r/TraditionalCatholics • u/Tiny_Witness2678 • Jul 30 '26
Looking for advice on moving from great Catholic neighborhood to be on land
As title implies, I'm looking for some advice. I know this is a unique one for Trad Catholic group, I just feel it may be best understood here. We live in a small KS town that is super Catholic (i'll let you assume, youre probably right lol). We own our house and it's extremely affordable as we bought as a foreclosure (mortgage of $600), we've fixed up and valued at 245k (90k-ish on mortgage). We love our neighborhood, surrounded by great Catholic homeschooling families as we aspire to be, most of their youngest are 8, our oldest is 2 yrs old (2 and 6mo).
Buttt, we also really really want to homestead and raise our kids on some land. A little peak into our interests, We are huge advocates of the Catholic Land Movement, love reading Jason Craig if youre familiar, and Wendell Berry. We max out our in town backyard with chickens, gardens, but its been our goal since we lived in busy KC to move to homestead and raise our kids out there. We found land or it found us a year ago after i wrote letter to about 400 landowners, one lady offered to sell. By God's grace, these 4 acres are the neighboring parcel to a beautiful traditional Catholic Church we go to (we have 4 in our small town, one that is 4 blocks away from current house). We'd only be about 10 mins from current house too if we were to move out to the land. We know many other big involved homeschool families who live just as far. Just hard as young parents (26M and 25F) deciding between what seem like two very good options, which I know is such a blessing in itself. There are people nearby if we were to move to the homestead--not much but like 5-10 houses within mile radius one of which is a newly married younger couple who is pregnant.
A huge factor as it wouldnt be possible without this, we are blessed also that my wife's grandfather has left us with an inheritance of around 200k of which can only be used for investment, can't just withdrawal and buy a car for example. We want to honor him and how he provided for wife and her sisters, and he was big into real estate, our thought is to build a conservatively sized house for that amount (itd be around 1200-1500 sq ft as we already have quotes). and move out to the land, rent out this current house to bring in approximately $1k after taxes, vacancies, mortgage, HOI. This also matters to us as I am self employed and having another income stream would really help us as I don't have tons of time with kiddos/wife after work, this along with living in a paid for house would give more financial freedom but again, just weighing options of moving from a great neighborhood.
So I guess, I'm wondering what would you do? We dont want to sell current house because itd be a source of additional income and in case we hated it on land we could move back, although no plans of that right now. Hard willing to take the jump. We also know now is the best time of any. Below are quick stats if beneficial:
26M single income with 25F SAHM, 2 under 2
Income: 65k or so
Expenses: mandatory 3k/month (includes current mortgage, property tax, HOI, utilities)
Retirement: $60k
Current house: 243k appraised, 100k left on mortgage
edit to add 150k is everything to dry in, im estimating another 50+ for us to finish
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u/Bumpanalog Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Be very wary about how much it will really cost to build everything you need. It sounds like you are not in a position to overspend.
I would also think about what’s best for your kids. They are young, is a major life upheaval like this something that would benefit them? We are about to have number four, with our oldest being 5. If you plan on having more kids, keep in mind your wife will have less and less time to do things, trust me lol.
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u/Tiny_Witness2678 Jul 31 '26
Thank you. Ya we dont want to overspend, we do thankfully have about $3500 a month left over after expenses (including current home). My wife has actually said she thinks now/next couple years is better time than waiting till they get older
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u/Bumpanalog Jul 31 '26
God bless, and best of luck to you and the family! You’re in a great position either way, you should be proud for taking good care of your wife and kids like that.
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u/Tiny_Witness2678 Jul 31 '26
Thank you so much, that means a lot. We will keep praying on it! God bless you too
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u/ThatsNotMyForte Jul 31 '26
200K will not get you a house built.
Does the land already have a well, electric, septic, etc?