The housing market is wild just about everywhere at the time I’m writing this. It’s a tough time to buy, but life plows forward. If you’re looking to buy a house to turn into a “permaculture property,” whether you’re ready to buy in the next few months, or just looking while waiting for the market to settle, this is the post to read.
I recently went through the process of selecting and purchasing a house in Boise, Idaho, on the heels of completing my Permaculture Design Certificate. This post covers the issues we considered when searching for a home to buy, plus several more that didn’t apply to our situation but might apply to yours.
Most people have a list of criteria when they’re in the market for a new home. (How many bedrooms and bathrooms, what’s the neighborhood like, is it near good schools?)
But when your goal is to create your own version of a permaculture paradise, additional considerations most people wouldn’t think of can have a huge impact on how the property functions from a permaculture perspective. I’ll lay out those considerations below in 27 tips for selecting an urban or suburban permaculture property.
As you go through this list, remember there’s no perfect property. There are always going to be trade-offs. Think of this list of issues to be mindful of when choosing your new property.
I’ll group the items by scale, starting with the region. If you already know what region you are looking to buy in you can skip this section. But even if you’re already committed to a region it may still be a helpful list of issues to be aware of.
Region
In what part of the world do you want to live? If you have some flexibility in where to buy your home, here are some considerations for you.
1. Climate hardiness zone
This is pretty obvious, but climate will determine what plants you’ll be able to grow and how long of a growing season you’ll have to work with.
The hardiness zone you’re in will determine the palate of plants available to you. Living in a warmer climate will allow you to grow fruit trees like citrus, bananas, loquats, and other tropical fruits. If you enjoy stone fruits or apples, a cooler climate will provide the winter chill these trees need. (Future post on what fruits for what climates).
2. Precipitation
Annual rainfall can also be a limiting factor on plants you’ll be able to grow, particularly for arid and semi-arid landscapes. Of course, you can always water, but depending on your resources watering can get expensive, especially over the hot summer months.
3. Seasons
Also to do with climate, consider what seasons you picture yourself living in. Do you prefer a year-round growing, or would you rather live in a more temperate climate? Do you want snow in winter? What time of year does the precipitation occur? Some climates have wet winters and dry summers. Others receive most of the rain in the summer monsoon season. When water is available can be just as important as how much water is available.
4. Natural disasters
What about natural disaster potential in the region? Wildfires, hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and tornados can all destroy a property, wiping out years of work. Consider what natural disaster risks you are willing to live with.
5. Climate change
How will climate change affect the region? Weather patterns are shifting and becoming more extreme. Coastal regions may have greater hurricane risks. Inland forested regions may have increased wildfire risk. Dry areas may be facing long periods of drought. The average temperature may be rising, and in some regions, it may be falling. This change could shift what grows well in many regions in the coming years.
Local Area
Once you know what general region you want to live in, think about what city you want to live in or near, and how far from the city center you want to be.
It can be tempting to buy a larger piece of land farther away from urban developments. Land will be cheaper and available in larger plots. But be aware of the trade-offs, including social and economic, as well as environmental.
This is a good time to consider your goals and whether a place farther from or closer to an urban area will better allow you to reach those goals.
6. Distance from an urban center
Do you want to live in a city or not? If you don’t want to live in a city, how far of a commute are you willing to make, and how often are you willing to make the trip?
7. Inside or outside city limits
Living outside city limits might give you more freedom but of course could have drawbacks as well, including being farther away from amenities and having less access to municipal services, like sewer connection and curbside collection.
8. Broad community
What kind of larger community do you want to be a part of? Think of population density. How close do you want your neighbors to be? Would you rather have an urban, suburban, or rural environment?
9. Available utilities
What is the electric company for the area and what are their rates? Are there renewable options, solar incentives, or energy buy-back programs? What about natural gas—and is it fracked gas? What about municipal services like water, sewer, and curbside pickup of trash, recycling, and organic waste?
10. Laws on keeping chickens or other small livestock
Make sure any visions you have about having animals be an integral part of your permaculture system match up with the reality of what the city allows. For example, you may be able to keep a small number of hens but no roosters within the city limits.
