Need Rural...but w/in 30 min of Knoxville (Lenoir City, Kingston: house, work)

[bbkaren]

Sounds that way...I just hope it's true! lol

[mbmouse]

Fingers crossed for ya.

[bbkaren]

Question for those who know... is it typical in Tennessee to have a seller who has never done a survey or soil testing or anything on the land he owns?

I'm starting to fear I might take a bath on the testing/survey fees (i.e. I pay for all the soil/septic testing and survey, get the approvals and whatnot and then if the deal falls through I'm stuck having paid for all these things that--up here anyway--the seller normally provides, with no land purchase to show for it).

If the seller doesn't provide these reports, do you think I'm unreasonable to ask for him to reimburse me for the fees I pay to get them, if for some reason the deal falls through (I'd provide him with the reports, obviously, so he could have them for the next buyer)? It appears it'll be around $1,000 or so for all the reports.

As I mentioned, I think the acreage is way off on this property so there's a chance this deal might fall through anyway. I would ask him to lower the price significantly and he might tell me to take a hike.

The other option, I guess, is to get just the survey done first, to figure out the acreage.

Then renegotiate the price portion; if he says okay, we move forward and if the other items don't pan out (i.e. it doesn't pass septic test) well, I'm out of luck.

If he says no, then at least I'm just out a few hundred for a survey.

[mbmouse]

Yes, it is very common, at least here in North East TN, for there to be no prior survey or testing done. You have to realize, a lot of people bought property 30, 40 years ago and even then, things were still done on a hand shake, no paper work except the filling of the new owner of the court house.
If the seller said it was 2 acres, the buyer believed it, end of story, could have been closer to 1 1/2, could be closer to 2, didn't matter. ( Boy I wish things would go back to that way of life!)
I think what you are offering sounds good and if I was the seller I would go for it, but you would have to ask them, can't hurt to ask, worse that could happen is they say no.

[bbkaren]

Thanks, mb--I get nervous, cold feet, seems silly for a small transaction like that. In fact, I'm not sure I was that nervous for the closing on our $390K mortgage on our house here! lol

You've talked me down, I'm okay now.

Thanks!

[bbkaren]

Just an update! Sooo, as suspected, the acreage is indeed only half of what was listed. We counter-offered with half of what they were asking. They added $1,200 and countered with that. We countered again at an additional $1,000 and a quicker closing date and they accepted.

It's only .4 acres but is a corner lot and the only adjacent land is TVA. About 400 feet through the TVA land is Watts Bar shoreline. We have tentative approval to clear a swath through the TVA land to get access from the lot to the shoreline.

It's pretty close to darn near what we've been looking for.

Now assuming you can actually build a house on it (it's a triangular lot with weird dimensions), pending survey and soil testing, we'll be Tennessee landowners in 45 days!

[daniellefort]

Originally Posted by bbkaren

Question for those who know... is it typical in Tennessee to have a seller who has never done a survey or soil testing or anything on the land he owns?

I'm starting to fear I might take a bath on the testing/survey fees (i.e. I pay for all the soil/septic testing and survey, get the approvals and whatnot and then if the deal falls through I'm stuck having paid for all these things that--up here anyway--the seller normally provides, with no land purchase to show for it).

If the seller doesn't provide these reports, do you think I'm unreasonable to ask for him to reimburse me for the fees I pay to get them, if for some reason the deal falls through (I'd provide him with the reports, obviously, so he could have them for the next buyer)? It appears it'll be around $1,000 or so for all the reports.

As I mentioned, I think the acreage is way off on this property so there's a chance this deal might fall through anyway. I would ask him to lower the price significantly and he might tell me to take a hike.

The other option, I guess, is to get just the survey done first, to figure out the acreage.

Then renegotiate the price portion; if he says okay, we move forward and if the other items don't pan out (i.e. it doesn't pass septic test) well, I'm out of luck.

If he says no, then at least I'm just out a few hundred for a survey.

I can't imagine it costing $1000 to do a soil test. We bought some acreage that didn't have a soil test (PERK TEST) because of the different level terrain it was on and there were various places a home can be set. Someone here on the forum told me their son just had their PERK TEST and it only cost him $260 but he dug the holes himself. Of course they charge more if they have to dig the holes but if you can get out there and dig the holes which are very small only about 16 inches deep 4" round or somewhere around that size yourself and then let them do the test, you'll be saving some money.

Can't you go to the county courthouse and request the plot on a specific property so you'll at least get your dimensions? At least then you'll know what size property your buying and then worry about getting the survey markers marked off afterwards so long as the propery around your guess of the property lines are similar and not hanging off a cliff cause then that cliff could be 1/2 of your acreage which will be totally useless.

[bbkaren]

Yes, I have the dimensions but don't trust the tax map completely.

I figured out the estimated dimensions using the two known side lengths and assuming the lengths are right, the sides are straight, and the corner is a right angle.

I then used the pythagorean theorem to determine the length of the third side. Then I put it on graph paper and calculated that, including the setbacks, a 30x50 house could fit on the property...in one spot.

However, that doesn't include the space needed for a septic (in fact, the soil consultant told me we need space for a second one, in case the first fails...is that normal?!)

The land (this lot plus all surrounding) is level, so I'm not worried about that. There are some wetlands on the TVA tract so the soil consultant is an important part of making sure we can indeed put a septic in there. He tells me the subdivision it's in is fine drainage wise so he's 90% sure we'll be fine.

I'm told if the soil consultant says the lot is fine, we don't even need a perc test but I'm not convinced. I think we'd want it just to make sure.

The soil guy says his fees will be under $300, and the survey should be under $500. The land is heavily wooded (we couldn't even get on the land without a machete) so we may pay more for the surveyor to get into the lot.

I've spoken to the zoning officer and she tells me the zoning board of appeals is very reasonable, especially for a lot like this, which was created decades and decades ago, before there was even a code at all.

For me, I don't mind the effort. Our location here in NJ is perfect (well, except for the taxes and "new jersey-ness") and everyone thought we were crazy for buying it because of the dumpy house that was on it at the time. But now it's really lovely; if we could beam it down to Tennessee somewhere it'd be perfect!

[mbmouse]

Two septic tanks??? Nope, doesn't sound normal to me, but not my area of knowledge either, so not sure what that is worth.

[bbkaren]

I thought it odd too, but also just to clarify, he didn't say we needed two, just space for a second one in case the first failed...

Anybody hear of this?