What year was the home built? Is the condition poor, average, good or great? If you understand UAD, is it C2 or maybe a C5 for condition? What is the quality? vinyl & carpet? New hand scraped hardwood & Tile? Q2 or Q5? Should the home be raised, fixed or perfect as is? When approaching fair market value what percentage of the land makes up your projected purchase price? What is the view/location? Are you mainly wooded/pastoral? Or crops? Water views? Close to anything commercial? How many homes in the neighborhood feature 6,000 sq ft? Resale nightmare? Even my best clients have suprises.
Never, buy a 2000 Sqf house and 100 acres, the land will go up in value, the 6000 house will be a money pit, unless you plan on some working girls living with you. IF you could someone in my area to sell you 100 acres, the price they would want would make the price of this home look like pocket change. We're talking royalties making some farmers and large land owners in excess of $50K a month. The gas industry has made land an investment 10 fold in this area. I'm with you all the way, John. I would much rather have 200 acres and a small home. I'm NOT going to own 200 acres where I want to live, and we aren't willing to move at this point in our lives. I'm also not going to settle for a 2 acre lot somewhere just so I can build a home. I know I'm making excuses to an extent, but this is part of the internal debate I'm having.
Some contingencies to consider: (1) Securing financing when featuring the acreage. (2) Well & Septic inspections (3) Homework om multiple parcels. Zoning/usage of the land. Tax amount on othe parcels. Should you combine the parcels on the sale or leave seperate? Could you pay cash for a couple of the parcels and not mortgage them?(Many times in my area rural properties do not feature zoning condusive to hunting) (4) Survey - Have it done. Or get a copy of an old one. Hear say will hurt on this one. (5) Home inpsection (6) Radon inspection (7) Flood certification if pertinent (8) Insurance quote on current and future rehab Still thinking......
Built in 1995. It's a brick colonial. It's in great condition most places, good in the rest. I'm not a realtor. I said I'm obsessed with real estate, not real estate code:D Just for kicks, I looked it up, and C2 sounds about right:D It's mostly tile and hardwood with carpeted bedrooms, living room, and some side room off the kitchen I have no idea what I would use it for. Home needs some modifications. The deck on the back would need extended to cover the entire length of the house (personal preference, but structurally, it's not up to my specs...I like overbuilt). There is a 3 car garage detached, and what WAS the two car attached is a mud room on one side and a theatre room on the other (really?). I would gut that room and return it to a two car garage, thus cutting off another 600sq.ft from my tax liability. Everything else has recently been updated. The percentage of land making up my projected purchase price hinges directly on whether the O&G rights convey. If they do, I say 30%-35%. Like I said in the description, it's rolling topography, ~90% hay field/~10% wooded. Views are of the Appalachian mountains (Laurel highlands) and the Susquehanna Valley. Not close to anything commercial. I would have to get on the county courthouse site, but I doubt many homes in the area are of this size. Regardless, it would be a resale nightmare...another major hesitation of mine. This house is NOT going to move anytime soon and I think the seller knows that. If I could sum the point of the post and my situation it's this. I found one of the nicest places to build I've found in a longtime. There's just aready a house taking up that space:D
Sounds very nice. If you are comfortable with the dollars then: (My biggest concern) How many years do you plan on staying? Do you want to maintain a home that size? Do you want the resale headache? These questions I would really being going over and over. Sounds like you found a deal. I just wish the home was more conventional.
I would be staying in this home for the next 40 years god willing. No, I don't want to maintain a home that size:D Does anyone? Hopefully at that point in my life, I won't care much about resale. However, if I get it on 14 acres, and land continues to do what it always does...climb, it wouldn't be the worst investment. Again, I'm no where NEAR seriously considering this. Just feeling things out right now. I really don't even want to move for a few years. I think the fact that right now I'm trying to find more positives than negatives should tell me something. The kicker is I could move to other places in PA, and own 100-200 acres and a decent home for the price they have this home on its 3 acre lot listed for
It also doesn't really look like an overly large home on the outside. The sq.footage is a little misleading, too. You're gaining ~600sq.ft per floor from the converted attached two car garage (room finished above and connected to main house), and the ENTIRE basement is finished. If you had an unfinished basement, a normal unfinished two car garage with unfinished space above, it would be more along the lines of a 3500 sq.ft home.
You seem wise. I would say you are doing the single most important thing and that is recognizing market trends. By researching the market you now can identify a deal like the one in front of you. It's exciting when you have something in front of you that you can afford and it features mostly what you are looking, but holding out for the right one, is the best thing to do. Sounds like you are still in a sellers market when it comes to land avalibility. Talk directly to the land owners, do not sign a buyers contract, but get ahold of a good broker and make sure you get current content, read the newspaper, realtor.com and make sure your family and friends know what you are looking for. Good luck sir.
Makes more sense. I am a licensed appraiser and broker. In the appraisal world anything below grade is not considered GLA. In the broker world it is all over the place.
1800 sq ft on main floor. Most of the basement is finished. When I retire I won't need that much house.but I will need a bigger shed and more land.
Make an offer. If it doesn't work out, you'll keep doing what you're doing. If he accepts it? ... then I'm coming for a visit
While roasting a whole deer over the coals in the fireplace???? Just like the Christmas I never knew!
I'd say in the 3000-4000 sq ft range everything included is what id be interested in for a long term place. I plan to move to frequently to worry about that for the next decade anyway
Mine is 3400 sq ft...4 br, 3.5 bath which includes my "man cave" which is a bed room, den and full bath upstairs (guest quarters) that sports an indoor balcony that overlooks the downstairs living room with 20 foot ceiling. Worked all my life to get here and will likely die here. Love it...just me and the wife (and 2 terriers) enjoying our spacious empty nest. I'll be 60 in 12 days. It's 20 minutes from my 3600 acre hunting lease.
Currently I am renting about a 2500 sq ft house with three other grad students. It's decent enough in size, but I'd need two of the bedrooms to myself just to store all my hunting gear since there is no garage to convert for storage. Whenever I move to Alaska/Out West I fully intend on a 2-3 bedroom apt/house just to have room to store all my junk on shelves and only utilize one of the bedrooms as a bedroom haha. So when is the housewarming party?
