Hello!

[Fictionprison]

I am James Cherry, a 49 year old male who will be retired from the military in a few months. Once I retire I should have a good steady income from the VA, and I plan on doing other side hustles in order to generate a little extra spending cash, but I am far from being wealthy. I have long wanted to retreat to a secluded place with some acreage, grow gardens, pick wild edibles, and basically be mostly self-sufficient. I currently live in a small rural home with 1 acre, and its packed with raised bed gardens, chickens, ducks, and I have 2 Labrador retrievers and a cat. But I live in a neighborhood and I don't want neighbors. I am a country boy, having lived in rural areas all of my life. I grew up hunting, fishing, and learning edible plants and mushrooms. I have found the older I get, the more I just want to be away from the complexities of modern society and people in general. I don't want to go completely off grid, I still enjoy electricity, A/C, television, and the internet. But the idea of getting away from it all and living relatively stress free appeals to me. Yeah, I am an introvert and I know it.

I do have a huge problem with my dream though. My wife, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a severe manic episode in 2016, went manic again in 2019 and left me in a mania fueled rage. I did convince her to get help and she got back on meds, but while she was manic she did some major damage to our finances. I am just now paying off loans that I had to take out just to pay the bills. She wiped out 2 different checking accounts and left me with no money to pay bills or even purchase food. My credit score suffered as a result, and dropped to the low 500's, which means that I can now no longer purchase a property when I retire. I have been working to repay and fix my credit, and my score is approaching 600 now, but I have a long road ahead of me. The good news is that I am current on all my bills now, and many will be paid off completely in a couple months.

We have been separated for more than a year now and she told me recently that I need to move on. She said that she is too messed up in the head and no longer shares my dream of starting a homestead (it was actually her idea to start). So I reluctantly agreed to a divorce, and while it was tough to let her go because she is ill, she is pretty adamant that she just wants to be alone. So, I guess I will move on and continue with my dream, but I have no idea how to proceed now that my credit is shot. I still have a few more months to go before I am discharged, but I wanted to start thinking about my future now. Hopefully I can get some advice on how I can acquire property with damaged credit. I looked for owner finance, but haven't had any luck.

So any advice out there on how to acquire a property with poor credit or would I be better off in delaying my homesteading adventure until I get my credit repaired? I just didn't know if there are any other options out there. Any advice at all would be appreciated.

 

[Sparky_D]

Welcome to the forum!

I can relate to some of the issues you are going through, having an ex that literally destroyed my credit history and forced me into two bankruptcies (one during and one after the relationship) as well as a foreclosure.

It's a long road to financial recovery, but it is extremely doable with the right mindset.

As for home purchasing options, you should be eligible for a VA loan which I believe has lower thresholds to attain for acceptance.

Another option to look at is a USDA Home Loan. These are used for rural areas and also have (or had) a lower threshold as well. This is how my current wife and I were able to qualify for the home we now share, despite my credit issues.

You've come to a great place to get all kinds of helpful information and encouragement.
Best of luck to you!

 

[Bacpacker]

Welcome to the forum. And thank you for your service.
I too had a marriage that trashed my credit. Hate to hear you did as well.
Maybe look at for sale by owner type properties. Also have a good down payment available. Bank financing is not always best way to go. But keep working the credit score too. You can repair that quicker than you might think in many cases.
Best of luck

 

[Meerkat]

What part of teh country do you want to retire in? North ,South,East or East? That may help us with some ideas for you.

I know we found low down payment mini farm here and it worked out great for us.$1000 dn payment .It had just been bought by a realtor and divided into 4,10,20 acre tracts.
Of course this was 25 years ago and now it is already geting a little crowded.

 

[Swing]

Welcome to the forum, and I had to recover after my divorce also.
Maybe you could find a piece of land that would work and they would owner finance? And I would think where you look would make the land prices vary quite a lot.
Hang around here and this group will help you figure out many things. I wish you well.

 

[Meerkat]

Also ,from Florida.

 

[Mr.Meer]

Welcome from Florida.

 

[Fictionprison]

The problem with a VA loan is that I am already using it for the current house I live in. And from what I can tell, I can't use it again until I sell my current house. I so desperately want to leave my current location and start over. I will definitely look into the USDA option, but its looking like I just need to be patient and work at repairing my credit. I did just get a notice just moments ago that one loan has been paid off in full and is now closed. Just one more to go. And while I do have 2 car payments, they will both be paid off in full in about 6 months. Maybe everything will work out in the end. I did plan on having everything paid off when I entered retirement (except the house) but my wife really set me back. I did manage to get back on track but it was rough. I went without a lot of necessities, like food, but luckily I was able to produce enough eggs and veggies myself to keep me going. I am now sick of eggs and haven't been eating them lately! This is yet another reason I want to be self-sufficient. When times are tough, I will feel confident enough to know that I won't go hungry. Even on my small 1 acre plot, I produced enough food to not only feed myself and my 2 grown boys, but also was able to can and preserve a small amount. To me, there is nothing more satisfying than being able to feed myself from wild harvested game/plants or home grown veggies. Screw the grocery store, all one has to do is step outside!

