Building a house after buying land?

[skyactiv]

My wife and I bought a home on 5 acres with a house on it that we are renting out. The house is a 1500 square foot ranch built in the late 60's in disrepair. We are letting the current renter stay until late spring. We contacted our local fire department and the house is going to be burned down for training purposes. We are not financing and are using Bob Webb.

 

[maverickfhs]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
My wife and I bought a home on 5 acres with a house on it that we are renting out. The house is a 1500 square foot ranch built in the late 60's in disrepair. We are letting the current renter stay until late spring. We contacted our local fire department and the house is going to be burned down for training purposes. We are not financing and are using Bob Webb.


Thanks, mind asking if you mean to say you don't have a mortgage on it?

And you have already paid for the whole land, as well as house? Bob webb seems like a famous builder!

Thank you.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan
We bought 100 acres and built a house in the middle of it. We did alot of the work ourselves which saved quite a bit. Depends what you want to live in and what kind of lot you want. If what you want is easy to find then its probably cheaper/easier to buy, if you want a log house in the woods then you might have to build it.



That is my dream right there.

 

[andyd]

I bought a 150 yr New England farmhouse Great lot, too far off the road for natural gas. The house itself had all sorts of problems.The smart thing would have been to tear it down. But I didn't. I have spent the last 40 yrs renovating.Now the addition needs a re-roof. I don't care. I'm still mobile enough. I'm on my 4th propane water heater. I've done it enough to stream line the job with unions and ball valves. The wiring is a 200 amp panel with a 100 amp and 60 amp sub pnls All copper wiring and fresh water plumbing. Everything is accessible. The addition is 35 yrs old and has worn well.

 

[blupupher]

A preexisting house makes thing easier in many ways, utilities are already run, sewer/septic taken care of (or at least good locations are know even if septic needs repair/replacement).

My parents bought 7 acres about 10 years ago, paid the land off, then built the house 8 years ago. Some of the biggest expenses were getting power/phone/water to the house. They had the option of a well, but decided to connect to local water service, cost a little more up front as well as a monthly water bill, but no worries about well running dry, pump issues etc.
They got lucky on their power, there was no power near their home when they bought the land, but before they built, several homes were built down the road and power was run, so they were able to just tap into that instead of paying for the pole install. For septic, they had to decide on location and type of system then get it installed. They also have no gas service, so they have a propane tank.

Another thing to think about is internet service. When my parents first moved out there, they had no high speed options except satellite (Wild Blue, horrible experience). Luckily the phone company was doing some updates and they were able to get DSL about a year after they moved out there (although they are far from the hub and get poor speeds, it is faster than dial up and more reliable than satellite).

 

[bioburner]

I bought a property with a small home on it and figured the only the cost of the buildings and land as the house needed improvements but had a very current well and septic. Couple years getting thing filled with insulation, new windows and putting on the new fancy entry doors managed to have a fire and the local basement savers union was no real help.
Looked at manufactured and went that way. Soon as the insurance wrote the check had the ICF basement ordered and the local digger get the old basement out of the way and the home builder put a rush on and 30 days latter was hooking the electric up and I installed a corn stove. 60 days was into and having a visit by the tax appraiser

 

[maverickfhs]

Originally Posted By: andyd
I bought a 150 yr New England farmhouse Great lot, too far off the road for natural gas. The house itself had all sorts of problems.The smart thing would have been to tear it down. But I didn't. I have spent the last 40 yrs renovating.Now the addition needs a re-roof. I don't care. I'm still mobile enough. I'm on my 4th propane water heater. I've done it enough to stream line the job with unions and ball valves. The wiring is a 200 amp panel with a 100 amp and 60 amp sub pnls All copper wiring and fresh water plumbing. Everything is accessible. The addition is 35 yrs old and has worn well.


That's awesome and an impressive story....

Thanks for sharing.

 

[maverickfhs]

Originally Posted By: blupupher
A preexisting house makes thing easier in many ways, utilities are already run, sewer/septic taken care of (or at least good locations are know even if septic needs repair/replacement).

