Stories of how you came about your property

   / Stories of how you came about your property #41  
Moved out of my parent's home when I got my first "real job" after college into a little "cabin", that had formerly been an office, and had formerly been a garage before that.
The landlord's property also had 2 bigger apartments (duplex) built over an underground (side hill) garage. I moved from the cabin to one of these when I got married.
We lived there 2 years when the property, including the landlord's main house came up for sale.

I went from a tenant to homeowner and landlord of 3 apartments overnight and moved into the main house. (So I moved 3 times after college, but never got very far. Or even off the property. :rolleyes:)

Put 10% down payment and paid mortgage off as quick as I could. After 23 years of having the rentals and doing the math, I tell everybody "Oh this place? It was free!!"
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #42  
We were in Mass. on a 1/4 acre with a horse and pony + trails in the woods. We dreamed of something more. Then we saw an ad for 50 dollars down and owner financing for land in Maine. We jumped on it and made payments for a year while we sold our house and planned our move. We moved in the spring to a field and woods (19 acres) and began building as we camped. We had our animals with us. My wife began teaching in the fall, my youngest stayed with me and the older son went to school. By then we were in and still building. It has been a long process and a good experience. It was paid off years ago and we have never had a mortgage. Metal roofing to plumbing to wiring - did it all. There is always opportunity if you are flexible minded.
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #43  
I started looking for property back in 2003. I was looking for around 10 acres give or take and through traditional means I didn't find anything very appealing. This was being done from 300 miles away so I only had a few limited times I was able to actually go to the area I was looking. Not knowing the area very well made it more difficult.

Finally by luck when I called a realtor about a listing I had driven by that was too big and out of my price range, she told me about a 20 acre piece that she was selling for a family member. I went and looked at it and it was a mess. Choked with juniper so thick you could barely get down the old "driveway." It had a small rundown hunting cabin on it and some general junk laying around. It was hard at first to see the potential of the place.

I liked the location though and it seemed at least to be layed out in a way to afford very good privacy. Because it was unappealing at first glance it was priced reasonably. I negotiated the price down a little until I hit their bottom dollar, then got them to agree to remove the old cabin and other junk that I didn't have the capability of moving at the time (no truck,) and closed the deal. I paid a little more than half of market value. Maybe 2/3 at most.

It took 7 years longer to move to the area and wasn't until the 9th year that we finally were able to clear and build. The property is now beautiful. A lot of work, but work I enjoy. I built the house about half by me and half contracted out. It took just over a year and allowed me to build with cash. I went from a McMansion in the suburbs to a smaller but better, paid-for house in the country.

By watching closely, I was able to buy an adjoining 6 acre lot at the tax auction. I had to bring enough that day to buy, but my county allowed personal checks. They are a bit layed back compared to most places. This piece went for around 25% of market value. It was a steal.

So now we are on almost 27 acres of fairly prime land. I have about half of it's value into it. A lot of sweat equity, but it has been worth it.
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #44  
I started looking for property back in 2003. I was looking for around 10 acres give or take and through traditional means I didn't find anything very appealing. This was being done from 300 miles away so I only had a few limited times I was able to actually go to the area I was looking. Not knowing the area very well made it more difficult.

Finally by luck when I called a realtor about a listing I had driven by that was too big and out of my price range, she told me about a 20 acre piece that she was selling for a family member. I went and looked at it and it was a mess. Choked with juniper so thick you could barely get down the old "driveway." It had a small rundown hunting cabin on it and some general junk laying around. It was hard at first to see the potential of the place.

I liked the location though and it seemed at least to be layed out in a way to afford very good privacy. Because it was unappealing at first glance it was priced reasonably. I negotiated the price down a little until I hit their bottom dollar, then got them to agree to remove the old cabin and other junk that I didn't have the capability of moving at the time (no truck,) and closed the deal. I paid a little more than half of market value. Maybe 2/3 at most.

It took 7 years longer to move to the area and wasn't until the 9th year that we finally were able to clear and build. The property is now beautiful. A lot of work, but work I enjoy. I built the house about half by me and half contracted out. It took just over a year and allowed me to build with cash. I went from a McMansion in the suburbs to a smaller but better, paid-for house in the country.

By watching closely, I was able to buy an adjoining 6 acre lot at the tax auction. I had to bring enough that day to buy, but my county allowed personal checks. They are a bit layed back compared to most places. This piece went for around 25% of market value. It was a steal.

So now we are on almost 27 acres of fairly prime land. I have about half of it's value into it. A lot of sweat equity, but it has been worth it.

Great story of perseverance that paid off!

How did you become interested in the area? You said you were 300 miles away while looking in an area you didn’t know very well. Just wondering what led you to be looking there?


TBS
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #45  
TBS, I had a friend that lived in the area. One visit and I was hooked!
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #47  
When we retired we moved close to our grandchildren. We immediately started looking for a place nearby.

That was back when real estate was very depressed and there were foreclosed propertied everywhere. We found 12 acres with a 3,600 sq ft horse stable and a 2,00 sq ft house that the previous owners paid $102,000 to build. There were trails through the woods on half of the acreage and pastures for the rest. It has a creek flowing through the middle and another creek on the west side of the property and a county road on the east side. We bought it from HUD for $49,000. A recent appraisal has the property valued at $95,00, so it has been a very good investment.
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #48  
Just turn senior in high school and I wanted my own piece of land,had some coins save up over the years brought 5 acres.
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #49  
We are in Mass.. land here is expensive....no matter where it is.. A 1 acre buildable lot is likely to be 200k or more. If it is a non typical type lot.. like water front of some other value added area...it could be 2-3x that....maybe more.. I have built and sold several homes over the years.. we bought our current property (26 acres) almost 8 years ago.. it was just before the market totally tanked.. but we recently sub divided it and will be sold out in the next couple years. Figuring I needed a place to live anyway.. it turned out to be a solid investment. But once we are sold out here.. I'm gone. I will be looking for acreage somewhere that it dosent snow.
 
   / Stories of how you came about your property #50  
We are in Mass.. land here is expensive....no matter where it is.. A 1 acre buildable lot is likely to be 200k or more. If it is a non typical type lot.. like water front of some other value added area...it could be 2-3x that....maybe more.. I have built and sold several homes over the years.. we bought our current property (26 acres) almost 8 years ago.. it was just before the market totally tanked.. but we recently sub divided it and will be sold out in the next couple years. Figuring I needed a place to live anyway.. it turned out to be a solid investment. But once we are sold out here.. I'm gone. I will be looking for acreage somewhere that it dosent snow.

A 10,000 sq ft serviced building lot in my neighbourhood will start at around $850,000. No views, nothing special.

Farmland (protected and with building restrictions) starts at $100,000 per acre.
 
 
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