Wanting to buy land-UPDATE

[JoesLove]

Ok so I am married to a Marine and I am sick of all the pet policies in this town! He is going on a MEU(Marine Expeditionary Unit, aka a ship) early in 2009 and we can break our lease if he proves that he is deploying for longer than 90 days. So we decided we want to buy a house. Well I have a horse, 2 cats, and a dog. I would like another dog, etc. So i wanted a house with at least a yard. But I found a place 22 miles away (I told hubby thats not that bad to commute!!!) its a nice manufactured home, on like 5.1 acres partially fenced with a barn that needs work. I wanted everyones opinion on owning your own land, and having your horse on it. I thought it would be nice, and maybe board 1 or 2 horses once the place gets in shape. Not looking to make big bucks :P Just have a nice home. http://jbornc.fnismls.com/publink/de...203&Report=Yes

this is the house. everyone please let me know what you think and give all advice/opinions. Thank you!

[JoesLove]

Anyone? Even if anybody could give me an idea of how much fencing costs :P And I just found out we are definitely qualified for the loan!

[BarnBum]

How cute and I can't believe the price. Barn is cute too.

What kind of fencing and how many acres do you want to fence in ?? I know you said its 5.1 acres.........do you want the whole property fenced ?? For starters you can just fence in enough for your horse if $$ is tight.

[snwflk]

Its a very cute house -and its looks like its built on a nice foundation- I think I would start w/ just fencing for runs/roundpen/yard and a nice pasture for a while - then slowly finish the rest unless you have the money right off- THEN have at it// but it looks ADORABLE-

[JoesLove]

Yeah the price is good..I guess its in the 'sticks' the realtor said :P Right now Im not sure of how much..I would like to get some chickens and some goats so I was thinking of fencing off a good amount and separating,etc. I havent seen it yet, so I guess I will have more of an idea once I get a good look at it. Im excited.

[CowhorseGal]

Check into the water situation.. does it flood irrigate? if it does how many shares come with the property. Figure 1 share per acre is what you should have. Some times the water shares get sold or leased off and then the land has no water. If it is watered by hand lines or sprinklers are they included in the purchase? if not this may be a serious expense for you to keep everything green.
Also have your well tested.. all kinds of icky things can be floating around there. contaniments from farmers fertilizing adjaacnets fields, bacteria in the water table.. etc. find out where you drain field is and how long it has been since the septic tank was pumped.


It is a cute place and seems like you could do alot with it.

[redboy]

It's $23,500.00 per acre. That's kinda high (?) for Jacksonville, NC., in my opinion. It's not like you 're at the beach. The closest beach is Wrightsville Bch., NC.
I used to live there, and I am familiar with Jacksonville area somewhat, in that, I drove thru it a lot, to go home to MD, and back to Wilmington, NC..

The best bet is, go price THAT exact house brand new (dimensions, with everything offered in the one you are looking, plus foundation, well, septic, (setup) etc. Because it is the type of house that can go up quickly,
and isn't necessarily as valuable as the land.
Plus if it isn't on a foundation, still on wheels, the bank isn't going to be as helpful in the loan deptmt. I've said this on another post on HT, doublewides are more DEPRECIABLE if they are NOT on a block foundation. PLUS, RIGHT NOW, it's a buyers market, and you can make some GREAT deals on land and houses, etc.
Find out exactly what it would cost to replicate that same thing.
I'm sure there are other 5 acre parcels out there, similar to that.
And then go price out a pole blding barn, brand new, w/o frills, just simple, exactly/ similar dimension wise, like what is offered in this ad.
Fencing can be done very nicely, and NOT that expensively.
Then you will know whether or not it's a good deal.
I just think that is high for the land, considering the economy right now.

JMO, but backed up by what I learned from blding our house, my barn, and shopping and buying land. Redboy

[JoesLove]

Me being from Fl I find it cheap but I understand where you're coming from. The guy wanted 200k for it but the realtor told him that that was too high. I dont know I just really want it because there arent a lot of places out here like that one.

[redboy]

Put your realtor to work..., Have him locate similar parcels of land, and DON"T hesitate to price out the rest, as I stated in my earlier post.
If for no other reason, you can use it to your advantage as a bargining tool.
He's NOT really expecting you to do the homework. This way, you are 10 steps ahead of both the realtor, AND the seller. Especially since the realtor told you what the owner originally wanted to price it for.
That's $82,000 (eighty- two THOUSAND dollars LESS, so there is obviously some negotiation in that asking price.) And, you might find something you like better, to boot. Or, at least, you can determine what's a realistic offer, from a pie in sky asking price.

JMO, but good luck, Redboy

PS. Not being unkind to realtors, BUT, they got very complacent when RE was selling like hot cakes..., and now it's become WORK again.

[Sunlei]

Originally Posted by JoesLove

Ok so I am married to a Marine and I am sick of all the pet policies in this town! He is going on a MEU(Marine Expeditionary Unit, aka a ship) early in 2009 and we can break our lease if he proves that he is deploying for longer than 90 days. So we decided we want to buy a house. Well I have a horse, 2 cats, and a dog. I would like another dog, etc. So i wanted a house with at least a yard. But I found a place 22 miles away (I told hubby thats not that bad to commute!!!) its a nice manufactured home, on like 5.1 acres partially fenced with a barn that needs work. I wanted everyones opinion on owning your own land, and having your horse on it. I thought it would be nice, and maybe board 1 or 2 horses once the place gets in shape. Not looking to make big bucks :P Just have a nice home. http://jbornc.fnismls.com/publink/de...203&Report=Yes

this is the house. everyone please let me know what you think and give all advice/opinions. Thank you!

