Finding a Prairie Home

We've found an ideal acreage. That's the short story. The longer one is it's near a paved road, not far from Lincoln, has a pond, rolling hills, (overgrazed / weedy) fields, clumps of trees, an old barn that's screaming for weddings and workshops, a perfect area for a display garden / hoop houses, good locations for an artist residency, and a house that's falling in. It's a place to live for a long time, to steward, heal, and nurture.

Maybe it's not wise to be so transparent or open, but other folks in similar situations have documented their process on blogs and it's been a big help to me as I learn about options and what to expect. It is clear that lending has changed significantly in the last ten years -- as in, it's harder to get favorable conditions that leave one with working capital to make improvements on land. And a land loan is far harder to find than a regular home mortgage. The land we've found has an older home that's in structural trouble, and if it wasn't on the property would make the entire parcel far more feasible.

Most lenders want anywhere from 30% to 50% down payment. The good thing about 50% down is it makes for a much smaller mortgage payment, the bad thing is you don't have money to fix up a barn, put in deer fences, purchase equipment, etc. I wonder if lending institutions prefer to lend money only when you already have enough. I'm also asking myself if this a matter of commitment. We could live in an RV on the land and that'd work, but we'd be miserable -- esp with three beloved cats who don't like each other. Ideally, we'd stay in our current home until next spring, taking the rest of 2016 to clean up the site and make improvements. Some of the land could be grazed and / or hayed, I think, to pay for a good portion of property taxes. And my projections show a nursery could easily, even in its first spring, cover the first year's payments. I fully expect the garden design business to keep growing.

FSA loans are great -- 5% down and good rates for beginning farmers -- but you have to farm for human consumption. So corn, soybeans, animals, vegetables. It seems like diversifying rural entrepreneurship might be a wise investment, especially with crop prices falling, land prices rising, and folks flocking to urban centers. There are places that offer smaller loans for improvements, but that's probably down the road. We'll keep looking. If it's meant to be it's meant to be.