The Dream Of Off-Grid, Country Living Outside of Sacramento Can Be Attained.
About six months ago, my wife and I started entertaning the idea of moving to the country a little outside of Sacramento. We currently live in a townhome in the Arden area that we love. When I explain to people where we live, I start out by saying, “you know when you are driving down Fair Oaks Blvd between Munroe Steet and Watt Avenue? There are all of those beautiful homes off the the right and left such as Crocker Road., Hopkins Road and Bret Harte (not the WWF wrestler from the 80s)? Yeah, we live around the corner from there.” It amuses me to see their eyes enlarge with anticipation of this grand mansion they are building in their minds of where we live. I don’t live in Sierra Oaks, but I sell homes there.
Our community is lovely, but there isn’t room for the things we now want in life. We want to grow our own food and I would love to have a little recording studio to work on music projects. We have now visited a few properties and are leaning towards buying vacant land to build a home on. There are lots of moving parts and things to consider when buying raw land, let me tell you. You can pretty much count on needing a septic system and a well if you want to enjoy the slower-paced life of country living on a big lot away from municipal services. If the property doesn’t have those already, that will likely be on your dollar if you are buying land to build a house on.
Sometimes you can get away with having the seller install the well, but your offer better be really good.
Also, a part of buyer due diligence when buying land in the country that does not have a septic system would be to complete a percolation test. Those can run from about $150-$1500. If the test fails, you probably can’t build a home on that site. But you may be able to install an engineered system and those can get up to about $50,000 or more. You can also check a different part of the property if the parcel is large to see if the dirt is more permeable.
There are many factors to consider when buying land to build a house on. Financing, inspections, zoning, use permits (for wedding venures or agricultural sales) and utility planning all have to make sense for what you are trying to do. The nice part is that you can avoid home showings during the lockdown. It is easy to get lost in all of this without the right help. My wife and I have located a property, a builder and are going through this right now. What better land Realtor to help you than one who is currently going through the process.
There are many more things to think about when buying land to build a house on. Give me a call. Our team has been through many of these transactions and can guide you through it.
