My husband and I want very much to find land in the NC area. We are interested in Alamance, Caswell, and Chatham counties. My husband has his own business...EBF Plumbing...and does New Construction Plumbing...specialty being Log Homes...Needless to say, the more we see the Log Homes in the country, the more desire we have to get ours started. We used to raise our own food when we lived in Maine, but moved to NC because of work. Since going into business, we feel we can control our time better and want to get started on our own place. We are looking for at least 5-10 acres in one of the above counties, with Owner financing with small down and low payments that we can put a small cabin or trailer on to live in until we can build. I am an avid Countryside reader and the more I read, the more I am ready !! If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know. We have wanted this for a long time and are soooooooooo ready !!

-- Brenda Frye (CherokeeMaiden2@aol.com), March 31, 2001

Answers

Gee Brenda, I hope you can realize your dream really soon! How about running an ad in the local papers whee you want to live? There are alot of folks who have land to sell, but do not advertise with realtors. For instance, in our area of NE Alabama, there are sveral parcels of good land up for sale by word of mouth only...the folks do not want to be bothered with developers, so they do not advertise. God bless.

-- Lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), March 31, 2001.

Acouple of years ago I lived near Danvill, Va. just a bit above N.C.

While looking for rural property I found that the area almost required that you be born there. The locals were tight with information about bargains, so if you don't have enough money it might be a bit difficult to find a little place.

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), March 31, 2001.

Well, I can't help much with finding the property for you (live on the other side of the country) but I can offer you my best and most heartfelt wishes of success!!! I envy that you work for yourselves.. I closed a business and hubby works in town. We will be there, someday soon, though!!

When we moved here, we got some advice from a local coffee shop owner.

1) Watch every bulliten board you find... sometimes there is land listed.

2) Eavesdrop on local's conversations in restaurants

3) Make yourselves known - and ASK!!

We met our local police chief shortly after moving in. He saw us around a few times, then last month asked if we were going to stay in the area... When we said yes, he asked for a list of what we wanted and is helping us look!! So are a couple people I met through getting involved in some community events and meetings. We've seen a couple places already, so I guess they seriously want us to stay - its a GRAND feeling!!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), April 02, 2001.

Lesley, that is a good idea....I will give it a try....it sure can't hurt!

Mitch, I am beginning to think you may be right....seems like people are pretty hush hush unless they know you real well.

Thanks to both of you for your reply.

-- Brenda (CherokeeMaiden2@aol.com), April 02, 2001.

Brenda: I live in Nash County in North Carolina- near Rocky Mount, but more to the west. There is land avalable locally for cheap. I recently aquired my homestead of 4 acres, plus cinder block house for a little over 50k. were had sold a 1/2 acre and a 76 model mobile home for 25k in winston Salem. The locals can be hard to deal with.. its sometimes better to deal with some one from up north that has land to subdivide or sell. I will keep my eyes peeled for you all- like i said, land IS available. I f you do move this way, I have experience in building log cabins, and can give you some pointers, and can give you help if you want... I will say if you buy the timber, you must be nearly wealthy.. especially the pre cut stuff, but there are ways around buying. I am building of rock- plentiful and free. Did I mention free? Good luck!

-- Kevin N. Black (vantravlrs@aol.com), April 03, 2001.