House buying advice

GraniteCrystal

GraniteCrystal

New member
Thinking of buying a home for about 1.5x what I want to spend, that is on 10-20 acres, then selling off 75% of the land to a developer and put the money towards paying off the mortgage.

Thoughts? Advice?

Why do this? Most of the houses in the area we want are on larger plots. We want to live in the area but don't want that much property.
 
OverlanderJK

OverlanderJK

Resident Smartass
You're going to buy your dream house with extra land, then sell then sell the land to someone who will delevop it Andrew you have no say as to what or who goes in your backyard?

What could possible go wrong there besides you regretting your purchase and selling to half price?

All the while your wife leaves you for the rich guy who moved into your backyard and makes you pay child support while you sell your jeeps and live in a van down by the river.

(Maybe the last part is a little over the top, lol)
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
OverlanderJK said:
You're going to buy your dream house with extra land, then sell then sell the land to someone who will delevop it Andrew you have no say as to what or who goes in your backyard?

What could possible go wrong there besides you regretting your purchase and selling to half price?

All the while your wife leaves you for the rich guy who moved into your backyard and makes you pay child support while you sell your jeeps and live in a van down by the river.

(Maybe the last part is a little over the top, lol)
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:cheesy:

In all seriousness, I'd have to say that I agree with what OverlanderJK is trying to say.
 
GraniteCrystal

GraniteCrystal

New member
OverlanderJK said:
You're going to buy your dream house with extra land, then sell then sell the land to someone who will delevop it Andrew you have no say as to what or who goes in your backyard?

What could possible go wrong there besides you regretting your purchase and selling to half price?

All the while your wife leaves you for the rich guy who moved into your backyard and makes you pay child support while you sell your jeeps and live in a van down by the river.

(Maybe the last part is a little over the top, lol)
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Haha. Yeah...

Lots would be 1+ acres so neighbors not quite in my backyard, but I see your point. Wondering if I could structure it in such a way that I could influence who moves in.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
GraniteCrystal said:
Haha. Yeah...

Lots would be 1+ acres so neighbors not quite in my backyard, but I see your point. Wondering if I could structure it in such a way that I could influence who moves in.
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Why not just move to an area that you can afford and buy within your means?
 
notnalc68

notnalc68

That dude from Mississippi
OverlanderJK said:
You're going to buy your dream house with extra land, then sell then sell the land to someone who will delevop it Andrew you have no say as to what or who goes in your backyard?

What could possible go wrong there besides you regretting your purchase and selling to half price?

All the while your wife leaves you for the rich guy who moved into your backyard and makes you pay child support while you sell your jeeps and live in a van down by the river.

(Maybe the last part is a little over the top, lol)
Click to expand...

Lol. There is some truth in that statement.


Sent from my iPhone using WAYALIFE mobile app
 
GraniteCrystal

GraniteCrystal

New member
wayoflife said:
Why not just move to an area that you can afford and buy within your means?
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I can afford the 1.5x house and property. It's within our means. However, I don't need 15 acres and would prefer to not pay for something I don't need.

If I could find a house in this area that only had a few acres that I liked, yeah, I'd buy it. These plots just tend to be bigger because it's mountain neighborhoods.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
GraniteCrystal said:
I can afford the 1.5x house and property. It's within our means. However, I don't need 15 acres and would prefer to not pay for something I don't need.

If I could find a house in this area that only had a few acres that I liked, yeah, I'd buy it. These pts just tend to be bigger because it's mountain neighborhoods.
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I don't know about you but out where I'm at, the areas that have 15 acres or more areas that want to stay that way. While you might think it's cool to subdivide and fill the neighborhood with more people, your neighbors may not. Depending on what the zoning is like out there, your neighbors may have a say in what you can do with your land.
 
HighwayTrout

HighwayTrout

Hooked
GraniteCrystal said:
I can afford the 1.5x house and property. It's within our means. However, I don't need 15 acres and would prefer to not pay for something I don't need.

If I could find a house in this area that only had a few acres that I liked, yeah, I'd buy it. These plots just tend to be bigger because it's mountain neighborhoods.
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Think the reason you like this area is because of the lack of houses in the area? It's this 15 acre parcel and others like it that give that appeal.

Fence off a decent yard and enjoy not having immediate neighbors. Only made possible by your extra acreage.
 
sipafz

sipafz

Caught the Bug
GraniteCrystal said:
Thinking of buying a home for about 1.5x what I want to spend, that is on 10-20 acres, then selling off 75% of the land to a developer and put the money towards paying off the mortgage.

Thoughts? Advice?

Why do this? Most of the houses in the area we want are on larger plots. We want to live in the area but don't want that much property.
Click to expand...

Scott,

I'm not going to advise you on the purchase and sell scheme. Overlander hit the nail on the head already, lol! What I will say is that you should live well within your means. Spending 1 1/2 times your budget is never a good idea. One of the smartest decisions my wife and I ever made was yo build our house 18 years ago. We compromised on some stuff to stick to the budget and made some improvements down the line. These decisions left us with expendable income for vacations, toys, expensive summer camps for the kids and of course my Jeep! We have some friends that have a bigger house in a fancy neighborhood, but they don't do a damn thing because they are house poor. Doesn't seem worth it to me!