I think it looks great and you're going to love having your horse at home. Everything is so green, the grass is lush, is that SC ?

I also have one horse at home, our closein property is 2 acres.

First we fenced the whole property around, with a drivein gate. Then the inside parts are fenced with lower fence roughly devided into 4 parts.

I also put a couple of fenced areas about 50x50 feet, real close to the house, for my small dogs. Once the sun goes down it's pretty dark and the horse is out there in one of those fenced spots where I can't see.

It's good to move the horse to a different place to graze every night, this saves on mowing time. Horses naturally walk and graze all night and you'll wake to a horse-mowed and fertilized! front or back yard.

That's another thing about acres, you need a fast mower, the horse does help a lot, especially if you rotate a different place each night.

There's all kinds of fence out there, if you can make the outer fence something dogs can't walk under or through, it feels safer. The inner fences then you can use any type fencing lower hight, that works for the animals you want it for. You don't have to worry as much about inside escapes because they can't really escape.

It's great having your horse at home, a lot of fun...don't invite them in the front door, they will walk in..you have to back them out

Fence, and mowing, check for any flood problems! Love that bath-tub too!

I edited to add, you husband being in the military, may have some grants or a better morgage rate- for those who serve. good luck!

[llarryllama373]

No joke, that would go for atleast 800k around here. Beautiful place. Nice and private and fun. I think it would be awesome to have your horse with you, but it would take a lot of work to fix things up and fence everything in. Good luck, I say go for it!!!! You are lucky!!

[redboy]

PS., JoesLove, Find out what the zoning is..., whether it's agricultural, estate, or single family, etc. Then, if it's AG, look at larger parcels and determine those parcels at a per/acre price.
That will also help you arrive at a reasonable asking price/ offering price.
Just trying to help you outas to making a good, sound decision.
Remember, this is East Coast, not West Coast prices, and the economy isn't good, nor is the housing market.
All the info that you gather independently helps put YOU in the driver's seat.
And, Jacksonville, NC. is a military town, I don't know how much it's changed since I was there last, but it's a bit different in that way. RB

[Slim Pikkens]

Ah come on to Canada to where I live. You can get a liveable house, good well, good septic, on 160 acres for about 125,000. If your hubby is a hunter he'll love the abundance of deer. I have a few 10 pointers. Any trees growing on the place are like money in the bank.

[JoesLove]

Thanks everyone :] and wow slim...maybe I will retire there :P That sounds awesome. Im pretty excited about this though!

[roberts617]

I think it's a cute place and you could do a whole lot with it. That's about what the price would be around here for a place like that.

It's wonderful to have your animals at your house. It'll be a lot easier for you to deal with your husband being gone if you have all that to keep you busy. We got very lucky when my husband was stationed at Fort. Bragg. We found a trailer house that was on 20 acres for rent, so we were able to have our animals at the house. We would have bought though, if we knew we were going to settle there. But, since we weren't, this was perfect for us. Oh and our commute was 25 miles, it was hard sometimes, but once you get your animals on your own place, you won't think anything of it!

There are so many different choices for fencing, it'd be worth it to have your horse on your place. Sunlei already mentioned roatating. You could do temorary electric fencing for the ease of moving it while you are getting a permanent fence in. Same for the dogs, you can start with a small kennel/pen and work up to getting the whole place fenced.

Best of luck to you both. Keep us posted on what you do!

[nrhareiner]

Perhaps someone has already stated this but get an INSPECTION. Modulars can and do have proglems. Also keep in mind that they come normally with TITLES not DEEDS and like cars loose value. Look around and see what you can get for the $$ if it is a good deal for just the land and at some point you do not mind doing some improvements then it might be a good deal.


As for fencing there are many many types wood to Coated High Tensle (RAMM) fencing which is what I have and love it. It dose not cost much more then wood and there is no up keep which makes it cheeper in the long run. If you go to RAMM fenceing web site there is a cost generator on there to give you an idea of cost. They are local to me but do ship and I would think that there would be fencing comp. around there that sell simular types of products.

Heidi

[bitgirl_95]

its cute
:]

[JoesLove]

Well I went and saw it and for one it was wayyyyy farther then what we were told. I got there and 90% of everything was overgrown about 5feet 5inches. The barn was in pretty bad condition. It would need A LOT of work. And the fences, A LOT of work and A LOT would need to be put up. The home was pretty decent. But all in all my husband and I agreed it wouldnt be worth it. We wouldnt even be able to board any horses there..the realtor even told us it was one of the poorer towns in the state. So we're going to keep looking, we might just buy a regular house with a big back yard for my dog and such.

[pippy]

I wanted everyones opinion on owning your own land, and having your horse on it.
In answer to the original question asked: it's Wonderful! even w/ all the work there is to it. Work = Upkeep on property and projects we come up with.

I love being able to see my horses anytime, to be able to walk outside and do chores w/ out having to drive somewhere (as in a boarding facility). I take pride in our property & knowing how far we've come. I've learned alot. I love finding the salamanders, gardner snakes, pheasants, snappers, hearing coyotes, watching all the bird types coming and going, and being able to see the stars at night!

[Wendy F]

Originally Posted by Slim Pikkens

Ah come on to Canada to where I live. You can get a liveable house, good well, good septic, on 160 acres for about 125,000. If your hubby is a hunter he'll love the abundance of deer. I have a few 10 pointers. Any trees growing on the place are like money in the bank.

I am moving to Canada!