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You can check with neighbors to find out if they have poisoned water. You will probably be using the same parts of the water table. If you have to put in a purifying system, then you will also need to consider the cost of a house generator. Electrical power can be quite un-reliable when a big storm goes through. You could be out of power for 3 days to a week.
You can check with neighbors to find out if they have poisoned water. You will probably be using the same parts of the water table. If you have to put in a purifying system, then you will also need to consider the cost of a house generator. Electrical power can be quite un-reliable when a big storm goes through. You could be out of power for 3 days to a week.
That is a good idea. While there, I could also find out who my potential neighbors are and how deep they had to drill for their well. Thank you.
The question is yours to answer. It is, do you want the land. If yes, then offer what you feel comfortable with. You can ask for all kinds of things, but they can always say no. The soils test should be there anyway.
My agent suggested the same. I countered at $2,500 / acre. Seller is staying at the same price. I'm gonna wait 2 days. Hesitant now.
You rang? A pond of less than 10 acres is not a "great pond". If there is no marsh or swamp attached that could bring it up to 10 acres you are in luck. Small ponds have stream zones that go back 75 feet from the high water mark, not 250 feet back like great ponds.
You are limited as to what you can do within that 75 feet. Permanent structures must be at least 75 feet back. If you intend to add a porch overlooking the water, that also has to be over 75 feet back. Plan for this early.
The land is in shoreland protection. The CEO mentioned that he can come walk the area with me to see what I want to do is possible. Yes, must be 250 ft from the high water mark. I believe I have to fill out a form and pay a fee to have him come out. This is part of the contingencies.
I hired a real estate attorney to handle my land purchase. I recommend that everyone should do the same. He was not expensive.
Part of my land is within 'Shoreland Protection'. It is not a horrible restriction, but you do need to make sure that you still have enough land left over to do all you want to do.
$2,730 per acre, price non-negotiable, is a really high price in my mind. My water-frontage land was priced at $900 per acre.
If homes in the Belgrade area are known for arsenic in their well water, that would seriously concern me. You can not get that tested until after your well has been drilled. That is a big gamble. If you do end up with poison in your well water, you may need to consider a reverse osmosis filter.
Good luck
Thanks for your input on price per acre.
Price per acre by itself doesn't seem like a good measurement for comparing land. I see waterfront listings asking for $10,000 / acre. What I understand is that some bodies of water are more desirable. Fine. I also see regular wooded plots of 50 acre asking for $1,000 / acre. That and of course location to cities. Mt. Vernon which is where the land is located is 25 minutes door to door to my office in Augusta.
If anyone is interested in research and comparing what I am talking about, just msg me for the listing.
When we bought our property more than 10 years ago on MDI, the seller would not budge on the number. He was retiring and needed the money, which was quite an increase from his original purchase price. He did eventually offer 5K for the fact that there were chloroforms in the well---to replace the well pump.
Turned out the well was 140 feet deep but the owners had a 25 foot well pump, and a bad seal. We replaced it with a deep well pump, and replaced all the piping and everything. Everything was fine. The water level is about 12 feet down on a 140 foot well. Even in the worst drought, we will never run out of water.
Please also compare the taxes of shore view with shoreline. On MDI, properties with actual shore are 4 times the taxes of those that just have the view across the street.
It is my understanding that each municipality has a single mil-rate. So if all of MDI has one mil-rate, which my google skills say is 7.06 mils.
For anyone's property to have 4X taxes, it must have 4X the assessment value.
Two properties, in the same municipality, both assessed at $100k should be taxed the same, at the same mil-rate [7.06].
Quote:
... Family owned properties from the 1940’s could be like that, when property in Maine was literally dirt cheap compared to almost anywhere else.
I bought land in Maine in 2005. At that time, property in Maine was 'dirt cheap' compared to almost anywhere else in the USA.
Part of my house is shoreline restriction and part of it is not. My kitchen is not big and could use a much larger refrigerator since my wife believe everything that is not in a box needs to go in the refrigerator after its opened. And so our Whirlpool that is the smallest regular refrigerator made is horribly too small for her. But there is no room in the kitchen for a larger one. The only possibility is to bump out the wall jut for the refrigerator, but its right on the line for shoreline restriction.
Our code enforcement officer has decided that since its not living space, and its right on the line, she will approve it. So we get a bump out for $5K a place to store trash, and the space where the refrigerator was as a place for sorely needed cabinets.
But it could easily have gone the other way. Paying attention to shore line restrictions is important. We didn’t know this until way after we purchased.
When we came to Maine, I had a set of plans for our future house. My Dw had wanted a walk-in chill-box and a walk-in freezer, both with glass doors. Both of these were to open on the backside into our carport so that she could butcher livestock and put them directly into hanging in the chill-box, or else walk it right into the freezer.
I was able to talk her out of both those features, as we were constructing our house.
But now 12 years later, I can see where it would have been very handy if we had stuck to those original house plans.
Thanks for your input on price per acre.
Price per acre by itself doesn't seem like a good measurement for comparing land. I see waterfront listings asking for $10,000 / acre. What I understand is that some bodies of water are more desirable. Fine. I also see regular wooded plots of 50 acre asking for $1,000 / acre. That and of course location to cities. Mt. Vernon which is where the land is located is 25 minutes door to door to my office in Augusta.
If anyone is interested in research and comparing what I am talking about, just msg me for the listing.
You are correct.
We bought our land from a forester who had just clear-cut this land. He has dozens of parcels of woodlot properties. I got the impression that some of these foresters trade parcels like kids used to trade baseball cards. He won this parcel in a poker game.
There is a parcel of land adjacent to my land, that he has been trying to sell since 2005. A couple of years ago he had it 'under-contract' for $300/acre for an agency to build a Municipal-Waste-Incinerator and landfill. But the community came together to fight the permitting process, and we eventually won, which stopped Casella from doing that.
Most years, in the middle of summer, prospective buyers come around asking questions about that parcel. He is still trying to sell it. The timber is NOT mature enough to cut again.
Our waterfrontage is on the Penobscot River, and we are about 20 minutes out from Bangor.
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