Question about buying land

ChristieAcres · #21 06/27/14, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ET1 SS

I had to hire a well company to come out and inspect our well. The original well driller did not properly install a 'pitlass adapter', so 4 years later it failed, and had to go through a process to get the right part installed, the well had to be sterilized and the water was tested afterwards.

It is a good idea of get your water tested.

Great example to share, but sorry to hear that you had to go to that trouble...

That sounds about right, for PNW.

When it comes to Septics, the requirements have really gotten tough in our neighboring counties. In Clallam County, it is more reasonable.

We lived in Bremerton for 5 years, and while there we shopped for a retirement homestead, on the Olympic Penn. But we never found the right place, and taxes seemed high.

We lived W of Bremerton, in Seabeck, for almost 9 years. Our new property is in Sequim (20-25" of rain per year at our property, but only 15" of rain in the main Sequim area). Our taxes are lower here than all the neighboring Counties.

Septic pumpers here are not required to submit anything to the county. They just do their job.

Would be nice...

A good septic system should last 40-years without needing to be pumped.

Since I am in real estate, have a lot of experience, and can attest to your statement!

Sounds Great

I think we scored and are very happy here!

For $20,000 how many acres are we discussing?

When we bought our property, we saved at least $50,000 in costs we would have incurred (Septic, Well, Power, RV Hook-up, Driveway, and over $20,000 worth of trees we are building with). What I was referring to, was our savings, but you may also have been referring to what could be done with $20,000. We paid $97,500 for 5.1 acres with all the aforementioned. But we were willing to pay that amount for the property we bought (well worth it in our area, probably the best deal around).

We bought two adjoining parcels here. One is 42+ acres with 1/4 mile of river frontage that was listed for $35k. The other is 105+ acres for $35k. Both are dense forest. Taxes on 150 acres is roughly $157.50

Good for you, sounds great! We'd love to have more property, but another 5 acres would be nice. I can't imagine that much property, sure sounds wonderful

It is smart to around.

You made some wise decisions there!

geo in mi · #22 06/27/14, 07:03 AM

I moved here 31 years ago in a transfer situation from Indiana to Michigan, and as the large manufacturing company (the one that went bankrupt, and since then is accused of killing thirteen people) gave us only so many days to live at company expense, I had to "choose" whatever was on the market at that time.

I fell in love with this place, warts and all--mainly because the soil was good, the nearby town seemed homey, the schools seemed good, the town is the county seat, state police post here, hospital, too--and because it was a lakefront property. As time went by, I discovered (via wet shoes) that the septic tank was three 55 gal. drums buried under the patio at the garage door.....Hmmm. The well was good, but only a sand point--which had to be replaced with a stainless steel one when the other one clogged and killed my water pressure(and my water softener). And the OIL furnace, oh my! And this monster house! Two stories,13 rooms,with full basement, 45 window units to clean. My, my, my.....

Is it a true homestead, with cows and goats and crops? Too close to the neighbors, too small an acreage, too inefficient a house, no root cellar....and too many hours commuting (23 miles one way to get to work). But anyway, I had my homesteading experience so many years ago as a kid on our Indiana lickskillet farm.......and, besides, I hate goats.

But, good bluegills, plenty of reserve water, great swimming for the kids, great potatoes, and brocolli, and sweet corn, and tomatoes, and green beans, and sweet cherry firewood, and asparagus, apples, blueberries, and live cut your own Christmas trees just down the road......great views, and peaceful in winter, when most of the neighbors go back to Chicago.

I think I'll stay for thirty one more years.

geo

onrytxn · #23 06/28/14, 03:37 PM

Thank all of you for your comments! We are looking in Okanogan, Ferry, and Stevens counties in WA. There is a lot of unimproved land available and the parcels with well & septic are very few and far between...and pricey! Our plans are to use 2 shipping containers to build a house, with solar and wind for electricity. We are also thinking about utilizing a rain catch system, but that alone for water (plus all the filtering it would take) makes me nervous. We are both trying to watch every penny. Though, I seem to be watching harder.

At first ours was a 10 year plan, but I am very unhappy with my job and we are considering upping or move about 9.5 years. LOL.

We appreciate all the incites, tips and advice we can get!!!

