Build new or restore?

[Wiste]

I'm trying to decide whether to look for a piece of land I can build a new home on or look for a place with a home already on it. If I get empty land I can build a house just how I want it, but I'm worried about having to put in a well and septic (permits, paying someone to do it, and finding land that will support it). I love old houses and would happily restore one myself but I'm worried about things like having to replace old wiring and plumbing throughout the house. Can those of you who've done one or the other tell me what you feel were the ups/downs of doing so?

[Wolf mom]

If you buy an old home & resore it, don't you think the well & septic might need work also?

Cost it out for your area.

I bought land with just a well & septic - no house.
My well pump went out a few months after I bought my land.
I hate where the previous owners placed the septic as it limits the use of my land.

[Curtis B]

We were and are in your situation. We looked for almost a year to try and find our current place. Where we are non-improved land can be very pricey. The whole time we were looking for a place we kept running into the same situation.......the reasonable priced homes w/land all seemed to suffer the same fate of lax county builing codes, they were in horrible shape and it was very obvious that the people that had added on or repaired were the type that only thought that they knew what they were doing. Most of them in my opinion should have been bulldozed. I am a perfectionist though, and having done the building, renovating, and repair work for a living for 18 years I may be a bit too picky when it comes to things being done correctly and safely. We are in a nice place right now, but we are torn because it seems every time we think of the addition that we need to put on it almost seems that we should build since everything is in the wrong place to do what we want.

[Ardie/WI]

Realize that if you buy and renovate an old house, for every repair you start, there will be one or two you discover and those need to be done before the first one!

The electrical wiring may be very old and also someone "fixed" it with chewing gum and duct tape. (Am joking, but you get my drift.)

[Macybaby]

I never wanted to build, but due to a string of issues, DH and I ended up buying 40 acres of raw land. We spent the next four years trying to fence, build stuff and get a garden/yard going, and we never quite got there before we sold and moved out of state.

Next time we found an older place with 40 acres. It already had several nice outbuildings we could use with minor work. Already had an established yard and some fruit trees. Already had a driveway and utilities. It also had an established alfalfa/grass hay field (great for what we need).

The house was nothing to write home about, but we bought it for the land and buildings, not the home. We figured what the "improvements" were worth and figured we were paying less than $30,000 on the house. Have spent the last five years doing a complete gut and partial rebuild, but so far we've spent over $100,000 LESS going this route than buying raw land and building. We paid about $1,100 an acre in the first situation, and the county estimated that is what we paid per acre in the second situation.

When house hunting, I saw many homes the owners as "fixed up" and wanted a lot more money for, but in almost all cases I would have done things differently. So it was great getting a home that had not been "fixed up" but was in serious need of it, and the price was not near as high.

OH, and I HAVE seen the electrical repairs done with duct tape, no chewing gum but darn near! Our place now has completely new wiring and plumbing throughout (including incoming and outgoing systems.

However, DH and I were very lucky to find this place - they are very few and far between around here.

Cathy

[Wiste]

Originally Posted by Ardie/WI

Realize that if you buy and renovate an old house, for every repair you start, there will be one or two you discover and those need to be done before the first one!

As long as its livable, this part doesn't bother me. I'm seriously not looking forward to a day when I've got everything done. I'm no good at relaxing. I like to work. I figure I can garden and farm all spring and summer and when I'm stuck in side I can strip, sand, paint and whatever else is required. I just worry about the stuff that has to be done to code because I'm no pro.

[plowjockey]

Originally Posted by Wiste

As long as its livable, this part doesn't bother me. I'm seriously not looking forward to a day when I've got everything done. I'm no good at relaxing. I like to work. I figure I can garden and farm all spring and summer and when I'm stuck in side I can strip, sand, paint and whatever else is required. I just worry about the stuff that has to be done to code because I'm no pro.

If you built a new house yourself, you'd be pulling out your hair worrying about building to code also, which you will have a lot more of, than repairing an old house.

