Dream property available - WWYD?

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Dh and I have always wanted to own acreage. However, due to where we live, farming community where most properties are snapped up by the large farming conglomerates, it is nearly impossible to purchase property. 

This past weekend the (almost) perfect property came available. It has timber, tillable, a pond, and a stream. The house is a 140yo converted one room school house. That is the problem. There are obvious signs of termites, the floors slope, the ceilings are low (about 7 feet), the electrical and plumbing are outdated...the list of issues with the house is lengthy but is the only reason we could afford this property. The current septic is too close to the well and must be moved before a new mortgage could be taken out on the home and property. It's an estate so the property is being sold as is which means the new buyer is responsible for moving the septic.

We have been to the property and can afford it at the current price. We could afford to move the septic. What we cannot afford is to completely reno the house to bring it up to code and to fix the termite issues. The house is just under 1100 sf and only has one bathroom and isn't insulated. The electricity is twice what we currently pay; inspection reports claim this is due to outdated wiring and the lack of insulation. We also noticed tell tale signs of animal activity the attic.

I would like to investigate the idea of living in the house temporarily while building a new house on the tillable land. If we do that, we would have to bring in a prefab as we cannot afford to build a standard home and purchase the property.

I do not like the area we live in but buying this dream property and having everything I have always wanted in a home site would make living here until DH retires so much more palatable. The property would increase in value over time and, if we built a prefab home and continued to clean up and improve the property, we would make a nice profit when we leave here after DH's retirement.

Is anyone willing to talk about the pros and cons of a prefab? Is it worth doing when we know we'll be leaving in about 10 years?

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

Can you knock the home down and afford a manufactured home or to build something? It doesn’t sound worth renovating.

[Miss Tick]

2 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

Can you knock the home down and afford a manufactured home or to build something? It doesn’t sound worth renovating.

Yes, or renovate it into a studio, rather than a full time living space.

[lmrich]

How many people will be living in the house? How handy are you? Or how willing are you to learn to do new projects? Can you handlle a litttle (a lot) of chaos?  

 

I am concerned about the termites. I would want to get rid of those before building. Can you give a lower offer and have some  extra money to take care of the urgent  issues? 

[Faith-manor]

45 minutes ago, Granny_Weatherwax said:

Dh and I have always wanted to own acreage. However, due to where we live, farming community where most properties are snapped up by the large farming conglomerates, it is nearly impossible to purchase property. 

This past weekend the (almost) perfect property came available. It has timber, tillable, a pond, and a stream. The house is a 140yo converted one room school house. That is the problem. There are obvious signs of termites, the floors slope, the ceilings are low (about 7 feet), the electrical and plumbing are outdated...the list of issues with the house is lengthy but is the only reason we could afford this property. The current septic is too close to the well and must be moved before a new mortgage could be taken out on the home and property. It's an estate so the property is being sold as is which means the new buyer is responsible for moving the septic.

We have been to the property and can afford it at the current price. We could afford to move the septic. What we cannot afford is to completely reno the house to bring it up to code and to fix the termite issues. The house is just under 1100 sf and only has one bathroom and isn't insulated. The electricity is twice what we currently pay; inspection reports claim this is due to outdated wiring and the lack of insulation. We also noticed tell tale signs of animal activity the attic.

I would like to investigate the idea of living in the house temporarily while building a new house on the tillable land. If we do that, we would have to bring in a prefab as we cannot afford to build a standard home and purchase the property.

I do not like the area we live in but buying this dream property and having everything I have always wanted in a home site would make living here until DH retires so much more palatable. The property would increase in value over time and, if we built a prefab home and continued to clean up and improve the property, we would make a nice profit when we leave here after DH's retirement.

Is anyone willing to talk about the pros and cons of a prefab? Is it worth doing when we know we'll be leaving in about 10 years?

I would demolish the schoolhouse. It probably isn't salvageable. Get the property if that is your dream. Then you could, while you save money to build, throw up a cabin from a kit (there are some nice ones out there), and hook up to the existing septic and electric in order to finish out a bathroom and kitchen in the cabin. Treat for termites first and go with a pole barn style cabin as the steel outer shell will deter termites. There are a lot of fairly effective treatments for termites. We have a company come annually at the Alabama house and inspect and treat. It is working well. No termites in a region that had a real problem with them.

