Buying Land & Having a Home Built

[EmseB]

I guess this is one in a series of posts of mine that could be titled Help a Middle Aged Woman Figure Out Adult Things.

Please hit me with your best tips, resources, ANYTHING, about buying land and building a custom home. I am NOT talking about buying a lot in a subdivision/development and picking from their list of options. I am talking from scratch, no property currently owned or scouted, no plans drawn up, totally naive about the process.

Are the costs comparable with buying an existing home? Depends on the area? The area in question currently has a tight real estate market. Do realtors specialize in land vs homes?

This was not really in the plans, but something came up that may make it possible for us, if not ideal.

No help here, but it is something I would love to do!

[fairfarmhand]

Before you buy land, if there’s no existing sewer, you will want a perc test. This tests the suitability of the ground for a septic field. You pay a soil scientist to do this. 
 

it’s been a long time but I think our earnest money on our property had the stipulation  of “we get it back if The property won’t perk where we want the house.” I’m almost sure that was it because we built on the second property we put down earnest money because the first one didnt perc on the most suitable building spot.

Look for a general contractor now and ask his advice on where to start.
 

***ETA: its soil scientist not soul scientist. 😉 

Edited July 30, 2020 by fairfarmhand

[fairfarmhand]

Oh and your loan will be different. We had a construction loan to start with and it turned into a traditional mortgage when we had our residency permit. You’ll definitely want a good Banker who understands this type of loan. And you won’t want your construction project to drag out either. A few times we built and rates changed during the construction Period. So a project that takes too long can really cost you money.

[Ottakee]

First thing is zoning, zoning, zoning.  Check the zoning maps, go to the township/village/county and get the exact zoning for the property you are looking at AND those around it.   I can stress this enough.

If you are coming from the city and moving rural, be aware and accepting of rural practices.....tractors that run 24 hours a day durng planting and harvesting, crop sisters, manure spreading/smells, animals, etc.  Maybe you totally understand this but farmers have the rights to do a lot of stuff you can't do in the city.

Know what your neighbors can be able to do with their property.....and assume they just might do it.   If they are zoned that allows for a turkey farm, even if there isn't one there now, there might be next week, or in 10 years.

Don't depend on your neighbors woods/trees/fencing, etc for YOUR privacy.  My last rural house the neighbor was MAD that we cut down 3 acres of woods and put in horse pasture.  It wasn't my fault he put his house as close to my property line as possible and cut down his trees.

I loved rural living, but it is not subdivision living on more land.  

I also agree with checking out the places you are considering in late evening...esp weekend evenings (as the neighbors might host huge keg parties), after big storms, etc.

Sorry, if you know all this, don't take offense.  I just run into so many people that have glorious ideas of rural living....that don't match reality.

If you are in an area with bad winter's or storms you will also likely need/want wiring for a whole house generator as power outages are common.

Check internet and cell service availability as well.   And who plows the roads in winter.

Edited July 30, 2020 by Ottakee

[fairfarmhand]

How much land are you thinking?

[EKS]

Financing the purchase of vacant land and subsequent building is trickier than financing the purchase of an existing home.

That's all I know about that--but it's definitely something to look into before investing too much time and energy in the process.

Edited July 30, 2020 by EKS

[Pawz4me]

41 minutes ago, EmseB said:

 

Are the costs comparable with buying an existing home?

Your overall costs will almost certainly be much higher.

We explored building a few years ago, on several acres of land we already own. The cost of building the house alone was considerably more than buying a comparably sized existing house on an acre or so of land. And that was on a flat, cleared property (clearing and/or grading would have added even more to the cost of building). We changed our minds for other reasons besides cost, and we'd only gotten an estimate from one builder. So it's possible he was just very high. But I don't think so. Having new everything in a custom built home is expensive.

[Ottakee]

Also make sure the property "perks" for water and septic.   The ability to have a good well can't be overstated....and if you have to build a big drain field with fill dirt that adds a lot of cost....and might change the entire layout or look of your property.

[katilac]

Don't forget to budget money for marriage counseling . . . 

[EmseB]

Thanks to all for the info. We will have about a year in a temporary living situation and were planning on looking for an existing home during that time, but I started to wonder if it would make sense to look for land instead and build what we want. It's been so long since we've owned a home or looked for one, or since I've searched house plans I feel totally out of my depth.

I am going to start looking for experts in our new town and see what's feasible.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, EmseB said:

I guess this is one in a series of posts of mine that could be titled Help a Middle Aged Woman Figure Out Adult Things.

Please hit me with your best tips, resources, ANYTHING, about buying land and building a custom home. I am NOT talking about buying a lot in a subdivision/development and picking from their list of options. I am talking from scratch, no property currently owned or scouted, no plans drawn up, totally naive about the process.

Are the costs comparable with buying an existing home? Depends on the area? The area in question currently has a tight real estate market. Do realtors specialize in land vs homes?

This was not really in the plans, but something came up that may make it possible for us, if not ideal.

This describes where we live, but dh is a contractor so some things are different for us than they would be for you. 

