Does anyone live in Eastern Washington? I am beginning research on land there and would like to know some good areas to find a homestead. I want between 5 and 20 acres. I have heard that Okanogan County is pretty good. Any ideas? Thank you.

-- Amber Van Orden (ambrosia75@wa.freei.net), May 13, 2000

Answers

Amber, I don't live there now, but we have property in Okanogan county and plan to move there eventually. I might be able to help you out a bit. What are you looking for specifically? Like, what kind of plants, animals, etc. Employment needs? One thing we found was that we have to buy irrigation rights and pay a yearly feel to get water for our place (old orchard). The real estate company that was very helpful to us is now out of business apparently, so can't give you that contact.

Where do you live now? Can you make a trip to visit? I can tell you some places you might want to check out. E. Washington is a big place, compared to some states, so there's lots of options..

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), May 14, 2000.

the property is actually for my mom and stepdad. His name is Shaun cornish, the one in Southern CA with the chickens. I live in Woodinville Wa and he asked me to start searching for homesteading property for them. they want to retire up here in about 8 years. i know he wants enough space to have enough vegetation and animals to live off of but i am not sure if they will do anything for profit. i was going to travel there this summer after i researched it a little.

-- Amber Van Orden (ambrosia75@wa.freei.net), May 14, 2000.

shaun is one person I would go WAY out of my way to help. Let me know what I can do, and I will mobilize!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), May 15, 2000.

sheepish- thanks, I am sure he appreciates your support. thanks for the beginnig advice. I am plugging along with the research so hopefully we will find somehting. what area do you live in now? amber

-- Amber Van Orden (ambrosia75@wa.freei.net), May 16, 2000.

Snohomish County, north and east of you. We have property in Okanogan County though, and will be moving over there in a few years....gettin' waaaaaayyyy too crowded over here, as you must know!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), May 16, 2000.

We live in Okanogan County. We love it here. It's the people I guess that keep us here the most. Never seen anything like the love and compassion we've seen in this area. They're always there and willing to lend a helping hand.

I would highly recommend contacting Hannah Realty. They're the nicest most trustworthy people around here. They will go out of their way to find you what you are looking for. www.hannarealty.com You can see what they have right on the web and call them.

We also moved here from California 11 years ago (except for living in Maine for a couple years (then back to Calif for a few months).

This is a wonderful area. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to get away from the cities. I have one problem though. I love shopping and there is no shopping here. You have to go 2 hours to Wenatchee or 3 to Spokane. I'll live with the inconvenience rather than leave our home.

www.geocities.com/shilohschild

-- Shiloh's Child (shilohschild@christianemail.com), June 16, 2001.

Hello! We also live in Eastern Washington. A wee bit south of Okanogan County, we live in Douglas County. We moved here six years ago and love it. At that time we were able to sell our house in Wenatchee and take the equity and pay cash for our homestead. We were able to buy 8.9 acres with 19 outbuilding including a classic red barn and a farmhouse for $70,000. One small glich was that the house had no plumbing or running water. However, in hindsight that was good because we were able to install new plumbing that was up to code and works great. This is farm country and as older farmers are moving to the city to be near medical help they are leaving behind small homesteads and leasing the existing farm land to their younger neighbors to farm. Our electrical rates are among the lowest in the country and taxes are at $720.00/yr for us.

-- Marie Fila (Mamafila@aol.com), June 18, 2001.