Purchasing Land

There are lots of things to look for when a prepper buys property and as they say it’s location, location, location. These are some of what guidelines we used to buy our new home: 50 miles from nuclear plant, 30 miles from city over 50K, 10 miles max to village or hamlet for shopping, stay in the warmest growing zone or micro climate in the chosen area, to far north and the soil is sandy & not good for growing, a good well for drinking, pond or wetland for irrigation, on a hill not a flood plain, and finally check all the local by-laws regarding fortification and any buildings you may want to add or livestock. If you buy a working farm that was operated to make money you will have to pay HST on the purchase price in Ontario.

We actually got a map and drew circles on it to define the area to look in. It is hard as retreat properties are scarce and sell quickly. Just hang in there and good luck and you will eventually find your dream location.

HTP

Not sure what you meant by "Not too far north" But There is a hell of a lot of good productive land right up as far as Cochrane. Yes the frost dates are later and earlier than further south but the days are noticeably longer than in the south. As well, I think if you are seeing sandy soil in the north you are not necessarily seeing a bad thing. But there is a wide variety of soils up here. Sometimes within the same acreage! I have pretty much all three in my one garden alone which gives me the opportunity to tailor my planting to the crops needs.
As far as your needs for the property you and HTP pretty much nailed it other than I might suggest that one other thing would be your possibility of getting work in the area you choose, or at least have a reasonable commute to it. Mine unfortunately is over 100km each way but it has it's perks as well. I also justify it in my mind by saying there are a hell of a lot of people that take as long to go to work as me but are only travelling less than half the distance.
One thing to remember is.... a one hour drive at 100kmph is almost 3 days walking (or more if winter) and not easy if you are hauling a lot of stuff on your back!!

Be sure that the land that your about to buy isn't a protected area, where your are not able to change the soil condition (planting crops) or build any building bigger than 10 x10 ft. also ensure that you own the lumber and mineral rights, or a company can come in and do what ever they wish.

As far as rivers or water

Pay attention to the flow of water nearby, Will it drain out or in?
Is there an underground river and where does it come from?

Have different elevations on your land as well. For house, planting and building into the land..if you choose.

Make sure you can build a road if you buy remote. SOme places dont allow it as it may be around protected lands.

Even land that is not surrounded by protected lands can be land-locked. No access by road other than crossing over someone else's property. Some is accessed over crown land and limits are on trails being cut as well. So on the other hand, this might not be such a bad thing if it's what you're looking for. Some land, although not officially linked by a designated road, could be accessed by logging roads.
As far as mineral rights, The crown withdrew most private land from staking in Southern Ont in 2009 so pretty much is a non issue. Elsewhere, if the property you are considering doesn't have mineral rights on the title, all is not lost. You can stake them yearly to prevent any mining activity if the claims are open or if not, don't worry about it because if it's a patent claim there's nothing you can do anyway. But for the most part, even in an active mining area, you really don't need to worry about mining companies coming in and setting up shop in your front yard. They generally will work with the land owner and find ways of going about their business with as little disruption to the property owner as possible. Besides, if they find minerals under your feet then you'll likely get paid well to pack up and move on.
In a nut shell, if you find the perfect piece of land you want, you'll either have mineral and timber rights or not. Don't let not having them stand in your way to enjoying the country life. Timber rights normally covers specific species so you'll have all the wood you can use anyway.
Not sure you need to worry about underground rivers.
Don't over think it too much. Get the property where you want it and enjoy it.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, input and ideas! Great tips! I am constantly on the look out for a quality piece of land and will keep all your considerations in mind when looking. Thanks!

You may also want to check out Geoff Lawton's site about permaculture...Ya, I know, it's heavy on the sales side, but you can pick up some great ideas on what to look for in the free videos. He has also been on The Survival Podcast a few times, so go check that out too!
http://www.geofflawton.com

Thanks Denob, I will check that out. Cheers!

dignam.com has cheap parcels of land for sale. Most is not on a lake, but has water near. Some land is far away, but if you prepare for the journey, your much better off once you get their.

