How I bought 6.74 acres of rural land with a loan.

I am finally disclosing what my land cost, as well as the details of my Farm Credit East loan.

Rewind to July 2023. I had just moved to Saratoga Springs, NY from Florida (I am an Upstate NY native, though) and signed a lease in town. I was coming off nearly a decade of running a freelance writing business and wondering what I was going to do next.

I was interested in real estate investing. I had engaged in 4 prior real estate transactions and knew it was, for me, my preferred way of growing my money. You will never catch me buying stocks and aiding corporations in the stock market.

I opened up Zillow and started perusing undeveloped land. I had no goal or plan in mind - I just felt like I wanted to know what was available in my newly surrounding area. I instantly locked eyes with 6.74 acres that looked divinely idyllic from the Zillow listing. Having purchased properties before, I knew I needed to do a drive-by.

The land in-person was even prettier than the Zillow listing. And let me tell you, that rarely happens.

I had the cash at the time to buy the land outright. However, something stopped me in my tracks that day. I sat on the side of my Jeep, gazing out over the nature I so desperately wanted to own and steward. I knew if I paid for the land in cash, I would have limited funds for new construction. It wasn’t possible to have my cake and eat it, too, in this scenario.

Or was it?

I sat down at my laptop when I got home and opened up Google.

“Farmland or undeveloped land loans in the U.S.,” I searched.

Farm Credit popped up at the top of the feed. It seemed too good to be true. Nowhere in my schooling or financial education was I told that loans are available for not only vacant land, but also undeveloped land that doesn’t have electricity or a septic tank. I started to sift around the website. What I found shocked me.