I am not a fan of mobile and double wide and prefab homes. They do not retain any value in our area, and delivery and set up has become so high, that it is rarely much less trouble and expense than just building a simple home from scratch. but, a kit cabin is not near the expense, and later on it can become a farm out building or garage for the home you build.

[prairiewindmomma]

Because it is a 140 year old school house, is it a historical building with restrictions on demolition/change in structure or style?

[Carol in Cal.]

Buy it!

[Bambam]

How many years till your DH retires and you move away from that area? 
Are you both in good enough health and 'free' on the weekends/holidays/vacations to work on this property? Is that what you want to do with your spare time/money?  

Personally, unless I knew I was going to be there for 15-20 years, I wouldn't do it. I would only do it if I could afford to live where I am and have someone build me a house because there is no way I would want to live in a house with bugs and animal activity. To me it sounds like the house might have other environmental issues - and I am not willing to risk living in that environment and potentially damaging our health. 

I'm questioning the land increasing in value too. Here land and houses went up significantly (like 50%) over the pandemic as people rushed to move in our area for a variety of reasons. Houses are now decreasing in value, and I'm sure land is sure to follow. I don't think the increase in value is sustainable. 

Building a house takes time. It is stressful. They get things wrong and it is a struggle to get them to do it right. Then they can't work because XYZ reason, so it takes longer than it should.  That is also something I don't want to live through again! (Neighborhood, specific house plans, approved builders, so probably way easier than a build where you can define everything and have to find your own builder)
 

[Boymama5]

Before doing anything I’d check with the local zoning and see what you can do in the land. Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you can build a new home. Or move septic and so on. 
 
Personally I understand the dream but wouldn’t do it. Cause this really isn’t the dream land for you right not!

[Terabith]

I know this is the dream, but it sounds like it could easily turn into a nightmare.

[Jaybee]

2 hours ago, Bambam said:

Personally, unless I knew I was going to be there for 15-20 years, I wouldn't do it.

Yeah, this is where I land. If it was where you hope to retire, then that would be different.

[prairiewindmomma]

WWID?

For 10 years, I wouldn’t do it unless I was so flush with cash that buying the land, demoing the old house, and putting in a new one didn’t cause strain.

Some dreams don’t get fulfilled. I have a few that won’t be, due to practicalities, and acknowledgment that the stress required to make the dream happen would be so large that it it’s not worth the trade off.

In your shoes, I would be budgeting out for insulation and new siding and wiring. Dumping $40-60k fixing up a house while we lived in it makes more sense for re-sale in ten years than having to pay $30k to demo an old property and then paying to put in a prefab home. Prefabs are little better than RVs. They wear badly, are no good in a serious storm, and don’t retain value. If I had to build new, a cabin kit is the way to go.

Also, depending on how much acreage you have, don’t forget to budget for a tractor or riding lawn mower or both. 

 

[Boymama5]

18 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

 

Also, depending on how much acreage you have, don’t forget to budget for a tractor or riding lawn mower or both. 

 

Yes to this!  I was coming back to add this in. As someone who also had the dream and is living it, there is so much more time and money involved in keeping up the dream than we anticipated. The advantage for us is that we are planning on being here long term (at least 20-30 if no longer), we purchased smaller than we wanted so we could better afford it and we purchased a property that was maintained (house, septic and so on we’re good). Still there are added costs with caring for property that sound like they aren’t in your current budget that would give me pause. It’s the reason we had to pass on so many properties that were what we thought the dream. So glad we didn’t go that route!

[Corraleno]

I would not buy land and put a mobile home or prefab on it with the idea of selling for a profit in a few years; I'd only do that if I loved the area and planned to retire there permanently so that resale value wouldn't be an issue. If I didn't plan to stay there permanently, I would only buy the property if I could afford to reno the existing house or build a new one.

A historic building like a 140 year old schoolhouse, reno'd to modern standards, would definitely increase in value, vs a mobile/prefab which will almost certainly lose value over time. If it were me, I'd take the existing house down to studs, tent it for termites, remove the attic and vault the ceilings, and add on a primary suite. If you could do some of the work yourself (especially demo) and get a loan for the rest, I think that could be a good investment.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Corraleno

[Mom_to3]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

I know this is the dream, but it sounds like it could easily turn into a nightmare.

That is exactly my feeling. For 10 years, and with that hassle - not worth it.

[Bambam]

People have a good point about just the time a larger property takes. 

