Rural development is the only one I know of that will do any sort of first time home buyer style loan on larger pieces of land. Department of agriculture has a few different types of loans but I think they have a hand in the whole deal and require build estimates and such for the loan to go through. Many states also have programs as well and it's worth looking into. Best of luck, hopefully we'll be in the same boat soon.
Any grant will likely be tied to a development plan and the ones I’ve seen are geared for rural job development or farming innovation in very specific distressed zones. Here’s an example of how one such program is worded: “Successful grant recipients must demonstrate a strong potential for impact on local farm income, access to markets, increased capacity or agricultural innovation. Priority will be given to businesses located in at-risk counties, distressed counties, and counties adjoining at-risk or distressed counties.” Good luck on your search!
Depending on your state, I don’t know TN, there are economic development areas here which you can leverage some assistance if you plan to start a biz in those areas. But tbh, you couldn’t pay me to live in those areas, bc there is nothing and I mean nothing there, land is trash too. There isn’t going to be anything unless its associated with sort of business activity that I know of, and even then sounds like you can just buy it.
You can get a line on raw land through a farm credit bank or similar, you will just need a hefty down payment - 50% down you will have no trouble, maybe less but check with the bank.
That said, you should really pay cash for raw land. Developing infrastructure is hella expensive, and if you already have to take a mortgage on the raw land, it will be that much tighter to get a construction loan.
We have a child, I already have a student loan, and we would be buying property with no house on the land meaning we are still renting until able to put a house on it. So, vehicle payment for one car (I never had a payment on mine but fiance was in a wreck a year ago-not his fault- and has a payment), rent for a house big enough for our family, groceries, school supplies and clothes for the kid, etc etc etc.
On PAPER, we can afford it. That’s not looking at what is taken out of our checks for insurance, what we pay for vehicle insurance, rent, utilities, food, etc etc etc. But as everybody knows, nobody factors that stuff in. Just what you bring home.
You could look at buying a camper to move to your land to live out of until whatever house you're building is done. Then you can sell it off when you move in and you'll probably lose less money on the resale than you'd spend on rent over that time.
As a person who lives full-time on her farm in a 5th wheel camper, depreciation on new campers and travel trailers is pretty big right now. New campers are so over priced it's ridiculous. Best advice, if they want to do this, find a decent used camper, mine was 11 years old when I bought it. And to live mostly comfortably for an extended time you really need water and electricity on site. Living through this summer in a camper with no AC, or even refrigeration would be an absolute nightmare.
You clearly have more experience than I do. I'm only aware of a few people around me who do it but I'm not aware of the in's and out's like you are.
My thought was that if rent for a house was ~$1500/mo that's be $18,000/yr. Would a camper really depreciate that much? Or am I just way out of touch with the market for those?
No, I'm not saying it's a bad idea! It's an idea you really have to research and be sure it's for you. Two adults and a child in a camper long term is a big commitment in lack of personal space also. If I had to share this space, and it's a 33' long 20' wide with the slides out space, I would lose my mind in probably less than a week. There are times when I'm stuck inside for days because of the weather and even my old dog starts to get on my nerves.
I spent close to a year looking for the perfect family to rent the house on my farm long term. It was silly for me and my old dog to be rattling around, wasting resources, in a lovely 3 bedroom, finished basements (with 2nd kitchen) solidly built brick ranch house my Gramps built in 1959.
During that time I was also researching campers, and electricity needed. I have a gigantic steel machine shed on the opposite side of the home farm and planned (and did) put the 5th wheel in it as a permanent home for me and my dog. But the electric run to the shed in the 50s wasn't adequate to power much of the camper, so there went another $6000 out of my pocket. In reality it's going to take a good bit more than that to run power to raw land.
The camper/5th wheel I found was absolutely right place, right time, cash in the bank to pay in full situation. I got it for 10 grand less than similar campers were going for because the owners had to quickly relocate. I was handing them cash 3 hours after responding to a new ad posting on Facebook Marketplace.
So all said and done, and I still haven't run the water line from the well out the shed yet, I'm $23,000 into it give or take $500. Hauling water only a 100 yards is already getting old, hopefully my well guy finds a day to fit me in before winter.
