Home, Land, Property Buying and Selling - Is any of this feasible? (Buying land & building home)

I am getting the 'move out' bug, I"m going ot be 25 and still living at home.

Me and my boyfriend would like to start planning for a future home.(he still lives at his parents too)

My thing is, I need acerage. I have a horse. I will need at least 3 acres to put a home on. Or in the very least find a home that is already on 3 acres.

My bf makes aobut 11.50 an hour, only make about 12.
Within the next year our cars will be payed off, and we will only have cell phone bills to pay, gas & car insurance($250), and about a total $50 in Credit Cards a month.

At first my thought was to purchase acerage(at about 65,000) and wia ta year or two and use the equitty to start putting a home on it, possible a mobile home on a full foundation.

later I could add my barn(she live out 24/7 now, so it's not a nessicity) on.

So my question is I guess, can a full foundation and a home be put on it for under $60k???

I can't seem to get an estimite on how much, say a full foundation for a 1200sq ft home would be?

How much would a foundation slab for a 36x36 barn cost?

Becasue I think all that we could afford is about 110k total for land and the consrtuction.:wall: It's very fustrating to feel like you can never be able to afford all of this crap.

the other option is seeing if my dad will build a small home for us, as he built his house himself. But I imagine the materials might be just as much at a mobile home.

I am working on making a blueprint for small home to see if he might in be willing to help us out with it.

I know I would need to have some stuff done by conrators and whatnot, but really, anything we can do ourselves we will, his dad will do any plumbing and drywalling for us.

Back to the point, do you think it is in any way possible for a couple only making a total of about 38k a year, be able to afford our own home and land?

I'm just mulling things over at this point, none of it is a serious consideration at this time.:o

I am so impressed with your questions and your goals. Using my Real Estate calculator a couple with income of $38,000 can qualify for a mortgage loan amount of $140, 280. That would be with no car payments or credit card payment. If you add a $500 car payment it drops to about $101,254. So maybe you can do it. Go to a mortgage broker and they will help you set up a plan. All of the above are estimates using a 6.5 % loan. If one of you are a veteran you can qualify for more. Good luck with your plans.

I second Michaels's comments on your questions & goals. What a lot of people do in cases like yours is put a mobile home on the land initially and then later build a house, possibly a modular which have become more common as their quality improved. You didn't mention where you are, but you might consider budgeting at least enough money for a lean-to shelter for the horses (former horse owner here). And of course one item michael didn't include in his calculations is the cost of maintaining the horse, whichs adds a few bucks to the monthly budget. :D

I would caution you on one point however even though I doubt it's the first time you've heard it - be VERY CAREFUL about entering into a SIGNIFICANT financial situation with anyone you are not married to unless all the "what-ifs" are clearly spelled out in legally-binding documents and even then, give it a lot of serious thought (I'm guessing based on your post that serious thinking has already occurred). :coffee:

First, to go with Tow Guy's thought, I would not enter into a property purchase with anyone to whom I was not married.

Second is that you should do everything you can now to clear up debt - get the cars and the credit cards paid off and then pay cash for the amount of car you can afford ever after and never use the credit cards again (except for emergency).

I, too, would be hesitant to enter into a financial agreement sans marriage. Hindsight would have my getting a prenuptial agreement, especially if I were bringing my savings into the situation.

Land first, used mobile home, then barn, and build house when budget allows. Watch the credit rating.

I have a friend who has two sons. She has a 200 A. farm. She deeded about 4 A. to each son. Each bought a used mobile home, installed water, and sewer. The first son has already broken ground for a new home. The second just proposed to the live-in girlfriend. They, too, are saving for a new home.

What you plan to do is wonderful. Just proceed slowly and do not get in over your head.

Thanks for all the advice.

Yup, I already know I won't go through with any of this with out a for sure commitment. I would have to be engaged to do any of this, lol. It the cost of a wedding/rings that keep it from happening, maybe a visit to a courthous eis in order, lol. I just hate the idea of spending all that money on ONE day. I just want the dress, I am a girl after all.

I am hoping all of our CC debts will be payed off in the next year, mine is only a Khols card with about $100 charged on it. and my back pay on a phone bill($200). and I owe $1000 on my car, hopefully all that will be gone come tax return.:D

He has a $1500 medical bill on his CC, he needs to work on. And then one more year of car payments.

