Looking for a place (probably up state) in PA to get 40+ acres.

We need 1400sq.ft not including a basement, we need a 2 or 3 car garage. We would PREFER DSL or "Cable" internet but satalite works (I work from home but can get T1 if needed).

We would prefer a clearing around the house of 2-3 acres, and usable flat for goats/chickens.

We are looking to spend 250k or less.

House can be 'old' as long as it's been re-done.

Can anyone suggest any Cities ?

Well, and propane preferred / expected. A pond would be a huge plus and/or a creek.

Within 35 minutes drive to a town/city with a decent population / movie theater

Well...
40 Acres @ 250K is extremely limiting. It means you're going to be in the middle of nowhere. I mean nowhere. No interstate, no trains, no surviving towns. No gas stations. So your costs to manage the property will be high. Your access to health care will be minimal. Your ability to have a network of people who can help you will be limited. Think about what $7.00 a gallon gas will mean when you want to go to town for something - think about what it means if you have to work the land with a tractor or ATV.

I live in PA.
With the exception of the Internet connectivity, you're might be able to get stuff like that in the center-north counties. These areas are still very rural.

http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/counties/county.asp?secid=31

I live in Bucks County, and we're up in the north end here, maybe 100 square miles of of rural land surrounded by heavily built up areas and we STILL can't get Cable Internet, just DSL or wireless broadband from AT&T or Verizon (no Sprint Coverage here at all).

When you're in a rural area, if you want a T1 line, expect to pay anywhere from $1,800 to $2,500 a month for service IF you can get it. I've looked into this here in Bucks County - $1,875 a month for a T1 line.

In my experience, there's no or limited cell service in much of north-central PA. (Elk, Tioga and those areas).

Thus, Satellite Internet is your only option if you want more than bad dialup. We have no national broadband network that reaches all of the US. The Rural areas are ignored.

That said:
56 Acres with a home: http://www.stevensrealtors.com/listings/fisher.htm $389K

21 Acres with a Trailer http://www.stevensrealtors.com/listings/arigo.htm
$189,900

http://www.connollyrealestate.com/camps-cabins-cottages.htm
Tioga Co. – Ward Twp. #815
48.81+/- mostly wooded acres. Large cabin shell with full basement (4420 sq. ft.). Perc approved. Electric on site. Borders Pa. State Forest Land. Just 15 minutes from Rt. 15 off of Old Possessions Rd. SALE PRICE: $219,500.


Lots of land listings:
http://www.connollyrealestate.com/land.htm

Thanks for the great information. We have relatives near Lancaster and plan to talk to them soon and get some ideas/suggestions.

That sounds a little to rural then, I guess we may have to step it down to 5-10 acres but near town and in that price. From what I've seen this should be possible for almost any place except BIG cities.

I want to be able to shoot, and have at least a 1 or 2 acre wooded area.

Thanks again.

(Tioga Coutny is def. the cheapest and has the most land available but like you said it looks like a house can be had out there in the middle of NO WHERE.)

-Todd

I've found MANY pieces with 50-60 acres for under 250k but they are VERY VERY RURAL, and I am not sure if the areas are nice... that's why I made the post

As far as cost where you are.. it's the same where I live now. (Sacramento Area of CA) If I want 5acres for 200k I have to live 2 hours from the nearest grocery store and rely on generator for power. If I want 50+ acres the land alone is over 1+mill. We have been looking at/around 5 acres here for 350k w/junkers or 'modulars' but as I said they are junkers and cost a bunch. This leaves us no 'room' for extra/fun/expansion money and just not happy.

We are now thinking about finding a place for ~200-250k in the 5-15 acre range in PA and putting 20% down and having a lot of extra $ to do 'fun' stuff. Since I work on the PC my income level will not change. This price and land size also gives us more options on counties.

I also thought about getting maybe a 150k or 200k house with <1acre and then getting 50 acres or so an hour or two away for ~100k. BUT in the end I would get more use and it would cost less in fuel/overall if we had a medium size for ourselves to live on too.

So many choices in life to make right now!

I'm origianlly from just outside of Wilkes-Barre PA myself... There used to be some beautiful pieces of property in the Bear Creek area / Pocono's.

If you post the locations of some of these places you are looking at, us "locals" can give a thumbs up or down.

Let me go one further with this.

Many of these dreams of 40 Acres and a Broadband connection are quickly tempered by the harsh reality that the USA does not have a functioning broadband infrastructure. Depending on which study you read, the USA is anywhere from 13th to 25th place in the world when it comes to the deployment of broadband connectivity. And falling.

Rural areas are not just under-served by broadband, they are, more often than not, not served at all.

Satellite "broadband" is, for the most part, barely tolerable, and for many broadband applications, like video conferencing and gaming, utterly useless.

On the one hand, you can argue that not having a broadband connection is not that big a deal. On the other hand, there's a number of things that you simply CAN'T do without an internet connection. For example, the full set of instructions for how to renew a passport is only online. The only way to buy airline tickets without a "transaction fee" is online. The only way to manage a Netflix account is online. There are hundreds of other examples, big and small, but the point is there's a reason rural America is dying at a rate never seen before.

It's not just gas prices, it's not just the collapse of manufacturing. It's the lack of a telecommunications infrastructure that can support alternatives to the classic rural industries.

So, back to your vision of being a "PC Guy" working your 40 acres. Think long and hard about this, and realize that until you can see hard-wired fast internet where you want to be, your economic opportunities are potentially very limited.

martinfocazio- Very well put. I would require some type of Internet. My existing job goes where I go so luckily I don't have to acquire another job if/when we move. BUT, Internet is a must.

So, it looks like 5-10 acres near a larger township will be what I should shoot for in terms of cost and size. Luckily in PA this has a whole different meaning than us in CA in terms of large.

Then I guess the questions I should be asking.

What counties have high speed Internet access and affordable land?

DSL or higher? Lots of places have DSL.

FIOS is in Chester and Deleware County... Not sure where else it has gotten to.

Lots of places in PA have a decent lot of land that border on state game lands, so you sort of have the land you are talking about.

Mike - I would be fine with 256kbps/256kbps it's far from my 16mb/3mb I have now but it would work. I`m a programmer and website developer so while I have to upload images for websites sometimes the majority is text based code. DSL, Cable Internet I'd prefer to stay away from sat. unless I get lots of land

I believe both counties you listed are VERY EXPENSIVE to live in.

Bordering State land or National forest (if different) would be awesome!

Thanks
-Todd