Who makes a work truck with creature comforts?

[s219]

Hmm, depends on location, location,location. As the old adage goes. I purchased my original 20 treed acres for $45,000 back in 1993. Just raw land, but included water and power to edge of property. I built my house for $ 105,000, added 1 barn for $15,000 a shop for $10,000 all in 1996, added a carriage barn for $26,000 and about $10,000 in other work around 1999. Remodeled and completed basement, new cabinets and appliances in house in early 2000痴 at nearly $40,000. So i have some $260k into the place...
Let's say 300k with all misc junk one does, i could get nearly a million for it in Todays market. Had a newer house on 20 acres near me sell for 1.6 million A few weeks ago, after being on market for 2 days. What i hate is what might happen to my property tax base.

I am sure it is location based. Do you remember how much local land values took a hit (if any) during the recession? Here, the land lost 40-50% value and has only crept back maybe 10%. Now I happen to think it was becoming wildly overpriced leading up to the crash, so maybe we're more realistic now. But I am surprised our values haven't climbed more than 10%.

Some of my neighbors overpaid for land in 2006-2007 when this big farm/timber parcel was first split up into lots. Similar lots sold for 40-50% less after the crash (we bought in 2011). There was one lot in particular, 8 acres with a big waterfront on a tidal river. Beautiful land, way out of my league. It sold in 2015 for 40% less than the original 2007 price. I didn't have enough money to buy it before or after, but it went from being priced way out of my league to being something I could have at least thought about. When I got to chatting with the folks who bought it, I commented how good of a deal they got compared to the historic price and how lucky they were. Amazingly, they had no idea what the original asking price was and it blew their mind.

 

[grsthegreat]

When i purchased here no lots below 20 acres were allowed per septic system. Since then, they allow one septic per 5 acres. Nearly every development now is 5 acres. They keep trying to push this down to 1 acre. My 20 acre and 10 acre parcels become more rare and more valuable as time goes on.

 

[strantor]

The reason I want to buy a piece of land is to develop it and eventually move there. I have 2.5 acres currently because I was using a VA loan which is very strict. The VA home loan is only a HOME loan and their appraisal values only the home. Looking at homes on larger plots of land was a challenge because it had to be a steal of a deal in order for the land + home to fall within their appraisal of the home's value.

I want to live on more land, and to build/have built the home that I want on it.

I paid $200k for my place in 2015. My taxes are going up like crazy because houses around me have been selling for twice that. I realistically think I can get $350k for this place now. But the logistics of doing that is stressful to think of. I need somewhere to go. Nobody is going to buy the house and wait to move in until my house is built before moving in. And I have a lot of stuff. I would need a whole wing of a storage facility, and that storage facility would need a forklift onsite.

So the plan is (loosely, subject to several changes and/or abandonment)
1. Finance a larger piece of land with a land loan
2. Start moving my stuff over a bit at a time, into shipping containers.
3. Buy a cheap travel trailer or 3rd hand mobile home and drop it off at the new place. Move into the trailer as a temporary arrangement.
4. Sell this place and walk away with 6 digits in my pocket, use that to pay off the land I bought.
5. Get another VA (construction) loan to build the house I want, on land that I already own outright.

I hope this will result in me having about the same mortgage that I have right now, but for a much nicer house and on a much bigger property.

 

[oosik]

Well - strantor, your plan is very similar to what we did here. Made an obscene profit on the sale of our house in Alaska in '82. Moved down to this 80 acres that we already owned free & clear. Bought and build a Panabode cedar home.

We "lived" in an old cabin that renters had built on the property as we built our new house. Talk about SHARING. We finally decided - as long as the mice & chipmunks weren't actually in bed with us............. I still remember the nights, either the mice or munks running across my face. Miserable sleep, then up and working 14 hours every day to complete the new house.

Took us six months to complete the house. God - were we ever glad to get away from the rodents.

Yes - I retired in 1982 at the age of 40. I've been retired 38+ years now. Never regretted a day of it, either.

 

[strantor]

Well - strantor, your plan is very similar to what we did here. Made an obscene profit on the sale of our house in Alaska in '82. Moved down to this 80 acres that we already owned free & clear. Bought and build a Panabode cedar home.

We "lived" in an old cabin that renters had built on the property as we built our new house. Talk about SHARING. We finally decided - as long as the mice & chipmunks weren't actually in bed with us............. I still remember the nights, either the mice or munks running across my face. Miserable sleep, then up and working 14 hours every day to complete the new house.

Took us six months to complete the house. God - were we ever glad to get away from the rodents.

Yes - I retired in 1982 at the age of 40. I've been retired 38+ years now. Never regretted a day of it, either.

75% appreciation over 5 years is definitely decent I think. Not obscene, but good. I doubt I'll be retiring at 40 but I will (hopefully) be living in a situation that I am content with.

 

[strantor]

Apparently there IS double jeopardy on taxes. I downloaded the gift tax form and started to fill it out, then I saw where it has to be signed in front of a notary. My BIL is crippled and asking him to leave the house to get in front of a notary was more than I was willing to ask, especially after being given the truck, so I just did what I always do, and put a low-end-of-reasonable sale price on the paperwork. When I got in front of the lady at the tax office she noticed my name both on the previous owner and new owner fields, and said "oh, youve already owned this and paid taxes on it. You don't have to pay again." I was baffled. I thought "dang, about time that chance card works in my favor. Any chance I can collect the multiple other times I've already paid taxes on this thing." Thought it, but didn't say it. Didn't want to push the only luck I've every experienced in a government office.

 

[two_bit_score]

Probably a wise decision.

 

[strantor]

Well after driving the ol boomerang for over a week I have decided that I am not pleased with the seat. The cushion is 27 years old and doesn't have the feel that I'm sure it once did, and it slopes to one side. I spend 2.5hrs per day in that seat and if I'm not comfortable I'm going to be progressively less thrilled about driving it each time I leave the house. I've gotten spoiled driving my yukon; the seats are so comfy.

I set about looking for some used seats out of a luxury vehicle and found someone selling a set of Range Rover seats for $300. I showed up and offered $120 for just the front seats, settled at $150 for the pair. These seats have all the bells and whistles; heating, cooling, lumbar support, TVs in the headrests (that nobody will ever see) 19 axis motion, autonomous butt masseuse, fart extractors, air bidet, the whole nine.

I will now have to figure out how to control them. With all that gadgetry I assume there must be a brain to control it all. Is that brain in the seat or was it part of a scrapped Range Rover? Will see. I may end up having to make an improvised brain out of relays, just to control the basics. Hopefully I end up with something more comfy.

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^^^
Aside from the discomfort, if you don't have back problems now you soon will. Spending that much time behind the wheel sitting on a lopsided seat is not good.
Enjoy your new Range Rover seats.

 

[oosik]

It's been two months now and I can get thru the day w/out any pain killers. I still get stiff, aching joints when I sit too long. Stand & walk around - the pain is gone.

I never became addicted to the codine or morophine pain killers. However - the heated/massaging seats in the Taco Wagon - that's a different story.