Just bought 6 acre of land. Now what???

[Dftodd]

My wife and I close in a few weeks on 6 acres of land out in the country.

We've been racking our brains, trying to figure out which direction we go with it.

The first option is having a Barndominium built. That's just gonna depend on the time frame, budget, what the payment will be for the building loan, interest rate , etc......

I'm gonna call a local builder that specializes in them tomorrow and ask a bunch of questions, the process, and see if they can even work with what we want for a budget. (We're cheap as F--- and try to make sure our bills are covered by one income)

The second option is having a double wide on the property. We actually went out this weekend and looked at those. Found a couple we liked.

The third option is to have power, water, and septic dropped on the property. Have a 20x30 shop installed as well as a 16x40 awning and live in an RV

City water is run on the property side of the road. So, all they need to do is tap the line and install the meter.

Power and internet are across the street. So all we need to do his have a pole set.

Land has quite a few mature oaks, but they are spread out comfortably, so land clearing shouldn't be too big of a deal. There's quite a bit of scrub. So I'm considering renting a skid steer with cutter for a weekend and do some bush whacking. Then, take a week off and get a 10,000lb mini excavator with thumb to deal with the trees.

Sold my tractor a couple years ago so I wouldn't have to store it while renting Tractor also was developing issues and I was tired of tracking down parts for a Grey market kubota.

We get in and get settled, I'll go tractor shopping

Here's a couple of pictures. The property line has been staked on the sides. I'll have to get out there with a 300-foot tape, though, to see if the outside of both lots are what's staked. Or if it's just the upper lot.

I have a feeling it's just the upper lot that was staked since the previous owner was planning to build and started the process with septic and water permits.

Ignore my finger in the bottom left of the photo

 

[tfuller]

Before commiting to the idea of living in an RV you might want to check with the county. Most places won't allow that or if they do it is via a temporary permit while you are constructing a home.

 

[K5lwq]

Before commiting to the idea of living in an RV you might want to check with the county. Most places won't allow that or if they do it is via a temporary permit while you are constructing a home.

Never heard of that before. Some HOAs maybe but never a county. I know several people that live in RVs around here.

 

[oosik]

I would recommend that you build now with your future plans for the property in mind. It's not going to get any cheaper in the future. Probably worth checking on what tfuller posted - #2. The only restriction here - lot size is minimum 20 acres. All the land around here is zoned - open space or agricultural. We have folks trying to live in tents - RV's - double wides - stick built.

Of course - I'm located very remote - way out in the sticks. Nearest neighbor is miles away.

 

[airbiscuit]

You're going to have fun with that property. I like the barndominium or RV options. The double wide might seem okay first, but not longer term I fear.

 

[jjeff]

When I built my cabin in the UP needed a temp permit to reside in a 20' trailer while building also you may have minimum building size to have in order to live in your new home. I'm sure you'd be upset if you were building and a stop work order was stuck on your window.

 

[Dftodd]

Before commiting to the idea of living in an RV you might want to check with the county. Most places won't allow that or if they do it is via a temporary permit while you are constructing a home.

Maybe in your area. If the deed is unrestricted here, you can live in whatever you feel like for how ever long you want.

 

[ovrszd]

I'm excited for you. Looking forward to random updating posts. That property will occupy a lot of your "free" time. Which is the goal. Perfect!!!

 

[Dftodd]

You're going to have fun with that property. I like the barndominium or RV options. The double wide might seem okay first, but not longer term I fear.

Actually, Barndominiums and double wides fall into the same category here if the double wide is on a permanent foundation as far as resale goes.

If we decided to go the doublewide route, we already factored in the permanent foundation.

We looked at several of each when house hunting. What people have been selling them for here the past couple of years will blow you away.

I prefer the bardominium as well. But the big issue is we got stuck in a high-end rental property when we sold our house. There is only one property manager locally that would rent to us because of our German shepherd. And they specialize in luxury rentals. But you pay for it. At the time, they had very little inventory and currently have waiting lists for their cheaper inventory.

Getting a Barndominium built will depend on what the construction loan will cost us monthly.

I'll know more once I call the builder tomorrow locally that specializes in them.

 

[ovrszd]

We had a construction loan for 10 months. We had to pay the interest on whatever the balance that we had drawn by the end of each month. We sold our property that we lived on at the 8th month and applied all of that to the construction loan. So our "building finance costs" were pretty cheap. We dealt with our local Bank. They were awesome. Never showed them a single invoice. When we needed money we simply called them and they put the amount in our checking account. We had our 150 acre farm for collateral so they weren't worried.

 

[jaxs]

In my experience mobile homes,prefab and double wides have poorest return on investment of the options you named. My son and granddaughter both just moved into their Barndominiums after living in efficiency shops while building. Granddaughter and her husband wanted guest quarters which made the shop a good investment. Son and his wife will have an entertainment area and pool so their efficiency will serve them well.
Talk to your insurace agent about savings of metal roof and siding.
I have some friends that have lived in a rv for over 10 years and are well satisfied. They built a shop with a finished room and full bath and overhang to park rv under. Rv sits about 5 feet from shop wall and connected by a room with doors on all 4 walls. There's a 12" break between room and rv with flexiable material fill which allows movement. Step to rv were replaced with carpeted stairs. Living room furniture was removed and residential dining set put in its place. The rv serves for bedroom,bath (another bath in shop) kitchen and dining. Room in shop serves as den/family room and full bath.

