What would you do differently, if you could go back and do it again

About the only thing I would have done differently is purchased additional land that I passed over.
I am still kicking myself over wooded 40's (selectively logged) I could have purchased in the early 90's for $5000. Today, those wooded 40's are going for $60000+.

congratulations on your purchase. You'll be happy with it!


The things like perc tests, wells, etc are all fairly meaningless when you look at the big picture. Buying the land is the best investment you'll likely ever make!

 

wow that sounds like wonderful land! congratulations! What would i do differently, the well thing! all of my sort of near by neighbors have 30-60 foot wells so i figured mine would be the same . Turns out mine will be more like 300 feet at 22.00 per foot! drilling to happen on aug 23rd. house already built so cant move LOL

 

I would have insisted that someone control that stallion so I could have walked out into the pasture and looked at the OTHER side of the barn roof. Oh, well, hopefully, we'll get it re-built next month.....

Meg

 

I purchased a copy of the "Back Tax List" from the County Treasurers Office. This is a list of properties where the taxes hadn't been paid and were coming up for foreclosure in the future. I sent letters to the delinquent tax payers asking if they intended to not redeem their properties to write me. The property I wound up with had been donated to a church who didn't intend to ever pay the tax. I gave them $100 for a Quit Claim Deed and I paid the taxes, about $860. The assessed valuation was $8,000. A couple of years later I found the 5 acres next to it had been foreclosed on by the County and was offered for sale to the public. I put in the minimum bid and purchased it for $3350, also assessed at $8,000. So I wound up with 9+ acres of mountain property covered with cedar trees for under $4500. And I love it. I couldn't have gone shopping and found anything that suited me better. I wouldn't change a thing.

 

.....................I was the first to move onto these 5 acre tracts . As such i built my fence and didn't have to worry about any existing fences . I'm also very conscious about erosion , etc. People, being the fallable beings that we are ....DON"T share the same level of concern that I do for the land . All my neighbors on 3 sides of my property have animals (too many really) and animals on small tracts of land cause Erosion . I mow 75% of my 5 acres with a lawnmower . The native grasses look just like a "City" front yard from a distance . I don't have to water so my mowing schedule is directly tied to the seasonal moisture pattern . There is lots of grass all along my fence line and my neighbors animals have worn pathways availing themselves of the grass . These pathways create runoff "Hiways" for rain when rains really hard . This, ultimately , leads to erosion on the other side of the fence which I can't do anything about . I have asked my neighbors to install a one wire electric fence about 15 feet or so "Out" from my fence . None were willing to accomodate me . Now, because I'm rather persistant , they don't talk to me because they know that what I want to talk about . But, the thing IS that this idea would have benefitted them as much as ME . Sometimes poeple just don't make any sense and it really frustrates me , but that's life and you just have to accept their decision . I think this how people get into feuds and start shooting each other . ..........fordy.....

 

What we live in started out to be a Garage,I would have Built a Regular House first.

big rockpile

 

I would have taken my 150K I had in the bank and bought that 75 acre plot with the 150 yr old barn, 20 foot wide creek running thru and the gas well, and built a house on it (there was no house).

that pacel was 57k and I curse myself for not buying it.

no house,
no driveway
no fences

for some reason at 19 that made me walk away... AGGGHH!!

 

At this point I'm glad we didn't do anything differently or we would have backed out of buying this property. We've had it two years now and are perfectly happy with it. At first we were upset when it flooded the first October we owned it and discovered that most of the property is in a flood plain (something we should have discovered BEFORE buying). We're not upset now. Being in a flood plain means we'll never have to worry about folks moving in around us and building. The land around us can be used for one thing only - crops. I'd much rather have cotton, corn and soybean fields around me than more people!

We also went through a period where it looked like we would not be able to have electricity run to the new house. Took a while, but a small Co-op finally agreed to give us service and we're happy with that. Had we known beforehand that it would be near impossible to find electric service we would have backed out. I'm glad we didn't know about the hassles we were going to face because I love this place.

 

LOL...those three qualities are exactly why we bought our place!

 

I don't know what I would of done differently because I am very happy with the way things are turning out, but I am very glad that I took the time to learn about easements, wells, septics, utilities, where to find information at the county building etc.... I backed out of two properties before I bought this one because they had problems and with out doing my own research I don't think anyone would of told me anything.

 

We would have spent more time making a whole land use plan...the flow of where our barns,drives,etc. are isn't that efficient.....hard to get long stock trailer in and out, for example. Also, would have put in our orchard the first year and spent the money on building up our fields soil fertility before remodeling the house. But it all gets done slowly and we are still happy to be where we are. We were lucky to find this 120 acres for $39 grand...all well fenced with three ponds and liveable house...can hardly complain!DEE

 

A spring!!!

 

Water, soil, and neighbors. Be sure of all 3 before you buy, as you can't change them. You may be able to improve on them, but you better just consider yourself stuck with them. Is that creek year round every year? What about drought years?? What will your water source be if the creek dries up? Does your area allow you unlimited use of that creek? In much of the west, you quite possibly cannot use the water crossing your property unless the property comes with water rights.

If you are planning on gardening/raising crops, take a good, close look at the soil. What is growing there now? How much work/inputs will it take to get the soil productive?

Have you met the neighbors? What are they like? Have you told them what you want to do with the land? What was their reaction? Have you questioned them about the neighborhood, utilities, problems, etc?

Do your homework now. Don't brush these things off because you are in love with the land. NOW is your chance to pass it by and hold out for something better if it is not ideal. Don't be in a rush. The right place, like the right spouse, is worth waiting for, as once you sign the dotted line you are COMITTED!

 

I wouldn't have doen anything different. Me being a soil scientist, I knew all about good soils, well water and septics....so I did not have to ask others. I would advise getting good soils assistance if you feel it is necessary in your situation.

What I did was tape together all of the USGS topo maps of the area I was looking to buy in. Then I put a number on every parcel that was for sale in that area. I visited each parcel....93 parcels in total! Had a notebook and jotted down information from each parcel after I made my visit. I did all of this research on my own...in other words, I did not have a realtor drag me around from place to place....that would of taken forever! I made an informed decision when I bought this place....I have zero regrets and would have made the same decision today.

 

We have a few things we wish we had done differently. The first being know more about the "drain" laws etc. in the state of Michigan. We have a brook and a stream that run through our property..neither of which on a title search showed that they where "drains". Seems in Michigan if it adjacents a "drain" it is a "drain". We have been devestated by the destruction done to our property by the drain commission.......and had to pay for it to boot.

secondly we would have built further back off the road. We have forty acres and when we bought it there was no one on the road but one other family and it was not much more than a dirt lane. Lots of building and now more traffic, plus the ground across the street was bought by a factory farmer who farms until midnight and now irrigates out of the "drain" with a loud tractor.

Thirdly, we would have built a nice pole barn first and lived in it while we built a house.

We also would have studied the "micro-climates" a bit before chosing where to put our orchard. We have now put in all new dwarfed trees in a better location because the first location was subject to every late frost that could happen.

 

Financially, we wouldn't have ever ever ever, NEVER gotten another mortgage on this place once it was paid off.

Secondally, I would have homeschooled ALL my kids for the entire time instead of just the last two for their last few years.