We have 2.5 acres - which is pretty small compared to what you are talking about. About 1 acre is fenced, and the rest is not. It takes me a couple of hours+ to just mow it (riding lawn mower). Add in edging around trees/landscaping in front, raised beds/fence in back, through in another couple of hours.  Fortunately I don't have to mow the extra 1.5 acres every week (I'm sure my two golf-course yard neighbors would appreciate if I did, but I have a bunch of wildflowers planted, and grass is much more drought tolerant if it is higher!).  Friends with more land, more trees still spend a fair amount of time cleaning underbrush, trying to keep down fire danger. 

Add in yearly tree pruning as the limbs get down too low so they bother me on the tractor - probably 2 weekends spring and fall- dragging chain saw/ladder out to get up high enough to trim, dragging those limbs to the burn pile (hope you aren't in a burn ban!), use prunes or hatchet to make them smaller so to fit better, repeat every year.  

Add in septic tank maintenance contract + empty fees (my DH went to the training, so he can maintain ours without a contract, but most folks here pay $200-$400/year just for the contract. All new septics here must be aerobic, so pricey. And I don't think they are supposed to spray on anything you might consider eating. 

So, I would definitely talk to any friends who have land in your area to talk about estimates for regular minimal maintenance - both time + costs. We got our lawn tractor from a neighbor who was moving so it was much cheaper than new (~$3K new and it is fairly small), and semi-regularly my DH has to work on it. Replace a tire, sharpen the blades, etc - nothing too big, but it takes time and money. 

This place was lovely when our kids were still at home and could help. Now it really is too much since I have a bad knee. Mowing is just riding around, but often my knee stiffens up and it is hard to get off lawn tractor! 

Throw in some moles now. And a major amount of June bugs this year - which means grubs, and we really need to do something about those too. Always something else to tend to. 

[ScoutTN]

On 5/31/2023 at 3:57 PM, Mom_to3 said:

That is exactly my feeling. For 10 years, and with that hassle - not worth it.

This.

I would not do it. Sounds as though it will consume every minute and every dollar. Nope. I’d sink that time into your family, your dogs, your work and the money into retirement. Travel and get away more if you don’t love your area. 

Edited June 2, 2023 by ScoutTN

[pinball]

8 hours ago, Granny_Weatherwax said:

Dh and I have always wanted to own acreage. However, due to where we live, farming community where most properties are snapped up by the large farming conglomerates, it is nearly impossible to purchase property. 

This past weekend the (almost) perfect property came available. It has timber, tillable, a pond, and a stream. The house is a 140yo converted one room school house. That is the problem. There are obvious signs of termites, the floors slope, the ceilings are low (about 7 feet), the electrical and plumbing are outdated...the list of issues with the house is lengthy but is the only reason we could afford this property. The current septic is too close to the well and must be moved before a new mortgage could be taken out on the home and property. It's an estate so the property is being sold as is which means the new buyer is responsible for moving the septic.

We have been to the property and can afford it at the current price. We could afford to move the septic. What we cannot afford is to completely reno the house to bring it up to code and to fix the termite issues. The house is just under 1100 sf and only has one bathroom and isn't insulated. The electricity is twice what we currently pay; inspection reports claim this is due to outdated wiring and the lack of insulation. We also noticed tell tale signs of animal activity the attic.

I would like to investigate the idea of living in the house temporarily while building a new house on the tillable land. If we do that, we would have to bring in a prefab as we cannot afford to build a standard home and purchase the property.

I do not like the area we live in but buying this dream property and having everything I have always wanted in a home site would make living here until DH retires so much more palatable. The property would increase in value over time and, if we built a prefab home and continued to clean up and improve the property, we would make a nice profit when we leave here after DH's retirement.

Is anyone willing to talk about the pros and cons of a prefab? Is it worth doing when we know we'll be leaving in about 10 years?

1100 sq ft and 1 bathroom is fine…entire neighborhoods are made up of homes like this.

If I had enough money to make it safe with the electricity and meet all codes, I’d do it. I wouldn’t even buy another house to live in.

I think if you are willing to live there temporarily while building a new home,or prefab or getting a double wide, I bet you’d be fine with staying in it a lot longer…like 10 years. LOL

i think a bigger issue is if there is another person who also thinks they found their dream property and are more ready to jump in

[Ausmumof3]

I might do it. We did something similar but at a different stage of life. It did take a tonne of time and energy in the early years and still keeps us poor. But it was worth it at our stage for the freedom it gave the kids. 