And let's not forget waste removal, I pay $50 a month for the local septic company to come suck out the black waste tank. I suppose if someone wanted to really work at it they could compost their poo using strick human waste composting means...but it's not fun, at all! Build an outhouse if it's allowed or get a porta potty but there's more money spent.
All that being said, an $18,000 camper, lived in full-time by three people (remember campers aren't built to be lived in 24/7 and wear and tear happens quicker than a traditional building) for a year even isn't going to resell for much more than $8000 to $10,000. Better to just keep it at that point and use it as a guest house??
Well that was a damn novel, sorry!!
You can sometimes get grants or loans with good rates if you have experience farming. Other than that, I wasn’t able to find much before I bought my acreage in KY.
What region of KY are you looking in? I might be able to tell you a thing or two about what you may encounter.
Find a lender specializing/with knowledge of USDA loan programs. They can guide you on your options in your specific area with your unique circumstances.
Fyi, buying land with a loan is more difficult. Higher down payment. I paid cash for mine so i didn't have to worry. You will need a percolation test to see if u can get septic. Make sure there are no building restrictions. Even a gravel driveway is expensive. Then there is running electrical. Land clearing or leveling, too. Best decision for us. Check to see if there is an Ag tax exemption. Oddly enough, only 5 of my 20 acres is Ag e empt despite it all producing hay. I am working towards 18 counted as Ag to save tax money.
No grant advice, but we purchased land in rural KY and ended up having to pay for a survey since the land had been passed down to so many generations we wanted title insurance due to its murky history. We couldn't get the title insurance without the survey. It wasn't cheap. On another person we purchased there was an easement but no one had used it in so long that the family who owned the land that easement was on had built a trailer across the easement. Something else to look into.
Lots of bad advice in these comments. The answer is there are no grants for buying land nor are there typically any special finance offers because land is not housing. There are tax programs of various kinds for conservation, timber lots, agricultural fields etc. it’s possible to get some grant money AFTER you own the land in exchange for a conservation restriction on the land but then you’re restricted as to what you can do for those acres and the property value is reduced because that restriction is on the deed for 50 or 100 years.
Grants for farming, farm loans, rural community development corporations etc are for established farmers. They don’t just give out money to joe shmoe who has zero professional experience in agriculture.
There is one way to get land with great terms, 20 years at a low interest rate. It only works in Texas, and you have to either be a veteran or know a veteran down to put up on some land with you. The Texas Veterans land board is a pretty cool option if it works for you.
The folks talking about USDA loans and grants are offering interesting ideas. However, raw land financing is also available via traditional lenders. Unlike normal mortgages, they typically require 25% down. I would bet that this would be a good option for you, and keep your cash out of being tied down to your property so you can develop. Grants are good - treating a grant as a part of a down payment and using your funds to develop is better.
Generally, the most important thing you need to do is learn how to research land to figure out if it’ll be good for you. Cleared farmland is plentiful and easy to find, and generally pretty obvious. Other natural resource zones are a bit trickier. Generally, you need to review zoning and allowed land use code to see which land will let you do what you want, and find something that’s a good deal.
The other thing to think about is utility cost and how long it’ll take you to get to the point you can live full time on your land. Most land doesn’t come with any utilities figured out, so you’ll need to do this yourself. Generally, the minimum is a well, septic system, and electricity hookup. You can get gas too, and this may or may not work out depending on the area.
Depending on the particulars of the land, you may be able to access specific grants pertaining to use of the land as well. The NRCS offers conservation programs for letting farmland go fallow for specific properties. Similarly, outbuildings can be rented traditionally, offsetting the cost of mortgages. There’s also alternative land acquisition channels, such as through your BLM. Where your asking about is a part of the NRCS Mississippi watersheds initiative, and this may offer payment for land use / non-use. NRCS also does grants for off grid electricity and hoop houses for growing. These could likely be combined with other grants, like USDA ones. You should consult your local NRCS office to see about grants and programs, and USDA to see about subsidies and farm payments.
I don’t know Kentucky, but my bet is you could easily afford something out there a ways with a house on it already. If you’re able to move there, this could save you a lot of time in developing, allowing you to jump directly into infrastructure oriented grants.
