Which would be a better homestead?
 

Okay well we are looking at places to buy (couldn't make a reasonable and realistical deal for other place) and found two likely candidates. We both like both of them. Both in price range and close to work and family for both. What would be a better place to start a homestead/self sufficient much as possible, one is partial wooded next is mostly wood area. What is your opinions?

Kirstie


Woops left the links out

http://m.cbburnet.com/property/detai...Pierz-MN-56364

And

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/93...14120242_zpid/

I would like some opinions so we don't buy something that would be a waste and plus ( don't tell him but I'm going get another horse once we buy a place :p )

On this site, I often hear people that buy open land wanting to know how to get trees growing as fast as possible, while others buy wooded land and want an easy way to convert it to fields/pasture. You need open land for crops, garden and pasture. You need woods for firewood if you heat with wood. Open fields that are too wet, too sandy or too rocky to grow anything are worthless. Forests with baseball bat sized trees are also worthless unless you are 16 years old and very patient.

That's a really personal choice, but I'm sure this will be a good discussion anyhow.

I'm a farmer so I like open ag land, but that doesn't help you out much. ;)

Since several large critters are in the mix, some pasture area would be needed.

Do both offer a place to put a small orchard, to make a pasture, to place a garden?

Is there a nice site for a barn on both?

Up there a clear area, why isn't it in trees, too sandy, rock too close, too low and wet?

The wooded one, is it kinda low, or steep, is it good trees that could be harvested...

Stuff like tat crosses my mind.

Paul

Both would offer a place for us to garden (I tend to kill things so I will let bobby take care of that hand) both has good areas for fruit trees.

Both sites offer a good spot for a barn/garage/shop areas.

Place in milaca has field because it was cleared while ago (years and years for crop/hay area ) other area has area you could clear for pasture/crops

Wooded one (pierz) it has good trees and its high ground for my knowledge and place is far from the road

Personally I like one in milaca has bigger house but its manufacture house on a full basement that can be finished. Other is a stick built and has garage that is heated and beautiful but only 2bdr... both areas are good.... we just need opinions to make sure we have a good spot....

Have you checked the soil at each place you intend for a garden.

Given the choice, I would choose the one in Milaca.

If this is going to be your retirement home (as in, you'll own it for a long time to come), I'd go with the first one. Stick built homes always keep their value better, and they're easier to finance. Manufactured homes just don't hold their value like a stick built, and they're usually much harder to finance. They'll likely need more maintenance and won't hold up over the long haul. Plus, the first one has a woodstove instead of a fireplace, and the shop is very nice! You can always add on to a stick built if you need more space. JMO. ;) I wish MD had real estate prices like that!

Check the neighbors (even if not that close) to be sure to avoid future buyer's regret.
Otherwise, I'd second the opinion to go with a stick-built and add on as needed. In winters like this one, a heated garage would be fantastic.
Looks like the two places offer a nice set of choices, best of luck with your decision:)

I have always given my opinion as this when you are looking at a site for a homestead/sustainable lifestyle:

1) The soil. Take a heavy duty post hole digger with you and make several holes all around the property(then refill them) to see what the soil looks like and if the drainage will be right for the crops you want to grow. Your soil will be your bank account--and you will always be one step behind if you have to constantly wrestle with your soil. I would look for the amount of topsoil(the black or dark layer), the tilth(ease of working it), the amount or organic matter in it, the type(sand, loam, clay, silt, etc), the underlayer(heavy clay, bedrock)and how close to the surface it is, and the water table.

2) Water. I would want an available--and secure--source of water on the property. There will be times when you will have to irrigate your crops and water your animals if you want to be 'sustainable'.

3) Property lines. From experience, I would have a full survey made, with both permanent irons and as many flagged stakes as possible-at or before move in day.

4) Show stoppers. I would take a tour of all surrounding lands in a one to two mile radius of my place to look for objectionable problems.... landfill, 6,000 cow dairy or confined pig operation, motocross tracks, extreme community(religious, ethnic, or whatever), military bombing range... bad neighbors--blighted areas, (you get the picture)

5) Distance to or from town and services and the road to get there--to your preference.

6) Ratio of usable land to unusable land. A certain amound of forested land is good. Your ratio should be in accordance with your needs to grow crops and livestock, and the usable value of the woodland area, in terms of lumber, firewood, and recreation space that you value. (I do NOT believe in running livestock--goats, pigs, etc in a woodland...that destroys the ecology of your property...)

7) Buildings. Can you live with the building(s) already there, or will they detract you from your goal? This is highly personal, but I would consider orientation to the sun in winter, distance to garage, space for machinery storage, food storage(including cool or root cellar),place for a heated workshop not connected to animal barns or machinery storage...so one doesn't burn down the other in case of fire..., places to build animal quarters, and if the house had an office area. My opinion is that no farm/homestead can operate from a kitchen table....

