strategic location question

What are the key components to consider when choosing a bug out property?

I'm looking around currently. There are a lot of things to think about. I don't think I can afford more than 20k for the property, so that is quite limiting. I live in Mass, so I'm unfortunately surrounded by lots of unfortunate circumstances. High population. Lots of progressives. High traffic. Ect.

I was thinking Maine might be my best bet for a bug out location. Land is relatively inexpensive. Good gun laws. Low crime. Down sides are that it would take at least 4 hours to get up the Maine (if not more). Is that too long of a bug out time? It's also kind of a long distance to travel to work on the property. Not sure what the other choices would be.

Ideally I'd like to locate to Utah or Idaho, but that bug out would involve a cross country trip or a plane ride, so that is not really practical.

I could also consider VT or NH or maybe upstate NY. I looked into VT and NH. I really like the woods in VT, but the amount of progressives in that state makes it prohibitive. NH would be a possibility. I'd probably move right across the border if I could find a suitable property. That would cut the bug out time down by an hour or two. Gun laws in NH are good. It is a little more difficult to find a suitable property in the 20k range in NH, than it is in Maine.

 

It's best to live at the bug out location.
But you have to ballance low population density, far enough away from cities, some where you can get a good enough job, has decent laws, ect.
Just assume you woud get trapped in the city. We now know that it is a very real possibility that the states will shutdown interstate travel. Pretty much unthinkable 10 or 20 years ago. One thing the government is great at crowding a bunch of people who aren't sick with a few people who are so everyone gets it. They did it 200 years ago and still do it now.
Then if you do get to the bug out location will you be welcome where you are going?
Maine militia really didn't like it when some flat lander from NY went to their bug out location. One guy was threatened and harrassed. Another guy from dirty jerzzy had local militia cut down trees to block him in his drive way and then came back with digger, dug out his own driveway where it met the road piled it on his side of the road so he had a 3 foot pile of dirt across his driveway going into a 5 foot deep snow ditch, they literally made a tank trap to keep the guy from leaving his driveway.
I was like F yeah.
You know people in maine use license plates from canada, NY and MA cars to 0 their rifles right?

This is why I'm in new mexico. It's the 6th least population dense state, nearest big cities are all about 100 miles away and my wife and I can find jobs that makes us relatively rich, we both make 2 and 3 times the mean household income each. I make 2x she makes 3x so we do ok. The average household makes like 23k and has like 4 kids, (we have 1 kid). And when shit hits the fan a good portion of those people are going to run for the boarder.

 

Yeah 20k in most of maine will get you several acres of rock farming land if that.

 

Good move and prep ^^^ @Yard Dart
Plus work 24/7/365.4
Sloth

 

Live in NH, 4 miles from mass border, less than 70 miles from Boston, land I bought in 1980 for $4,000 now taxed at about $125,000. Average newer house is in $300,000 range. Builders are buying older houses, sub dividing land if possible, and tearing down old house and building new. Cheap wood land being bought by greens and made into wilderness area so good by to buying land with seasonal access or bad roads.

That said, some land is still cheap in far western NH and up state, but it is to far and roads not set up to commute. People in Mass who are retiring sell house in Mass for close to a million, come up here and buy a "bargain" house for $300,000 and don't have to commute. Basically if you didn't get in 20 years ago, it is too late. Know people who bought bug out locations in both Maine and Vermont. Was not too bad up until about 5 years ago, now taxes keep going up, locals who rent the places stiff them on the rent and courts seem to think the flatlanders deserve it. If it is not occupied by some one, it will be stripped for what ever can be sold and trashed. Drug problems are bad in Maine NH and Vermont.

Just my observations and other people may have different opinions about what can be done in New England. If you don't drink, smoke, do drugs, go to church fairly often and get along with people, I know of several families, older people or 1 or 2 kids, that have moved in with elderly people who can not afford to hire people to care for them and do not want to sell out and go into assisted living. Used to be family that moved in and supplied care, but those days are gone. Often lasts for years and if it works out well, when the person you live with has to leave or die, other people will be waiting for you to come to their place. Works out best for people in their 50's or so. and where wife doesn't work. Often free housing, food, and some money in cash for supplying care and helping around place, cutting grass, snow removal, cooking and cleaning, etc.



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We bought 240 Acres in Colorado way up in the mountains away from major cities, we paid $6000 per acre and were glad to pay it! Got Water rights in the deal with a 99 year contract to provide water at fixed cost to the valleys below us, and we also got the two storage ponds for irrigation as part of those rights, and we have to maintain the infrastructure, but it's county funded 100%, so it's no real cost to us! GOt an old broken down Grist mill in the deal as part of the origional homestead with most of the original fixings and wheel and stones, so I spent two years re building/restoring it to fully functioning with the addition of a generator and storage as well as a nice guest lodge for visitors! Most folks cannot handle the 9400 foot elevation, so visitors are kinda rare, but that's just fine with us! As far as off grid, we are fully set up as of now, but haven't pulled the plug just yet, we would like to boost the power supplies we have available so that we don't have to rely on a diesel genny or solar, and i'm working on a much higher power output genny for the water wheel which has a 18 foot head on it, so there is plenty of potential with that! I also have a steam engine driven genny ( 100 hp) that can power the entire ranch by it's self, but requires fuel which can be challenging, and during the fire season, not a smart choice, but available none the less with the right fuel source at hand! I have another Bug Out location, which for all intents and purposes is completely off grid, off scope, off radar, and thus, top secret, so we will not be talking about that one!

