What can $35,000 do?

you could shop for abandoned tax farms or small farmettes... bank forclosures... auctions.

35K could buy you a run down good sized paradise waiting to be fixed up.

and all the utilities are usually there.

I think you need to talk to the specific county you are considering, every one is different.

here in my neck of the woods in indiana, you aren't allowed to put a mobile home on any property at all except as a temporary structure while building a home with a one year limitation. you can also apply for a hardship something or other and put a mobile home on your property for an elderly parent that you take care of. must be removed when they die. this doesn't apply to double wides (they aren't considered mobiles but they have to have a permanent foundation).

here, we need a minimum of 300 ft of road frontage and 3 acres to build a home. so far as wells, the well for this house cost about 1k 10 years ago. my sister lives next door and sank 3000 into two wells and never hit a drop so is now hooked up to this well (totally illegally).

I wanted to build a new home on this lot and leave the old house to use for my home based business. wanted to share the septic, well and driveway. no go according to the county, only one house allowed per septic and the other house has to be torn down within 6 months of final inspection on the new house.

here, you are required to get a soil analysis for a new septic ( can no longer get just a simple perk test). Have to use a list of 10 certified people for it only, cost about $400. The county tells YOU based on the test results where and what kind of septic you have to put in.

the difference here between building new and buying old, you aren't required to bring an old house up to code, or the septic. if you get a building permit to add onto the old house, THEN they make you put in a new septic if they feel the house is old enough (my house is 100-150 years old with a septic system put in in the 50s). a new house and septic will be required to meet current code.

I don't know about up there but around here there are quite a few reposessed homes coming on the market. some really great deals but very few have been in the country. I know several people who bought this summer for 30k-40k under appraised value because the bank just wanted the loan paid off. have to be quick in that kind of situation though, I was a day late and a dollar short for a 7 year old 3 bed/2 ba home on 5 acres just south of me (for 85k but in this area the 5 acres is going for 75k alone).

good luck, sounds fun!

mel-

So how do I find all these types of homes that you have mentioned?

<< abandoned tax farms or small farmettes... bank forclosures... auctions.
>>

<< reposessed homes >>

Hey Tami!

Sounds like your uncle is going to be a great asset in this plan. It's good to know people who know people. He'll surely be a weath of information and a good helping hand when the time comes.

I don't know squat about the codes in the area you're lookin at but they really are going to make all the difference in your plan. You have had so many great responses to your questions already...I just wanted to jump in and tell you how excited I am for you!

I'd think that you'd really need to have 2 seperate septic systems, which will eat a big chunk of your starting money. The septic tank is *usually* not too far away from the house. A really good well, however, can provide both houses with the water needed and the pipes usually can go greater distances. Be thankful someone mentioned getting water at 100' or so at $10-20 a foot.... I just had a new 800 foot well dug to the tune of $29,000...and THAT is the you're-my-special-friend-discount, and NOT including the pump! 800 feet of rock to boot. My "shallow" well that I use to irrigate the yard and orchard is a mere 350 feet. But the water here is FANTASTIC! Nothing like a 700 foot organic solid basalt water filter

Now I'd be leaning towards buying a place and fixing it up, myself. I've gone down both paths here and it sounds like it would be easier for you to live in a place that was basically ready but needed a little cosmetics or minor repairs. A good solid foundation and a sound roof are a good start as far as what to look for in a "fixer." If you could use the $35k on as a downpayment on a $120-$150k house your monthly payments would be pretty low and you wouldn't have to worry so much about power, water, sewer, phone.
When we bought this place we were actually looking for raw land to build. We fell in love with the 130 year old house and barn even though both were in pretty rough shape. We lived in the house and fixed it up...not fancy or anything but nice and comfortable, and I'm so glad we did! It was great to not have to worry about all the things that go along with starting out 'raw' all over again (this is our 2nd major undertaking...we build our first homestead ourselves starting from scratch but lost the place in a wildfire.)

