Hey @dianaviola what's the documentary I'd love to check it out, I love watching that type of thing.
Yeah I think some areas are cool for off grid for example areas in North Carolina or even Tennesse, your remote and off grid but could also get into a decent size town with some shopping and stuff within say a 30 or 40 minute drive.
I love the UP but the problem I see is it's so remote I don't think the UP has a Walmart, I don't think they have a McDonalds even outside of say maybe Marquette which is a college town. I was watching a video a guy made who moved there and he said it's a 60 mile drive into Wisconsin to get to a Walmart.
I'm not a huge shopper, I don't need malls but at the very least I would like a Walmart within say less than a 45 minute drive and I think internet would be critical as well
The documentary is called "Life off grid" and it's available on Amazon Video. I think you have to have Prime subscription for that . If you don't have that , maybe you can find it on youtube or something like that.
I looked at things from UP but the prices were exorbitant. I am not sure exactly where were you looking. Please send me a link so I can check it out. I found some parcels available for like 100 k, but that's not going to do it for me. I am not by any means loaded or anything but I would like to buy something and I need it to have the home already on property so that I would only have to add my touches, but buying a land for 100 k and then start building it would not pan out for me. I mean there is a way I could do that , but that's not the point. The point is I would still like internet and electricity , I would grow my own food etc. I am not a big fan of Wal Mart at all, I don't shop there, so I would have to find somewhere else to shop.
My boyfriend lives in NC currently and we go back and forth. I am in FL, but we always talk about how it would be if we were living remotely. And he says that if we are connected to the grid then we are not off the grid. I am telling him that if we are connected to the grid but we don't have neighbors and other modern conveniences , and we are in a cabin or somewhere like that , then it would be remotely. Yeah sure NC, TN would be good states to live remotely. I think in theory it sounds so good, and I would like to live a simpler life but I wonder how many of us could do it.
I would get used to it eventually, I would so embrace living off my own land and lead a much simpler life.There is too much drama in the world right now. Gives me anxiety.
I hope you enjoy the documentary. Let me know if you watch it.
Thank you for your response.
Hey thanks for letting me know about the documentary. I do have prime and I love watching that kind of stuff so I'll be checking it out this weekend.
As far as property prices in the UP, the stuff I'd be interested in would have frontage on a great lake be it Lake Michigan, Lake Superior or Lake Huron so obviously those prices will be somewhat inflated however I have seen some for under 100K with a cabin on them. If you want lower prices and lakefront your going to have to go further north, more remote to the point your probably completely off grid, and I tend to notice Lake Huron has cheaper prices than Superior and Michigan.
While 100K isn't peanuts it still blow my mind you can have hundreds of feet of frontage on a great lake and it isn't half a million dollars or more.
If your willing to not be on water you can find probably for well under 10k and the zoning up there seems to be pretty lax your typically allowed to put a camper or a yurt or even build your own sustainable cabin out of tires or bottles or whatever you want.
If you want to be on water but not a great lake so think smaller lake or river for probably well under 50k you can find property on a river or creek or stream or even an inland lake with a cabin or even multiple cabins and bunkhouses on the property.
I typically start looking on Craigslist and then will branch out to real estate websites I don't remember any off the top of my head but many will have names like lakefrontland or northernmichiganrawlandforsale or something along those lines.
Hello.
Thank you for you for your response. Lots of good info. I hope I will be able to buy something at some point. Good luck.