Thanks,

Kathy & Steve

ChristieAcres · #24 06/28/14, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onrytxn

Thank all of you for your comments! We are looking in Okanogan, Ferry, and Stevens counties in WA. There is a lot of unimproved land available and the parcels with well & septic are very few and far between...and pricey! Our plans are to use 2 shipping containers to build a house, with solar and wind for electricity. We are also thinking about utilizing a rain catch system, but that alone for water (plus all the filtering it would take) makes me nervous. We are both trying to watch every penny. Though, I seem to be watching harder.

At first ours was a 10 year plan, but I am very unhappy with my job and we are considering upping or move about 9.5 years. LOL.

We appreciate all the incites, tips and advice we can get!!!

Thanks,

Kathy & Steve

You will definitely want a well on the property if you are buying in those counties! Also, look into your building codes, before you buy. The summers are dry, so you can't rely on rain catchment... Weather in the Winter is cold and you will get lots of snow.

We wanted to stay in WA, but could have moved anywhere in the State. We chose Clallam County for more reasons than I could put in a post...

johng · #25 07/02/14, 06:16 PM

It really would not make much of a difference to me. I would just figure the cost into the price of the property. But, a used septic would be more of a liability here than an asset. Besides it might not even be where you would end up wanting to build your house or it may not be adequate for the size house you would want to build. I'm assuming your talking about raw land.

SecureLand · #26 07/13/14, 03:04 PM

I have an acre on a hilltop that slopes -- has lots of trees -- nice view and is a great spot for a cottage on a slab foundation - it should pass a perk test and be set up for well or self contained water/septic. But, it's a great spot for creative landscaping, bird watching, use the landscape for veggie, fruit, herb gardening. It's in Newfoundland, PA 19445 and I just listed it for only $3400--low taxes under $20 yearly and no HOA dues. If you know anyone who wants to see let me know. I just have map shots. The bed and breakfast owners own the land surrounding it on that side. dirt road is cut in by the front. Over 240' frontage. I thought i'd mention it in case anyone is looking out there. I know building can be expensive if you don't calculate and shop around prior to the actual process. Just don't move too fast and shop and design where ever you decide to do it.

gila_dog · #27 07/17/14, 02:47 PM

This is not something to be taken lightly or forgotten until later. If you can't get a good well at a price you can afford, then spending money and time and effort bringing in power, installing a septic system, building a nice house etc, will be a disaster and a waste. A good well is the most important thing of all. Everything else is secondary. But, to be "good" a well needs to be able to supply adequate amounts of water and the water needs to be high quality (no organic pollution, not too hard, and no bad chemicals). If you see a property you like and it already has a well, I would have the well "yield tested" and have a sample sent off for chemical analysis. I wouldn't buy property unless it already had a good well, or unless it was in an area with plenty of water, not too far down (<200 ft), and of known good quality. You can talk to the neighbors and ask about their wells, taste some of their water. And if they are snotty to you and won't help you, or they give you the creeps, then that's valuable information too. You probably wouldn't want them as your neighbors anyway.

You can also go to the offices of whichever government agency keeps track of water wells in your state (in NM it's the State Engineer's Office) and look up the drilling records for the wells in the surrounding properties. From those records you can find out how deep the wells were drilled and their yield, in gallons per minute. Less than 5 gal/minute would be questionable. Low yields can be compensated for with storage tanks and such, but it gets more complicated and expensive.

We once bought a nice property in an area with a questionable water supply. But before we bought it we had a well drilled. We had to put $5000 in an escrow account to pay the driller no matter what. The well turned out to be good so we bought the property. If it hadn't been a good well we would have lost that money, but we wouldn't be stuck with a property with no water, and an expensive dry hole in the ground.

ChristieAcres · #28 07/17/14, 03:14 PM

[QUOTE=gila_dog;7152515]

You can also go to the offices of whichever government agency keeps track of water wells in your state (in NM it's the State Engineer's Office) and look up the drilling records for the wells in the surrounding properties. From those records you can find out how deep the wells were drilled and their yield, in gallons per minute. Less than 5 gal/minute would be questionable. Low yields can be compensated for with storage tanks and such, but it gets more complicated and expensive.
QUOTE]

We found that to be completely inaccurate, unfortunately. Out of (5) wells in all adjacent properties, ours produces 8gpm which is far higher output than all the others. Now, consider this, a nearby property owner who is a few properties away, gets 100gpm (he had a high capacity commercial pump and large diameter well casing). His Well Driller kept going until he tapped the aquifer. We just put a contingency on the well output on our offer and spent over $800 testing the well and the water. I also found out the pump size and diameter housing used with our well actually limited the flow. We currently have a small orchard and will have a nice garden next year. The flow of our well is absolutely more than adequate for our needs. Yes, below 5 gallons, contingent upon use and demand, can be worked with. Even a higher output well benefits from storage tanks. This extends the life of the well pump and insures an adequate water supply in power outages...