 

[SheepDog]

From a guy who went through something similar, you can often talk to the loan officer and let them know what happened to bring your credit down. They can back check to see if your history follows with your story. They can decide to give you a loan based on prior history and not your damaged credit.
It won't be easy but it can help.
The next step is finding where you want your property and what it has on it. Prices vary quite a bit and property with homes and other structures will be more expensive but loans are easier to get for property that has some buildings on it. Bare land is more attractive to me but not to the bank, they have trouble selling it in case of default.
Getting to know your loan officer and the bank staff can be very helpful but again it is not easy to do. Save as much as possible for a down payment as well as getting rid of outstanding loans. Having multiple credit cards with low balances that you make regular payments on really builds your credit fast but it has a cost too. Making payments cuts down on what you can save so you want to be able to cut all the balances to zero just before you put in for a loan. That way you have a high credit score and a low debt ratio.

I wish the best for you in the future. Thank you.

 

[Fictionprison]

Thanks for the advice. I only have 1 credit card for emergencies and I keep a low balance on it. My credit score was in the low 700's before this mess happened, so hopefully the bank will take that into consideration. I am down to 1 loan left to pay off, and it should be done in a month or two. The bank is very aware of what happened, I had to have them close my accounts in order to get my wife off my accounts. I then reopened new accounts in just my name. I had to explain the issue of why I was -$1800 across 2 accounts over a period of a couple days. This is why I ended up having to get the loans to begin with, to pay off the negative balance so that they could close the accounts. The lady I spoke with was very sympathetic and assisted me a lot. Hopefully they made a note somewhere.

 

[Morgan101]

Welcome from Eastern Missouri. Good to have you with us.

I don't know where exactly you want to live, but you can still Homestead.
There are many websites, but here is one link.

http://www.joyfulhomesteading.com/homesteading_today.html

 

[Neb]

I am James Cherry, a 49 year old male who will be retired from the military in a few months. Once I retire I should have a good steady income from the VA, and I plan on doing other side hustles in order to generate a little extra spending cash, but I am far from being wealthy. I have long wanted to retreat to a secluded place with some acreage, grow gardens, pick wild edibles, and basically be mostly self-sufficient. I currently live in a small rural home with 1 acre, and its packed with raised bed gardens, chickens, ducks, and I have 2 Labrador retrievers and a cat. But I live in a neighborhood and I don't want neighbors. I am a country boy, having lived in rural areas all of my life. I grew up hunting, fishing, and learning edible plants and mushrooms. I have found the older I get, the more I just want to be away from the complexities of modern society and people in general. I don't want to go completely off grid, I still enjoy electricity, A/C, television, and the internet. But the idea of getting away from it all and living relatively stress free appeals to me. Yeah, I am an introvert and I know it.

I do have a huge problem with my dream though. My wife, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a severe manic episode in 2016, went manic again in 2019 and left me in a mania fueled rage. I did convince her to get help and she got back on meds, but while she was manic she did some major damage to our finances. I am just now paying off loans that I had to take out just to pay the bills. She wiped out 2 different checking accounts and left me with no money to pay bills or even purchase food. My credit score suffered as a result, and dropped to the low 500's, which means that I can now no longer purchase a property when I retire. I have been working to repay and fix my credit, and my score is approaching 600 now, but I have a long road ahead of me. The good news is that I am current on all my bills now, and many will be paid off completely in a couple months.

We have been separated for more than a year now and she told me recently that I need to move on. She said that she is too messed up in the head and no longer shares my dream of starting a homestead (it was actually her idea to start). So I reluctantly agreed to a divorce, and while it was tough to let her go because she is ill, she is pretty adamant that she just wants to be alone. So, I guess I will move on and continue with my dream, but I have no idea how to proceed now that my credit is shot. I still have a few more months to go before I am discharged, but I wanted to start thinking about my future now. Hopefully I can get some advice on how I can acquire property with damaged credit. I looked for owner finance, but haven't had any luck.

So any advice out there on how to acquire a property with poor credit or would I be better off in delaying my homesteading adventure until I get my credit repaired? I just didn't know if there are any other options out there. Any advice at all would be appreciated.

Find a local church attend same and find a widow that already has the farm.

(Smiley-wink)

Ben

 

[Fictionprison]

Thanks for the info. I had no idea there was free land available. The problem is that I want to stay relatively close to my kids. While they are grown and leading their own lives, I don't want to get too far from them. I would like to stay in the West Tennessee region if possible.