 

Don't know how it is there but Urban folks are buying up every 1-5 acre tract of land at 2 1/2 to 3X more than the properties were worth last April, as soon as they hit the Market around here. Huge flood of Urban folks creating more demand than there is supply of the 1-10 acre tracts.

 

Yeah I read a realestate report about how hot rual land is. It said that prior to 2020 rual land woud stay on the market for 300 to 660 days before being taken off the market, which doesn't mean the land actually sold.
Now smaller tracts of land are staying on the market for less that a 3 weeks and they are going for up to 50% than a year ago.
I bought my 20 acres of asshole free paradise a little more than 3 years ago when mortgage rates were at their lowest in 30 years, at least lower than the rate of inflation. Then refinanced a year ago when the rate was lowest since ww2, probably about half the rate of inflation.

 

All very good and valid points. I'm aware of the "from away" mentality. Especially for us Massholes. I don't blame them either. I was thinking that if I bought land up there, the first thing I'd do is switch my permanent residence to Maine so the license plate thing would be taken care of. But, ya, I would probably become a target up there. No doubt. Very good point.

If interstate travel is stopped, then I'd have a real problem having a bug out location in a different state. Not to mention one in Idaho or Utah. Would never happen. I am probably a little late to the game, and should have had this all sorted years ago. I suspect this Great Reset thing is going to happen within the next couple months. New Mexico was a good choice.

 

That's a good point. I was hoping to spend 20k on the land so I could reserve other funds for the building.

 

Yes, that's another good point. I was looking at some land up in Maine, but I noticed a lot of boulders along the property. It made me start to wonder if there are gigantic boulders buried below the surface. I've never used a backhoe or large equipment before, not to say I couldn't learn. Although, who knows how big those rocks could get and if they're granite. That could be another problem. Also, who knows how good the soil is for growing. I could always buy good soil. The other poor thing about Maine is they don't have a lot of growing season, and the winter is quite cold. I'm not sure what the hunting laws are like up there. I've never actually been deer hunting, so that would be another learning curve. But hunting could be a supplement for food if growing crops isn't a good prospect. Also, I could have chickens. Not sure if they'd survive the winter though. Might need to keep their coup warm with solar panels?

 

This was an option I was thinking about. Much closer than Maine. Not as much "from-away" mentality, although still some. I suspect there are a lot of Massholes who moved right across the border as well. Bug out time would be significantly reduced. A lot of red towns right across the border for some reason (could be ex-pat Massholes who were fed up with liberal gun laws... just guessing here). I like the live free or die mentality. Ya, this might be a better option than Maine. Land seems to be more pricey than in Maine though. That's a little bit of a drawback.

 

This sounds like the dream scenario you got going here. Nice work. I like the grist mill. So cool. I also like the back-up location. Very smart.

 

All those rock walls are built up from years and years of rock farming. The soil in most of the state is great.
The stones are likely to be granite or limestone depending on where you are.

Last time I checked maine was about the 10th least populated state. Big difference between 10th and 6th.

Out here when the water gets cut off, it's so hot and dry in summer after less than a week bodies will start piling up just from lack of water. Yeah without access to water or a way to carry a lot of water people won't be wandering around on foot for very long...

 

I was thinking that it would be good to pay in cash the full amount. That way banks aren't involved. If you own the deed outright, I think it's less likely the banks will take it from you. I could get something more expensive and get a mortgage, but I think that opens the door for bank manipulation.

 

Yes, I think there is going to be pros and cons for each location I look at. There are a lot of pros to Maine. Although the bug out time to get there would be twice the amount, I can probably take back roads up there and not get stopped by the feds/staties for interstate travel if I take the backroads. Also, being that it's so far up, you're less likely to encounter marauders. They're more likely to just hop the state line which would put the NH property in jeopardy. Although there is a "from-away" mentality, I think folks in Maine are mostly nice folks. They may not like you, but I don't think it would go much further than that. Esp if they talk to you for a couple minutes, they'll quickly assess what your deal is and what your personality is like, and discredit you as a threat. Maybe still not like you, but not put you on the red flag list.

 

I'm the nice version of typical people in rual maine.
You should really look into Maines past, like early 1800s to 1930s.
Spoiler alert, not much has changed.
For a long time I didn't understand the hostility towards out siders. Then I looked back in history and it all made perfect sense.

 

Yes, I'm not familiar with the history. I'll have to look into that a bit further.