My parents bought 7 acres about 10 years ago, paid the land off, then built the house 8 years ago. Some of the biggest expenses were getting power/phone/water to the house. They had the option of a well, but decided to connect to local water service, cost a little more up front as well as a monthly water bill, but no worries about well running dry, pump issues etc.
They got lucky on their power, there was no power near their home when they bought the land, but before they built, several homes were built down the road and power was run, so they were able to just tap into that instead of paying for the pole install. For septic, they had to decide on location and type of system then get it installed. They also have no gas service, so they have a propane tank.

Another thing to think about is internet service. When my parents first moved out there, they had no high speed options except satellite (Wild Blue, horrible experience). Luckily the phone company was doing some updates and they were able to get DSL about a year after they moved out there (although they are far from the hub and get poor speeds, it is faster than dial up and more reliable than satellite).


Thanks for sharing, all really good and valid point.

I honestly, don't want to be more than 1-2 hrs away from a bigger city(DC in this case). But I hate HOA and also few other small restrictions, also more land means more area to play(work on cars, motos and all)

 

[totegoat]

We bought land and had a house built, then we bought land and built our own.
First house was complete in 3 months. The house we built took years to finish completely. We were young and my wife is outstanding help. We still take pride in what we built.
The next two houses we bought were ready to move into.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
Another option is to buy a simple house trailer and live there while you build the home you really want to end up with. In that case, especially if you're handy, you can work to pay for materials, use salvaged materials, and work on the home weekends and vacation time. I know people who built entire houses in two years, move in condition, with that method, and with fairly low costs overall (you can get a building loan), which results in a nice reasonable sized mortgage.


That's the plan I am currently living & exercising


Originally Posted By: blupupher

My parents bought 7 acres about 10 years ago, paid the land off, then built the house 8 years ago. Some of the biggest expenses were getting power/phone/water to the house. They had the option of a well, but decided to connect to local water service, cost a little more up front as well as a monthly water bill, but no worries about well running dry, pump issues etc. They also have no gas service, so they have a propane tank.

Another thing to think about is internet service.


Same here... bought 6 acres 8 years ago. Put $10,000 down, the owner financed the rest.

Power was the easiest. I built my own meter base & a 16' tall weatherhead, power co-op placed the pole & transformer, and wired up to my meter base. I did 100% of electrical work on the whole property (barn, house, irrigation pump, area lights).

Water meant buying into the local Independent Water District, that was expensive. They serve about 150 homes.

Sewer was easy, I studied & took the test and got the Texas septic inspector's license myself. I had a friend with a backhoe do all the digging & trenching, and filed the permits with the county myself.

Internet is from a Local WISP, about 8 miles away as the crow flies, and it's very high speed.

 

[maverickfhs]

Originally Posted By: Linctex

Originally Posted By: Johnny2Bad
Another option is to buy a simple house trailer and live there while you build the home you really want to end up with. In that case, especially if you're handy, you can work to pay for materials, use salvaged materials, and work on the home weekends and vacation time. I know people who built entire houses in two years, move in condition, with that method, and with fairly low costs overall (you can get a building loan), which results in a nice reasonable sized mortgage.


That's the plan I am currently living & exercising


Originally Posted By: blupupher

My parents bought 7 acres about 10 years ago, paid the land off, then built the house 8 years ago. Some of the biggest expenses were getting power/phone/water to the house. They had the option of a well, but decided to connect to local water service, cost a little more up front as well as a monthly water bill, but no worries about well running dry, pump issues etc. They also have no gas service, so they have a propane tank.

Another thing to think about is internet service.


Same here... bought 6 acres 8 years ago. Put $10,000 down, the owner financed the rest.

Power was the easiest. I built my own meter base & a 16' tall weatherhead, power co-op placed the pole & transformer, and wired up to my meter base. I did 100% of electrical work on the whole property (barn, house, irrigation pump, area lights).

Water meant buying into the local Independent Water District, that was expensive. They serve about 150 homes.

Sewer was easy, I studied & took the test and got the Texas septic inspector's license myself. I had a friend with a backhoe do all the digging & trenching, and filed the permits with the county myself.

Internet is from a Local WISP, about 8 miles away as the crow flies, and it's very high speed.


That's very impressive!!!!