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

[Dftodd]

Our county permits are to make sure that you actually build on your property not part of the neighbors. They do however keep an eye on your septic as its being installed

I helped my brother install his septic. They set the requirements. He followed the depth and requirements per the plan. They came out and inspected once it was all laid out with the gravel base and pipe set at correct depth for drain line and leach field.

Once they gave the nod, he finished covering with gravel and back filled the trenches.

 

[Dftodd]

Good post.

This condition has to at some time stall the new home build market. I haven't saw any slow down here yet. Being rural our choices of builders is small. The good ones are booked out two years. $500 p/sqft is completely undoable for me. I struggled with $120 p/sqft. A small acreage here, 20 acres or less, will bring $7K p/acre. A rough 40 acres of timber will bring $4.5K p/acre. Good tillable land will bring $8K p/acre. Rich bottom ground will bring $9K p/acre.

Here, land prices very by county and area. I've seen a $45k price tag on a Two acre lot on a cliff side. You had a narrow tract for the driveway to the building pad. I could list many other examples as well.

I paid $65k for the 6 acres. Depending on how the downhill lot is, I could very well turn around and sell it for $45k or more. Especially if I clear out the scrub when clearing the other lot.

 

[Dftodd]

To me they are both intertwined cause you need the permit to get an inspection in my area. Yes I totally agree permits can get out of hand. I lived briefly in a hoa neighborhood I envisioned them grabbing pitchforks and torches when I did welding, worked on the cars, or parked and opened the popup camper. They seemed relieved when we moved.

I lived in a neighborhood with an HOA in Florida. The HOA was voluntary, but a couple of residents patrolled the neighborhood with huge chips on their shoulders. They could only enforce county ordinances and had to call code enforcement only. They had no teeth.

This got interesting since the neigh irhood actually sat in two counties. 1/3rd of the neighborhood was orange County, and the other 2/3rds was in Seminole. Orange County had stricter regulations.

Orange county residents would try to enforce their ordinances on Seminole counties side and were constantly getting told to get bent by either residents or code enforcement

 

[Dftodd]

$500 Was a complete non-starter for me also. So I am proud to say my house was delivered on a truck…

10 years ago, you could get a home stick built in one of the neighborhoods for $89/sqft here. So $120k to $140k average on the advertising signs at the entrances to the neighborhoods.

Prices now are $210k to $240k in the newer planned developments for similar constructed and sized homes.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

After building on an acreage, and living there for 50 plus years, I would strongly advise:
1. That you put considerable thought into landscaping. When you are young, maintenance is not so much of a problem as it is when you are in your 70's and 80's. By that I mean that you should plan your yard and surround area to be as maintenance free as you can manage. Give considerable to what trees you have, and want to keep, what you plant, and where you plant. A $20 tree today, may cost you $2000 to take down when it is too close to your house. The more stuff you have to mow around, the longer it takes.
2. Give considerable thought into what city/county services; i.e. sewer, gas/electric are available and if you want to take advantage of them. My septic gave me lots of problems; switched to city after about 20 years.

 

[Dftodd]

My folks live happily in a double wide placed on a full walkout basement, since they retired over 20 yrs ago it's held up very well and really happy with qaulity.

They sure have come a long way with quality. My wife owned a single wide that she purchased brand new for $27k when we first started dating. Had the cheap windows and thin doors that needed the locks specifically made for mobile home doors. But being a single mom with 3 kids, it was way cheaper than rent on a 3 bedroom.

Now it's 2x4 construction and decent double paned windows.

 

[stumblinhorse]

Not trying to spot you, just generally, what part of Colorado are you in? We Jeep there a lot. Have a "Brother" that lives in Alamosa. Wife's family live in Springs and Littleton.

I live in Grand county, on the west side, where it is still rural. I Jeep here a lot also!

 

[Dftodd]

After building on an acreage, and living there for 50 plus years, I would strongly advise:
1. That you put considerable thought into landscaping. When you are young, maintenance is not so much of a problem as it is when you are in your 70's and 80's. By that I mean that you should plan your yard and surround area to be as maintenance free as you can manage. Give considerable to what trees you have, and want to keep, what you plant, and where you plant. A $20 tree today, may cost you $2000 to take down when it is too close to your house. The more stuff you have to mow around, the longer it takes.
2. Give considerable thought into what city/county services; i.e. sewer, gas/electric are available and if you want to take advantage of them. My septic gave me lots of problems; switched to city after about 20 years.

That I agree with you on. My neighbor at the old house built on the lot next door a year before we purchased that house.

He and his wife had all the fancy flower beds and nicknaks to weed eat around.

Two knee replacements later, he was cussing himself for all that they put in.

Wife and I had some contentious arguments over landscaping. My point was it might be pretty, but it adds time to the three hours it's already taking me to take care of the yard.

If I had my way, it would be easily to maintain shrubs that you contend with once or twice a year

 

[BackRoad]

We bought 35 acres in July 2019 that had electric and septic, but no well.

The day after buying the land, we closed on the sale of our original home and 2 acres.

The day after that we both officially retired. It was all pre-planned to domino over the 3 days.

Then we celebrated!


We stayed with a favorite BIL for a short period before finding a year old, 36 foot long, well built "four season" 5th Wheel, with which we then moved to our land. At the same time, we had a well drilled, put up a quick 12x16 foot tool shop and added a lean-to roof for the tractor.

A couple of months later, we shifted focus to head out for an extended "National Parks" trip with the 5th Wheel.

Three months into the trip (unfortunately while at Arches), Covid hit with all its early uncertainty, so we headed straight back to PA and the safety of our land and have been hunkered down...now for almost 3 years - and still in the 5th Wheel.

We finally broke ground for our final home build last fall. The delay was a combination of the supply chain fiasco, scarce (then inflated) construction material and related government created lock down nonsense.

We are now about 3 months out from home completion...and still living in that 5th Wheel!


Our lessons learned: After being happily married for 46 years, we are still doing OK in the 5th Wheel with reasonably high confidence we'll see #47...but the limited space can still be "trying" at times...

Also suggest buying a quality 4 season RV if you go that route...Arkansas gets less cold than Pennsylvania, but it still gets cold and some snow (we lived next door in OK for ~25 years) plus you have to manage for higher and longer summer heat than we have in PA.

We put up 2" foam skirting in the fall. It makes a meaningful difference in heat retention to keep the wind from blowing underneath the RV.

Full-time in an RV takes it toll on the RV, so expect some maintenance to be required.

Plus the fridge is small and the range and oven even smaller...plan to go visit someone for Thanksgiving!

But we wouldn't trade the time in the 5th Wheel and living on our land for a 5 Star resort.

The RV works for the two of us - but likely would not appreciate it as fully if we knew it would be forever!

But the benefits so far: Life is short...and we have been able to live on our land for the last 3 years - without a permanent dwelling.

And it's an easy 40 foot commute from the RV to work on constructing our "till we die" home...

Plus there is great, unexplainable satisfaction from watching our deer up close every morning while drinking a pot of coffee...


Perhaps a similar plan might work for you...get an RV and live on your land while building your barn-dominium, then sell the RV after completion.


Good luck in whatever path forward you decide.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Definitely check with your town or county building official for any zoning restrictions etc. In my town, you can't build a barn, shed or accessory building without first building a residence. They have minimum size requirements for how small a house can be, foundation requirements, RV's can't be lived in full time etc. Your builder will guide you, but have a conversation with the building official. I'm on good terms with mine, and that made building my barn a very smooth and easy process.