Building a home on acreage - where to start? (investment, mortgages, housing)
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Thanks for all of the responses. I think the best thing I've heard is to talk to a bank first before we even begin looking into this further.
We are in Georgia at the edge of Cobb county which is the wealthiest county in the state but the land we are looking at would be in an adjacent county such as Paulding, Bartow or Cherokee. Not sure why it is so expensive but it seems that parcels with a mix of field and woods are much more expensive than primarily wooded parcels.
I know we can probably buy an existing house as a plan B with enough property to build a detached garage with additional space for my needs but I want the privacy and space and remoteness of the land for other reasons such as shooting, hunting, outdoor sports, potential emergency self-sufficiency, etc...
I suppose we can always finance some land and just drive to and from as we need but I figured if we are looking for a new place with some custom design elements and the land why not do it together?
I'm 100% confident I can get a minimum of $40k from the car...been there done that enough to know what I can get...not worried about that. Also, no student loans. We've been paying cash for tuition...just one more semester to pay for (about $3k) and that isn't due until December. So without factoring in our retirement accounts we are probably looking a bit shy on the downpayment + reserve. I suppose we could find some cheaper land or smaller parcel...I'm just worried about having enough space to shoot safely without neighbors being too close by. We don't mind waiting either we just want to have our gameplan down so we know what we need to be doing in the meantime.
Anyways, thanks for the tips. My wife and I are going to visit our bank this week to go ahead and get the discussion going so that we know what we need to do to begin preparing for this.
Have you looked for an existing house that meets your requirements?
So far we are seeing that in the counties we are willing to live in any 30+ acre parcel with any house of any age on it are priced in the $400-500k range...and really even in remote parts of the state this kind of combo isn't going below $350k. It is a possibility we are considering if we could find something that my wife likes...I can always add a detached multi-car garage.
That's why I was thinking for this kind of money we should be able to have a house built to our specs on land that we buy.
So far we are seeing that in the counties we are willing to live in any 30+ acre parcel with any house of any age on it are priced in the $400-500k range...
Calling the existing house at $150,000 of that (about as low as can be considered real)...
that puts the 30 acres at about $10,000 per for $300,000.
For mostly clear farmland or horse meadow... isn't that about right?
Call it $8000 per ac or $240,000 for the land... is a finished house of X size in decent condition
with all the construction and design question marks removed worth $250,000?
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That's why I was thinking for this kind of money we should be able to have a house built to our specs on land that we buy.
Glad to get to started in the right general direction...
I aprreciate the fact that you are going to start with talking to lenders. I would caution that real "bankers" are an increasingly rare find in most parts of the country. A "mega bank" probably would make this deal so complicated that you'd need to be millionaire just to afford your attorney bills.
I would recomend seeking out a bank that has some "roots" in a more rural community. Ideally the kind of place that has a real "lending committee" made of business people from the area and bank employees / directors that arwe both reasonable enough to deal with and relaible enough that don't jeopardize the health / independance of the lender. Developing a relationship with such an organization could be a very useful resource if you truly are serious about being part of the area and not just having some "bunker" out in the sticks...
A hands-on person like this (unless these are dreams activities, not yet tried) strikes me like being able to hold a hammer in his hand. If you can set a camp, a tree shelter, sit in a tree for hours, - why not use these skills and build your own house and garage? How did the same people in Georgia build their houses 200 and 100 years ago? That's right, rocks, boards, and nails. Were spreadsheets and bankers the first step, or a step at all? (Perhaps, for estate owners).
This is the way we approach the building of our estate: scouring for a cheaper land (about $1K an acre (have to be quite remote, - but within 30 min of a small town)), digging a well or two, mixing cement for the foundation, building a frame, boarding, shingling, and finishing the interior. The expenses are raw lumber, rent of specialized equipment, and some required specialists (electrician, septic designer). Overall, the building process takes longer than when one employs a small army of contractors. But the curious thing is, we end up with similar value property as another person who's slaving to pay off his $400K loan, yet we've spent $50-70K total without any financing, just putting along as we buy the next batch of materials. Without the load of a humongous mortgage, the mental well-being is priceless.
.. things don't get finished at all. I know a VERY small number of folks (some in the building trades themselves) that have attempted to build or participate in the hands-on construction of their own home and even among those that had really detailed blue prints and realistic budgets the majority have had to switch MOST of the work to subcontractors because it just is not practical to make "no money" building your own house when you can earn more and then pay people that SPECIALIZE in quickly doing just a single task toward completion.
The mortgage was invented because when people NEED shelter that will last for their working lives (and beyond) they cannot be expected to "work on it". The length of paying back the loan is a function of how much you choose to spend on so many things in the house design process and prevailing labor rates. No need to "slave away" if you are satisfied with "basics"...
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Originally Posted by nuala
A hands-on person like this (unless these are dreams activities, not yet tried) strikes me like being able to hold a hammer in his hand. If you can set a camp, a tree shelter, sit in a tree for hours, - why not use these skills and build your own house and garage? How did the same people in Georgia build their houses 200 and 100 years ago? That's right, rocks, boards, and nails. Were spreadsheets and bankers the first step, or a step at all? (Perhaps, for estate owners).
This is the way we approach the building of our estate: scouring for a cheaper land (about $1K an acre (have to be quite remote, - but within 30 min of a small town)), digging a well or two, mixing cement for the foundation, building a frame, boarding, shingling, and finishing the interior. The expenses are raw lumber, rent of specialized equipment, and some required specialists (electrician, septic designer). Overall, the building process takes longer than when one employs a small army of contractors. But the curious thing is, we end up with similar value property as another person who's slaving to pay off his $400K loan, yet we've spent $50-70K total without any financing, just putting along as we buy the next batch of materials. Without the load of a humongous mortgage, the mental well-being is priceless.
I'd love to know what else is anywhere near $1000 an acre land.
What else - ocean, sandy beaches, villages with seasonal cottages and older people (fisheries are gone, jobs are scarce: the usual - truckers, nurses, shift oil jobs, small town jobs that's 30 min away). In short, a paradise for those looking for serenity and solitude. Of course, wanting to work at a larger city and cheap land are incompatible entities.
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