[Innisfree]

Others have said a lot of what occurs to me. The other thing I’d want to check is the flood predictions for the area, not just now, but for the foreseeable future. When you mention a pond, stream, and arable land where you could build, that’s where my mind goes: often the easiest land to build on is relatively flat flood plain along a watercourse, but longer term that’s not where you want to be. Here’s a site where you can check your property for a variety of risks: 

https://riskfactor.com/?utm_source=floodfactor

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, pinball said:

1100 sq ft and 1 bathroom is fine…entire neighborhoods are made up of homes like this.

If I had enough money to make it safe with the electricity and meet all codes, I’d do it. I wouldn’t even buy another house to live in.

I think if you are willing to live there temporarily while building a new home,or prefab or getting a double wide, I bet you’d be fine with staying in it a lot longer…like 10 years. LOL

i think a bigger issue is if there is another person who also thinks they found their dream property and are more ready to jump in

Yeah, but termites are not.  

[wisdomandtreasures]

Run!

[-----]

It sounds like it could seriously cut into your retirement savings to rebuild this house.  And if I didn't like the area anyway, there's no way I would get tangled up in something like that which could drag on for years to come.

We bought an older house (60's) and are having to redo a lot of things in it.  But I LOVE where we live (Texas).  I want to stay here until I die.  😉  As I tell my dh, I was born in TX and I'll die in TX.  lol

Edited June 1, 2023 by kathyl

[Lecka]

Would it qualify for a mortgage and insurance?  
 

I don’t know how some scenarios work, but sometimes there are houses that need expensive repairs that aren’t going to be done by the sellers, and they are just going to have to go to cash buyers.

 

I don’t know if the sellers would end up negotiating to pay for some things if they couldn’t sell the house otherwise?  Sometimes it can work out in the contract.  
 

I think there might be things like this you could find out by asking a realtor?  

[Momof4sweetkids]

We bought our dream land with a house that needs a lot of work. When we bought it, we planned to build a new house and use the current as a shop or storage. Between dh getting a pay cut, utility costs and inflation, we can't afford to build. DH is fixing the current house, mostly himself to save money. He's redone electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. We love the land so it's worth it to us but it's way more time and money than we anticipated. 

Instead of a prefab, could you do something like an on your lot builder where they have a few layouts and cosmetic options to choose from? That's what we were planning to do before deciding not to build and it's much cheaper than a custom build.

[Storygirl]

I would only do this if I planned for it to be my forever home. Selling in 10 years wouldn't be worth the huge amount of work and expense of making it habitable. And you can't depend on the housing market to be better in a decade.

My sister and her husband bought a property that they loved that has a small, weird house on it. They are living in the small house while building a new house right next to it, then they will knock the little house down. It took them years to make this final plan (they had other ideas first) and find builders, and it has been a huge amount of work. But their little house was habitable, just weird and not what they wanted, so they were able to sell their other home and use the proceeds to fund this project.

They bought this to be near their only daughter and her family and plan to live there forever, so it's worth it for them. What you describe would only be worth it if you would LOVE the laborious and expensive process of turning it into your dream home and property. And then be willing to pass it on to someone else.

I would save the money and buy something you love in your new location when you retire.

[Carrie12345]

I wouldn’t do it for a 10 year stay.  
I would do it for a gonna-die-here stay IF I believed I had plenty of physically fit years ahead of me and could afford help after that.

Getting our 1.25 acre property fixed up from raw land has been hard work this spring. It has made me question what I’ll be able to manage down the road. I’m aiming for plenty, but…

[Teaching3bears]

If you decided to do this with a prefab or some other type of new house on the land, could you turn the schoolhouse into a museum?  

[vonfirmath]

11 hours ago, kathyl said:

It sounds like it could seriously cut into your retirement savings to rebuild this house.  And if I didn't like the area anyway, there's no way I would get tangled up in something like that which could drag on for years to come.

We bought an older house (60's) and are having to redo a lot of things in it.  But I LOVE where we live (Texas).  I want to stay here until I die.  😉  As I tell my dh, I was born in TX and I'll die in TX.  lol

I was not born in Texas but I grew up here (From my 4th birthday on. So as long as I remember). I moved away and came back and yeah -- I'm okay staying here forever now.

