Andy,

We found a pretty good bargain in the Sandpoint area in Northern Idaho. If you are interested you can get an idea of prices by doing a Bare land search at Sandpoint.com.

Roy

I am planning on building in Chillicothe Ohio. That is approx 1 driving hour from Columbus Ohio (pop approx just under a million) and within driving distance of 2 other mid sized cities.

I looked at a piece of land that had 9+ acers and was completly wooded with access to water and electric. They wanted 20,000

That was the best deal I saw, but other prices I looked at were between 25-50 for the same amount of land. It just depends on how much closer to Columbus you get the more it costs.

Also there are tons of places within Ohio that are similiar. Most of Ohio is non-congested trafic wise and you can get from place to place pretty quickly. Chillicothe is by far not the only place you can build cheaply in the state and still be close to one of the big cities. (Columbus, Cincinnatti, Cleveland)

We found our cheap Va. land with owner financing, at this website. The website has all states available.

http://www.unitedcountry.com/index.html

I just sent the contract to the realtor for our "little slice of heaven".

Good luck on your search.

==chuck

I know you probably don't want to move to Texas, but wherever you settle, check the agricultura exemption tax status...we bought ten acres and the total tax bill for 04 was $174.00!

I can one-up you... my tax bill for 10 acres in northern Maine was $100 last year... with no exemption needed! ;)

Jeremy--

I have relatives west of Tulsa in a couple different towns, and they've been trying to get us to move there for years.

It's definitely lovely, and we could probably get used to the snakes and the twisters. If my husband wasn't locked into a good career here, we might have considered it.

My cousin and her husband payed almost nothing for a gorgeous 20 acres with a small cute house and a creek, and their neighbors are a buffalo farm.

Nice folks in your state, too. :D

Sara

Jeremy--

You had me laughing out loud on that one. :lol: :D

I get your point, of course. And for California, where we live is pretty darn nice. But there are things about the state that leave something to be desired. We'd REALLY like to be in the Rockies (or maybe almost anywhere if the acreage was large enough!), but we couldn't make a living there either.

Our only hope now is that when he retires, maybe we could get a great price for our 10 wooded acres and fabulous log home... and then move to a state that suits our values better? :wink:

Besides, I guess "paradise" is where you find it. :?: :D

Sara

I'm finding once-in-a-lifetime deals everytime I turn around.
I have one for sale at cost right now. Found two lots for
$3,000 and $5,000. Bought 5 acres recently for $26,500.
Know of several other 5 acre lots that are about $18,000.

They just seem to fall into my lap. These are in Washington
though. California might be a different story.

-Rick Buchanan

Hi Rebecca,

The $3,000 lot was near Lake Wenatchee, The $5,000 lot was on
Badger Mountain. The two $18,000 lots are near Coleville. Also
found some very nice 5 - 10 acre lots for $11,000 - $25,000 in
the Idaho panhandle. Found a "to die for" piece with a livable
home on it and many acres for about $75,000. I think that
was about $1,500 - $2,000 an acre plus a house thrown in. Only
the Badger Mtn. lot was without services. Two lots even had
cable! They're everywhere!

The ironic part was that the $3,000 lot was for sale for several
weeks and I was familiar with the area. I could have had it but
I just decided I didn't need another piece of land. Should have
bought it and turned it over to a member at cost. Oh well....

-Rick Buchanan

Mike--

When my cousin in Oklahoma got our note that we'd been given our certificate of occupancy, she said that where they live, you can live in a cardboard box as long as you own the property it's on. I'm sure that's an exaggeration :wink: , but I have heard that there ARE still some places with really minimal regulations for building.

We drove cross county last summer, however, and were interested in how MANY "you're entering X County" signs did have a sign that said something about building codes being enforced. We didn't know how STRICT those codes were, but it seemed like there were a lot more of that sort of sign than the last time we drove cross-country in 1995.

Sara

Oh, wow, my kinda inspector!!!! :D

But Gamma (it's Jim, isn't it?), I thought overall Washington wasn't too restrictive governmentally? We have friends who live up your way, and they've said homeschool requirements and a lot of day-to-day things are pretty lenient there. Maybe they were only comparing it to when they lived here in southern California???? :wink:

Sara

Ooo, ouch! :oops: :lol:

I knew it was a "J" name, and have you noticed how many of the guys here with "other than name" handles are all named Jim? :wink:

Jeff knows your feeling. He's tied to Los Angeles for another 15 years or so, but didn't want to stay where we were in the suburbs for our sons' whole childhood, if we could help it.

