Off-grid build-to-sell feasibility

[Matthew Lewis]

Let me preface this by saying my wife and I are real estate newbies, so this idea might be horrible. That said, it seems to make sense conceptually, so I'd be interested in more experienced opinions.

In a nutshell, we're thinking of taking out a HELOC on our home, buying a piece of land, building the shell of a house on it, renting out our primary residence, and then going to live in the shell of the new house as we build it out into an off-grid homestead property a little at a time. When it's done, we'll either decide it's our own forever home, or we'll sell it and move on.

The main risk I see is that we don't really know what we're getting into when it comes to building an off-grid home. We'll be able to get some ballpark figures on the big pieces, like solar, septic, well, etc., but we'd definitely be learning as we go along, which means there will be a lot of financial variables that we won't know about at the outset. 

My W2 job will cover a couple thousand dollars of expenditures per month, and we'd have the rent money from our current home, plus some HELOC funds available if needed, so I don't see financial survival being an issue. That said, I want to avoid getting into a situation where we want to sell but we're under water on the property.

Ultimately, we'd be counting on property appreciation and our sweat equity to provide enough value to make a profit if we decide to sell a couple of years down the road. The problem is I don't know how much of a pipe dream that might turn out to be. ;)

I should add that this is only one "strategy" we're considering, and we're only considering it because we do desire to personally live off-grid way out in the country someday. However, it might be more feasible to invest in a few more traditional deals first and use that as a springboard to eventually pursue our own personal dream. It's just that this seemed like potentially a way to have the best of both worlds; i.e., get some experience as landlords while also moving to our preferred environment.

I feel like I'm opening myself up to a slew of "you're crazy, pal" responses, but if so, better to find out now than later! Any and all productive feedback is welcome and will be taken to heart.