We purchased a 125 year old farmhouse, that was a dump, with the previous owner completely remodeling, most everything, except the extremely uneven floors, which were covered with carpet. After pricing what he spent plus labor time, we were glad he did the work. We have had to redo the floors, a little plumbing repair and run some new electric in the basement.

You could look for an older country house in decent shape, so you would not have a lot of repairs. A lot of farmers purchase (or inherit) smaller farms, farm the land and rent out the house. That rental market now stinks, so maybe those farmers will sell the house, barns, all on 3 or 4 acres.

Good luck.

[wwubben]

Your property taxes will be much lower if you buy an existing house and fix it up.

[Ravenlost]

We bought land that had NO improvements on it. No fencing...no yard...no drive...no buildings...nothing. It used to be a hay field/cattle pasture. We had to have a 1/2 mile drive put in, wells dug, electricity run (that was a pain), phone lines run, etc.

THEN we had our house built. Took a year to get the house built (even though we were told nine months) while we rented a house in town.

We've been here almost six years and we continue to find things wrong with the house that has to be fixed...and it started the day we moved in.

We will NEVER build again. If this house burns down hubby said we'd buy a mobile home before we build another house.

[VOR.]

I would just start looking around and see what is out there. If you find a place with great land, in an area that you want to live, I would build out there. If you find a place with a house already on it, that is one less thing you have to do. If you do not have a shelter in place, plan on spending at least the first year working on your shelter.

I know around here you can often find farmland where it is priced with the house basically thrown in on the sale.

[bringselpup]

I think we found the perfect happy medium. We bought 75 acres in Maine. The property has an older mobile home on it connected to a drilled well and septic. There are two other surface wells on the property. Driveway, power, phone, internet, and the trailer is worth next to nothing so really what we have is property with everything we need when we want to build. I can just demo the trailer when we are done with it.

[Wendy]

Your property taxes will be much lower if you buy an existing house and fix it up.

I was thinking the same thing. We bought our house about 4 years ago. We rented here almost 14 years before buying. This house was built in 1930. We are now remodeling with my dad doing all of the labor. That is saving huge dollars! We changed all the windows, are putting vinyl siding, added a couple of more bedrooms & another bath & a half. He is also re-wiring the old house for us. If you can do the work yourself I would vote for a fixer upper. Old houses have character. Ours is actually in good shape for the age it is. I post updated picture in CF forum as we get thigns done. We will have less than $15,000 in all the re-modeling we are doing. That includes the new addition, re-wiring, etc. It would have been close to $40,000 if we had to pay someone to do it.

[Janis Sauncy]

I love old houses. I always have.

I also love to see old houses get a second (or third or fourth) chance at being a home.

I like the idea of reusing and recycling something that's already existing. And, by restoring an older home, you also have an opportunity to reuse and recycle materials from other old homes that were demolished.

I guess it would have to depend on what is right for you as the individual, as well as what's available in the area you're looking at. If you find the perfect piece of property but it has no improvements on it, or you find the "perfect" (for you) house but you don't like the land, then maybe it would be better to build new on that "perfect" property.

If you found a really cool old house sitting on what you would consider the perfect piece of ground, and you have the means and knowledge to restore that house then, for me, it would be a no-brainer.

I can only imagine the satisfaction one would feel by bringing an older home, and a piece of history, back to life.

[pcdreams]

Originally Posted by Wiste

I'm trying to decide whether to look for a piece of land I can build a new home on or look for a place with a home already on it. If I get empty land I can build a house just how I want it, but I'm worried about having to put in a well and septic (permits, paying someone to do it, and finding land that will support it). I love old houses and would happily restore one myself but I'm worried about things like having to replace old wiring and plumbing throughout the house. Can those of you who've done one or the other tell me what you feel were the ups/downs of doing so?

depending on where you are development can cost more than the land. We are finding that out.

we bought a parcel 10 acres for around 1k/acre.. Thought we'd just throw in a road/compost toilet/well and build a small cabin. Haha Regs aren't that lenient.

so far we've spent getting road up to passable and a culvert in. Next will be 2k for a site plan.. who knows for septic.. well is around 6500.