Neighborhood
Now we’re down to the neighborhood level. You know what town you want to live in or near, and roughly how near to it you want to be, but what suburb or neighborhood will suit your life best?
11. Transportation
Think about your ideal lifestyle and how you are going to get to and from all the places you’ll go on a regular basis. Will you travel by car, bike, on foot, or public transportation? You may have different preferred modes of transportation for different destinations.
At this point, you’re probably browsing homes for sale and considering individual properties. Consider any potential home’s proximity to the destinations you might regularly visit. Consider places like work, school, grocery stores, parks, recreation, greenways, dog parks, community gardens, libraries, and anything else specific to your life that I haven’t mentioned here.
12. Walkability
Proximity isn’t the only factor. Your work could be a 10-minute walk away, but if you have to cross a highway to get there you might prefer a 20-minute bike ride that’s along the greenway.
Pay attention to the walkability of your prospective neighborhood. Is there a local bus system, tram, or train? Do the roads have bike lanes? Sidewalks?
If you ride a bike, look for bike paths and greenways, and whether or not streets have bike lanes.
13. Local community
You can get a feel for the local community by observing the neighborhood. Google Maps satellite view and street view can help with this if you are unable to visit the area in person. Are there tall fences in front of most of the houses? If so, it might be harder to get to know your neighbors. The same is true for homes with prominent garages on their fronts.
Another tool for assessing the neighborhood is yard signs. Are the front lawns speckled with political signs? Are there flags showing support for the country or a particular community? Signs supporting organizations? Our son used to go to a Montessori school and we put up a sign in our yard to help promote the school. Signs like this can signal the values of the residents. Bumper stickers on cars can also provide insight into values held within the neighborhood to help you determine if it would be a good fit for you.
Also, look for nearby businesses and consider what values those establishments might add or detract from. Look at the condition of homes and yards nearby. A satellite view on Google Maps can reveal junk piles behind people’s homes. Maybe this would be a negative for you, or maybe it wouldn’t.
14. Nearby features
Consider neighboring features that aren’t other houses or businesses. Parks and open spaces might be desirable, but if there’s open land nearby who owns it? Will it potentially be developed into track homes or a new Super Walmart? Is there a highway or other source of noise pollution nearby?
15. Potential hazards
Think about the local climate and geography of adjacent land. Is a prospective property in a flood plain? If so you may need additional flood insurance. Is it near a forest or grassland that would pose a wildfire hazard? What about chemical hazards? It’s worth finding out about any nearby power plants, chemical plants, mining operations, or superfund sites.
The Property
Now we’re getting to the fun part, and my specialty—the property and built structures.
16. Location of the house on the site
In a dense suburban setting, this might simply be how far the house is set back from the street. It can impact how much privacy you can create from the street, and will also determine how much front yard vs. backyard you’ll have to work with.
17. Solar orientation
What direction is the house facing? Typically it’s best to have a south or north-facing house so that either the front or back of the house gets plenty of sunlight. Even in hot climates where shade is desirable, the south aspect is important because the amount of shade is controllable with deep or shallow overhangs or pergolas.
My preference is to have the backyard on the south side of the house (in the northern hemisphere), but having the front of the house facing south is also beneficial. East and west-facing homes can also work, but a little more creativity might be required. And if you ever want to install solar panels on the roof, you’ll want one roof slope facing roughly south (or north in the southern hemisphere).
18. Solar access
Solar access is similar to solar orientation and is in part influenced by the home’s orientation, but also dependent on other factors, like surrounding trees, neighbors’ houses, and latitude. Pay attention to what areas of the property will get sunlight throughout the year. Areas of full sun will be important for future gardens, orchards, and photovoltaic systems.
19. Slope of the land
By slope of the land, I mean both steepness and aspect. With very steep slopes, more than about 18 degrees, you’ll have trouble with water running too quickly off the site and you may have trouble establishing plants. Both of these issues can likely be solved by putting in terraces or swales, but it’s a fair bit of extra work.
The direction the slope faces is also critical. An ideal aspect is south (north in the southern hemisphere), to maximize sun exposure and plant growth. Southeast or southwest is acceptable, but avoid north-facing slopes in most climates.
