My family moved to eastern PA about 50 years ago and bought over 100 acres which they still have (I live nearby with my gf in a house she already owned).

Here's what I can tell you before you start with many involving if you're building a house versus buying land with an existing home.

1.) Look at the potential land's zoning AND what neighboring land is zoned for. Lots of people get surprised about what they can or can't do on their land or something their neighbor starts doing or building that they didn't know was legal to do.

2.) Try to get at least 10 acres of cropland or forest to qualify for one of the Act 319 Clean and Green programs that gives you a real estate tax discount once enrolled for not subdividing and developing the land.

3.) Check for the presence of steep slopes, wetlands and streams to be crossed that might make getting a driveway and homesite built very difficult.

4.) Check that both the property dimensions and property line setbacks combined with issues from #3 don't make building difficult.

5.) The septic system, sand mound or standard, that will be needed and that it's legally far enough away from the well to be drilled. And can the well driller rig get to the spot because it's big. The septic system site will need to be perced too.

6.) Driveway access will need a highway occupancy permit from the state or township where you build. Blind curves and steep banks can be a problem without expensive excavation. This one got me actually.

7.) Does the township have an ordinance on amount of tree cover that can be cleared?

8.) Proper E&S controls that meet your county conservation district's requirements for disturbing earth beyond a minimum number of square feet.

9.) Is there electric very close to the homesite? If not, power companies tend to charge for additional pole spans to get to where you're building.

10.) Get to know your township code enforcement/building inspector well in a positive way and don't try to get around inspections or do dumb things like burning debris if not allowed.

11.) When buying land, do your research on property line issues that neighbor aren't disputing lines or squatting on some of it. Also locals may have hunted deer from stands on it for years and might cause problems if handled the wrong way.

12.) Make sure land has deeded, usable frontage on a public road. No landlocked parcels and both easements over others' land and shared private drives suck. Maintenance squabbles suck.

13.) Especially in rural areas, you can be seen as the new guy and potential troublemaker if you stir the pot down at the township complaining about others. Being polite and helpful to neighbors help while mostly minding your own business otherwise. Also if you happen to be a Democrat putting out political signs supporting liberal policies or Democratic candidates is certainly your right but sure won't be helpful if living on a particularly Trumpy back road. Might be advisable to keep your politics confidential in the voting booth.

Good luck. I've lived most of my life in more rural places with acreage and have loved it. One 10 year stretch I lived in a decent-sized town and it wasn't nearly as enjoyable.

Edit: about trespassers. Not normally a huge problem so long as you're sure of your property lines; properly post with signs and purple paint; and be out and about regularly on the property. Game cameras can be helpful too.

Edit #2: vegetation management is usually covered by township ordinance. Easiest thing to do is lease any farmland to a decent farmer with low rent in exchange for keeping all ag areas on the property neat. Everything that's woods can just be left as-is. Nothing to worry about there either

Just don't convert land to endless amounts of lawn because that's when grass/weed height ordinances get involved. Keep a tiny yard with everything else farmed or in woods and you're golden.

I grew up in the country, but moved to the suburbs as a kid. Laws, rules, and regulations vary from area to area, so you will need to research whatever area you plan to live in. So what may be required in one place may not in another. That said, here are some things to be aware of.

If you have public roads bordering or running through your property.. you may need to maintain all bordering trees, etc... as to not risk one falling on a passing car, etc.. Some places have a crew that does it.. and they just bill the property owner. Others require you to do it. And some don't require it at all. But it is certainly something to know before buying.

If you put up NO TRESSPASSING signs on the trees that border a public road or public access way (be it a nature reserve, public park, etc), you should get no surprise visitors. But that said...

Almost everyone who lives in very rural areas owns a gun. It isn't more dangerous than living in a city.. but being so isolated and away from police, makes people tend to buy a firearm.

As for running into errant hunters or other people.. it really depends on location. But as long as you have your signs up.. it should be pretty rare.

Should be interesting to see other comments and see how it changed over the years.

South-central PA landowner - I’d call it mountain area for PA standards. Bought the parcel 8 years ago. I’d recommend introducing yourself to the neighbors before buying and meeting them will give you a sense of what to expect. Our neighbors were elderly and friendly and honest. Couple of them said they have grandkids that like to bike and snowmobile but that they respect hunting seasons (which was our biggest concern). Everything has been groovy for us but still some random stuff that I don’t think anyone can account for lol.

