Ranch Farmhouse with Pond on 20 Acres in Ulysses, Kentucky 🌲 ($215,000)

This property is an excellent example of how much land and privacy are still attainable in eastern Kentucky. Set on 20 acres, the ranch-style farmhouse offers a comfortable home base surrounded by nature, with enough space to support multiple uses over time.

Built in 2013, the home provides three bedrooms and two bathrooms, along with a clean, efficient layout designed for low-maintenance living. The interior favors practicality, making it easy to live in year-round or maintain as a secondary residence. A bonus room adds flexibility for storage, office use, or hobbies.

The land is where this property truly stands out. Established trails wind through the acreage, and a private pond adds both scenic and functional value. Whether used for recreation, light homesteading, or simply as a long-term land asset, this is acreage that feels usable rather than ornamental.

Properties like this appeal to buyers who want space, control, and long-term flexibility without being completely disconnected from services.

About the Area

Ulysses is a sparsely populated rural area where privacy and quiet are part of everyday life. The landscape is dominated by hills, trees, and open land, with little commercial development.

Paintsville, the nearest town with grocery stores, healthcare facilities, restaurants, and retail services, is approximately 20 minutes by car. This distance strikes a balance between rural isolation and practical access to necessities, making the area suitable for full-time living.

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For additional photos and agent contact details, refer to the Homes.com listing linked below the photo gallery.

Photos from the property listing · © the listing agent / brokerage

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What Land Actually Costs in Lawrence County

The USDA 2022 Census of Agriculture values farmland and buildings in Lawrence County at $2,800 per acre — a little over half the Kentucky statewide average of $4,929. Across the whole county there are 54,526 acres in farms, which in eastern Kentucky is the useful measure: it tells you how much of the terrain is level enough to work.

That is the honest reason 20 acres with a pond and a 2013 house is attainable here. Land in the eastern coalfield is cheap because the ground is steep, the coal economy has contracted for decades, and the population has been leaving. It is not cheap because there is anything wrong with this particular parcel.

What you are buying is space and privacy in genuinely beautiful country, at a price that reflects distance from employment. A relatively new build on established acreage with trails and water is the uncommon combination in this market — most of what trades at this price is older housing stock.

What to Check Before You Buy in Eastern Kentucky

Mineral rights are the first question

In the coalfield counties minerals are frequently severed from the surface, sometimes under century-old deeds that granted the mineral owner extensive rights to use the surface to reach what is below. Ask explicitly whether minerals convey and have the chain of title traced. On 20 acres you intend to use, this is the item that can genuinely change what you own.

The pond, the trails and the drainage

A private pond is an asset and a maintenance item. Ask whether it is spring-fed or runoff-filled, whether the dam or berm has ever been repaired, and where the overflow goes. Then walk the trails after rain if you can — in this terrain, drainage and slope stability are what determine whether tracks stay usable or wash out every spring.

Water, septic and legal access

Confirm the water source and test the well if there is one. Verify the septic permit and the bedroom count it is rated for with the county health department. Then confirm recorded legal access to a maintained public road — in eastern Kentucky the way in is often an easement across a neighbour’s land, and long use is not the same as a recorded right. Kentucky property tax runs about 0.74% of value, and the state still levies an inheritance tax, which matters if the property is meant to pass to family.

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