I'm just rambling on about a bunch of nothin' Take a look at these:

http://www.c21jacobsrealty.com/listi...Featured=false

http://www.c21jacobsrealty.com/listi...Featured=false

http://www.c21jacobsrealty.com/listi...Featured=false

http://www.c21jacobsrealty.com/listi...Featured=false

drive around look for bandoned farms homes ect, then go to the county recorders office with the address to get the owners information and the status of the property.

the county tax offfice usually has books with siezed properties and the taxes owed, and there you also can do a basic title reserch to see if any liens are against it.

most banks work similarly, having listings of their forclosed propetys and auction dates... many are sold on the spot for the balance of the mortgage.

Take into account like my uncles home and property, a run down house and a few acres, no one in the family wanted it when he died and it was effectivly "abandoned". the delinquent taxes piled up on it, and it was sold for 2500 bucks to the TWP.

people die and leave no hiers,, some outright just abandon property for whatever reason, some inherit property and are never aware of it, and that "abandoned" property ends up the property of the municipality, who sells it or actions it off.

recently a freind of mine (on her endless serch for greener pastures) found a large farm nearby, the house was gutted by a fire and the barn was massive with a slate roof, but very fixable. how she saw this place from the road, i dunno. So after a year we finaly poked around to see who owned it, the neighbors pointed us to a name, they said the old folks died in the fire and it just grew up.... it turns out the whole 50 acre farm was never claimed by anyone, and the taxes were (if I remember) @ 20k, and the county was ready to sell it that day.
she didnt have the 20k.... so its still sitting there. the foundation is collapsed, but with some jacks and a lot of work, it could be repaired. Housing plans nearby will probably buy the land for 20K and make a killing.

a good while ago, we passed a geodesic home (remember those?) beside a nice little lake and woods, abandoned and overgrown. we were on a mini vacation so we didnt go looking into it but no one had been there in years. I bet if we had looked, it could have been had for very little.

ya never know how land gets left to the weeds.... poke around!

some small towns have to take posession of properties and are GLAD to be rid of them, and also will deal with you.
I wouldnt plunki out my money on the first listing I see... spend a while exploring.

One of the things everybody here has to realize before they start giving Tami suggestions is that Crow Wing County is one of the fastest growing counties in the State of Minnesota. The county is home to Minnesota's Lake Country, it is a resort and tourist mecca. Thousands of baby boomers are building retirement homes in the county. Land prices are skyrocketing, home building is skyrocketing and zoning/septic laws are becoming very restrictive.

There really is no such thing as abandoned farms, bank foreclosures and seized properties. Very, very little tax forfeit land (if there is, it is swamp). Land and home prices are going up at a rate of about 10% per year. My suggestion is do just what you're doing: ask questions, research, get relatives to help. I'll keep my eyes open.

__________________
This is the government the Founding Fathers warned us about.....

Minnesota has some of the strictest septic laws in the USA. Outhouses are not allowed. Most septic systems end up being mound systems, which cost more. In many cases you can't d your own work on them. Some counties might be understaffed & not follow those rules so closely, but be careful - operating outside the code can lead to a lot of headaches down the road. With 12 people, you are looking at 1 large or 2 regular sized septics, nothing cheap or do-it-yourself.

Mobile homes are not allowed in most of the southern part of Minnesota any more. Trying to put 2 of them on 1 property would get laughed out of the courthouse right away.... Perhaps the weekend-cabin status of northern MN still would allow such a thing, but check out every planning & zoning issue _very_ carefully on this. It will depend upon the county, township, and zoned class of land. Do not take at face value what some helpful soul in the courthouse tells you. You really need to look into this. Very, very, very carefully. You are basically trying to set up a mobile home park, and this will get a _lot_ of scrutiny before it is allowed.

The 2.5 acre minimum per dwelling is very common in all of Minnesota. In my county, they do not allow mobile homes, and they only allow 1 new house per 40 acre section in ag-zoned areas. Two houses on one property is very difficult to do.

I think you will do best to try to set up 2 totally seperate properties right from the beginning. Both 5 acres or whatever. This will be much easier to get through all the legal hoops.

--->Paul

When we had the health department inspector out here we told him in no uncertain terms that we would be building an outhouse. He gave us a design sheet on houw to build a good privy published by the Minnesota Health Department, Division of Environmental Services.