After that I think a serious attempt at getting land will be in the works.
I think building a small house with the help of my dad would be ideal, of course I havne't spoken to him about any of that.

But it is NICE to know it is a possible goal to get too.

And we are in Michigan, that's like a four letter word in Real Estate.

Your thought process seems reasonable to me. Stay on track and this should work out for you.

I wish you luck with whatever you end up pursuing.

Just remember, there is alot more money involved with the purchase of a home and/or land. You have to take into account monthly payments for the home, i.e. home insurance and county taxes, TV, telephone, electric, sewer, etc.

Prepare yourself for closing costs, inspections, etc as well.

Lets not even mention the cost of having a child or two on top of all this......;)

Proceed with caution re: legalities. Been there and done that with a dysfunctional dreamer. Always stuck with with expenses which took a toll on savings.

Hire a good attorney before you sign anything, despite protestations of love, etc. You are becoming a business. Although small and on the basis of household ownership, protect your investment. It may be $1,000 more or less, but protect it.

In hindsight, I would never sign off as husband and wife. I am I, and I should have protected initial financial investment and all the years of work. Then, what happens one day when husband no longer needs you after you worked your fingers to the bone to make them rich and/or famous?

CYA. Get an attorney before you sign anything, despite your love. Business is business. Do not end up like some women in their 50's - 60's with nothing and the idiot claims you committed adultery or some other stupid claim.

Men tend to get the prenupts, why can't we women? You bring as little as $1,000 into the relationship, live frugally for 25 years, run your household like Martha Stewart, and then you are suddenly out the door with nothing. CYA. Hire an attorney to set up the contract as a business contract to CYA and potential children. Marriage is no longer love. It's business. They do not teach you that in business school.

I know for fact if you are will to move to an extreme like Zeeland, North Dakota, you can find homes there for $5,000.00 to $25,000.00. Plus it is farmland, so lots of places for a horse. They also have many empty lots which can be built on for sale at around 200 a lot.

I concur w/ all the above statements.

The only think I can think of to add is checking building codes on the property in which you are interested in buying (when you get to that point).

Some areas do not allow mobile homes or even modular homes to be placed on them. Be sure to check the county codes BEFORE you buy.

Good luck!


EDIT: I just want to add that buying the land now and building later is a sound idea if you can find a use older mobile home that someone is either giving away b/c it needs to be moved or selling it for cheap. Here in Indiana I helped some elderly/disabled friends find senior housing which is 30% of their income for rent including utilities b/c they could not afford their lot rent and utilities on their fixed income. They had to sell their paid off 1960's mobile they took great care of for cheap and fast. We managed to get $1500 out of it with in a few days of putting the sign in the window.

Drive around some older mobile home parks and call on those who have for sale signs up. You never know what you may find. Plus renovating an older mobile home might be easier on you dad and budget right now.

Well, I wish it were about a year in the future, so I could actually put a bid in on this home, its in the area I wanted to get the land and put a home on it, but we aren't ready at this point in time.

We made 40k together this year, so I think we could afford this one.

http://www.landsofamerica.com/america/index.cfm?detail=&inv_id=102242&source=googleBase

Well, I learned how important it is to go check out a place before getting excited about it, that place was a disaster.

Bad locale, and that is the only angle they could have taken of that house that dosen't show all of the other mobile homes around that made the whole area look like a junk yard.

Keep looking :) sooner or later the right place for your needs/budget will present itself ;)

I know for fact if you are will to move to an extreme like Zeeland, North Dakota, you can find homes there for $5,000.00 to $25,000.00. Plus it is farmland, so lots of places for a horse. They also have many empty lots which can be built on for sale at around 200 a lot.
On that note, be careful of ads in magazines offering acreage in places like this or Colorado, etc. Even from names nationally known. Some of these have little to no access, no power or other utilities. Most people don't know that the utility doesn't have to bring power to you for free. If it's 20 miles away (and in those places that's not uncommon), it could cost you 10's or 100's of thousands of dollars.

You don't show where you live, so I don't know about prices or weather. I paid $60k for 6 acres, and there are lots of 2.5 acres and up for $30K+ around it.

If you can manage a small house with family help in building, I would do that. Design it for adding on. Do a barn with a dirt floor, maybe a pole barn and save on the foundation. Again start small, add on or build a 2nd bigger one later.