5 Things You MUST Know Before Buying a 20 Acre Homestead!

[@LydiaEthan]

What are some things you want to know about buying a homestead or home in the country? What are some things you’ve learned? 😅

[@outdoorgal9602]

I grew up in the country and all of the things you described are important. As to digging a well for drinking water, make sure you know what you are digging into. Sometimes, there are minerals like sulphur that will leach into your well and spoil your water. Also, make sure you have a way to hand pump water out of your well if the grid goes down. The generator will only last so long. As to livestock, you need more than hydrants on your property to properly water them. Getting a stock pond dug is a better idea and will also make a great swimming hole for your kiddos. Good luck with all you are doing!

[@LydiaEthan]

Such great tips! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@johnmiller344]

As a farm owner and CPA, I do not see how any homesteaders can possibly financially justify the purchase of a skid steer, a side by side or even a tractor. Very unlikely you will see any return on investment on any enterprise of only 20 acres. Think instead of hiring a neighbor's equipment, renting the equipment for a short period of time and just walking around the 20 acres. Very hard to make any return on 20 acres, without sideline business such as youtube.

[@LydiaEthan]

This is the THE MOST accurate comment we have seen. Everyone take note! 😅 Definitely have come to realize that a tractor and side by side are just luxuries and very useful but definitely not something that will help pay for themselves.

[@johnmiller344]

Thanks for your kind and honest response to by comment. Shows great integrity on your part. @@LydiaEthan

[@joegarcia9120]

You make a valid point if your goal is to make an income from your homestead. If you are doing it to get out of city life and to feed your family a better quality of food. You can not put a price on the value of a good tractor

[@jbartee8787]

We definitely agree with everything you said. Living on 10 acres has been a big adjustment. One thing i would also suggest is investing in a good water aoftner and whole house filtration system. Once we installed these two things we absolutely love the taste of our water!

[@denisewilson8367]

Wow never heard of anyone spending $18,000 for a well & hydrants. The highest I've heard of is $8,000. The septic tank at the farm/homestead where I was born has been working flawlessly for over 70 years. It's only needed to be opened & drained/pumped once, due to my children. While I was out hanging laundry on the clothes line my 2 oldest toddlers decided that about 30 clothes pins & a few match box cars needed to go swimming. They flush them down bcuz it was cool to watch them swirl & disappear! That was almost 45 years ago. Tractors are very versatile equipment for homesteads. A brush hog does rough cut grassy areas & small saplings & briers. A finish cut mower will give you a lawn quality type cut. Buckets can move almost anything poo from animals, dirt, rocks, haul firewood & chainsaws, move mulch. Nice video. You'll get there baby steps when you are creating a new homestead.

[@LydiaEthan]

Thanks for your comment and for watching! We’ve also had our share of crazy things put down the toilet from our toddler😅😂 not too many ways around that, huh?🤣❤️

[@sheilahughes1014]

PERFECT list !!!! moved from los angeles to rural kentucky. found out the hard way.

[@LydiaEthan]

Glad it helped!

[@davidstoddard9160]

In many states, the septic system must meet requirment standards or can not be sold. It is not something that is kept a secret in most cases.

[@LydiaEthan]

Wish that was the case in Michigan. A lot of times if the septic system is 30 years old or so the city didn’t keep records of the size and layout. So we came in really not knowing if the current system could keep up or not.

[@krishahartmann8356]

Before you buy, you have the right to get the septic system inspection. Then you can negotiate the sale price of the property.

[@LydiaEthan]

This comment is great! It will be helpful to those reading and wondering what they can do to offset updating costs! Thanks for watching and sharing!

[@ceepark114]

Our county requires you as a seller to get your septic pumped out and inspected before a sale.

[@terrynhemken5635]

Most rural properties don’t have water pumps. There might be one if your home is a very old( 50-100+ years). If your lucky maybe two but that is not very common. Another thing that people need to realize is there are not fire hydrants for rural homes which increases your home insurance costs. I only have half an acre with a deep well. Water is good and cold but the hard water tears up your appliances even if you have a whole house water softener like I do. Macerator’s are expensive too. Ours was $4,800 and we did it ourselves to save $3,000. You also have to figure in if you have enough pressure for your water. We don’t because there are not enough houses to help move water and create pressure to the lagoon. The city made a lot of short cuts which causes clogs and people to be without their toilets and showers for months till the city fixes it. Kind of all depends if everything with your property was done right and no shortcuts were made. One day I’ll be able to move my family of 9 to 20+ acres with a big pond for fishing and swimming.

