happyhomemaker25 Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 If you own some land and have a house there would you tell me how you found it? What about land that is not in your immediate area? Are there reliable websites? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristyB in TN Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 If you own some land and have a house there would you tell me how you found it? What about land that is not in your immediate area? Are there reliable websites? Trulia and Zillow are good. It might help to find a real estate agent in the area who does a lot of land/farm listings and even one that does auctions. Sometimes they know if there is a farm that is getting ready to hit the MLS or even one that might be cut into sections and sold or auctioned. We handle a lot of farms and raw land. Often, someone will tell us that they are preparing to sell and we can get it sold before they have to even list it. Just look at the realtors in the area, find the one with the most land listings and that is probably your guy/woman. For land you want someone with a LOT of experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 We were living in a manufactured home that needed to be moved from the park we were paying space rent in. It took forever to find land that could be built on. Land use laws in Oregon are tough. We knew we needed to get out of the park though, especially after our pastor told a story about when he and his wife were first married and lived in a manufactured home park and there was a crazy lady running the park and they had to move. Except, the story he told wasn't half as crazy as the stories we and our neighbors were living with every day. The lady who owned our park was constantly harassing us and our neighbors. She followed our guests home in her car. She followed the brother of one of my neighbors across town in the middle of the night. She was/ is CRAZY. So we NEEDED land, lol. We found a classified add for land and drove across the state to put the house on land far away. And yes, we still ended up selling it because we had more crazy neighbors. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Mention which area(s) you are looking at, how much land you'd like, and, chances are, someone here on the Hive can point you in the right direction... The Hive seems to be able to come up with anything IME. ;) Otherwise, try Craigslist for that area - maybe post a "Land Wanted" ad besides looking at the online sites (Zillow, Realtors, etc). A lot of land around here is not being listed right now (officially) since prices are low (for the area) and owners are waiting for the market to return, but some realtors "know" of places. When we found our farm we just drove around looking at other places listed in the paper and found this one - For Sale By Owner - with just a wee little sign on the main road near it. Within the next two years we'll be selling it and downsizing (youngest will be heading to college). Hopefully the market will return a bit by then. I have no idea how we'll officially list the place. Time will tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker25 Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 I don't know where we are looking. We are really *just* looking right now. It will be a year before we can do anything. The land in my immediate area is waaaay over priced. I know we have to look outside of this area. We are in FL right now. I don't know how committed we are to staying here at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somo_chickenlady Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 (edited) www.unitedcountry.com www.landsofamerica.com (they have a different site for each state, so like for us it would be landsofmissouri) We live on 5 acres in a nice 10 year old house, and we found it on the United Country website. Zillow and Trulia are also good sites. We are currently looking to move to a different state, and I have been scouring Zillow. Good luck! Edited to add - We were like you...wanting to move, with no real idea of where, so we just looked everywhere we could think of. We have looked just about everywhere at this point. We started out close to home, and gradually looked further and further away. We grew up in Nebraska, we moved here (near Branson in Missouri) 18 months ago, and now we are looking at moving to Texas but have considered as far as North Carolina or Arizona. Edited September 1, 2012 by somo_chickenlady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Lands of America is one that dh uses all the time. He likes to dream of someday when we win the lottery. Of course, we'd have to buy a ticket first. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiraejb Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 We were looking for a large piece of land to run cattle on and my husband had a quarter section in mind that he liked. He knew who owned it several years ago since he and his family have been here for 50 years. We contacted them, they had given it to their grown daughter, so we contacted her and her husband. They are at retirement age, live about an hour away and were willing to sell it to us. They turned a $1500/year lease on the land into a much higher mortgage payment from us in order to finance their retirement. Pretty smart on their part, since they and their kids had no use for the land. Long story short, find an area you like and start asking around. The people in the area will know who owns what and it never hurts to ask if they'd consider selling. So, we now have a nice piece of land to play on and run cattle - we may eventually build there, too. At the moment, it's not worth the hassle to us. But you'd be surprised at how many family members have asked if we'd be willing to part with this or that corner so they can build out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Once you narrow down a desirable location, you can go to the local county website and often look up who owns various pieces of property and find the lot lines, zoning, etc. We did that when looking. We knew we wanted some land and where so we looked up who owned it and contacted them about selling. Ended up we couldn't purchase the land but if we get the money in the future we still would like to buy that 13 acres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrganicAnn Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 We have 2 acres. I think we used realtor.com and other local websites. The ones that you can put in different criteria including the lot size were very helpful. If you are looking for farm acreage, then you might need a specific search engine. Be careful about what you want. Land takes up time. Do you want flat land or are you okay with slopes. Do you want it to plant a garden? If so you don't want lots of trees where your garden will go. So it is not a simple thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted September 2, 2012 Share Posted September 2, 2012 I also encourage ANYONE looking at land to consider the zoning, flood/watershed map, restrictions, etc. Besides finding out if YOU can do what you want with the land, you need to know what the neighbors can do with THEIR land............put in a pig farm? put in a subdivision? sell for commercial/industrial use? Also talk to the township/local government about future developments---roads/highways planned, etc. So many people buy land for their "ideal" of country living and then are upset their neighbors run the combine all night long and spread FRESH RIPE MANURE on the fields regularly or that a new highway is planned for the area or industry is moving in 3 lots down, etc. It pays to do your homework. Zoning/rules (as well as tax rates) can vary GREATLY from one juristiction to another so what someone can do across the road from you, you might not be allowed to do if you are across township/government lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker25 Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 I also encourage ANYONE looking at land to consider the zoning, flood/watershed map, restrictions, etc. Besides finding out if YOU can do what you want with the land, you need to know what the neighbors can do with THEIR land............put in a pig farm? put in a subdivision? sell for commercial/industrial use? Also talk to the township/local government about future developments---roads/highways planned, etc. So many people buy land for their "ideal" of country living and then are upset their neighbors run the combine all night long and spread FRESH RIPE MANURE on the fields regularly or that a new highway is planned for the area or industry is moving in 3 lots down, etc. It pays to do your homework. Zoning/rules (as well as tax rates) can vary GREATLY from one juristiction to another so what someone can do across the road from you, you might not be allowed to do if you are across township/government lines. Yeah, I am looking at zoning, because we have specific ideas for what we want. That's another question for another day when I know more about what I'm going to be asking. You guys have been super helpful and I really appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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