Happier Abroad Forum Community

Buying farmland is one of the best ways to unplug from the system and become less dependent on it.

I have no experience in such matters, so I was wondering if those of you who know more could chip in
as a way to help each other to become truly independent men.

This is an old article from 2 years ago, but it gives a good listing of farmland prices for several countries
we might be interested in:

http://www.businessinsider.com/booming- ... 011-4?op=1

Of course, acquisition of land would depend on where you live. I am a EU citizen, so my focus would
be on Europe, while for others of you here the focus might be the USA.

Any tips or suggestions?

Romania. Slamdunk.

--Civilized country

--EU member so easy for you to buy, easy for you to live there, and big stable market.

--Cheap.

Make sure you the land comes with good water rights and a reliable source.

Jester wrote:Romania. Slamdunk.

--Civilized country

--EU member so easy for you to buy, easy for you to live there, and big stable market.

--Cheap.

Make sure you the land comes with good water rights and a reliable source.

Cool, thanks Jester. I will have to add Romania to my list of EU countries to visit. Apart from
the farmland, I have heard Romanian women are quite nice although I have never met one.

For those of you in the USA, like you Jester, how is the situation there for buying up farmland? It
seems kind of expensive; maybe Mexico might be a good option for Americans?

Buying farmland (with well-water or spring water), adding a wind turbine and solar panels for electricity would be a good investment for someone that wants to be truly independent.

ContraMundumRants wrote:I have heard Romanian women are quite nice although I have never met one.

Armenians are VERY picky and demanding, and rarely "marry out". Yet one young man I know here in Glendale got himself a Romanian bride, and brought her here. She knew English before, and learned Armenian here. Fluently. She gave him a baby. When the child reached toddler age, she got herself a job as a receptionist at his real estate office, and was one of the two best receptionist/staffers I have worked with. (The other was a Slovak girl.)

ContraMundumRants wrote: For those of you in the USA, like you Jester, how is the situation there for buying up farmland? It
seems kind of expensive; maybe Mexico might be a good option for Americans?

US farmland is easy for a foreigner to buy, but expensive. You are competing with corporate buyers, and with developers, and with White Flight.

If you want something to buy outside Europe, I would go with Paraguay. Cheap, easy to buy, big markets nearby, appreciating fast. Brazilians moving in to raise soybeans, Argentinians moving in cattle to avoid export controls on beef. Paraguay is a very libertarian country.

Google for current info, though, haven't checked in year or so.

I have a helpful contact there for introductions if you need a lawyer or real estate agent.

If you are buying farmland to be independent, anywhere in the West is pretty much out. The system is set up and regulated in such a way as to make farming a high cost business that can only be performed in particular ways with middlemen getting almost all the profit. Leading an affluent peasant-type existence is essentially impossible in the West now, unless perhaps you used some new technology that allowed you to farm more intensively.

ContraMundumRants wrote:

Jester wrote:Romania. Slamdunk.

--Civilized country

--EU member so easy for you to buy, easy for you to live there, and big stable market.

--Cheap.

Make sure you the land comes with good water rights and a reliable source.

Cool, thanks Jester. I will have to add Romania to my list of EU countries to visit. Apart from
the farmland, I have heard Romanian women are quite nice although I have never met one.

For those of you in the USA, like you Jester, how is the situation there for buying up farmland? It
seems kind of expensive; maybe Mexico might be a good option for Americans?

Romanian women are beautiful, and if they are anything like the two I have known, have fiery personalities. They are often on the short side (fact, not anecdote), which I like, and tend to hold traditional values (anecdote, not fact), despite what their often fierce conversational style might portray. But, again, I have only known two of them and Romania is a country I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting. One thing to take note of though, the Romanian border guards were kind of notorious in the backpacking community for stealing personal information at checkpoints and trying to extort bribes from Westerners, so be ready to deal with that if you take the train in.

Farmland is a great idea by the way. If you can generate your own power and your land has its own well, you can live completely independently regardless of what is going on in the world around you if you so choose. Plus you could run a web-based business or telecommute if you have a stable enough connection to the internet to supplement your already self-sufficient lifestyle.

HouseMD wrote:

ContraMundumRants wrote:

Jester wrote:Romania. Slamdunk.

--Civilized country

--EU member so easy for you to buy, easy for you to live there, and big stable market.

--Cheap......

Cool, thanks Jester. I will have to add Romania to my list of EU countries to visit. Apart from
the farmland, I have heard Romanian women are quite nice although I have never met one.......

Romanian women are beautiful, and if they are anything like the two I have known, have fiery personalities. They are often on the short side (fact, not anecdote), which I like, and tend to hold traditional values (anecdote, not fact), despite what their often fierce conversational style might portray. But, again, I have only known two of them and Romania is a country I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting. One thing to take note of though, the Romanian border guards were kind of notorious in the backpacking community for stealing personal information at checkpoints and trying to extort bribes from Westerners, so be ready to deal with that if you take the train in.......

Good headsup. Wipe the PC free of porn and bank passwords, I guess!

Anthony Bourdain got banned from coming back to Romania after nasty confrontation with bribe-seeking museum security guards. Yeah, typical post-Commie corruption, maybe more like FSU than it is like Poland, Hungary, or the Baltics.

TransDnestria, next-door, is the worst, I've heard. Old school police shakedowns. I wouldn't go there.