[@LydiaEthan]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Terryn! ❤️

[@AmanAngel126]

That was a great sum up. I also wonder if you feel you bought the right amount of land for what you intend. Would you buy more or less if you did it again?

[@LydiaEthan]

20 acres is A LOT more work than we thought it would be. It really just depends on what you want it for. If you want privacy (our biggest motivator) than the more the better! But if you want less work from falling trees, mowing and cleaning up brush definitely every acre makes an impact. Hope that helps!

[@JimVincitore]

Prepping and growing food is a popular topic these days.

[@LydiaEthan]

Thanks for sharing Jim!

[@melindawedgewood6462]

You should have a septic inspection done as part of the home buying closing process. It should be part of the inspection process or separate. We had a home inspection, a water well inspection and testing, and a septic system inspection. I recommend all three. Current owner should have to be responsible for at least part of the costs, or reduce asking price, if that septic system was about to fail. You could have gotten some/most of it knocked off the selling price or they could have repaired it for you during the closing process.

[@LydiaEthan]

For sure! Hindsight is 20/20 for us now. Definitely should have done all three!

[@TheArkansasDiamondMiner]

Hey guys! Liked the video. I grew up in the country and understand the importance of water supply. We used rain collection. I plan to move back to my homeplace to retire and revive the homestead. I am thinking it might be better to look for a program or service that can help plot out best uses of the land I have to work with. It might make it easier to manage a woodlot, orchard, garden area, where to put the outbuildings, the pond, etc. do you have any recommendations?

[@LydiaEthan]

Every land area is so different! I would advise finding a local farmer who could help give you some good ideas of how the layout of the land should be. Thanks so much for watching!

[@iamanobody3979]

I got 24 acres and only a 60inch zero turn haha i need a good upgrade soon. Do have a rzr though!

[@LydiaEthan]

Same!!

[@iamanobody3979]

@@LydiaEthan in the midst of starting our first garden! Im also in a huge water wheel project. Next plan is hydro elcectric. Best of luck to ya this growing season buddy.

[@Steven-r4q]

great video! u should put some livestock on the land with grass, then u wont have to mow the lawn! Cheers!!

[@LydiaEthan]

Lydia has been wanting to do that! 😂

[@brookyn79]

This is great! Thanks for sharing. What area are you guys in?

[@LydiaEthan]

We’re in Michigan!

[@brucec2635]

Bought old diesel tractor with 6 ft. front loader, hay spear and rear spear for $8100. Old and reliable. Buy old and take time looking, asking and cheap. Got twice the tractor for half the cost of new. Fifteen years later still going. Maybe I am just cheap.

[@LydiaEthan]

That’s a great plan!

[@freetiffair]

Thanks

[@OrganicMommaGA]

I ejoyed this video. We are looking at getting land for a small homestead, also. What are your thoughts/experience with alternative energy sources, rainwater catchment, greywater recycling, and other similar things? I am new to your channel, so if you've already addresed this in a previous video, I will likely find it. :) Thanks!

[@LydiaEthan]

Hi Heather! Thanks for watching! We are also very new to alternative energy sources but do want to one day get solar panels to be 90% off grid. Currently not really sure what that will cost here in Michigan though!

[@jvin248]

Get the tractor, but don't get new paint with debt payments. A true homesteader should find a used tractor and repair it into reliable function; all of which can be done with cash and not on a banker's schedule. What's with mowing with a brand new zero turn? You need to convert all that land into crop production to feed the livestock, at a minimum hay but also corn and wheat/rye. Hay balers are hard, start with a wagon and a pitchfork to load loose hay in the shed like farmers did in the 1920s.

[@JimVincitore]

Great video! Very cool!

[@LydiaEthan]

Thank you Jim!

[@haydenjames1420]

Weird people

[@LydiaEthan]

Thank you! 😂 We strive to not fit in the “normal” mold 🤣😂 Have a great day!

[@davebernstrom773]

All of these things are obvious. We're you expecting a turnkey homestead. Those concepts are antithetical. Giant waste of time for anyone who has even a general knowledge of homesteading or even rural living. I guess if you have never lived outside a city this might be helpful.

[@LydiaEthan]

There’s actually quite a lot of people moving from the city and becoming first generation homesteaders. We would love to prepare people that didn’t grow up with the knowledge of what it takes to manage major acreage😃 thank you for watching our video😃

[@maotoncuong1867]

Good info. Thanks !

[@LydiaEthan]

Thanks for watching!