We bought our house plan from an on-line house plan company like this one: www.dongardner.com. We took the plans to an architect, though, to modify a couple of things. If you go this route, I would recommend you have someone who understands house design well look at the plans. If you aren’t well-versed in this, you might not realize how big/small/weird some part of the design is. Also, some designs will cost a lot per square foot. There were things I wouldn’t have known were expensive, just knew they were pretty; dh was the one who knew these things. (For a quick example, a house with a simple gabled roof is much less expensive than a house with hipped roofs or little rooms that jut out or turrets, etc. A two-story house built on a rectangular foundation is much cheaper to build than a sprawling ranch.) 

For us, building was far less expensive than buying a comparable house but this was mainly due to a) dh building the house largely himself, only subbing what he couldn’t or did not want to do; b) we bought the lot before it was listed because we had a real estate agent who regularly worked with us for lots. This lot was below market value. Not having an “in” would most likely mean spending more for the lot than someone with an “in” would. Contracting with a builder means you would pay 15-20% over the cost of the building house. Some make more; it depends on the housing market locally and nationally. 

Some areas have a very low bar for calling oneself a home builder so be certain to absolutely vet your choices before you sign a contract. Make absolutely sure you are dealing with a good, competent builder. 

AFAIK, there are not agents who specialize in lots, though I could be mistaken. Ask your friends if they can rec one. If you just look directly at something like Zillow, you most likely will find few or zero scattered lots; the lots listed there are very nearly always lots owned by a builder/developer who plans to build the neighborhood. (That’s what we used to do; when we learned about land for sale it was very nearly always not yet publicly listed.)

[LMD]

We're just on the tail end of doing this, in a different country but much of the same advice. Check every land map you can find. check zoning, rainfall, overlays (don't know how that works where you are, but we had to dodge conservation overlays, fire management overlays etc. each adds costs and limits to how we could use the land). The researching and looking for land took us over a year.

Then came the paperwork. We needed to acquire permission to build (a 20+ page document and multiple meetings with the council). Then the building permit (another 10+ pages 😄) This stuff took us about another 6 months. Then the bank paperwork, insurance paperwork and sourcing trades people/materials...

For us, the cost has been comparable to a standard home, but we have done a LOT of the work ourselves and taken our time so we could borrow as little as possible.

[Carrie12345]

We’re in an area where home building is common and builder choices are abundant and it’s still overwhelming!  We actually backed out 15 years ago, because a builder threw us a “sign this weekend before the price goes up” and we’ve been scared ever since. But we’re considering it again.

I don’t think I have anything to add to what everyone else already said. I 100% agree that zoning is everything (and really a giant factor in the whole location, location, location principle.)

Maybe spend a decent amount of focus on the layout of the land. We were originally looking at a .5 acre lot, coming from the burbs, and feeling like that was enormous.  But septic sand mounds are typical here, keeping trees is the standard for the area, and buffer lines are wide, so we discovered much less “usable” land than we anticipated. (We’re now on 1.25 acres with less than .5 usable.)

Oh, know your distance from emergency services. Most people here don’t know that our police are regional/state only, ambulances can take a lot of time, and our fire departments are all volunteer, so my husband and kids get a page for a fire, drive 7ish miles to the firehouse (If they’re available), get in a truck, and then may have to drive 7ish miles back to a burning home on our street. It’s a shocking discovery to some.

[Soror]

We built when we got married, actually started when we got engaged, so 22 yrs ago now.

It varies drastically depending on your location. Building here is pretty common and not that complicated of a process. My parents were building a cabin in another state and there were a billion hoops to jump through that we didn't have here (and fees to go with them all too).

We did it very simply. We looked at plans online (heaven help me I don't know where) and then made modifications we wanted and printed out some basic plans dh made up from that. 

We didn't have an architect (I've not even heard of that around here but maybe the crowd that builds fancier houses uses them), we didn't have a contractor. 

We had the pump guy come and dig a well and lay the sewer lines. Concrete guy did the basement. The construction crew we hired built it and framed it in(dh's dad was good friends w/ the owner of the local lumber shop and was able to give us the name of a reputable crew) and a couple of guys who did sheetrock. We had someone install carpet, HVAC, and build our cabinets. We did the indoor plumbing, electrical(wiring, sockets, lights, wiring the breaker box etc), painting, and finish work (trim, installing doors). 

By the time we finished we ended up with the a nicer home than we could have afforded otherwise but that is just because we did so much ourselves over time. Things take time or they take money. There is more we could have done, like sheetrock, but wasn't worth it as cheap as it cost to get it done and as long as dh takes doing it. Same with the flooring. When we rebuilt (after the house fire) we were getting ready to buy prefinished hardwood and install it ourselves but found a guy that installed site finished for cheaper (got a helluva deal on materials).

I would talk to people in your local area to find out how it works where you live and also the real estate market. 

[Splash1]

We did this but it has been 15 yrs.  My husband acted as the contractor and we did anything ourselves that was possible to do and hired subcontractors for the rest.  We saved a lot of money doing it this way but it was exhausting and stressful.  We still haven't finished everything we wanted to do.  We actually moved in with no flooring anywhere downstairs except kitchen area and no stone on fireplace.  It was quite the adventure.  My kids were 3,5,6 and 9 when we started.  I recommend you not move in until it is complete.  Sometimes I dream of doing it again but I love this house so we will be staying at least for the foreseeable future.

Make sure you have water and sewer or that you can put in a septic.  Water in our state can really be expensive and hard to access.