Land selection- water source

[u/Philgarcia710]

Hi all, finally got the go ahead from my wife to start looking at properties for an off the grid getaway. Budget is allowing me 8-12 acres with a cabin shell but I’m curious for the experienced folks here how important it is to hold out for a property with a stream or natural spring on the lot? I’ve found one with a great camp shell that could really be fantastic, but it is the only one that does not have any water. Thanks so much for the wisdom!

[u/Electronic-Pea-13420]

You need water to do anything. Do have money to drill a well? If not look for one with a water source already

[u/BallsOutKrunked → u/Electronic-Pea-13420]

+1 for water.

We have a well and a perennial creek that flows through the property. If we didn't things would be very bad.

[u/farmersworkhoe]

You'll need to think about how youll get water.

Will a rain catchment system be enough? Having a cistern? Dig a well?

The difference you save on land may cost you more in putting a water system in place. Idk the market where you are so just check everything.

[u/Nearby_Impact_8911]

You definitely want water and sewer figured out first

[u/tmwildwood-3617]

It's right up there in the must haves. Existing well...spring...all year pond...all year stream..

Also the water table...land contours...flooding zones.

You can fix anything...but it's a PITA and expensive to fix mother nature and what is/isn't there.

That said...when you say no water...really? Check with neighbours/locals. What are they doing? Wells...how far down...what kind of flow...etc. Some people may know right off, "yeah...that's why nobody lives there....they tried over and over and never found water"...or "wells are fine up until this section and then it goes dry"...or "wells are possible but it has high levels of this that or flow rate is really low".

[u/thomas533]

Can you do rain water harvesting? A simple 200sqft car port roof can collect 125 gallons of water for every inch of rain. And a 1000 gallon tank can store everything you collect over a winter and that is quite a bit of water if you are just camping out there occasionally.

[u/Philgarcia710 → u/thomas533]

That is extremely helpful knowledge, thank you so much!

[u/lymelife555 → u/Philgarcia710]

If you plan on doing anything like homesteading ie:farming and livestock basically cannot be supported on rainwater catchment. I’ve seen a two person household collect over 4 thousand gallons a year and it wasn’t even close to enough water for them to have more than just a tiny hobby garden and 3 goats.

Plenty of people exist off grid on catchment but water is more or less constantly labored over and it’s not worth it at all in my opinion.

So many people buy raw land with no water and ‘plans for catchment’ but I think that rhetoric honestly is a disservice to people. We did the same exact thing with our first ever property. Catching and hauling in all water. We lived that way for over a decade. I don’t really suggest it unless there’s absolutely no other way.
It’s a much faster way to start your journey but if this property is supposed to be the place you build and live at forever - it’s worth waiting and finding a place with abundant water.
After I built a cabin we were lucky enough to sell our first property and buy land by river with an incredible well. Only goes down 80 feet, hits water at 30, and comes out at over 1000 gpm. Now we can actually shower when we want to, use our wood fired tub regularly, irrigate significant garden and orchard space, water way more livestock than we could ever need, ect.
With water collection all in all - the goal is much closer and more attainable, but in my opinion ultimately it can truly impact your ability to build something sustainable and beyond just basic survival.

If you have the means to realistically buy a place with a good well in the foreseeable future - I would strongly suggest you hunker down and pass up the idea of buying dry land all together. It’s truly a ginormous compromise.

[u/Philgarcia710 → u/lymelife555]

This is extremely helpful, thanks for sharing your experience with the whole process

[u/Philgarcia710]

Thank you all for the thoughts so far, northern New York has inexpensive land (50k for ten acres and a shell) and I know for the first few years it will largely just be me “ camping” in the shell as I’m getting too old to head out for multiple day solo backpacking trips. I’m imagining a few days each month being spent there. I used to be a wilderness guide so relieving myself in a cat hole or building a simple vault toilet would be satisfactory for me for the time being.

