Hi, We are a married couple of 26 yrs. We have lived in the coal fields all our life, but now ready to move for our final time. We are seeking at least 10 or more acres to build our log home on. The perfect land will have nice size timber,( hardwood&whitepine) We want a good building spot with long range views and would also like to have a good place to put a fish pond for the grandkids. The land we seek must be level to rolling with some mountains maybe, I guess what we would like is a mini farm, that is reasonablely priced. Please e-mail me at (rbrooks@citlink.net) Thank you,Ron

-- ron brooks (rbrooks@citlink.net), February 05, 2002

Answers

Response to seeking land to build dream home

I think i forgot to mention that we would like the land to be somewhere in southern va. or surrounding area, but would be open to other area's.

-- r brooks (rbrooks@citlink.net), February 05, 2002.

This is how I found my farm and may work for you.

I knew the general area of where I wanted to be (between I-65 and KY Lake and between KY and LA). I located each county in that area and wrote to the Chamber of Commerce in the county seat of each. (Just address of Chamber of Commerce, (City), (State), (Zip - from post office). I asked each to provide a referral to a list of realtors in their county. From most counties several realty agencies sent me introductory information on themselves and the county. I selected one in each county and sent them a list of ten things I was looking for in a property. Most then sent listings, some coming close to my list, others so far away it made me wonder if they even read the list. I then scheduled one day in each county to look at properties. I kept narrowing down properties until I obtained the farm I have now.

Building a new home long distance is very difficult. Most places will let you put a mobile homes (used ones aren't that expensive) while one is being built. If planned correctly, it can use the electric, water and sewage system which will eventually be used by the house.

By the way, I would tell each agent I wanted to get an early start. Early to a realty agent is 9AM. Only one agreed to meet me at 7AM, and it turned out to ultimately be the one I purchased through.

Also, some agent will volunteer to be an area agent saying they will search in other counties for you. What they are interested in is the half of the commission. Use an agent/agencies within the county of interest.

Remember also the commission is not written in stone, but can be negotiated. Raw land is usually 10%. If offering, make a maximum of say 6% commission part of the offer. This will actually save the seller money, so should be reflected in the price.

An excellent book is Finding and Buying Your Place in the Country by Les Scher. Your local library may be able to borrow a loaner copy for you. It covers things like how deep of a well will be required and how good of water will it produce; will the property pass a perk test (which should be a condition of sale); are their any easements; who will own timber, water and mineral rights; access during heavy rains or winter snows and a host of other topics.

Don't get hung up on a pond site if there are other ample fishing opportunities in the general area. Before purchasing a property get with the local Soil Conservation Services Agency and have them do a site survey with you. In some cases, they can even provide some grant money to help in construction. As an example, say the property includes an area classified as wetlands. It may be possible to convert it to a pond under the greater good/use concept.

Also see the thread on Countryside Newsletter #7, now under the Countryside Related category. To it I'll add not to use the same agencies as the one with the property listing. They represent the seller. Find one which will represent you as the buyer. Also, get title insurance!

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 05, 2002.

The south central part of the st wouldn't off the type of land you are looking for, we lived in south central VA for yrs. You would find the area north of Farmville, VA and to the west, Danville, or to the north, Lynchburg and above more desirable. The south western part of the st would also be nice. I'll try to post later with some realtors.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 05, 2002.

Try www.realtors.com that is how we found our place in WV which I think you should check out since it is soo beautiful and it is pretty cheap.

-- sonneyacres (jtgt12@ntelos.net), February 05, 2002.

Sounds like a couple of counties you might look in would be Nelson or Bedford.Campbell and Amherst might be good bets but are bordered by fast developing Lynchburg so that might be a problem.Also in the area west of the Blue Ridge Rockbridge,Highland and Bath counties are real nice with lots of mountains.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), February 05, 2002.

Our realtor is listed on United Country. They offer some very good prices on land, the taxes are reasonable. Ours is only $27 a year on 1.18 acres with a 3br 1 1/2 bath.

go to www.unitedcountry.com go to Virginia and look up Victoria. Any property in Lunenburg County is going to be cheap or surrounding areas. Near Ft. Pickett. Electric is co-oped. Good hunting, the deer are plentiful.

-- Stephanie Nosacek (possumliving@go.com), February 06, 2002.

Well, there must have been a price drop on land in the past few months for Lunenburg County, Victoria. We sold our farm there last May and received over $1,000 per acre for the land. Heck, clear cut logged land was selling for $1,000 an acre posted by the United Country Agent in Victoria. Totally crazy for land that looks like a war zone!

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 06, 2002.