New member residing in Arizona.

[Andrew Schmitt]

Moved to a smaller town in Arizona, East of Phoenix and North of Tucson from Chicago Illinois with the intent of delving into more of an outdoor lifestyle. Began looking into Real Estate investing as means of reaching some life goals and greater financial freedom. I have been listening to Real Estate podcasts and Biggerpockets with it’s forum are mentioned often. After lurking on the forum for a few months I am stepping out to participate. Something I don’t recall doing on any other forum.

Exploring what I am beginning to call Farm Hacking as an adaptation of House Hacking. Not being able to afford a farm/homestead and the full risk of running an operation of my own yet I am looking to offset the cost/risk with rentals, preferably long term and possibly short term.

The idea began with a Mobile Home Park that a portion could be a market garden and possible small scale livestock. Purchasing a Mobile Home Park feels like it might be a little ambitious. I have began to consider using SFRs that have large side lots. I could use the side lots for gardens while renting out the homes. Over time with a few SFRs a large acreage could be put to market garden purposes. I see this model offering a diversification of markets; Homes and Food being two things that people need in any economy.

There is a Mobile Home Park that I have been looking into that I intend to post about in the Mobile Home Park section.

After reading books and listening to podcasts for the past 6 months there are so many unknowns but I would like to get to the point of working through my first deal by the end of the year.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone that participates in these forums, sharing their knowledge and experience. 

[Derek Janssen]

Originally posted by @Wes Blackwell:

@Andrew Schmitt

@George Skidis makes a great point... while the idea is interesting, there is likely a much smaller tenant base in Phoenix that's going to be interested in living in a place like that.

Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I would learn a proven business model and duplicate that as closely as possible. Trying to get creative may lead to some unforeseen problems like those George mentioned above. Let someone else be the pioneer and get the arrows in the back. 

Some other unforeseen problems you may have not considered: As a tenant, you're taking up the large yard I planned to use to play catch with my kids and let my large dog run and play with a garden that I have no intention of maintaining. In fact, my dog may eat your vegetables when he gets bored and hungry, or I may spray bug spray or weed and feed around my house to get rid of pests and weeds and end up killing your entire garden. Or my kids get bored and pluck all your fruit and veggies off the vine before they're ripe.

There's probably a million other scenarios like this that I haven't thought of. My suggestion is to keep it simple until you're more experienced in investing and are able to take a risk on a new business model like this. Best of luck!

 I envisioned kids playing baseball with tomatoes from the garden...