What we ended up doing was finding the maximum distance he'd be willing to commute, and found the least-restrictive county at that distance (we're at the corner of three big counties here, so a few miles in any direction can make a big difference). The commute worries me a bit, because he drives tired all the time, but at least his commute schedule is a little more forgiving than yours and your fiancee's probably are, since he works 24 hour shifts. If he was working at 9-5 type job, I think we'd never have been able to justify the distance, gas money, ice/snow dangers, etc.

It's sure a tough quandry. There are lots of places we'd rather be than here, but none that we know of where we could make the kind of secure living we value. And he's half-way to retirement in THIS job.

Good luck in whatever you two decide, Joel.

"Sarah" :lol:

Was talking with an inspector (Chelan Co.) a few years ago. He
said; "Look, it's a log cabin and any hole you can't throw a cat
through is considered acceptable." (Little does he know about how
we build). They are pretty easy going on log construction. Wish
I could take the inspector with me. I'm going to where the codes
are supposed to be non-existent. Totally rural, few people, and
the way they act you'd think I'm building in downtown Seattle!
Codes and fees for everything except the garage. No permit
required. That's an easy one. I'll make the house small and
build it right next to the Garagemahal!

-Rick

Thanks everyone who offered their "2 cents". Trust me! I looked into nearly every suggestion.

I settled for a one acre lot with power and telephone on the Williamson River just north of Chiloquin OR. The lot has a slight slope which will force me to build on a daylight basement, but that should make the home just that much more marketable. The view is incredible and the Williamson is known as a blue ribbon river for the fly fishermen.

I have a lot of work ahead of me to prepare the lot, which is moderately forested with Aspens and to a lesser extent with Pines (one particularly desireable as a ridgepole).

If anyone is still looking for investment property, The realtors in the area all say the area is expolding. Apparently, everyone from good ol' California is spending their $$$$'s to snatch up the land.

I got the last lot on the river for the price (25k). There was another lot about another 5 miles out for $39k. That lot was much more desireable because it was nearly flat and forested more heavily with pines, but it was much more that I was looking to spend for one acre.

Chiloquin is abot 20 minutes north of Klamath Falls, OR (mid sized city) and KF is only about 30 miles north of the California border. Fairly mild climate. Light snows in the winter and moderate temps through the summers.

We found a nice little piece of property 10-20 acres for 25,000 has water and power. Located by Enterprise Utah. Just north of St.George. We are looking in to it right now. There are some good property deals around Beaver Utah thats on Interstate 15 in between. Salt Lake and St. George. :)

The real estate around St. George is quite pricey. Enterprise is the cheapest in Washington County. Cedar City is getting kinda of pricey right now too. I found a kit log home for sale it has 2 bedrooms 2 bathroom on 5 acres for $189,000 in a real estate magazine. Another log cabin is going for $410, 000 it has 3 bedrooms 2 bathrooms on 27 acres. Some log cabins on Cedar Mountain are from $189,000 to $300,000.

If I was able to move anywhere, I think I would go where you didn't have to deal with the county much when building. I'm in colorado and my whole family is here so I don't plan on going anywhere but I think I would head to Maine if in the position.
The prices for land out here are outrageous. We just bought a 2 acre parcel for 125K. The permit price will be over 2K, then we get to deal with the wonderful county people as they breath down our neck with every move we make.
Free yourself while you can.
Another thing we decided to do was start a company and consider ourselves contractors. So even though we have to get construction loans to build houses, we can pay ourselves while we do it and free ourselves up from working a fulltime job.

...and another one!

Several mostly flat acres near Leavenworth, Washington.
$99,000! Trees (conifers) & pasture land.

$99,000 is a lot of money for me just to buy the dirt, but if
you've ever priced anything near the Bavarian Village you
will know this is a screaming deal.

-Rick

Wish I could tell you my secret. but I really don't know
how I happen to come across so many good deals.

It's always good to keep an eye on Craig's list, I also talk
with neighbors, and real estate agents.

