Am I insane to buy this land?!

[margali]

So I have a tiny, miniscule, vanishingly small pot of money to use as downpayment to buy land. I also have to stay close to my day jobs.

I found a random plot of land- 7.46acres on straddling the city limits for $175k. 2.16acres is inside city limits and has utilities available. Yawn, boring. The remaining 5.3acres are the creek bottoms with approx. 1 acre outside the floodplain. As far as I can tell, completely raw forest.

My insane plan is to build a nice house on city acres and start developing the bottoms land as food forest. Rabbits, chickens, and maybe goats. Then build our house in the back 1 acre and rent out the front house. Really insane or just out of the box? Here's the topo and overhead view.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

My immediate thought is to do the homework on well drilling for that second house you're thinking about. That may blow up in your face if they won't allow a well to be drilled because they aren't handing out new water rights in that area. I don't know if that's a thing where you are but I read about a similar situation for a couple in NV.

Personally I wouldn't want to share the land or deal with renters, so if I built the house on the front acreage then that would be my house and I'd develop the garden/farm and trails area in the back.

 

[margali]

Both front and back parcels will have access to city water and sewer. The end of the street in right top of picture is in city limits.

I getcha on neighbors. There would be a nice 6ft tall privacy fence between the rental house and our fun. A 4bed 2ba house can rent for ~$1600/mo here and my brother-in-law has several rentals with property manager.

Do you see any other issues with running animals in creek bottoms? The creek is fed from a manmade lake with overflow weir. We don't get flash flooding in this area.

 

[seedcorn]

Roughly ~$23,400 an acre. Is that the going rate for your area?

Here, about right with a house on it. Are any of the trees harvestable? Ground with a creek may or may not be able to be fenced for animals-check local laws.

Your $$$, your call.

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Roughly ~$23,400 an acre. Is that the going rate for your area?

Here, about right with a house on it. Are any of the trees harvestable? Ground with a creek may or may not be able to be fenced for animals-check local laws.

Your $$$, your call.

That's a good point on the creek. If the property was significantly bigger you might do it without anyone being wise to it, but 7.5 acres is not as big as it sounds, especially if you're going to split it up for you and a rental. I live on just under 10 acres and I would love it if it was 70 acres more that might be big enough for me then haha. Overall this might be a better topic for Sufficient Self

 

[flowerbug]

So I have a tiny, miniscule, vanishingly small pot of money to use as downpayment to buy land. I also have to stay close to my day jobs.

I found a random plot of land- 7.46acres on straddling the city limits for $175k. 2.16acres is inside city limits and has utilities available. Yawn, boring. The remaining 5.3acres are the creek bottoms with approx. 1 acre outside the floodplain. As far as I can tell, completely raw forest.

My insane plan is to build a nice house on city acres and start developing the bottoms land as food forest. Rabbits, chickens, and maybe goats. Then build our house in the back 1 acre and rent out the front house. Really insane or just out of the box? Here's the topo and overhead view.

do they permit multiple houses on a single plot like that? around here there are such things as building permits and inspections so not always easy to get anything like what you describe done.

to me the idea of buying that many acres and not having it usable for that price is a bit steep, especially considering the flood plain issue which means whatever you put down there would be at risk of damage from floods.

 

[Zeedman]

The creek might be the deal breaker. Not only is there the issue of the flood plain - and possible costly flood insurance - but DNR may place restrictions on what may be done with the property. My Grand Father had land bordering a river (and even including an island) and fought a constant battle with both his county & the state DNR over riparian rights. It would be well worth looking into both issues. Water flowing through your property can be a blessing, or a curse.

It also seems odd that a single parcel could straddle both city & country zoning, that could turn out to be a regulatory nightmare if development is planned.

 

[margali]

It also seems odd that a single parcel could straddle both city & country zoning, that could turn out to be a regulatory nightmare if development is planned.

do they permit multiple houses on a single plot like that? around here there are such things as building permits and inspections so not always easy to get anything like what you describe done.

There are 3 legal parcels: 2.2 acres inside city, 5.1acres in county and 0.1acres in county. So I know I can put a house on front parcel city parcel and one on back county parcel before any rezoning/ replatting. The bottoms land is already fenced with barbed wire per survey. The creek in flood plan but is a 1.2 acre house site on hill crest out of flood zone.

I'm just south of Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. An 0.5acre town lot sells for ~48k. Raw land within travel range to both my jobsites is in the ~50k - 60k. So I'm attracted by the price. I'm basically getting the bottoms land for free.

There's another plot nearby that is 4.3acres for $225k. No bottoms land but has burned out mobile home. That is causing me grief with financing.

 

[seedcorn]

You live in an expensive part of country & sounds like you have done your research as to values. Assume you have calculated what your payments will be and no problem there. Check on your rights as previous owner may have been grandfathered as to fencing and pasturing low lands. It may or may extend to you.

 

[margali]

Overall this might be a better topic for Sufficient Self

Thank you for the site link! I've been on BackYard Herds and BackYard Chickens but somehow missed this one. More reading fun!