here in Chattanooga and an acquaintance of mine heads up Tiny House Chatt. I am looking at all my options but I keep coming back to an affordable tiny (or smaller) house community that is cooperatively owned based on permaculture principles... this would be fan-spankin-tastic! So, I'm putting that out in the universe and I'm going to continue to work and save up for land and building expenses, or loan, whatever the case may be, and sell that land, and I have faith that if I keep focused on that it will eventually happen. If not, I can buy a conventional house. I think I get impatient and end up looking at regular real estate and it makes me think I should do that, but I know that that's not for me. I like tiny/small. I live that way, and although I would like something with more space than this camper (more storage space would be nice) I actually am living it now, and would have an EASY transition to a nicer small home. So I just need to save up for it. Also, it would be less maintenance that a large home.

Thanks for your input!