I did recently find a parcel. Here's the best from my memory:
20 acres, with single wide mobile, water, electricity, septic, &
conifers. N.E. Washington. About $89,000.

Also, a potential duplex. Needs $9,000 in improvements.
$100,000 or so under market value. View property with a
partial remodel. Central Washington.

Maybe I should just pass on the good deals when I find them.
If it looks good enough for me to act on it I can try to get it
posted here. Anyone interested in Northern Idaho?

-Rick

Geez, if thats not an LHBA home I don't know what is.

Here's another link to that skip style house.

http://www.leavenworthproperties.com/featured-properties/680122

I like it a lot..and it is similar to what I have in mind..a big pitched roof with a half loft upstairs...

nice straight logs on it too..and he used logs for the rafters..very nice.

its probally worth 400-500k if he or she finshed it.

kola

:) Who is Craig and where is his list? :D lol

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Newmark

There are land bargains almost everywhere! Find a couple of areas that satisfy your requirements ie: work etc.
My 2 cents, avoid "hot" markets; if you must, wait until its cooled down (like now!!)

DISCLAIMER: If you have great gobs of money to throw at buying a property, please disregard the following!

In wintery places: When I've gone in search of property and I'm ready to buy *I find an area I like*, pick a handful of properties that are on the market and in my price range. I start in the spring when everyone has their prices jacked. Then I wait, and continue scanning for anything new that's come available--adding and dropping props on my "short list" throughout the summer. By the end of the summer I see which ones are still unsold--unsold often means unrealistic asking prices and owners are willing to negotiate more as some want/need to unload the prop before winter when real estate sales on raw land slow down.
My first property I waited and kept my eye on it for 9 months--when the price dropped $20,000--it was time to pounce and I got a further price reduction through negotiation. That was a lucky break, but if you stay on it for a season or 2 (or even 3) and acquire a lot of knowledge of your chosen areas' prices you'll find the perfect property for you, and you'll instantly "know" it once you see it--especially prices.

Personally, I like dealing directly with sellers (no offense to you agents) Can save a small heap of money on commissions. That being said however, here's my little tangent/rant on the matter whether it be dealing directly with sellers or agents representing sellers: There are some downsides to the search once you've found that "perfect" property you've put so much effort into finding....ones which we've run into several times while trying to buy land we've *really* liked. The types we've run into:

1) Seller just fishing to see how many offers will materialize, not truly serious about selling. These ones tick me off the most. They get a few offers and don't respond to any because they've decided they MUST be selling for too little $ the moment they get offers. (Some de-list and then re-list with new, totally jacked up price.) Don't waste your time waiting with these, keep looking at the other alternatives.

2) Pie-in-the-sky: Seller living in the land of 5 to 10 years from now ie: price is way too high and won't come down. At all. Seller doesn't "need' to sell and is just looking for someone equally as whacked who'll throw away money. Keep your eye on it--the seller may finally figure it out one day after zero offers have come in anywhere near the asking price.

3) The Backsliding Seller, or, "How to horrify a valid buyer": Ok all your questions have been answered and you're certain about moving forward. You've talked price. You may even have a verbal agreement (remember these don't mean anything). You're going to make a formal offer. At the last moment seller calls you hemming and hawing about "other offers" which may or may not be true. Also, a lot of people tell a seller they want to buy but when push comes to shove the bank won't let them.
When a seller knows you want what he/she's got, he/she can be quite scurrilous right up to signing the contract--I mean it's their very last opportunity to squeeze you, right? Often it's a bid to drive up the price. Don't be manipulated. Make your offer and be ready to walk away--until it's yours, treat it as the cold hard business deal it should be. As much as it killed us to potentially have to walk away from "the perfect property" for us and all the emotion/dreaming/effort that goes with finding it, you'll sometimes find that tuning out last-minute seller noise and standing firm produces a sheepish phone call a while later. Ha ha, so much for the other "offers."

Ok, maybe I'm being too cynical.....

Do your research using all available formats (internet, newspapers, local supermarket bulletin boards, just driving around!) Talk to locals. Become familiar with area prices so you know when something you may want is reasonable, a good deal, or the seller dreaming out of his back passage.

Good luck in your quest!