Edited June 1, 2023 by vonfirmath

[Granny_Weatherwax]

On 5/31/2023 at 8:41 AM, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

Can you knock the home down and afford a manufactured home or to build something? It doesn’t sound worth renovating.

This is our initial idea.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

On 5/31/2023 at 8:44 AM, lmrich said:

How many people will be living in the house? How handy are you? Or how willing are you to learn to do new projects? Can you handlle a litttle (a lot) of chaos?  

 

I am concerned about the termites. I would want to get rid of those before building. Can you give a lower offer and have some  extra money to take care of the urgent  issues? 

2 people

Kinda handy but willing to learn and provide labor. Definitely could handle chaos as long as there is progress. Chaos for chaos' sake, not so much.

We would use the profits from our current house for the down payment and immediate needs.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

On 5/31/2023 at 8:47 AM, Faith-manor said:

I would demolish the schoolhouse. It probably isn't salvageable. Get the property if that is your dream. Then you could, while you save money to build, throw up a cabin from a kit (there are some nice ones out there), and hook up to the existing septic and electric in order to finish out a bathroom and kitchen in the cabin. Treat for termites first and go with a pole barn style cabin as the steel outer shell will deter termites. There are a lot of fairly effective treatments for termites. We have a company come annually at the Alabama house and inspect and treat. It is working well. No termites in a region that had a real problem with them.

I am not a fan of mobile and double wide and prefab homes. They do not retain any value in our area, and delivery and set up has become so high, that it is rarely much less trouble and expense than just building a simple home from scratch. but, a kit cabin is not near the expense, and later on it can become a farm out building or garage for the home you build.

One of the issues with using the existing utilities is that the septic and the well are too close together and any new construction would require the septic to be moved. It's one of the reasons the property is affordable. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

23 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Because it is a 140 year old school house, is it a historical building with restrictions on demolition/change in structure or style?

I hadn't thought of this but called the realtor and asked. As far as he knows, there are no restrictions. The house has already been modified and, unless you knew it was a school house, it no longer looks like a school house. No one the realtor asked even knows the original name of the school and no one has been interested enough to research it.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

21 hours ago, Bambam said:

How many years till your DH retires and you move away from that area? About 8

Are you both in good enough health and 'free' on the weekends/holidays/vacations to work on this property? Is that what you want to do with your spare time/money?  Yes and we would love to work on this property

Personally, unless I knew I was going to be there for 15-20 years, I wouldn't do it. I would only do it if I could afford to live where I am and have someone build me a house because there is no way I would want to live in a house with bugs and animal activity. To me it sounds like the house might have other environmental issues - and I am not willing to risk living in that environment and potentially damaging our health. 

I'm questioning the land increasing in value too. Here land and houses went up significantly (like 50%) over the pandemic as people rushed to move in our area for a variety of reasons. Houses are now decreasing in value, and I'm sure land is sure to follow. I don't think the increase in value is sustainable. Our area never saw the increase the rest of the country did so there is no expectation for a decrease. This particular property is only this affordable because of the condition of the house. If everything was repaired and brought up to code, it will increase in value. It's also timber with deer hunting options, has a pond, and a creek. 

Building a house takes time. It is stressful. They get things wrong and it is a struggle to get them to do it right. Then they can't work because XYZ reason, so it takes longer than it should.  That is also something I don't want to live through again! (Neighborhood, specific house plans, approved builders, so probably way easier than a build where you can define everything and have to find your own builder) This is why we were thinking prefabricated. Just pick a style and have it moved in place. We would be happy with a nice ranch house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
 

 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

20 hours ago, Jaybee said:

Yeah, this is where I land. If it was where you hope to retire, then that would be different.

But 8-10 years of having a dream come true versus not giving it a chance at all? Isn't there some value in that? We know we could never buy this much land in the state we want to retire to or anywhere else for that matter. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Just for reference, our niece and her DH live in CO and just purchased a similar sized property (better house, no timber) for almost a million. This property is less than $200,000. Valued because it's an estate and the house needs so much work and does not qualify for a conventional mortgage:  the septic has to be moved, the termites, no central air due to a boiler, etc. If the house was move in ready, this property would be well over $400,000. The property cannot be sold separately from the house due to the house's location on the property. The realtor informed us that if the house and property could be separated, the property would be sold for more than $250,000 with the house being sold for under $30,000 and that is mostly because of the garage and the acre surrounding the house.

Edited June 1, 2023 by Granny_Weatherwax

[Granny_Weatherwax]

18 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

WWID?

