Part 3 of our Geographical homestead search - Economics

Check our our podcast on choosing your homestead based on economic considerations. 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bepreparedchannel/2013/09/28/how-to-pick-a-location-for-you-homestead--part-2

Things we looked at when trying to pick a new location for our future homestead:

1. Economic stability of the area
2. Economic basis, manufacturing, retail, service, agriculture, government, technology etc.
3. Crime Rates
4. Population centers of the area.
5. Distances to jobs, customers, clients.

Resources to use:
1. Internet searches for community info, demographics, economic data, and even some history of the area.
2. Local news stations
3. Local papers
4. Craigslist - Looking at job and services offerings
5. Job search engines

Picking a location that would put us on the outskirts of the cities within a commute distance to jobs, customers, clients became our focus when looking for a place to rent.

Finding a rental property that meets your criteria can be tough.  Be patient and keep looking.

Keeping in mind future plans, possible homestead sites, distances you may have to travel to your homestead if you have to bugout, or just to go out on a regular basis to check on the place and work on projects.

Travel and safety:
Traveling can be expensive, cost of fuels is already high, and only going higher.  They could be hard to get in the future.  Travel on the roads may become quite dangerous as the economy continues it's decline.  All things to consider as you start to shift gears in longer term thinking.

Options:
Long term thinking once your on the ground in your location.  How far can you be from population centers and jobs?  Can you transition to jobs and skills that will help you get away from these population centers.  If you can distance yourself from population centers then your options expand.
1. Stay in a rental or buy a home close to the population centers and then look for a remote bugout or retirement property.
2. Buy a retreat/homestead within a commutable distance, but may need to compromise acreage and things needed due to increased costs closer to population centers.
3. Buy a larger acreage that that is greater distances away with access to natural resources and transition to a rural lifestyle and economy. 

Focus on skills:
The more skills you have the more options you will have to fund your future plans, and provide stability for you and your family.  Our goal is to transit from "the economy" to "our economy" using barter, trade, and local currencies that increase economic stability and vitality for the local economy and people.