H, I love readin all of the messages here. I was wondering if anyone homesteads in SE MI. We would like to find some land but it is expensive, at least to me (I'm cheap :)) Unfortunately we can't move real far because my husband is a State Police Officer so we are limited. Right now we are in an apartment and it is driving my kids nuts, we all love the outdoors and they want some animals. Thanks for any replies.

Tanya in MI

-- Tanya in MI (Prestns@aol.com), May 08, 2002

Answers

Tanya,

I've lived all over this great country of ours and one thing I know for sure, if you are willing to drive an extra 20-25 miles to get to a mall or other city conveniences, you can buy a nice place for very little money. Look around in "the country", take a drive and you'll see how much the prices go down the farther out you go! We bought 11 Acres with a house, barn and several outbuldings for less than half the price of a smaller house on a postage stamp lot by the mall. The farther out you go, the harder the resale and lots of times people will finance the place for you just so they can move on.

Good luck!!!

-- Cindy in IL (Ilovecajun@aol.com), May 08, 2002.

Yes, but also remember this holds true when YOU might want to sell and move on....

-- Joyce Dingman (noone@home.com), May 08, 2002.

I lived in Adrian many years and there was some reasonable property a few miles out. The old farmers retire and the farm goes. There were some small parcels but they usually had mobiles. Keep looking.........

-- harry sc (toireh@sccoast.net), May 08, 2002.

Hi Tanya, We live in southern Michigan by the tri-state area. We live south of Hillsdale in Hillsdale county. We bought when land was alot cheaper, but there are still some good buys. I still watch the real estate fliers. We bought an old fixer-upper, and love all the old built in homestead features already in place. Where are you? And do you have to stay in one county or two? My husband is a police officer and can live in surrounding counties from the county he works in.

-- Suzanne (weir@frontiernet.net), May 08, 2002.

Tanya, where in SE do you want? Its a big area. Some consider SE here in Brighton area, some consider SE down by Taylor,or maybe more towards Toledo or some consider Jackson SE. But since I take it you are already familar with Michigan you know that a hours drive on the expressway can get you from Brighton/Howell area down to Detroit. I have seen some land cheap around the Irish Hills/Onstead area. But theres alot to consider besides just want some land. Do you want just land? How much land? land with a house? does the house have to be liveable condition now? do you want to build a house? How much can you afford? are you willing to take a loan out? etc.etc.etc...... Can your husband transfer? Up in the Thumb there is plenty of cheap property.

-- TomK(mich) (tjk@cac.net), May 08, 2002.

Hi Tanya, We're over by Grand Rapids (MI) and things are just as expensive over here. Land -- if you can find it -- goes for between 7,000 and 12,000 an acre. Thank God we bought our little 10 acre spread 11 years ago or we NEVER would have been able to afford it. The other day, our little weekly newspaper had 40 wooded acres advertised in it. The price? Almost half a mil. No doubt, some developer will be glad to pay that and then soon after, monuments to people's debt loads will be erected (a.k.a. HUGE houses). You have to go north to find decent prices on land in Michigan from what I've seen, and even in some northern areas, that isn't true as the tourism trade takes over. (Traverse City area for example). Our dream is to someday move to W. Wisconsin. We've given up on Michigan as far as it being a good place for the homesteader/farmer type. Such a shame. . .

-

-- Renee Martin (icehorse@altelco.net), May 08, 2002.

I moved away after high school, but I use to live on Lake LeAnn, skied Devil's Lake every weekend, and hung out in Adrian. I graduated from Addison High School (there were 70 in my graduating class!). I hated living there at the time. I had no appreciation for the country, the lakes, or small town living. Years later I when the homesteading bug hit me, I would have given anything to have utilized all that was available there, learned more, and have never have moved away in the first place. Funny how your perspectives change! It is a great area there - especially around the Irish Hills area - and, of course, Nascar racing at MIS. The only downside of Michigan living is the winters!! Sure gets cold and lots of snow!

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), May 09, 2002.

Do what everyone else in the second district does - save your money and put in for a transfer. Unless this is your hometown and you don't want to leave, go north! Barb

-- Barb (MBRanch@POP.ctctel.com), May 09, 2002.

Karen..did you go to Addison schools?? I did, but lived over by Somerset.

-- Suzanne (weir@frontiernet.net), May 09, 2002.