Those are my opinions, and I hope they may help you make your decision.

geo

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I vote for #2 - Milaca.
my reasons - wood burning stove already in place, basement, larger space, better kitchen, more open space to add in what you like.
And I just like it better. :)

I don't know what type of flooring it has, but I know the other has the laminate.
That would need to be replaced.
It won't last long with farm mud and baby goat hooves.

If I'm wrong, I apologize in advance, but it doesn't sound like you have done what should be step 1 in finding the right place. Make 3 lists: everything you must have now (a place for you to live?), must haves later (fencing or perhaps a barn you can build but you must have a decent site to erect it), and want to haves (fruit trees, view of the mountains). Then prioritize these lists so that you know what is most important to you.

When making your lists, dream as big as you want to dream. When prioritizing, be as practical as you can possibly be. Take into account your time to make the dreams come true, your physical abilities, finances, your age, your present or future spouses desires, your equipment and tools, legal, zoning, environmental restrictions, etc. It is usually cheaper to buy a barn with the land but then the barn probably isn't exactly configured how you prefer. Is the lower cost more important or the exact configuration?

If you don't know what you really want out of a homestead, the advice you get here can't possibly be worth much to you. I'm not knocking what some have said, as someone said prior, stick built is better than manufactured housing. But if the stick built is zoned such that you can't have pigs and you really want pigs, it doesn't fit your criteria.

Both places are zoned agricultural and can have animals which is something we looked into because we have a wonderful horse and tend to raise a calf/a couple pigs/poultry for butcher/eggs.

Soil... well only could guess on that 4' of snow and frost... but there is farms right by the areas.

As the building area/plots (there is no outbuildings in the both properties) looked at both properties there is good building spots for a small barn for the animals and area for field for the horse/calf.

When we made our list and went through quite a few places in our area by her work and way up north. Came down to both of the properties.


The place in milaca has no furnace tho. And the wood stove in the pierz is a gas fireplace for mg knowledge.

Were going to go look again (going to look at plat map didn't think about that to much don't want someone by me peeing on my window, one of our list is being away from people )

The first one has partial bath?

....James

It seems the the asking price is too high in both cases. Go to the county seat (you may be able to do this on line) and ask to see recent sales of similar properties in the vicinity. Go off what they actually sold for instead of what the seller is asking.

The Milaca property has been on Zillow for over a year. I don't see how long the Pierze property has been for sale. It's still pretty much a buyers market out in the boonies. I would check everything out as other posters have suggested, pick the one I like best, and make an offer of about 70% of the asking price. The seller may accept or counter the offer.

I vote for the Milaca property. It has a place to hide from the tornado. You will need cleared land for pasture for the critters and clearing the woods at Pierze is a lot of work.

What I am worried about is it is a double wide on a fixed foundation. Double-wides don't seem to last as long as stick built houses... do they deteriate faster or is it just when people don't take care of them?

Cheaper materials in many models. Build as a cost saving home to begin with (cheap). Some are great quality. My M-I-L had a modular built and set on a foundation, it is/was great. All depends on quality. Does that basement have a concrete floor? Is it/would it have the headspace to be a habitable space?

....James

Is the house built on a metal frame or is it have all wood? Metal were mobiles, built on a metal frame with wheels. Modulars were all wood, hauled in on a trailer. Metal, makes it harder to make the basement into a livable space. Can't tell if the ceiling is buckling from no heat or is coming loose. Doesn't look like a heated space, just storage....James

The basement it sits on has a concrete floor and egress windows and basement has been roughed in for rooms.

There the basement

Yes, I saw the pictures. Looks like it was built as an oversized garage. Was it built to code, was/is code even needed to make it livable space? Just my concerns....James

If it was me I would pick the first one. More land, house will last longer. But that's me.

That's something I will ask the relator again. We are looking at this taking few more pictures and figuring out what we are doing. All i remember from last year is it was a forclosed then a short sale that fell through... it was half pre+-roughed in and half garage. That's what I remember.

Well I'm surprised what 6 months does to a place (by that meaning people being dirty slobs)

People broke in stole fridge/stove/ downstairs heater

But its just junk. House is in pretty good shape. Whole downstairs drywall needs to be thrown out. Pipes are all good and we came to conclusion we are putting a bid in for the house. Bad thing bank is owed more than the value of the house and 6-8 months ago the bank didn't accept a bid close to the asking price. Don't know if it will make a difference now or not. We figure 85k would be a good offer. Am I wrong or off? (Has metal frame not wood.

the other house is trashed. Talked to neighbors because relator got stuck in there driveway (weren't able to look st the place again). Said the previous owner (foreclosed on) took cupboards and part of the flooring which means no for me.