 

[phideaux]

Welcome to the forum

Best of luck in your endeavors.

Jim

 

[dademoss]

from Ohio.

 

[Meerkat]

Lots of good info on this site. @Fictionprison tio

https://mdcreekmore.com/homesteading-in-tennessee/
A number of years ago I awoke to the unpleasant reality that when the stuff hits the fan and people were unable to get food and water, they would spill out into the suburbs, even past the burbs, to our sleepy community, to take what they wanted by any means they could. Although I lived in a “safe” area with preps, a garden and neighbors who were hunters, I realized I could not expect them to protect me, nor would I be able to defend the property I owned.

I learned how to check google earth to see what was bordering the land I wanted to look at so I didn’t drive 3 hours to a site to find the next plot was a junkyard. “Prepper” real estate ads and sites were way too expensive for what they offered and real estate agents were not willing to drive 1 or 2 hours from their offices to show you property.

 

[havasu]

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your service to this great country.

 

[viking]

Hello and welcome from S.W. Oregon, sorry to hear all the crap you're going through, we have friends that have been through things like that and know how rough it can get. We had the fortune to go to an off shore conference back in early 2001, it was all about freedom issues and financial freedom, when we came back home we started a financial program that got us out of $50,000 in credit card debt and all other debts. We have found that being debt free makes each dollar spent seems like it has the spending power of $10 and have been able to buy a Toyota van and Tundra pickup, both are older but run like new, paid cash so there's no payments. As far as property goes, we bought our two plus acres in 1981 for $21,000 which we thought was too much and was because of Prop 13 in California. But now it's appraised at about $200,000, largely due to the devaluation of our fiat dollar. We call things like this, cycles of life and have found over the years that if we take advantage of cycles a lot of things can be done at that time that can't be done now, sorry to say, but ,cycles we were able to take advantage of are pretty much long gone, but we continue to tell people to get out of all debt and strive to live a simpler life. Do a lot of research before going to the area you may want to go to, how the weather is, is there plenty of ground water for wells or springs that will take care of home needs and garden needs. All the best to you, you have come to a good site with people that have all kinds of common sense knowledge of most any homestead need you may have.

 

[Weedygarden]

Welcome! I had an experience with someone that caused damage to my credit. I worked hard, did what I knew to do, and have lived frugally. I was able to purchase a home. House is paid for, and credit score is in the upper range of excellent. It takes time, nose to the grind stone, and hard work. If I am offered work, I take it. I have several ways, while retired, that I earn money. I don't live beyond my means. I don't buy on credit. I pay cash. I purchase groceries typically once a week, having made a plan for meals for the upcoming week. It saves from eating out or on the go, which is more expensive. I packed lunches for most of my life.

 

[Peanut]

Welcome from Bama... Land and houses are selling fast in my area, at a premium. Folks are deserting large cities and dem run states and moving any where they have a chance of starting over.

Unless you have already put in your papers... Even if you have you might can put them on hold temporarily. Use your full pay to knock out the debt and build a down payment on a place.

Remember the words of Yogi Berra... "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

 

[snappy1]

Welcome from MS! We went through a local bank and got some type of rural homeowners/ farmers loan even though we could have gone VA. VA had more strict rules about the house than the other companies. Talking to your local banker about which loan company would benefit you most makes good sense.

 

[backlash]

Welcome aboard.
I wish you well in recovering from your Exwife.

 

[Spikedriver]

Welcome from Iowa!

 

[Grimm]

I recommend taking some time to watch the market in the area you want to buy in and work on repairing your credit. No just paying off debt but also building credit. Get a low limit credit card and use it to buy groceries or gas. Pay it off before the bill is due etc.

I am curious if your wife (ex) caused the bills why was it not in your divorce settlement to share the debt. None of my business. Nevermind.

 

[Neb]

...

I am curious if your wife (ex) caused the bills why was it not in your divorce settlement to share the debt. None of my business. Nevermind.

In my case it was as simple as "He makes decent money and she does not. Done, next!"

Ben

 

[Grimm]

In my case it was as simple as "He makes decent money and she does not. Done, next!"

Ben

Like I said none of my business.

 

[Spikedriver]

In my case it was as simple as "He makes decent money and she does not. Done, next!"

Ben

Sounds like my child support.

"She shows no income. Therefore, he pays the maximum percentage of income permitted by the state."

I won't complain too much because my ex is actually a pretty good mother. But 24% for one kid is steep. Glad we didn't have two!

 

[LadyLocust]

I’m going to throw out a radical idea before I read the other suggestions, then will go back and read and see what I missed. What if you sold your place and lived small for a while? I’m thinking an RV, money in the bank as a down payment while you’re looking. (I don’t think you said renting but should clarify???)
Welcome aboard- good folks around here.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[hiwall]