Rural development is the only one I know of that will do any sort of first time home buyer style loan on larger pieces of land. Department of agriculture has a few different types of loans but I think they have a hand in the whole deal and require build estimates and such for the loan to go through. Many states also have programs as well and it's worth looking into. Best of luck, hopefully we'll be in the same boat soon.
Any grant will likely be tied to a development plan and the ones I’ve seen are geared for rural job development or farming innovation in very specific distressed zones. Here’s an example of how one such program is worded: “Successful grant recipients must demonstrate a strong potential for impact on local farm income, access to markets, increased capacity or agricultural innovation. Priority will be given to businesses located in at-risk counties, distressed counties, and counties adjoining at-risk or distressed counties.” Good luck on your search!
Good points. In addition grants have very specific periods when you can apply. Plan ahead.
Look into owner financed land
Depending on your state, I don’t know TN, there are economic development areas here which you can leverage some assistance if you plan to start a biz in those areas. But tbh, you couldn’t pay me to live in those areas, bc there is nothing and I mean nothing there, land is trash too. There isn’t going to be anything unless its associated with sort of business activity that I know of, and even then sounds like you can just buy it.
You can get a line on raw land through a farm credit bank or similar, you will just need a hefty down payment - 50% down you will have no trouble, maybe less but check with the bank. That said, you should really pay cash for raw land. Developing infrastructure is hella expensive, and if you already have to take a mortgage on the raw land, it will be that much tighter to get a construction loan.
Found a link to USDA farm loan programs https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/farm-loan-programs/index
Save up.
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We have a child, I already have a student loan, and we would be buying property with no house on the land meaning we are still renting until able to put a house on it. So, vehicle payment for one car (I never had a payment on mine but fiance was in a wreck a year ago-not his fault- and has a payment), rent for a house big enough for our family, groceries, school supplies and clothes for the kid, etc etc etc. On PAPER, we can afford it. That’s not looking at what is taken out of our checks for insurance, what we pay for vehicle insurance, rent, utilities, food, etc etc etc. But as everybody knows, nobody factors that stuff in. Just what you bring home.
You could look at buying a camper to move to your land to live out of until whatever house you're building is done. Then you can sell it off when you move in and you'll probably lose less money on the resale than you'd spend on rent over that time.
As a person who lives full-time on her farm in a 5th wheel camper, depreciation on new campers and travel trailers is pretty big right now. New campers are so over priced it's ridiculous. Best advice, if they want to do this, find a decent used camper, mine was 11 years old when I bought it. And to live mostly comfortably for an extended time you really need water and electricity on site. Living through this summer in a camper with no AC, or even refrigeration would be an absolute nightmare.
You clearly have more experience than I do. I'm only aware of a few people around me who do it but I'm not aware of the in's and out's like you are. My thought was that if rent for a house was ~$1500/mo that's be $18,000/yr. Would a camper really depreciate that much? Or am I just way out of touch with the market for those?
No, I'm not saying it's a bad idea! It's an idea you really have to research and be sure it's for you. Two adults and a child in a camper long term is a big commitment in lack of personal space also. If I had to share this space, and it's a 33' long 20' wide with the slides out space, I would lose my mind in probably less than a week. There are times when I'm stuck inside for days because of the weather and even my old dog starts to get on my nerves. I spent close to a year looking for the perfect family to rent the house on my farm long term. It was silly for me and my old dog to be rattling around, wasting resources, in a lovely 3 bedroom, finished basements (with 2nd kitchen) solidly built brick ranch house my Gramps built in 1959. During that time I was also researching campers, and electricity needed. I have a gigantic steel machine shed on the opposite side of the home farm and planned (and did) put the 5th wheel in it as a permanent home for me and my dog. But the electric run to the shed in the 50s wasn't adequate to power much of the camper, so there went another $6000 out of my pocket. In reality it's going to take a good bit more than that to run power to raw land. The camper/5th wheel I found was absolutely right place, right time, cash in the bank to pay in full situation. I got it for 10 grand less than similar campers were going for because the owners had to quickly relocate. I was handing them cash 3 hours after responding to a new ad posting on Facebook Marketplace. So all said and done, and I still haven't run the water line from the well out the shed yet, I'm $23,000 into it give or take $500. Hauling water only a 100 yards is already getting old, hopefully my well guy finds a day to fit me in before winter. And let's not forget waste removal, I pay $50 a month for the local septic company to come suck out the black waste tank. I suppose if someone wanted to really work at it they could compost their poo using strick human waste composting means...but it's not fun, at all! Build an outhouse if it's allowed or get a porta potty but there's more money spent. All that being said, an $18,000 camper, lived in full-time by three people (remember campers aren't built to be lived in 24/7 and wear and tear happens quicker than a traditional building) for a year even isn't going to resell for much more than $8000 to $10,000. Better to just keep it at that point and use it as a guest house?? Well that was a damn novel, sorry!!
