Buy or Build

[rd200]

So my DH and I have been looking to buy a Country property for about a year or two now. We have hesitated putting our house on the market because we currently have no place to go and in that 2 yrs have looked at probably 30 houses and there was maybe 2 that we wouldve considered buying... maybe....
Now my Dh has an idea that he wants to buy land from his Dad and build on it. The whole buying land from his dad thing is a whole different story because we would be more like renting it for now, Its complicated on that aspect...
Anyways, we havent been able to find what we are looking for so far and yet if we build not only will it cost more, but the headaches i think will be huge. I LOVE older houses with natural woodwork, hardwoods, and character. just seems like you cant build a new house with character. That isnt even my big concern really. I would be totally okay with a simple, plain house. Im really concerned with the outdoor spaces the most. Acreage, buildings, etc. Houses are expensive to build, and then im worried we wont have any money left for a barn, possible greenhouse/or sunroom/on my house, garden shed, plus hubby is BIG into fixing vehicles, tinkering in the garage, so a BIG garage would be on the list also. We always joke that we are so concerned with the outdoor spaces, maybe we should just build a big barn with a ginormous kitchen and we would be happy!!! and a bathroom of course
anyways, all the places we have looked at either have a really nice house and no outbuildings, or 2 acres of land and a crappy house, or 10 acres of land with no buildings and a crappy house or a really nice place with nice buildings and an acre of land!! We cant go up on our max price, ( I dont want to be working 2 jobs to pay for this move.... my 1 right now is demanding enough. We want to homestead on the property.... big garden, orchard, milk cow, a few beefers, chickens, maybe some other adventures when we get that far. Seems we cant find the right place.... hence building....

I cant think of a whole lotta advantages to building tho because im afraid we will run out of money and then what???? Then we finish the house and there we sit with no money and no outbuilding to put any of our animals we want to get, etc. We live in WI and animals here need shelter (IMO) its not like we can leave them outside for 11 out of 12 months. Unless i want them to freeze to death... and i dont....

Hubby wants to build cuz its close to his family (almost a little too close....like 10 acres behind their property) and i totally get that. But then we would have to stay in this small, cramped, house in TOWN, for the next 3 years to be able to save enough to start building. I know 3 years doesnt seem like much, but when weve already been looking for the last 2 years, its a long time to stay here yet. ITs not that there is no houses around, there are some beatiful properties but my DH works in a larger city and he already drives 1 hr and 20 minutes to work every day. And that isnt round trip!!! So we need to get closer to his work, but there is NOTHING in our price range close to his work. His dad's place would get us about 20 minutes closer. Even that is still a stretch. he car pools right now, so he only has to drive 2 days out of the week. but once we move he would have to drive himself.... at 4:30AM everymorning.

I feel we arent being picky at all with our requirements. we are willing to put in work to make a place function properly, but land is soooo expensive around here and very valuable. And places 5+ acres are hard to come by without alot of 000000's behind the price. We could do some work ourselves if we built. like the roof, drywall, concrete, probably could build the garage and barn ourselves with a little help. we are pretty resouceful, but not knowledgable enough to DIY the whole house. Not up to code at least!!!

Does it make sense to build or just wait around for the "right" place.... if the right place even exists.... What did you do???? Thanks!!!

ETA: Sorry this got soooo long. Just wanted to say we were thinking a 1600 sq ft house, we have 2 kids now, hoping for a third soon. 1600 sq ft isnt too big, but if we have outdoor space we will be fine. And the most we could spend on a house and buildings,etc (everything but land) would be 175,000 MAX. well, thats the most our mortgage could be. I would prefer lower, but i dont think that will happen.

 

[Wannabefree]

Relocate. You can get 50 acres with barns, fencing and a medium size single family home for 175K down here!! I know...maybe not feasible, but your money would go sooooooo much farther than it does up there. I don't seee how ya'll make it!

 

[FarmerChick]

UGH RD
you are in that zone...of build or buy??? been there and it is miserable for sure cause you just don't know which way to head.

you want to MOVE now into a home and be settled and start on barns or whatever you need to make that little homestead......but then you got that itch to build to suit your personal needs and building sure comes with its own time limits, dollars, and headaches.

I feel for you!!!!