OTOH our house we're in we've renovated.. mostly cosmetic stuff has run around 20k spread out over 10 years. But of course with the market we cant sell it...

So pretty much which every you prefer, both have their advantages and disadvantages

[Janis Sauncy]

OTOH our house we're in we've renovated.. mostly cosmetic stuff has run around 20k spread out over 10 years. But of course with the market we cant sell it...

Too bad Wiste can't move that charming little cottage of yours onto a nice piece of property.

[Wiste]

Originally Posted by Janis Sauncy

Too bad Wiste can't move that charming little cottage of yours onto a nice piece of property.

Wouldn't that be nice? I actually do want a smallish sort of place. I learned from living with my ex that nobody without kids needs a 2500 sqft house because it's just more to clean and maintain. Right now I live in a 700 sqft apartment and the only thing I'd like to add to add to it is a small room for all my crafts so I could have my sewing machine set up all the time and my supplies organized.

From the posts so far, I think I'm better off finding land with a home on it already since it sounds like building comes with all the same problems and then some. Maybe I'll get lucky and find myself a charming young man who is good with electrical and plumbing. I still have a lot of research to do and money to save but this gives me more direction in my search. In all honesty, I've always dreamed of fixing up an old home. Maybe I just need to take some courses at a tech school or community college and learn the skills I lack to do a good job of it.

[Callieslamb]

Look at what is available in the area you want to live in and go with whatever is the best deal. With so many homes on the market now, you might find a pretty good deal out there - already built. We have always wanted to build our own home, but buying 'already-built' has always been cheaper than building new - even if we do a lot of the work. The only thing we have found to be close was building a pole barn and converting it to a house.

[pcdreams]

Originally Posted by Wiste

Wouldn't that be nice? I actually do want a smallish sort of place. I learned from living with my ex that nobody without kids needs a 2500 sqft house because it's just more to clean and maintain. Right now I live in a 700 sqft apartment and the only thing I'd like to add to add to it is a small room for all my crafts so I could have my sewing machine set up all the time and my supplies organized.

From the posts so far, I think I'm better off finding land with a home on it already since it sounds like building comes with all the same problems and then some. Maybe I'll get lucky and find myself a charming young man who is good with electrical and plumbing. I still have a lot of research to do and money to save but this gives me more direction in my search. In all honesty, I've always dreamed of fixing up an old home. Maybe I just need to take some courses at a tech school or community college and learn the skills I lack to do a good job of it.

with remodeling/fixing up you can do most of the work yourself (depending on regs in your area).

This house was on a 60 amp service with 1 circuit 2 fuses in the fuse box and all knob and tube.

We rewired the whole thing from the breaker box to the outlets/switches/etc and new to the pole as well.. brought it up to 200 amp and used good box and breakers. Cost a bit more but worth it.

I know a bit about electric.. not much theory but I can get most things going. Dad is head of electric op here so that helped as well.. We both hate being in the attic so we were able to figure out how to create wiring harnesses so basically all we had to do was drill the holes and drop the wires.

Plumbing OTOH well.. not so good at that.. Its not difficult but its often hard to match old stuff to new. most of our pipes are 1 3/8 and most of the new stuff is 1 1/4 or 1 1/2

[travlnusa]

If you buy old, have lots of time.

We are going to pull the false ceiling out of the living room in the next few weeks. We are planning on two-three weeks to do this.

Why so long to just take out a false ceiling? Who knows what is under it. There is a reason it was slapped up, so what ever it is we will have to fix that after we get it out of there.

We are glad we bought our place.

[pcdreams]

Originally Posted by travlnusa

If you buy old, have lots of time.

We are going to pull the false ceiling out of the living room in the next few weeks. We are planning on two-three weeks to do this.

Why so long to just take out a false ceiling? Who knows what is under it. There is a reason it was slapped up, so what ever it is we will have to fix that after we get it out of there.

We are glad we bought our place.

it does take a lot of time but so does building from scratch.. especially if you do it all yourself..

as for the false ceiling, often ceilings were dropped to save on energy. luckily they didn't do that here. We have the 10' ceilings in most rooms. it adds character.