Figuring 5gpm = 300 gallons per hour? 3gpm = 180 gallons of water in an hour? As long as one isn't trying to run all the appliances and multiple hoses, even that would be sufficient for most. As long as output is sufficient, the quality of water is the highest priority.

You made excellent points about the dangers of not putting water first, hope other heed them!

crazyfarm · #29 07/17/14, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onrytxn

I have a question of those of you who have either already purchased land or have your homestead setup. If you had it to do over again, would you prefer to purchase land with a well and septic tank already on it, or buy land and put those in yourself?

Thanks!

Kathy

Building a new house of any sort isn't our thing so we bought land with a house. Sometimes I wish I'd been able to select the location of some things differently based on our different needs. Other than that it's fine.

jwal10 · #30 07/17/14, 06:04 PM

Water first, whatever you can live with. Many places you can not depend on wells on small parcels. Septics are easier but can be very expensive. Here they are all 1000 gallon tanks, difference is in how many feet of leach line, which can be added, not cheap nor easy. If the land perks, you can install yourself, by hand if needed. Lots of work but the tank is the biggest cost. I have bought with and without but always knowing I could get water, city, county, witched site or spring. I have developed 4 springs. Having NO water is not an option for me. I use water catchment, but not as a sole source for a home....James

ET1 SS · #31 07/17/14, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gila_dog

This is not something to be taken lightly or forgotten until later. If you can't get a good well at a price you can afford, then spending money and time and effort bringing in power, installing a septic system, building a nice house etc, will be a disaster and a waste. A good well is the most important thing of all. Everything else is secondary. ...

I agree.

Access to water must be a primary consideration.

Twobottom · #32 07/17/14, 06:33 PM

If I had to do it all over again I would buy a property with as much already done as possible. I don't think I'd want to 'build' a homestead all over again, it took too many years and learning to farm took more years still.

Small house, barn, well, and septic at the very least. I could redo fence and some of the other stuff

SecureLand · #33 07/17/14, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecureLand

I have an acre on a hilltop that slopes -- has lots of trees -- nice view and is a great spot for a cottage on a slab foundation - it should pass a perk test and be set up for well or self contained water/septic. But, it's a great spot for creative landscaping, bird watching, use the landscape for veggie, fruit, herb gardening. It's in Newfoundland, PA 18445 and I just listed it for only $3400--low taxes under $20 yearly and no HOA dues. If you know anyone who wants to see let me know. I just have map shots. The bed and breakfast owners own the land surrounding it on that side. dirt road is cut in by the front. Over 240' frontage. I thought i'd mention it in case anyone is looking out there. I know building can be expensive if you don't calculate and shop around prior to the actual process. Just don't move too fast and shop and design where ever you decide to do it.

I corrected the zip. Sorry if I confused anyone with that.

slipshift · #34 07/18/14, 11:30 PM

We bought unimproved land in Arkansas. Although it cost a little more upfront for a well and septic if fell under homesteading. Personal property and real estate taxes combined are just over $40/year, so in the long run there will be no surprises. We won't be taxed off our land like it happens in California. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Jim

Miss Kay · #35 07/19/14, 03:52 AM

Years ago when we bought our first farm, we bought an unimproved mountain. We built the road up the side of the mountain, paid to have electricity brought in from the next mountain (had to cut a path through the timber to get the lines there), put down a well, sewer system, built a home, fenced, built two barns, sold timber and then cleared for pasture, and planted grass. It was a lot of hard work and in the end we had to sell and move 1,000 miles away due to health issues and crazy family. But, we turned a very good profit and used that to buy our current homestead which was already to move in. We just were too old and tired to start from scratch again. Of the two methods, I much prefer the ready to move in farm.