Oh it was roughed in and inspected still have stickers there so it was built to code and the frame is metal and they ran commercial conduit which seems weird to me for the ceiling... but everything seems okay. No buckling or anything

Try to look past the mess that you see in a prospective property. The dirt,stains and debris are removable and/or repaintable. All of the items that have been taken or destroyed are now negotiating points when it's time to make an offer. I know it's difficult but don't look at what you are buying but look at what the potential is.
You should be very concerned though about the items that you can't readily change or correct.
That cathedral ceiling in the kitchen area for example, how big are the joists and how much and what type of insulation is up there? How are the mechanicals and plumbing? What are the ages of these items and how much would they/ will they cost to replace?
Best of luck in making your choice.

In this market, a house with problems is almost impossible to sell. We bought our house in town for $19,000 because the previous owners wouldn't repair the roof. We were willing to put in the money and the labor because it had certain amenities that we liked, including an extra lot. If a house needs work, you should be able to get it well below it's value. If it needs $10,000, shave 20,000 or 30,000 or even more off the price of it not needing work. Have you had a home inspector look at the house? A home inspector is well worth the cost.

Breaking into vacant houses is a cottage industry in the country. Milaca is in one of the poorer areas of the state too. I'm surprised that the thieves have not ripped the walls apart to get the copper pipes and wire. If you make an offer be sure to include an escape clause in case more damage is done before you close.

I didn't get that the property is a bank repo. The amount of money the bank is owed by the previous owner is not your problem. It's a cost of doing business that the bank will never get its money out.

Bank repos can sell for as little as half the appraised value. Zillow appraised the property at $95,700. The bank is not in the business of owning properties. They want to get it off the books before more damage is done.

I would do your checking and inspections and then offer them about $60,000. The worst they can do is say no. You can increase your offer during negotiations but you can't lower it.

Corrections my appology. The house isn't a bank repo yet. The guy isn't paying the mortgage bills and wants to get out of it. If that makes any sense. We gotta contact our mortgage rep to make 100% sure we can get financing for a modular home on a fixed foundation (he said before we can if foundation is good) before we proceed. Kirstie was grinning ear to ear so she wouldn't mind paying full price but that isn't me and I don't see 100k house at the moment.

No copper its 99% plastic piping.

Says, built in 2002, was the mobile built then or set here then? It is a mobile, I doubt it has any copper in it. Copper does not ride well in a twisting shell when moved, most have plastic pipe. You would need model and manufacturer to know. What is the land worth without house and go from there. If you want it for a short time to build ownership, may be OK if cheap enough. Long term investment....It will nickel and dime you for the whole time. Value is in the land. Buy it accordingly. I would rather have a small house built right. Kids?. Future kids, soon?

....James

Yea we are wanting kids and foster kids house is big enough for that. Land is good land. People grow crop on otherwise of the property. It has good spots for pens/fencing/ pond area. The land is anywhere from 750-2750 an acre round mille lacs from my searching

We would like to buy a place and stay there... buy more land by it or buy land and build a "dream home" how we want it. I do think it is worth 100k but don't want to pay it if I don't want to



We can redo the bottom of the house into an apartment for my dad that's something else we thought about. I spent a week over there cleaning, not that he doesn't clean or anything but he's getting older and with his heart problems both me and my brother want him to move in with one of us to be able to watch him...

You need to think real hard as to exactly how much a well flogged double wide mobile home is worth, not only to you, but to the market after you patch it up. Just seeing a few clues, like the flat molding on all the wall seams and the extremely low roof pitch, it's a pretty good guess that that thing started life as a bottom of the line, cut every corner, piece of junk. IMHO, that place is worth the value of the raw land, improvements (well, septic, driveway, etc....) and MAYBE the foundation, if it is structurally sound. The trailer is valueless, or close to it.

Remember. this thing is dying on the market for a very good reason, it's a damaged, low end trailer in a depressed area. At some point the bank will get tired of having this dog on their books and be willing to dump it for a steal. That time may be now, and you may be the "lucky" winner, but who knows? Don't get emotionally attached to the deal and end up paying way more than it's worth, and remember it isn't worth much.

Another poster recommended a home inspector. I've built homes my whole life, and had far too much interaction with home inspectors. Bottom line is they rank slightly above manure on my boot, and way below car salesmen in my book. If you hire one, do not take his word as gospel. The contract you sign makes it quite clear that any thing he "misses", or lies about, cannot be held against him. If he is recommended by, or has a working relationship with, your realtor, or their agency, avoid him like he has fleas.