20. Rainwater collection potential
Collecting rainwater is crucial in arid climates, and desirable in most. If you want to install a rain barrel at your future home, look into local laws regulating water collection. In the US, most states have no laws against collecting the precipitation that falls on your property, but some do. Due to downstream water rights, my home state of Colorado used to prohibit rainwater collection, but in the past several years has changed the law to allow limited collection.
The roof configuration and roofing material also impact rainwater collection. The configuration of the roof may limit how much of the roof area is drained into a convenient location for a rain barrel. Roof area and average annual rainfall will determine the optimal size of rain barrel you’ll need, but space considerations can also be a limiting factor. Asphalt shingles are the least desirable material for water quality, but not a deal-breaker.
21. Zoning
Find out what zone the property is in. Usually, cities define their own residential zone categories that place limits on density and building height. The right zone can provide options for building one or more accessory dwelling units that you could either rent out for additional income, have mom move into, or use as a guest suite. Also, consider local building codes specific to the zone for outbuildings and fences, and be aware of what types of projects you’ll need to get a permit for and what you can just build. Find out what the setbacks are, which is how far structures have to be from the property line.
22. HOA restrictions
Is the property part of a home owners association? If so, read the rules for it carefully so you know what you’re getting into. Pay particular attention to fees. If you want to incorporate animals like chickens into your urban homestead, make sure the HOA allows it. They may have stricter regulations than the city.
23. Existing landscaping
Is the yard a blank canvas? Or is it already filled with mature plants? What are the plants that are already established, and are they good for permaculture? What large trees, if any, are on the property? Beware of dense canopy trees that could create too much shade, such as maple and sycamore. Conifers generally have less to offer permaculture properties than other species, although they are good for windbreaks.
Also beware of juglone species, such as black walnut, that many other plants have difficulty growing near. If the property has many of these sorts of trees above, you will likely end up cutting some or all of them down.
Tests and Inspections
Once you make an offer and it is accepted, there are some additional tests and inspections to consider beyond the standard home inspection and appraisal. I’ll go over a few of them here.
24. Radon
A radon test is important to do for homes with basements. Radon is naturally occurring in many soils and can sleep through cracks in the foundations of buildings and accumulate inside. According to the EPA, radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, so if radon levels are above what is considered safe, it’s important to install a radon mitigation system. This can be expensive, so knowing about it before the final sale could help with negotiations.
25. Soil tests
Standard soil tests look at soil nutrients and pH, which can be helpful information, especially when you’re first starting out with a permaculture garden, and later on for troubleshooting problems that may arise.
Although a standard soil test is helpful, another important test to have done, if possible before closing, is for heavy metals. It’s a good idea to test for lead in soils surrounding homes older than 1978. Besides lead, other heavy metal contaminants include arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, nickel, and mercury.
Prior land use can indicate potential heavy metal contamination. Sources of heavy metal pollution include lead paint, pesticides and fertilizers, landfills, junkyards, gas stations, abandoned railway lots, industrial processes, and dry cleaners. Land near busy roads or highways can also have increased heavy metals due to vehicle emissions.
You can order soil tests from online soil testing centers. Many university extension offices offer soil testing as well. If you find a nearby university extension that provides soil analysis, you may need to call the office to find out if they also perform heavy metal testing and what the pricing is.
Source: Minimizing Risks of Soil Contaminants in Urban Gardens
26. Roof inspection.
A basic roof inspection will probably be done as part of the general home inspection, however, a more detailed roof inspection might be a good idea. If you plan to install solar panels on your roof at some point in the future, a roof inspector can tell you whether the roof structure is strong enough to support a solar array.
- Chimney inspection. If your prospective house has a fireplace, it could provide supplemental heating for your home. But only if it’s working properly. Not only that, a chimney in bad shape can cause more problems than you might think. So, getting a chimney inspection before closing on your home is a good idea.
A Final Note
Of course, it would be a rare find for a property to meet all of these criteria. Still, knowing what your priorities are and what you’re willing to compromise on will be helpful for comparing properties or deciding whether to put an offer on a home.
I hope this list was helpful to you as you search for your own permaculture property. Once you find and purchase the right place for you and your family, make sure to come back to this website for more information about turning your new urban or suburban lot into your own permaculture paradise.
Until then, happy house hunting.
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