You have to decide as a couple WHAT do you really want?

ask hubby. and yourself. wait, save, build or keep looking for that land/home and jump on it.
if a 'dream home' is in mind it is hard to justify just buying any old house ya know.

we went back and forth and back and forth. Actually we decided to stay put on this farmette instead of building over on my other 30 acres. in the end as much as my build to suit dream house was calling and expensive.....this house we are in now is on a road with a few families and kids. And 3 kids are in the same school/1 in the same class as my kiddo, and the other family has 2 kids just a year behind. they play....my road is paved...bike safe....good people and my pastures/barns/pool etc is all established here. So we are staying put. Other land would isolate my kiddo more, very long dirt driveway on a dirt road etc....new landscape, build new barns, build everything new ya know and that was just enough to put the end to that situation for now.


So think hard. It is tough to make the call on a big life decision...but follow your true hearts plans and go for it and don't look back!!!!

 

[rd200]

Relocate. You can get 50 acres with barns, fencing and a medium size single family home for 175K down here!! I know...maybe not feasible, but your money would go sooooooo much farther than it does up there. I don't seee how ya'll make it!

i know, we have tried having him find another job, but its tough. He is slightly higher up in the rank and most of the jobs available in other states are lower ranking.(he's military, but his civilian job is also thru the military) He applied for one in Iowa and Ohio, but didnt get it. And they are also very apprehensive about giving an out of state person a job because often something falls thru with the move, family, etc, and then they have to start all over again finding a person for this job. Ive definetly told my hubby to look again to find something. we are very close to our families, which all live about an hour from us, so that would be a HUGE stretch to move states away from them. But ive looked at places in like Missouri and i can get like 75 acres, and a house and some outbuilding for like 150K!!! That would be like 300K+ around here. We were just talking about it last night again. But we would also have to move to where ever the job is. And that would limit the places to move to also. Because most of the job openings are in larger cities... We want to be in the boonies, but he still needs to get to work in a reasonable amount of time...

where do you live?

 

[Wannabefree]

I'm in Tennessee, rural Tennessee. I am about 2 hours from any major city here. That wouldn't be feasible for you guys though. I don't even really know where the nearest military base is from here. Does he work on base? That particular job type would make it difficult to live around here. You guys would save SO much money though. There are areas around here that are within an hour of major cities but still pretty much the boonies, but I'm not sure where would be good for ya'll. However, we'd love to have ya I hope you can find a suitable arrangement soon, nothing worse than not having it figured out yet. It'll drive you crazy.

 

[rd200]

UGH RD
you are in that zone...of build or buy??? been there and it is miserable for sure cause you just don't know which way to head.

you want to MOVE now into a home and be settled and start on barns or whatever you need to make that little homestead......but then you got that itch to build to suit your personal needs and building sure comes with its own time limits, dollars, and headaches.

I feel for you!!!!


You have to decide as a couple WHAT do you really want?

ask hubby. and yourself. wait, save, build or keep looking for that land/home and jump on it.
if a 'dream home' is in mind it is hard to justify just buying any old house ya know.

we went back and forth and back and forth. Actually we decided to stay put on this farmette instead of building over on my other 30 acres. in the end as much as my build to suit dream house was calling and expensive.....this house we are in now is on a road with a few families and kids. And 3 kids are in the same school/1 in the same class as my kiddo, and the other family has 2 kids just a year behind. they play....my road is paved...bike safe....good people and my pastures/barns/pool etc is all established here. So we are staying put. Other land would isolate my kiddo more, very long dirt driveway on a dirt road etc....new landscape, build new barns, build everything new ya know and that was just enough to put the end to that situation for now.


So think hard. It is tough to make the call on a big life decision...but follow your true hearts plans and go for it and don't look back!!!!

yes, we want mostly the same thing. He wants woods, land, big garage, outdoor space. I want land, barns, garden space, flower space, orchard space, and a rootcellar and garden shed. He doesnt much care for homesteading in the way of animals, etc. He grew up on a farm as did I, but he doesnt have much of a desire to milk a cow twice a day for me to make cheese, butter, kefir, etc. So while we DO have the same tastes in property, i am searching more for useable building, pasture, etc.

It wouldnt be so bad if we had anywhere to do anythign right now where we live. but we dont. We have a small garden, a small yard, and live in town. So there goes animals. I told hubby if we dont move by next year im getting chickens, and putting a cow in our garage!!! He didnt agree....