He also gave a variety of design sheets for gray water also from Minnesota Health Department, Division of Environmental Services, but told us not to worry about the gray water at all.

It could be that some Minnesotans here are telling a good deal more than they know about this subject. The best idea is go to the health department in your chosen community and see what they have to have in these areas.

__________________
“It is tedious to live, it is tedious to die, it is tedious to c**p in deep snow”
Old Norwegian observation

Herself just walked by and asked what I was writing. I told here and she want and got a copy of the permit issued by the Health Department to build a privy out here.

I had completely forgotten that.

__________________
“It is tedious to live, it is tedious to die, it is tedious to c**p in deep snow”
Old Norwegian observation

good for you im glad to hear you did it that way we are starting out with a house that people wanted to burn before we took it over we are allmost done and you would never know its the same place as we get some monet together we work on it when the last nail goes in it will be paid for you can see it at www.rushingtrail.com

Hmmm, it seems to me that after reading some of the other posters you are trying to build a homestead in an area that is more than likely going to become a high dollar housing/tourist district. If that is the case and you have your heart set on that area, then forget everything I just told you.

I lived in FL from 85 to 2000. During the time I was down there, I saw unimproved properties out in the boonies (up near Ocala National Forest) go for $59 an acre. Now you can't spit for that much.

In Orlando suburbs proper property was going for $25,000 for a 2 acre lot with an old run down mobile on it. Now, your are looking probably at about $45,000 well....before the hurricanes this year you were looking at that.

When we could find property there we had to look elsewhere....

I started doing searches of areas that hubby said he was willing to move to.

VA was about the only area he was willing to consider. I would have loved to move to MD or KY, as I grew up in WV and I like hills.

Hubby is allergic to mountains, he can't stand driving over these steep ridges and slows down to a snails pace for fear he is going to fall over the edge. I thought he was pulling my leg the first time we went back up to WV and he was gripping the steering wheel! He was too afraid to let me drive.

So, VA it was! Back in 1999 and 2000 I was finding tons of property online all over the place. All you have to do is put in the time and the footwork. I do mean time....it takes time to browse these listings and the listings change constantly. What was with one realtor may move to another realtor.

My dream was to find a place to homestead it didn't matter what county I was in.


The fella we bought this place off of, just sold another house in town for I think it was $12,000 and it was a nice 2 story.

Yeah, in farming communities where there aren't a lot of jobs around without commuting to a bigger city there are all kinds of property available at killer prices.

You have to check out the small town community papers to usually find the ones not listed online. Then there is Tradeo that we listen to a lot.

See, here you can find pickup trucks for $800 and running cars for $600. Try to find that near a huge city like Orlando or NYC!!!

You may be able to find good deals in MN like we were talking about but perhaps not in the county you are desiring.

See, when we bought, I had one rule. If you can't immediately make a living off of your property, "Don't buy a property you can't afford on minimum wage!" I was tired of seeing people getting laid off and losing their homes and stuff. I didn't want to become a statistic.

I suppose it is a good thing I kept to that rule. When hubby had congestive heart failure, the company's workmans compensation didn't even pay that much!

For goodness sakes, buying a home is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. Take your time doing your homework. You don't have to like your property when you find one you can afford, but you do have to like the financial circumstances that you will have to live with once you make the decision.

We bought our place and didn't like it. We were going to use it as a rental property before hubby got sick. Now we like it (we fixed it up some and it is comfortable). What we really love is the payments that are affordable.

It may be possible. Take a look at the Pyramodule:

http://pyramodule.com

The cost of building the large module is just over $5000, which includes foundation (post), insulation, asphalt shingles, plumbing and electrical. Basically everything you need for a small home, except the well & septic system. It comes with a money-back guarantee that the plans will be accepted by your County.

I'm planning to build one this spring.

Tami, somehow I stumbled on this old thread and did not see this issue discussed. Be careful of buying property while married to someone you may divorce! You wouldn't want to end up owing your ex half its worth in the divorce settlement, or him getting part of the inheritance. I hope you'll discuss this with a lawyer first. Good luck! Chris

I would think MN has a fairly cheap septic system because of the sandy soil. Sounds like you are dreaming but that is how reality happens. Bottom line is how bad do you want it.