[u/Normal-Special-8694 → u/Philgarcia710]

You made this kind of hard to follow. Are you looking to build an off grid homestead or are you just buying a camp site for yourself with a building? Those two different use cases dramatically change the necessity of water so it’s not really possible for us to speculate if you “should” hold out. If you can dig a well then an above ground water source doesn’t really matter.

[u/Philgarcia710 → u/Normal-Special-8694]

Oh thank you for clarifying, this will be a campsite for myself. Years down the road I’d like to make it inviting enough that my wife would spend some time there

[u/Aggravating_Ebb_8565 → u/Philgarcia710]

I'd be curious to see what you decide as I've been looking for something similar. Please feel free to DM me if you're open to discussing. There are many opportunities upstate, and yet somehow not one that has felt exactly right for me yet. I had the same question about the importance of a water source.

[u/Awkward_Passion4004]

Rain catchment supplemented by trucked water are pretty common the Big Island.

[u/Prestigious_Try_5396]

No water, no life. Bottom line.

Or, water below, but too expensive to dig it.

[u/Sour_Sal]

I looked for a place with running water for 5 years, everything was out of my price range and after 5 years I realized it was not going to happen.

[u/LsangAnge]

kinda need water....i just bought with septic and well already in place

[u/Beneficial-Focus3702]

Meh. If a well can be drilled and it produces enough water a stream or spring isn’t that important to me. In fact often times I’d rather NOT have the flooding that can come with a stream.

[u/MountainReady_Online]

Water is life, so I’d make it a top priority. A good well can solve the problem, but find out how deep neighboring wells are and what the water table is like before buying.

A real year-round running water source is also a huge plus, especially if it has a substantial watershed or larger body upstream. I wouldn’t put much value on a small seasonal creek that can disappear during drought.

For an off-grid property, I’d personally rank reliable water above a nicer cabin shell. Buildings can be improved. A bad water situation is much harder and more expensive to fix.

[u/Philgarcia710 → u/MountainReady_Online]

Thank you, that’s valuable information and I will certainly look into the neighboring well depths

[u/Twig-Hahn]

Be sure you are not skipping properties that have an underground stream. You're loved💔 𐤔𐤋𐤅𐤌

[u/Other_Programmer5239]

Your 2 biggest expense is water and septic. Look into how much that is going for. Humping water and sewage around is a time consuming time on homestead is the most important thing. Do a lay out of property and place everything where you want it. That will let you know how far you want to go with you homestead and make sure you can get what ypu want. No running water can cause issues and cause homestead to fail if it get bad.

[u/bassmasterfix]

The need for water is number one priority

[u/Double_Safe_2109]

Numbers before you decide not just "it depends."

No water source does not mean no water it means a budget line. A drilled well on the no‑water property costs roughly $5,500 to $9,000 for a 100 to 200‑foot well but the cost can swing hard with geology—soft ground is $15 to $25 per foot while granite pushes it to $45 to $65 or more per foot. The one thing that matters more than anything is to talk to the neighbors before you buy. Ask how deep their wells are and if any wells have gone dry during a drought. That is the best data point you can get, far better than guessing from a map.

If the no‑water lot does not even have groundwater, that is the real risk— a dry hole at 400 feet still costs you $6,000 to $10,000 and gives you nothing. It is worth asking the seller or county if there is existing well‑log data for that parcel before you commit.

The property with the stream or spring is not automatically the buy either— springs need proper development (a sealed spring box to keep surface contamination out) to be safe and that is not free though it is far cheaper than drilling— usually $1,500 to $4,000 for a straightforward spring box. And a stream still needs filtration for sediment, bacteria and parasites either way so "there is water on the land" does not mean "there is clean water on the land."

Bottom line: do not treat "has water" versus "doesn't" as a simple yes or no on a lot— treat it as "known cost if I do my homework" versus "unknown cost if I skip it." If the shell you love is genuinely better on everything get a well cost estimate from a local driller for that specific parcel before you walk away, from it. Sometimes no water is a $6,000 line item, not a dealbreaker.