Don't Buy Raw Land Without THESE 5 THINGS

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We are a better together family of 6 living in an 800sqft Shed to House Conversion and currently converting a 336sqft shed into a tiny house for our new studio! Oh yea, we are doing our best to build a sustainable homestead in central Texas raising pigs, chickens, and rabbits…. and hopefully more!!!!!

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[BetterTogetherLife]

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[chelseahartweg]

Major mistake we made with zoning- if you're looking nearby to a city, check for something called an "ETJ or Extra Territorial Jurisdiction". Basically it's allowable for cities to extend their zoning ordinance 1-3 miles beyond their actual borders- idea being that it helps them plan the city better by also controlling the borders. It's a load of bull poop, but it's legal, and most cities do it. I bought my forever home only to find out I was in the ETJ of the most uppity, cranky town in my area and my entire dream came screeching to a halt. All town laws, no town services, and no vote. It was a nightmare and we lost so much money selling that place and moving AGAIN and now we're in a rental while we try to find our new forever home. Learn from my mistakes, folks, because "county land" might have something else going on so double check!

[BlacknessWirefly]

Get a survey. No matter what. Make the seller pay if you want but get a survey. They tried to talk us out of one because there's a fence but we insisted. Turns out the fence is off 65ft on one side and almost 80 on the other.

[souljahroch]

3 things I recommend before perchase:
1. a good title attourney(no brokers!) for the title search, & all things legal(no title 'brokers'!!!)
2. A land survey to ensure that you get what you paid for, don't build your fence 2' on your neighbor's property, & that you don't move onto the wrong property( it happens).
3. I also recommend an environmental survey to ensure you're not moving onto a toxic waste dump✌

[crayfish]

0:36 # 1 ) The Correct Climate
2:28 # 2 ) The Slope
4:00 # 3 ) The Water
7:47 # 4 ) The Access
8:48 # 5 ) " An Agricultural Exemption " >>> !
9:54 # 6 ) A " Hospital " ( Proximity to )
10:15 # 7 ) The Correct Zoning

[alwayssunny]

I would also check on whether there is or was a chemical factory, farm, or mining plant nearby to make sure that there is no pollution runoff. This is easy to see on google maps. Soil contamination is a huge problem for farming and gardening.

[jamesfoley]

When you buy land make sure you check w/ the county that the person selling the land owns the land, check the zoning for use to see if there are restrictions on the property, and check with the county if the property taxes are paid /current. ( major problems for people who rush into buying land). Thank you for your advice.

[mikeydan]

this video actually helped me make my decision NOT to buy raw property... I think knowing personal limitations is key, and this helped me a great deal. My Plan B is to buy the ugliest, most decrepit house I can find on the nicest piece of land... in the nicest area I can... and know that it (should) already has access, electric, sewer-septic, water... and probably tear it down. so, thank you for this... it really helped!

[peterblair]

I bought that bit of swamp land they thought was for suckers.
I now have a dry acre with a creek funning through. Very pleased. I reckon any land can be used, if you're creative and not set on some particular dream.
The number ONE thing you should absolutely consider though, is access to shops. Those hidden gems in the Forrest might look nice, but the drive to get bread can be insane. Or, more important, a hamburger and beer on a Saturday night.

[sharonh.harris]

You had some great points! As your life changes, your needs will change. We started off building our first house on the family farm with about 100 acres and 4 houses. We all built our homes and lived in them as we built them. We paid for them as we went. It was wonderful when we were young and the kids were little (we didn't have any but niece and nephews). Builtin babysitters, worked together, kept things running. But then we began to age and the kids became teenagers no longer interested in the farm. Our parents were older and that left taking care of 100 acres and the animals and outbuildings to the 6 of us (3 girls and their husbands). So two of us decided to sell. We wanted to spend less time maintaining and working so hard. So we sold our homes. My husband and I actually moved 30 mins farther away from town, got a bigger house and a lot less land. Then 5 years later, we had an epiphany... my husband got very ill and was hospitalized for a week and I realized how isolated we had made ourselves by being so far out of town. I had to travel 40 mins home just to feed the dogs, take a shower and then head back another 40 mins to the hospital. And what if I needed help with him, all our family was 30 mins away. As soon as he got well, we put the house up for sale. This time we moved into town and close to the hospital. We lived happily there for 15 yrs but the city property taxes began to ratchet up dramatically due to new schools and a mega high school and our house was getting too big for us to maintain at our age. We are in our 60's and 3, 000 sq ft was getting hard to keep up with. So it meant another life change. We are facing retirement and old age. We can't do a lot of yard work or maintenance so we downsized to 1800 sq ft far enough outside the city limits not to have to pay city property taxes and yet still close to the hospital, doctors, and all our shopping and errands. This last move was the hardest one we've ever made because of our age and my disability. We almost waited too late and then we would have been unable to move and stuck. But it still nearly killed us emotionally, physically, financially (due to all the moving expenses). I cannot stress enough that when you reach middle age, BEFORE you get too old, make sure you are where you want to live as you age. Because there comes a tipping point when moving becomes nearly impossible for an elderly person (emotionally and physically). I actually had a friend who did NOT move. She was just overwhelmed and thought her house was paid for so she didn't make any changes. But her home is 2 story and she's now on a fixed income, she's elderly and disabled. What does this mean? She's stuck in the city and, as I mentioned, the property taxes have risen dramatically. If she can't afford her property taxes, it doesn't matter that her mortgage is paid off, the city will take her home! She can't go up and down the stairs so she's living downstairs only but there isn't a full bath on the first floor. She can't afford the utilities on the whole house. She can't do yard work and can't afford to pay for yard work. She can't afford to maintain the house such as plumbing, electrical, new roof, etc. So her house is decaying around her and is about worthless in the market. Because the house and yard are in such bad shape she wouldn't make enough in a sale to purchase what she needs to live in and that's if she could sell it. Her only child lives in NY and does nothing to help her in any way. The end result is she thought she was set because they had paid their mortgage off and she had her home. But, as you can see, she didn't plan and she put off making any changes until now she can't. PLEASE, when you reach middle age, make sure you plan for your old age. You will not be able to mow, put up fencing, clean gutters, paint, go up and down stairs, get in and out of a tub, etc. So make the changes and adjustments BEFORE you can't and you are stuck. We'd made moves before when we were younger and it was hard but we managed well. But this last one was traumatic and I hope and pray we never have to move again. We didn't have children although we do have extended family who helped. We have a good income and were able to pay for help too. But it was just so traumatic, I can't stress it enough. If you're parents are having to do this, be kind and helpful to them because it's very, very hard to make dramatic changes at our age. We forget things, we feel overwhelmed, we are scared, we aren't physically able to do as much as we used to, we are dealing with emotions. Everything is supposed to go perfectly like set-up dominos (realtor, buyer, seller, bank, insurance, attorney, etc) and yet nothing goes right which throws off all the following dominos and our nerves can't take it. We aren't emotionally resilient like we used to be. BTW, our parents passed away and my youngest sister and her family still live on what's left of the farm (about 45 acres) with her house and our parent's house. They stayed because my parents refused to make the move. Now my sister is stuck out there trying to maintain it all and both of them are disabled. Due to the memories and the family farm, she just can't sell it but she can't maintain it either. Her son has absolutely no intention of living out there alone after his parents are gone so why hang onto it and watch it fall away? But, how do you let go of the place of so many happy memories?