Good luck with the decision!

Chris
 
GraniteCrystal

GraniteCrystal

New member
wayoflife said:
I don't know about you but out where I'm at, the areas that have 15 acres or more areas that want to stay that way. While you might think it's cool to subdivide and fill the neighborhood with more people, your neighbors may not. Depending on what the zoning is like out there, your neighbors may have a say in what you can do with your land.
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Yeah, not pissing off the neighbors is definitely a good idea. Ideally, I'd only be adding 3-6 new houses to the area. Not a total overrunning.

HighwayTrout said:
Think the reason you like this area is because of the lack of houses in the area? It's this 15 acre parcel and others like it that give that appeal.

Fence off a decent yard and enjoy not having immediate neighbors. Only made possible by your extra acreage.
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I like the area for the access. I'd have deer and elk in my yard but be 30 min to downtown Denver. There is fishing and hiking within 10 minutes if not directly out my back door.

Agreed though that I don't want to divy it up and lose value on net (after gains from selling property).
Andy5160 said:
In a words of Mark Twain , " buy land , they're not making it anymore"
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Great quote.
sipafz said:
Scott,

I'm not going to advise you on the purchase and sell scheme. Overlander hit the nail on the head already, lol! What I will say is that you should live well within your means. Spending 1 1/2 times your budget is never a good idea. One of the smartest decisions my wife and I ever made was yo build our house 18 years ago. We compromised on some stuff to stick to the budget and made some improvements down the line. These decisions left us with expendable income for vacations, toys, expensive summer camps for the kids and of course my Jeep! We have some friends that have a bigger house in a fancy neighborhood, but they don't do a damn thing because they are house poor. Doesn't seem worth it to me!

Good luck with the decision!

Chris
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Great points Chris. And I don't want to over stretch things. I can afford the land. Just would prefer to put the money elsewhere if I don't care about having 3 acres vs 15 acres.
 
Ddays

Ddays

Hooked
That 15 acres sure would be a nice buffer for raising a family on. My kids loved having space to do pretty much whatever they wanted. I was fortunate and fell into a deal for the same amount almost 20 years ago. I wouldn't sell a square foot of our 'farm'. It wouldn't take you long to feel the same way I bet. As long as its in the budget buy what you can. They quit making property a while ago. ;)

Also, Eddie is right on the subdivision. Better check first on the feasibility first. And I know if my neighbor bought his property and then subdivided I would have been absolutely livid.

Edit: LOL, Andy beat me to the quote.
 
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GraniteCrystal

GraniteCrystal

New member
Ddays said:
That 15 acres sure would be a nice buffer for raising a family on. My kids loved having space to do pretty much whatever they wanted. I was fortunate and fell into a deal for the same amount almost 20 years ago. I wouldn't sell a square foot of our 'farm'. It wouldn't take you long to feel the same way I bet. As long as its in the budget buy what you can. They quit making property a while ago. ;)

Also, Eddie is right on the subdivision. Better check first on the feasibility first. And I know if my neighbor bought his property and then subdivided I would have been absolutely livid.

Edit: LOL, Andy beat me to the quote.
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Yeah, one place we were looking at allowed for a rifle range. Yes please.
 
catahoula

catahoula

Caught the Bug
My old boss had 20 acres. He was located just on the outskirts of a growing town. I believe he sold all but a few acres he kept for himself and his house. The developer built three story apartments that bordered his property. There went his privacy as well as a smaller pool of buyers if they ever wanted to sell down the road.
 
JAGS

JAGS

Hooked
Have you checked zoning for that land? Many areas are zoned for only so much and could take years to change zones or parcel out lots, let alone selling them.
 
GraniteCrystal

GraniteCrystal

New member
JAGS said:
Have you checked zoning for that land? Many areas are zoned for only so much and could take years to change zones or parcel out lots, let alone selling them.
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Yeah, thankfully the county has a really nice website that shows each plot and its zoning. Depends where exactly we end up. Some have minimum lot size of 10 acres, other of a tenth of an acre.
 
Jackal01

Jackal01

New member
GraniteCrystal said:
Yeah, one place we were looking at allowed for a rifle range. Yes please.
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That's awesome.

In Texas 10 is the minimum to discharge firearms. And not in city limits. We are actually home/property shopping right now but only 5. We are specifically looking for areas that will not grow or at least as quickly as the area we live in now. Honestly I would be upset if I was "your neighbor" that brought in more houses and took away the "private" feel.
 
Ddays

Ddays

Hooked
GraniteCrystal said:
Yeah, one place we were looking at allowed for a rifle range. Yes please.
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And archery range, quad/dirt bike/Jeep trails, RC car tracks, tree stands, launching model rockets, horses (don't do it unless you get guarantees first, trust me on that one), tree houses, the list is endless if you have the property. We built a modest house that was comfortable for us keeping in mind we'd be alone in 20 years, and lo and behold, that time's here. Neither my wife or I EVER want to leave here. And we'll have a great place for the grandkids to come & play.
 
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