I picked up a copy of Ragnar Benson's Starting a New Life in Rual America & The Modern Survival Retreat. Between the 2 if it doesn't answer your questions, it tells you what questions to ask.

Water and Soil being the biggest two requirements. If you don't have good soil to start with it hard to grow anything. You need to know what the soil will support, or what has to be done to make it usuable.

Look at the history of the area. A prime example of that is the "Old Hastings Colonization Road ". Today Hwy 62 follows most of it, but north of Madoc (Hwy 7 & 62) it veers away and the "Old hasting Rd" is still there. Many a homesteader back in the 1800's couldn't make a living growing the crops needed for the survival of their families because of poor soil.

The Old Hastings Colonization Road may conjure up romantic Canadian images of farm families industriously creating new lives for themselves in the wilderness. But in reality, this route was the “Trail of Broken Hearts”—a label given to this colonization road by Ontario Land Surveyor C.F. Alysworth in 1925. After traveling the entire length of the route from Madoc north to the Madawaska River, he found less than 25 percent of the original land grants still occupied. From a peak of 400 settled lots in the late 1800s, fewer than 75 were being worked at the time of his inspection. Fields were overgrown and buildings stood vacant, the products of decades of pioneer sweat and toil slowly reclaimed by nature. http://www.pinecone.on.ca/MAGAZINE/stories/OldHastingsRd.html

" Buying land" topic was probably intended to address family units and individuals', separate BOL's ?.... and that's cool for me too , as a last resort, if i can afford it .

Until then , i have been primarily looking for "likeminded" folks to do this as a stand-together group ....for as long as there is a sense that there is still time to do the requisite groupwork to achieve a cohesion which has not only survival as an identified criterion, but other shared values which would be agreed to.
Not everyone will want to invest the time or money towards this, but i'm interested in meeting those who are, and that would be a complement to any others.
I'm planning to be at the july meet, and can pre-identify with any interested folks in advance. The ones i've met so far are impressive., and many of us tend to be very individualistic/independent in nature. That should not be a restrictive quality in terms of community surthriving.
PM me if this is interesting enough to pursue, and we can take next steps to meet/dialog.
thanks

Whole Systems Designs asks many of the questions intended for proper site selection

http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/site-selection/

◾How affordable is this access? Is this road going to be expensive to maintain? Is it well constructed and properly drained?
◾Is this a fair selling price?
◾Is there a feasible house, barn, garden, pasture or orchard site here?
◾Are these good soils? Is this healthy forest? How easy and quickly could I develop food and water security on a site like this?
◾Is this a good place for strategic relocation?
◾Is this pond going to have problems in the future?
◾Does this land have a good solar-oriented house site?
◾Is this a cold pocket or a warm microclimate?
◾Is this landscape suited to food production, timbering, animals?
◾Might permitting become an issue with developing this site?
◾Is this land too big or too small for what I want to do and how well suited is it to all of my goals?
◾What's it going to cost to develop access to this property? To bring power in or produce our own? To establish potable water, drill a well or tap into that spring?
◾Is this a good site for general preparedness in a SHTF situation?
◾Are there potential viewshed or soundscape issues we should know about? What's this view going to look like at night - dark or light polluted? Is there a snowmobile trail nearby that we'll have to listen to all winter long?

...And a hundred other questions a land owner needs to address before knowing whether to purchase or to keep on looking. As with most other disiplines, you have to know where to look to see the pontential challenges and opportunities.

Look no further. http://www.dignam.com/ Great prices on land with easy payment plans.

dignam.com has cheap parcels of land for sale. Most is not on a lake, but has water near. Some land is far away, but if you prepare for the journey, your much better off once you get their.

And they have great terms for buying. Easy for starting a co-op.