The issue is i dont think its even feasible to build a decent house and everything else for 175K. We dont need a fancy house at all. but i do want quality materials such as a metal roof, good windows, maybe solar panels, geothermal maybe. And those are expensive, but necessary items i think. We arent looking to buy or build a "dream home" but just want a suitable place for 5 people with animals and some room to roam. ideally 10-20 acres. with at least 5 being woods and the rest pasture. But good luck with that....

 

[rd200]

I'm in Tennessee, rural Tennessee. I am about 2 hours from any major city here. That wouldn't be feasible for you guys though. I don't even really know where the nearest military base is from here. Does he work on base? That particular job type would make it difficult to live around here. You guys would save SO much money though. There are areas around here that are within an hour of major cities but still pretty much the boonies, but I'm not sure where would be good for ya'll. However, we'd love to have ya I hope you can find a suitable arrangement soon, nothing worse than not having it figured out yet. It'll drive you crazy.

He does work on base, but he's not active duty. its complicated (as is the Army...) they are usually the smaller bases that the jobs are on, but we havent found one in a rural spot yet. There was one in Saint Louis, MO but im not all for Gangs and violence!!! Im a country person, it scares me a little to live even in a small town of 600 people, not less having my hubby go to Saint louis every day for work.... unless you can carry protection down there....
well, if i pack up shop and move to Tennessee, ill be contacting you

 

[Wannabefree]

I can't think of any local bases :/ Wish you could move down here! It's a lot easier to be SS here due to the climate. The animals don't need as much protection from the elements here so you could skimp on the out buildings a bit and go BIG on the gardens

 

[pinkfox]

im fairly certain you could build a nice smaller home for under your budget quite easily...
Check out Coolhouseplans.com for some plan ideas (most have a "regional cost estimate" with the plan preview...
theres NO reason a new build has to be characterless, its just that most new builds are built with Mass production in mind, Find a plan in a syle you like in your size need and then find someone who will work with you to make the house perfect by using things like reclaimed lumber for the flooring,
you can make a new house look very quaint and charming if you step away from "mass production" and do a little digging

Or go for the "less than ideal" house (mabe its a cosmetic fixer, or the closets are a little small or your one bathroom less than you thought you wanted) on the lowest end of your pricerange and then make it yours.

in some areas it is cheaper to build from scratch than it is to buy a ransaked falling down shack...your biggest expense is usually septic/tiying into sewage lines, water and getting electric out to the property so if you can find a peice of land with those things already in place it shouldnt cost much to being a very nice little house in your budget.
and never rule out that "fixer upper" know your limits obviously, but paint is easily changed, walpaper can be stripped and kitchens and bathrooms upgraded to make any place your own.

 

[rd200]

thanks for all the replys...
I did look at some house plan sites and found a few I really liked. But was kinda shocked at the pricing for my area compared to if we would build it in another state or area. Yikes!!! there was one that was 1510 sq ft real simple, but with no garage in the cost estimate it was still 165,000. And 1500 sq ft isnt very big with 2 almost 3 kids. our house now is 1400 and we are squeezed in here. And we dont really have much "stuff" either.

decisions decisions. We could stay at our current house another 3-4 years and save up some more $$$ but that would mean another 3-4 years of dealling with the same downfalls we are dealing with now in this house. It suites us okay for now, but it irks me everytime i go buy raw milk, eggs, etc from the farmer that *I* could be doing this at home on my property with my cows, my chickens, etc instead of buying it for an outrageous price from someone else. Not to mention that my 10 yr old is as lazy as it comes right now and needs some good farm work to whip him into shape. Something you can have responsibility for like an animals where there is reward and gratification seeing what you have accomplished as that animal grows and developes and gives you food, profit, pleasure....whatever the case may be. In 3-4 years he will be 14 and certainly NOT be intersted in gardening and animals anymore im pretty sure.

I guess im just impatient now. We paid off all of our debt in the last 2-3 months and worked super hard at that and now can bank my pay checks, but its frustrating to not know what way to go and have no clear vision. Its always easier to save money or make better decisions when you have a vision or plan on what to do. Have to discuss more with hubby...(not that he can make up his mind either.... he's worse than me most days!!!) I desperately want to make a decision but dang its so hard. we look back alot and i *know* thats a terrible idea, but we do alot of *what -ifs * and it makes us more nuts!! Thanks for all the suggestions