[orowizard]

Another reason for the land to slope is, when I bought mine close to Dallas, I didn't realize it would be pretty much under water for 2 months in spring and another 2 months in fall during the main rainy seasons. And no, it is not a flood plain unless the water originates from a body of water like a stream or lake nearby. Really hard to keep grass and trees from drowning.

[stevefranklin]

A title or deed search is a must! Quite a number of people have bought property only to find out that there is at least one lean against it.

[UrbanGardeningWithD.A.Hanks]

Wow, what a difference between TX and NC laws and taxes. Here, anything over 20 acres is automatically zoned for ag use. I can build without permits and even bury people as long as I don't charge for it. I also have it registered as timber land, except for two spots reserved for buildings, and I pay less than $100 a year for taxes on close to 50 acres. 30 on paper, but that's not my problem. I bought it as 30+- and definitely got the + end. Creek, springs, couple acres with a humus layer 30" thick, and sandy bottomlands. Paid less than $200 an acre for it. I'm happy.

[sarita]

We've been on our 5 acres for a little over a year. Moved into our shed December 2019. Lived off grid for a bit while finishing it out. What am adventure it's been. I can't wait to get it set up to be a working homestead.

[marymarmande]

One important factor you must keep in mind is that if real estate contains mineral rights, make you the owner of them. Since mineral rights can be sold separately from the land itself, even if you own the land, someone else may hold ownership of what's below it ( oil natural gas etc.) My family ( many acers of land) sold a small portion of land, however mineral rights were kept in the family. This is very important to know prior to buying real estate!! Make sure to use an attorney & READ THE ENTIRE CONTRACT PRIOR TO SIGNING & ALSO GET A DIFFERENT ATTORNEY ( MAYBE OUT OF TOWN aka get a second opinion!! ❤ ✌ its hard for me to explain things 😢 so I pray that you all understand what I'm trying to say. If you are looking into buying land look!! Read the fine print( of course with an attorney) try to get the or make sure that the mineral rights are for YOU ONLY!! As for my family the land has been in my family since the civil war with so many heirs etc only a few small acres were ever sold / donated church, school etc. Hope this helps!! Oh 1 more thing oil & natural gas was found on our property at different times. So try to buy property that not only do you own the ground but you also own what's beneath the earth can be some major $$$ money ✌ out!!

[jarrodvsinclair]

Not sure if this is an issue near you, but wet season access is an issue in Colorado / Idaho. You need to inspect access roads and talk to the county about what roads wash out / streams over run every fall / spring. Very easy to buy a place that looks great only to discover you can't leave / get home for weeks / months of the year

[stevend]

Walk all of your property before buying. I inspected a property while it was overgrown and it had a lot of trash in spots that I didn't see. Rail road ties, fence posts, steel, chunks of concrete.... it has taken me 8 months and thousands of dollars to clean up and I'm still going at it. I would be reluctant to buy a former "working farm" again. I'd also look at your soils and such to make sure you can have a septic.

[johnyracercat]

I bought and sold a 22 acre parcel years ago. Learned a lot from the experience. Utility easement was in the way. Creek meant I needed a bridge. Long and narrow land not as good. No mineral rights, so they put a well in the back corner. Ticks. Flooded in the front. Hard to sell. I bought it so cheap, that I made 15k+ though and Learned from it.

[ronselliers]

If your buying rural land don't forget that the property has to pass a perk test before you can install a septic system. In middle Tennessee we had a rude awakening that you have to have 2 viable perk sites on your property and when bedrock is close to the surface that's a tall order.

[dirtwhisperer]

We are in the process of buying 3.5 acres. It's literally 200 yards from our main house which is in a subdivision (yeah I know). It already has a septic tank, county water and an electric pole because there was a mobile home there at one time. It has a pond! Also reasonably flat land with blacktop access and is in unrestricted county locale. We cannot wait to get over there and start a garden, build a workshop etc. Good video!