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Lots of free land, few takers
The Omaha World-Herald ^ | January 17, 2012 | By Leslie Reed

Posted on 01/17/2012 9:16:34 AM PST by US Navy Vet

LINCOLN — Californian Therese Ebert dreamed of being a modern-day homesteader, pulling up stakes from her rented room in Poway, Calif., to build a home of her own in Beatrice, Neb.

Chasing the promise of free land, she packed her two dogs and her belongings into the back of an SUV and set off for Nebraska. She had signed up last January for a free lot in Beatrice on condition that she build a home on the property within five years.

"Everything I owned was with me," Ebert said. "The car was packed, I wasn't looking back."

But, alas, homesteading is no easier in the 21st century than it was in the 19th, when Daniel Freeman became the first person to claim land under the Homestead Act of 1862. The Freeman plot near Beatrice now is the site of the Homestead National Monument.

(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: Iowa; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: homesteadact; iowa; nebraska; nojobs
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Anyone want to move to Nebraska or Iowa?!
1 posted on 01/17/2012 9:16:44 AM PST by US Navy Vet
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To: US Navy Vet

40 acres and a mule and maybe I’d start to consider it.


2 posted on 01/17/2012 9:20:27 AM PST by the_devils_advocate_666
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To: US Navy Vet

What good is a lot for a house if there’s no jobs? I suppose you could build a 700 sq ft one bedroom house with no basement and rent it out for $150/month if you could find someone with a job who wants to live in it.


3 posted on 01/17/2012 9:22:26 AM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: US Navy Vet

**** She had signed up last January for a free lot in Beatrice on condition that she build a home on the property within five years. ****

I believe you can get a free lot, if you build on it, in Hobart (pronounced HOBERT) Oklahoma, where the Tommy Franks Museum is located.

I was there in 2010 and it is not a bad area.


4 posted on 01/17/2012 9:23:14 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar ( P!$$ on the Taliban. Issue MORE BEER!)
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To: US Navy Vet

I own a farm in central Kansas where the nearby town, Ellsworth, established a similar program in order to reverse/stop population decline. While the income from the farm is well short of what is needed for a living, I actually kind of considered the possibilities of the move. The primary problem was one of a place to work and potential income. The town itself was nice enough and I had grown up in a small town in Kansas so there would have not been any cultural issues for me.


5 posted on 01/17/2012 9:26:16 AM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: US Navy Vet

Deceptive. It’s not about homesteading, it’s about free-lot-but-you-have-to-build-on-it.

And with the housing building codes and regulations what they are the original hoimesteaders would never have been allowed to build a log cabin or a sod house.


6 posted on 01/17/2012 9:26:50 AM PST by squarebarb
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

Land in the Misouri Ozarks is so cheap it might as well be free.


7 posted on 01/17/2012 9:26:59 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Eh ?)
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To: US Navy Vet
"The car was packed, I wasn't looking back."

Wasn't looking forward either.

8 posted on 01/17/2012 9:28:22 AM PST by Roccus
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To: Eric in the Ozarks

I love that area. What part of the Ozarks is it going cheap?
I’d like to retire there.


9 posted on 01/17/2012 9:31:30 AM PST by Paytriot (Live long and prosper)
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
I believe you can get a free lot, if you build on it, in Hobart ... Oklahoma

- Where you from, boy?
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, sir.
- Only two things come out of Oklahoma. Steers and queers.

10 posted on 01/17/2012 9:33:10 AM PST by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: mamelukesabre

I have a three bedroom 800 square foot two full bath with a full finished basement home with great storage and a lot big enough for a great garden-

Works for me.


11 posted on 01/17/2012 9:34:45 AM PST by handmade
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To: Paytriot

Call any real estate company around Lake of the Ozarks. Many second homes on and off the lake are for sale at 50 percent of their value. Luxury homes are being auctioned.
I guess when the crunch hits, the first thing to go is a second home.


12 posted on 01/17/2012 9:37:04 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (Eh ?)
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To: US Navy Vet
Have considered it, My husband is disabled and my business is done over the Internet so the "No jobs" thing would not be a problem for us.

But... I have elderly parents. We are not moving unless they do and they are not moving nor would I ask them to do so. Their church and their friends are all here.

13 posted on 01/17/2012 9:37:19 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (*Philosophy lesson 117-22b: Anyone who demands to be respected is undeserving of it.*)
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To: Roccus

If one has some good basic craft skills they can make a go of it sometimes but those places which offer free land want people with the resources or skills to be an asset to the community, not a liability. Of course, all of what I just said is obvious or should be.


14 posted on 01/17/2012 9:38:08 AM PST by Jukeman (God help us for we are deep in trouble.)
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To: handmade

I’ve got a 2 bedroom 900 footer and it feels small to me. And I live alone.


15 posted on 01/17/2012 9:38:29 AM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: mamelukesabre

This is the 21st Century, not the 1930’s. Many jobs only depend on having an Internet connection, so you can live virtually anywhere your heart desires. Since you’re on the Internet, I assume you’ve heard of it.


16 posted on 01/17/2012 9:40:37 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (You can't invade the US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.~Admiral Yamamoto)
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To: US Navy Vet

I skimmed the story, not a mention OF THE SIZE OF THE LOTS. How could you write a story about free land and NOT talk about the size of the lots. UFB.


17 posted on 01/17/2012 9:41:20 AM PST by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

very funny

There aren’t that many of those jobs. The overwhelming majority of people still drive to work in the morning.


18 posted on 01/17/2012 9:43:47 AM PST by mamelukesabre
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To: US Navy Vet

I wouldn’t mind those two states. I wonder if they have an incentive to open businesses there.


19 posted on 01/17/2012 9:44:58 AM PST by ExCTCitizen (If we stay home in November '12, don't blame 0 for tearing up the CONSTITUTION!!)
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To: squarebarb

??? 2012 codes and regs vs original homesteaders’ resources. Well yeah, they didn’t have plumbing or electricity.


20 posted on 01/17/2012 9:46:36 AM PST by stuartcr ("In this election year of 12, how deep into their closets will we delve?")
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