Buying piece of land, how to finance, what to look for

[Cos]

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[gwill]

In terms of buying land a good site you can use is houzz.com Land buying questions are regularly posted on their forum. You can dive deeper into costs, electrical, plumbing etc etc and they are awesome and quick when it comes to floor plans, architects and general contracting questions.

Good sections of land are hard to find. I had friends in Edmonton spend 2 years before they found a section of land that was good enough for them. Your best bet is finding that owner who has a section they want to parcel off but that's not an easy task.

[corsvette]

I bought mine off a family friend out by Rocky mtn house, and got a really good deal. Not often people sell off just a few acres. I spent quite a bit of time looking too. Mostly everything 1-7 acres is in a subdivision or already built on. Subdivisions suck imo, way too many restrictions on build and what you can/can't have on the property. Also, if you want a Horse you must have min 5 acres and most subdivisions wont allow them. The place I have is subdivided off a large section of farmland way back in the 70's, it had services as there was an old mobile home there (it was not habitable), everything but nat gas.

The owner told me its very costly to get a subdivision off farmland nowadays. Also, services cost a small fortune. I heard it was min $10k for a well, a good 10K for the gas co-op. and another 10-15 for the rocky REA (I hear they're one of the very few REA's still in operation)

A good size flaw in my plans was finding out the water table is very high in my spot. This mean I cant have a traditional basement, it's a big job $$$ to 'raise' the building plot to have a above grade basement (which itself is alot more money to build) This is probably why there's so many modular (not mobile) homes in those areas. I went looking at mod homes and they are very, very nice, I'm still not sold on the no basement, but could live with a 2400sq ft modular on one level.

It's generally a pain in the ass I've found. Right now i'm content with keeping my holiday trailer out there year round. Honestly, it`s cheaper and easier to just buy an acreage already built, even if it has a craptastic old mobile on it thats still in usable condition. Saves in the time, money, and frustration VS dealing with bare raw land. I find theres one roadblock after another dealing with this.

There were some VERY nice acreage plots out in a place called Cougar Ridge last year, reasonable price and no restrictions. Not sure any are left, but rocky is an oil town lol, might be a fire sale or ten available pretty soon.

[HiTempguy1]

Remember as well, assuming you are buying to build on, as soon as construction crews have to leave city boundaries, $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

And yes, the easiest way to do this will be to HELOC that shit if you can. I don't think banks will even lend for land for personal residential development from what I remember when we built the last acreage (one reason so many people go through a developer, you are buying a "house" with the land).

But basically all the things the poster above me said. Its a huge god damn hassle. Pray you don't have to drill more than one well, it happens quite often. Some people in our area were drilling 300+ feet to get to an aquifer, that shit gets pricey quick.

[ercchry]

icx.ca

Always thought you can mortgage bare land with 50% down? Best bet is to find other means to finance the whole project outside the banks and refinance everything with a traditional mortgage after you build your weird hillbilly getaway in the woods

[flipstah]

Cos' dream home

I'm also curious how one does this. Looking forward to some valuable info.

[Cos]

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[tpurcell4]

If you don't want to do 50% down on the piece of land or unable due there being no services, your best and cheapest option is to put a HELOC on your personal residence and then use it to purchase the land.

The other option is less conventional on traditional properties, but more common on these types of purchases due to the restrictions on buying/selling raw unserviced land, but ask the seller once you find a parcel to structure a Vendor Take Back mortgage. You give them what ever down payment your agree upon, and they act as a private lender at an agreed rate. If you offer a reasonable rate of return (say 5-7%) to the seller, they may go for it, which is much cheaper than what a private lender I can put you with would offer.

I have one client who did this on a property he sold north of Grand Prairie and he is quite happy with his 6% interest per year.

Hope this helps!

Todd

[max_boost]

Heloc that shit.

[Cos]

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[ExtraSlow]

Crowsnest is beautiful, but the weather is more severe than many other options.

[Cos]

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[ExtraSlow]

Some big risks with the USA in terms of politics and future tax liabilities. That country is nearly broke, and taking money from "rich foreigners" is a pretty easy way to raise some cash.

That being said, I love Montana.

However, if you're willing to drive as far as Whitefish, which is around five hours depending on the border crossing, you could go to near Hinton, which has some awesome scenery, decent prices, and no currency/politics risk.

[Toma]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Some big risks with the USA in terms of politics and future tax liabilities. That country is nearly broke, and taking money from "rich foreigners" is a pretty easy way to raise some cash.

That being said, I love Montana.

However, if you're willing to drive as far as Whitefish, which is around five hours depending on the border crossing, you could go to near Hinton, which has some awesome scenery, decent prices, and no currency/politics risk.

The US would never do that, and exchange rate wont be going anywhere but worse for us if their economy stays where it is. Lets remember that the par dollar was an anomaly based off their worst recession since the dirty 30's. Hell, I remember buying car parts as a teen out of the US and paying $1.6 exchange.

As for Tax liability, they already run a flat and hefty 30% withholding for foreigners, that can be bypassed with a US Tax ID number. But those are hard to get, unless you expect US source income.