We have trail cameras set up in numerous places and just sharing this because it’s a fun story, but once we got a pic of a woman pushing a baby in a stroller on one of our trails. Our land is quite secluded and steep on multiple sides so we were quite perplexed, but later figured out she thought our driveway was an access road and she took her stroller all 3.8 miles around our very steep and rocky property but everyone was alright haha

I live on 10 acres of mountain land, but so does everyone around me, so we don’t have any problems and have exceptional privacy.

Living in rural PA for 30 years, if your land is adjacent to undeveloped woods, state game lands, state park, it is very unlikely you will have trespassing problems like you see on TikTok but is is possible.

Be prepared for dealing w/ well water, a septic system, clearing snow from a lengthy lane/driveway, clearing fallen trees from a length driveway/lane and the occasion rabid animal.

I agree with the other comment and owning 5 - 10 acres in pa is not all that big a deal. A good realtor should be able to help you check on the requirements to build on the land.

Look into mineral rights. Many/most properties in pa do not come with mineral rights. Put very simplistically some company can show and mine/drill/strip your property for coal, limestone, oil, sand etc. Used to happen more often when coal mining was big. But good to know what you own if you in an area where this may happen. More here https://www.dep.pa.gov/Citizens/MSI/Pages/default.aspx

Also big part of pa has old mines under them and/or old oil gas wells or lines crossing them. Very much depends where in PA you are looking. See the official pa subsidence site for more info on mines and insurance https://www.dep.pa.gov/Citizens/MSI/Pages/default.aspx

Just adding a few things, mostly about building and buying, to the already great answers. Always check the floodplain maps if there are any water channels nearby. It will severely restrict what you can do with the property. There are DCNR grants to turn lawn into native habitat. I have two acres of turf I don't want. Violent crime isn't going to be much of a problem. There generally aren't murderers roaming the woods. Isolation does come with risks, like access to emergency services. But getting murdered isn't one of them. Crackheads don't tend to live in rural areas because there is no one there to buy crack from. Meth can be an issue since just about anyone can make that. But they still aren't likely to do worse than break into your shed or garage and steal some tools or an ATV. And that is unlikely too. They are too busy being high.

Make sure you can get decent internet unless that isn't a concern for you. I had to pass on a few places that checked more boxes than what I bought because I could only get satellite and I work from home.

Have a civil engineer look at the land before you buy if you are building a house. Not all properties are buildable. And even if they are, it might be considerably more expensive than you expected. For instance if they have to excavate rock to install the foundations. Also, it can take a long time to build a house. So you'll be paying for two properties for a while. A land developer doing a sub division can get a house done in a few months because they need to turn over the investment quickly and get work done cheaper since they can provide a lot of work. But a custom home can easily take over a year. Or more right now. I have friends who will have waited over 2 years to have a factory framed 800 sq ft vacation home. If you get a house built also try to contractually lock in material prices. You don't want to get screwed if things go nuts like recently and suddenly lumber costs go up like 400%.

You will likely be on well and your only power source will likely be electric. You also won't be a priority in a power outage. So plan for a back up generator with a backfeed disconnect. Even if you use natural gas, oil, kerosene, or propane for heat, the furnace will be electrically controlled. So you still have no heat in an outage. You also don't have water because the well pump needs electricity. Rural areas tend to lose power more because of trees coming down on overhead lines.

Get a buyer's agent, not just a realtor. If you haven't been through the real estate buying process, it is a nightmare. I negotiate multi-million dollar contracts for engineering work on critical infrastructure and that is considerably easier. It takes longer of course, but it's less bullshit.

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If I could ask because this has been tremendously informative already, where do you find land parcels online? I know Zillow etc you can look for lots but I’m brainstorming a couple acres for camping and hunting with my kids

Here are my suggestions:

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1. Look at aerial photographs. if your property is surrounded by people on small lots, they will be using your property for whatever they want and you are going to have a helluva time policing it. This is quadruple if you own the land right behind a development of homes
2. Look at the topography of land, and look for trails or dirt roads, are there a bunch of trails crisscrossing the whole area including your property? If so people aren't going to stop using them just because you own it now.
3. Look for neighbors you just KNOW are going to be a problem from the start. People with obvious obnoxious "anti-tresspassing" signs, like every single tree is posted on THEIR property line facing the road, but none anywhere else? probably an asshole who will trespass constantly and be a dick about it

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Finally, look at the general area you are looking to buy in, does it look like a place people you don't want are just going to randomly show up at because its right off a major roadway where it will be a short cut to another place or near a plaza or is it 15 miles from the nearest parking lot and the only way to get to it is a 2 lane country road?

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Trespassing signs don't work, gates and fences don't work, the only thing that will keep people off your land is having land in an area that isn't convenient for them to be able to get to

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