For 10 years, I wouldn’t do it unless I was so flush with cash that buying the land, demoing the old house, and putting in a new one didn’t cause strain.

Some dreams don’t get fulfilled. I have a few that won’t be, due to practicalities, and acknowledgment that the stress required to make the dream happen would be so large that it it’s not worth the trade off.

In your shoes, I would be budgeting out for insulation and new siding and wiring. Dumping $40-60k fixing up a house while we lived in it makes more sense for re-sale in ten years than having to pay $30k to demo an old property and then paying to put in a prefab home. Prefabs are little better than RVs. They wear badly, are no good in a serious storm, and don’t retain value. If I had to build new, a cabin kit is the way to go.

Also, depending on how much acreage you have, don’t forget to budget for a tractor or riding lawn mower or both. 

 

I looked up kit cabins, and wow, are there some nice ones.

Tractor isn't necessary due to 95% of the land being timber or pond. Riding lawnmower is fine. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

17 hours ago, pinball said:

1100 sq ft and 1 bathroom is fine…entire neighborhoods are made up of homes like this.

If I had enough money to make it safe with the electricity and meet all codes, I’d do it. I wouldn’t even buy another house to live in.

I think if you are willing to live there temporarily while building a new home,or prefab or getting a double wide, I bet you’d be fine with staying in it a lot longer…like 10 years. LOL

i think a bigger issue is if there is another person who also thinks they found their dream property and are more ready to jump in

Yeah, I am also concerned about others wanting the property. It has multiple showings daily but no offers yet. Mainly because it doesn't qualify for a standard mortgage. We are in the position that, with the sale of our current home and cash reserves, we would have enough to put down to qualify for a different type of loan through DH's employers credit union. We have asked about this already. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

16 hours ago, Innisfree said:

Others have said a lot of what occurs to me. The other thing I’d want to check is the flood predictions for the area, not just now, but for the foreseeable future. When you mention a pond, stream, and arable land where you could build, that’s where my mind goes: often the easiest land to build on is relatively flat flood plain along a watercourse, but longer term that’s not where you want to be. Here’s a site where you can check your property for a variety of risks: 

https://riskfactor.com/?utm_source=floodfactor

Flood risk is 1. Fire risk is 1. Heat risk is 2. Wind risk is 2. But it is the midwest prairie so those are expected.

Both the pond and stream are downhill from the current house and the possible future home site. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

12 hours ago, Lecka said:

Would it qualify for a mortgage and insurance?  
 

I don’t know how some scenarios work, but sometimes there are houses that need expensive repairs that aren’t going to be done by the sellers, and they are just going to have to go to cash buyers.

 

I don’t know if the sellers would end up negotiating to pay for some things if they couldn’t sell the house otherwise?  Sometimes it can work out in the contract.  
 

I think there might be things like this you could find out by asking a realtor?  

This is an estate sale where both the husband and wife have passed away and the remaining family does not want to deal with the property. The house is being sold as-is so the sellers are not going to do anything except remove the remaining furniture and personal items and even some of those are negotiable (like the riding lawn mower, the row boat).

[Granny_Weatherwax]

4 hours ago, Teaching3bears said:

If you decided to do this with a prefab or some other type of new house on the land, could you turn the schoolhouse into a museum?  

No, there has been so much alteration done over the years, it doesn't even look like a school house anymore. We were surprised when the realtor told us that is what is was.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

11 hours ago, Storygirl said:

I would only do this if I planned for it to be my forever home. Selling in 10 years wouldn't be worth the huge amount of work and expense of making it habitable. And you can't depend on the housing market to be better in a decade.

My sister and her husband bought a property that they loved that has a small, weird house on it. They are living in the small house while building a new house right next to it, then they will knock the little house down. It took them years to make this final plan (they had other ideas first) and find builders, and it has been a huge amount of work. But their little house was habitable, just weird and not what they wanted, so they were able to sell their other home and use the proceeds to fund this project.

They bought this to be near their only daughter and her family and plan to live there forever, so it's worth it for them. What you describe would only be worth it if you would LOVE the laborious and expensive process of turning it into your dream home and property. And then be willing to pass it on to someone else.

I would save the money and buy something you love in your new location when you retire.