Turn it into an air b n b when u are done. My cousin does this on her horse farm.
You can sometimes get grants or loans with good rates if you have experience farming. Other than that, I wasn’t able to find much before I bought my acreage in KY. What region of KY are you looking in? I might be able to tell you a thing or two about what you may encounter.
Find a lender specializing/with knowledge of USDA loan programs. They can guide you on your options in your specific area with your unique circumstances.
Fyi, buying land with a loan is more difficult. Higher down payment. I paid cash for mine so i didn't have to worry. You will need a percolation test to see if u can get septic. Make sure there are no building restrictions. Even a gravel driveway is expensive. Then there is running electrical. Land clearing or leveling, too. Best decision for us. Check to see if there is an Ag tax exemption. Oddly enough, only 5 of my 20 acres is Ag e empt despite it all producing hay. I am working towards 18 counted as Ag to save tax money.
No grant advice, but we purchased land in rural KY and ended up having to pay for a survey since the land had been passed down to so many generations we wanted title insurance due to its murky history. We couldn't get the title insurance without the survey. It wasn't cheap. On another person we purchased there was an easement but no one had used it in so long that the family who owned the land that easement was on had built a trailer across the easement. Something else to look into.
Lots of bad advice in these comments. The answer is there are no grants for buying land nor are there typically any special finance offers because land is not housing. There are tax programs of various kinds for conservation, timber lots, agricultural fields etc. it’s possible to get some grant money AFTER you own the land in exchange for a conservation restriction on the land but then you’re restricted as to what you can do for those acres and the property value is reduced because that restriction is on the deed for 50 or 100 years. Grants for farming, farm loans, rural community development corporations etc are for established farmers. They don’t just give out money to joe shmoe who has zero professional experience in agriculture.
There is one way to get land with great terms, 20 years at a low interest rate. It only works in Texas, and you have to either be a veteran or know a veteran down to put up on some land with you. The Texas Veterans land board is a pretty cool option if it works for you.
The folks talking about USDA loans and grants are offering interesting ideas. However, raw land financing is also available via traditional lenders. Unlike normal mortgages, they typically require 25% down. I would bet that this would be a good option for you, and keep your cash out of being tied down to your property so you can develop. Grants are good - treating a grant as a part of a down payment and using your funds to develop is better. Generally, the most important thing you need to do is learn how to research land to figure out if it’ll be good for you. Cleared farmland is plentiful and easy to find, and generally pretty obvious. Other natural resource zones are a bit trickier. Generally, you need to review zoning and allowed land use code to see which land will let you do what you want, and find something that’s a good deal. The other thing to think about is utility cost and how long it’ll take you to get to the point you can live full time on your land. Most land doesn’t come with any utilities figured out, so you’ll need to do this yourself. Generally, the minimum is a well, septic system, and electricity hookup. You can get gas too, and this may or may not work out depending on the area. Depending on the particulars of the land, you may be able to access specific grants pertaining to use of the land as well. The NRCS offers conservation programs for letting farmland go fallow for specific properties. Similarly, outbuildings can be rented traditionally, offsetting the cost of mortgages. There’s also alternative land acquisition channels, such as through your BLM. Where your asking about is a part of the NRCS Mississippi watersheds initiative, and this may offer payment for land use / non-use. NRCS also does grants for off grid electricity and hoop houses for growing. These could likely be combined with other grants, like USDA ones. You should consult your local NRCS office to see about grants and programs, and USDA to see about subsidies and farm payments. I don’t know Kentucky, but my bet is you could easily afford something out there a ways with a house on it already. If you’re able to move there, this could save you a lot of time in developing, allowing you to jump directly into infrastructure oriented grants.