Suzanne, what a small world!! I doubt anyone on the rest of planet knows Sumerset or Addison! We lived in Sumerset Center..sort of, just down the road on Lake LeAnn (next to Round Lake). My folks moved there when I started high school and went to Addison High School. I graduated in 1970.

2 years ago we went home for the first time in 20 years and was so shocked that not much has changed! The school is exactly the same! Addison is exactly the same! The lake, however, has changed a LOT! Wow, big big homes there now and so surprised at how built up it is and how many people live there year round. When we lived there there were only about 25 families year round. Funny thing is that our house was up for sale! I called about it. We bought it in 1966 for $11,000. It had just been reduced to $150,000!! My folks were sick...LOL!!

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), May 09, 2002.

Thanks everyone for your responses. We went driving around today and didn't find much. Maybe we'll try toward the MI/OH border tomorrow just to see. We are originally from SW MI and didn't want to come here but my husband was transferred and now we have a church that we are real involved in and like, so for now that is why we stay. We'll find something eventually I'm just not very good at being patient (LOL). Thanks again.

-- Tanya in MI (Prestns@aol.com), May 09, 2002.

Renee, you need to go north of Grand Rapids. I was just up to Howard City to visit my daughter and they still have a lot of homesteading type situations available up there, for less per acre than you are seeing. Most of those areas up there are within a half hour or so drive for work in the city. My son-in-law is a police officer in the city of GR. I grew up in a small town outside of Kalamazoo. My people from my mother's side were all homesteaders here in Michigan when the state was first opened up. Had kin in Adrian!!! Small world. :>)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), May 09, 2002.

Okay you Lenawee/Hillsdale county-ans! I grew up in Lenawee - mostly Blissfield, MI, moved to south FL in my early 20's, moved back to MI in my late 20's & now, my husband & I are wannabe homesteaders out here in Hillsdale County. Did the Devil's Lake scene, the Wampler's Lake scene, the Irish Hills scene . . . etc. So email me & let's chat about this!

Now, to the person who is looking in SE MI - good luck. THe person who told you to buy over in the Irish Hills area must be used to California Real Estate prices, or something. Irish Hills ain't cheap! Anything that's w/i a couple hours' drive of Ann Arbor or Detroit is getting to be more & more expensive. Almost the entire county of Lenawee is that way, now, & that's just over the course of the 8 years I've been living back in Michigan. It's frightening! We just moved out here to Hillsdale County from the Sand Creek area of Lenawee (SW corner) a year & a half ago. You can't belIEVE the difference out there in just that short amount of time. We bought our house for 70,000 lived there 5 years, did minimal work to it & sold it for 98,000 if that tells you anything. It was 1500 s.f. & on 3 acres on the edge of a small village, south of Adrian. We bought our 2500 s.f. farmhouse w/ 3 outbuildings on 10 acres - rolling, partially wooded & w/ a stream running through - out here in Hillsdale for 98,000. You do the math.

HOWEVER, I have noticed that the people I do meet out here are NOT Hillsdale County natives, for the most part. They are big-city transplants, mostly coming from Detroit & Ann Arbor areas. So . . . the spread is still spreading! We'll probably be moving again in a few years to continue running away from it!

But you can still find a good bargain in our area, if you look hard enough. A couple months ago, there was a farmhouse on 10 acres for sale for $60,0000. Outbuildings, woods, etc. It needed some work, but had new windows, roof & well, I think - that's all the hard stuff, right there!

ANYWAY - any other homesteaders or wannabes in the Hillsdale/Lenawee/Branch county areas please feel free to email me - I'm always looking for like-minds to hang out with!

Regards, Sarah Sanders, Pittsford, MI

PS - I found our current house on www.realtor.com - pretty cool site

-- Sarah Sanders (chilechile@hotmail.com), May 10, 2002.

Try Lapeer County, that's where I grew up and most of my family is still there. Land prices are climbing but they're not too bad just yet. The website for the Lapeer County Press newspaper is www.countypress.com

-- Sherri C (CeltiaSkye@xaol.com), May 10, 2002.

You should maybe consider transferring to the U.P. of MI. Yes , the winters can be long but, well worth the move. slower pace and as close or as far away from town as you like. sometimes more reasonable prices. depending again on what and how much you want. we moved from the Adrian area about eleven yrs ago. never regretted our move. My ...reading the other posts was fun for us, since we grew up and still have family in the Hillsdale area. as well as Addison & Onsted areas.

-- sandy wallace (yarnbunny2002@yahoo.com), May 12, 2002.