And this is the rub...we would never be able to afford this much land with timber and water in any other location. If this land were in CO (our home state and where we would eventually like to end up), it would be well over $1million. We are young enough now to be able to do the things that need to be done. Who knows what will happen in 8-10 years. CO is not going to get any cheaper, so wouldn't it be nice to be able to buy the property now and live the dream, no matter how difficult, while we can?

 

[Carol in Cal.]

I am concerned that the septic/well proximity might mean that there is a genuine and serious health risk of living here, and that it might be difficult to find another legal site for the septic given the water on the property.  I’d focus pretty hard on that question before finalizing anything.

[Lecka]

Can you get a quote for remediating the septic?  That would provide a huge amount of information. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

25 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I am concerned that the septic/well proximity might mean that there is a genuine and serious health risk of living here, and that it might be difficult to find another legal site for the septic given the water on the property.  I’d focus pretty hard on that question before finalizing anything.

Yes, this is our biggest concern; that and the termites. The current septic is close to the well and uphill from the pond. We are concerned about leeching into the pond and how safe the well water is. The current well is 125 ft deep.

 

Edited: looked up the statutes and the leech field has to be a minimum of 100 feet from the pond. It is definitely more than 100ft but it is uphill from the pond. I am concerned about the run off. I wonder how much it would cost to have the pond water tested?

The leech field must be a minimum of 75 feet from a closed loop well system. It is not currently 75 feet away, maybe 50.

The septic tank must be a minimum of 50 feet from a closed loop well system, It is not. It is 37 feet (the realtor measured for me when we were on our first tour). 

 

DH and I owned a couple of acres a few miles away from this property when we first moved here. We had to replace that septic system after a couple of years so we knew the basic distance between a well and a septic but not the leech field to a pond.

Edited June 1, 2023 by Granny_Weatherwax

[Granny_Weatherwax]

Dh just returned home from work and informed me that four of the guys he works with have also looked at the property and all four said the same thing: house is crap and the price needs to be reduced in order to make it affordable to bring it up to code. None are making offers. As a result, DH is no longer interested and has asked me to let it go.

My daydreams have been filled with walks through the property with my dogs, floating on the pond while reading, watching the deer from the back porch.

So now I deal with disappointment. At least I know more about kit cabins, leech fields, and tenting for termites.

[Lecka]

Maybe it will come back on the market with different terms, if it doesn’t sell this way.  It could happen!  
 

That’s disappointing!!!!!!!!

[Catwoman]

18 minutes ago, Granny_Weatherwax said:

Dh just returned home from work and informed me that four of the guys he works with have also looked at the property and all four said the same thing: house is crap and the price needs to be reduced in order to make it affordable to bring it up to code. None are making offers. As a result, DH is no longer interested and has asked me to let it go.

My daydreams have been filled with walks through the property with my dogs, floating on the pond while reading, watching the deer from the back porch.

So now I deal with disappointment. At least I know more about kit cabins, leech fields, and tenting for termites.

Why not just make an offer on the house anyway, even if it's quite low? You could enclose a letter to the sellers explaining why your offer is so low, and detail the scope of the work that needs to be done.

If they reject your offer, that will be disappointing, but at least you'll know you tried. And if they reject your offer right now, you can respond to their rejection and tell them that they can feel free to have their realtor contact yours if they change their minds about reducing the price at a later date.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

6 minutes ago, Lecka said:

Maybe it will come back on the market with different terms, if it doesn’t sell this way.  It could happen!  
 

That’s disappointing!!!!!!!!

It's still on the market. Has only been listed for 7 days. My guess is one of the farmers who own the bordering properties will assume it. It is bordered on three sides by larger farms. One of the farmers owns the current hunting rights and I wonder if he'll buy it.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

1 minute ago, Catwoman said:

Why not just make an offer on the house anyway, even if it's quite low? You could enclose a letter to the sellers explaining why your offer is so low, and detail the scope of the work that needs to be done.

If they reject your offer, that will be disappointing, but at least you'll know you tried. And if they reject your offer right now, you can respond to their rejection and tell them that they can feel free to have their realtor contact yours if they change their minds about reducing the price at a later date.

That's what I suggested but DH doesn't want to tie up any funds in earnest money for a slim chance. 

[Catwoman]

29 minutes ago, Granny_Weatherwax said:

That's what I suggested but DH doesn't want to tie up any funds in earnest money for a slim chance. 

But wouldn't the earnest money only be held for a few days, while the sellers made their decision to accept, reject, or counter your offer?