 

[jjeff]

Maybe in your area. If the deed is unrestricted here, you can live in whatever you feel like for how ever long you want.

I believe even if it's a unrestricted deed you still have to follow county and township ordinances. Fortunately for you it sounds like your getting a contractor who should know all local ordinances and handle all permits and coordinate with subs. One of the most gratifying things I've done involving construction was revitalize, develop, for personal use an abondoned 3acre parcell in the UP.
Good luck.

 

[Dftodd]

When I built my cabin in the UP needed a temp permit to reside in a 20' trailer while building also you may have minimum building size to have in order to live in your new home. I'm sure you'd be upset if you were building and a stop work order was stuck on your window.

The only time building size comes into play here is if you purchase property with deed restrictions. And it's required that the purchaser be notified up front. Then they can dictate minimum square footage, building materials, finishes, floor plan etc....

My last property was restricted, but the only restriction was no mobile homes. But I purchased a house, so the restriction wasn't really applicable except for me being notified of the fact during disclosure.

I specifically was looking for and purchased property that had no restrictions, so I can do whatever I felt like with it.

 

[Yander]

How about a large (300sf) Tiny home? I would do that if I had no kids at home but a little hard with kids. But probably not any harder than an RV. The tiny home if built on a trailer could be sold later too.

I've proposed that idea to one of my sons. I would absolutely live in one.

 

[jjeff]

The only time building size comes into play here is if you purchase property with deed restrictions. And it's required that the purchaser be notified up front. Then they can dictate minimum square footage, building materials, finishes, floor plan etc....

My last property was restricted, but the only restriction was no mobile homes. But I purchased a house, so the restriction wasn't really applicable except for me being notified of the fact during disclosure.

I specifically was looking for and purchased property that had no restrictions, so I can do whatever I felt like with it.

Interesting, when I built my place, I was unaware of minimum size requirements by the township/county until I applied for my building permit and reviewed township regulations. 600 sq ft minimum for a mobile home or traditionally built to get a building and eventually occupancy permit specifically. And my place is pretty far in the stix.

 

[ovrszd]

My wife and I have been together 20yrs. She's a "city" girl. Never lived anywhere that didn't have restrictions or codes. I was living on 20 acres with house and shop when we got together. We lived there 15 years. Then we built our house and shop here on our farm. She was very concerned about meeting codes, restrictions, and pleasing inspectors. It took a couple weeks before I convinced her there were none. The final point was made when I took her to the Courthouse and into the Assessor's office. "Lila, tell Terry what we need for permits, etc., to build our house". Lila said nothing, do whatever you want. Terry was speechless. I love where I live. Especially when people talk about living rural but then dealing with all sorts of limitations.

 

[Eagle1]

My wife and I have been together 20yrs. She's a "city" girl. Never lived anywhere that didn't have restrictions or codes. I was living on 20 acres with house and shop when we got together. We lived there 15 years. Then we built our house and shop here on our farm. She was very concerned about meeting codes, restrictions, and pleasing inspectors. It took a couple weeks before I convinced her there were none. The final point was made when I took her to the Courthouse and into the Assessor's office. "Lila, tell Terry what we need for permits, etc., to build our house". Lila said nothing, do whatever you want. Terry was speechless. I love where I live. Especially when people talk about living rural but then dealing with all sorts of limitations.

Sounds like our county. No permits, inspections or codes unless you need septic and have less than 5 acres then you have to pay for a permit.
Also need some paperwork to bury someone on your property if you want to be legal, not needed for livestock or other animals.

 

[jjeff]

My wife and I have been together 20yrs. She's a "city" girl. Never lived anywhere that didn't have restrictions or codes. I was living on 20 acres with house and shop when we got together. We lived there 15 years. Then we built our house and shop here on our farm. She was very concerned about meeting codes, restrictions, and pleasing inspectors. It took a couple weeks before I convinced her there were none. The final point was made when I took her to the Courthouse and into the Assessor's office. "Lila, tell Terry what we need for permits, etc., to build our house". Lila said nothing, do whatever you want. Terry was speechless. I love where I live. Especially when people talk about living rural but then dealing with all sorts of limitations.

For me anyway there was no way I was going to put that much time and money into something and not have it legitimate. Permits help hold diy folks and a few cobbler contractors to some standards imo.

 

[ovrszd]

Sounds like our county. No permits, inspections or codes unless you need septic and have less than 5 acres then you have to pay for a permit.
Also need some paperwork to bury someone on your property if you want to be legal, not needed for livestock or other animals.

We have a lot of old abandoned hand dug wells.

 

[Eagle1]

For me anyway there was no way I was going to put that much time and money into something and not have it legitimate. Permits help hold diy folks and a few cobbler contractors to some standards imo.

Permit also only enrich the government nothing to do with standards.