Finally, from discussions over the last 6-7 years, with several investors and flippers I do business with, when a property is at this point, with a non-paying owner, a foreclosure in process, and the possibility of a short sale still on the table, most banks are not at the point where they are rationally evaluating the real situation on the ground. They are still rejecting reasonable offers (even all cash, close in ten days, no inspections grade offers) and they are saddled by internal guidelines that prevent them from "dumping" the property. Once the property goes to auction, the bank typically bids the property at what they have in it, to obtain a clear title, then they START to get serious about moving the loss of their books. At this point some banks still need YEARS before they actually go to the table and sign off on a big loss. I literally just moved from a neighborhood where we had five of these in view of my home. The oldest one went into default in 2008, and was abandoned in 2011. There is no evidence to date that the bank is actively attempting to dump it. In spring, it will be six years since a mortgage payment was made on this property, and it has accumulated $40K in tax bills, paid by the bank. It defies any rational logic, but that's how many banks operate.

Could be different in your locale, but here, if a pro is browsing at a property like this, sees that it's a trashed trailer, still in the owners name, and tens of thousands upside down on the loan, they keep moving. The bank hopes for folks like you, and hungry realtors to help them cut their losses.

Good luck.

Just looking at pictures. Is the basement in the second house as wet as it looks like?? And I guess someone ripped out the cabinents and the island out of the kitchen.
I agree with mny here. I have seen banks forclose on houses and then mark them up so high is it just silly to even consider. We were looking at two that fell into this position. The first one was bought by the realestate agent that listed it. There was some questionable actions taken....
The second one, was foreclosed on, we made an offer, the bank delayed and delayed for months, until we got tired of dealing with them. It then went to auction where it was purchased for 1/2 of what we had offered the bank to begin with. The new owner still hasnt taken possession and the house is falling apart. I think it maybe back in foreclosure.
Unless this house fit everything you need I would let it ride!!!
Alice in Virginia

The bank didn't accept the offer we made which was actually 80k. More than I wanted to but Kirstie wanted it... oh well didnt even go into talks about the price. Not going deal with that so about the place in pierz is trashed someone broke in before we got to look at it one last time. Don't want that needs a lot and alot of work So back to base one. We have a list that we wanted and now searching very wide range of area... Going go look at this listing this week.

MLS# 6008294

http://www.edinarealty.com/homes-for...y-73-100847861

That seems to have a nice area. Out buildings and a big place. Brother said he would help with the place in 6 month and split the house payment... etc etc etc but 5700sq ft and 9 bdr 3 baths. Would be good for foster care we want to do and enough for my dad to have a small apartment area...

I would find out how much it costs to heat the old schoolhouse. That big wall of glass block has to be letting a lot of heat out.

I bought 34 acres of Potlatch land a year and a half ago for $30,000, north of Brainerd about 20 miles. It seems to be selling better now than it was then but still some deals out there. You would have to build a house but that can be done cheaply if you DIY.

http://potlatchlandsales.com/propert...emote-40-acres

Yea it would cost a lot. I want to find out who supply the propane then I will call and ask. There is good wood furnaces that heat 6000 sq supposevely or how ever you spell it. Sorry tired. Seems like a big project. My job would be 60 miles away and she would have to find a new one... big choice to find out what we will do.

Not to be too harsh, but you need to start thinking realistically, and moving forward in a direction that will not cause you a lot of pain and heartache for years to come. It's hard enough for a big, young family to find the time to do a few light fix-ups and some decorating, when buying a home, much less head off in some of the directions you going. First, you attempt to buy a trashed, low end double wide that needs hundreds or even thousands of hours of hard work, and $10-20K in material to make it livable. Thank God the bank didn't grab your check on that one.

Now you are looking at a MASSIVE, worn out public school. WHY? Are you aware that replacing the roof on a place like that could easily cost you $30-50K, or more? How about propane bills of $2-4K a month in a cold winter? Wood? Great, if your hubby can devote a few hundred hours a year to cutting and stacking dozens of cords. Plumbing problem? Don't call the affordable residential guy you know from church, chances are he doesn't have a clue of how to patch up a nearly century old, institutional plumbing system. Unless the place has been extensively renovated, it's just like every other grand old building of that vintage, in that it was built with absolutely zero insulation, and zero though to energy savings. I could go on, but trust me, the list of issues this place has, or will have, is endless. There is a reason somebody is trying to dump a "home" that is 4X the size of the average home, and doing so at way less than $20/sq. ft.

There are countless cases of strained marriages and real unhappy families when folks get in over their heads in cases like this. Countless cases of folks living in near squalor when they bit off more than they can chew, and bought a basket case. Only later discovering that they lack the finances, skill set, or discipline to move forward. Please don't intentionally step into that trap.