Buying land for a home

[oilboy123]

Looking for land north of Everett, WA. This is just north of Seattle, WA. Marysville, Stanwood, Lake Stevens, and Arlington. These are areas of interest.

Looks to be a lot of 5 acre parcels. They show R5 zoning which apparently means only one home can be built on it? Population control? In the city they pack them in as much as possible. But in the rural areas the opposite? Any websites that are helpful are appreciated.

I am looking for this for my parents.

 

[JimPghPA]

Just a few of the questions that you should be asking:

Is there an existing electric power line near enough to the area where the house will be? If a new electric line has to be ran, will it be underground or on poles. If underground is required it will be more expensive. Sometimes a new electric line will require a new transformer, and I do not know if the power company will handle that bill.

Is there an existing water and sewer line near enough? If you are going to use ground water you will probably require a well that can produce 7 gallons per minute before any bank will give you a loan to build.

 

[oilboy123]

It sounds like like most have power to the street. But will need well and septic.

 

[Fleetmon]

We live about 1k feet off the main road and have a transformer on the pole next to the house....although our elec company provides the service, we are typically the last to get power restored in the event of a blown fuse at the transformer.

 

[simple_gifts]

Well and septic=needs more land than those city folk; Could be local geological conditions partially dictate larger lot sizes; house size should be a factor too.

A bit OT:Had a discussion with a local architect. Some towns are putting in minimum lot size to 'protect the open space' Unfortunately if planned poorly 20 houses can chew up 100 acres in your example whereas 30 houses with 1 acre lots and 70 acres set aside as 'open' appears to do it more effectively while supporting more people.

Are you set on building. Among my friends, more have had bad experiences than good building.

 

[eljefino]

I rented a place with 5 acres. Not surprisingly the lots were long and skinny, with a small amount of road frontage so they could still pack in a bunch of house lots, but still close to each other so they could get power. Had a bunch of useless woods that went waaaay back.

Consider the rural-to-suburban "creep" and that in twenty years the planning board will probably allow smaller lot sizes so you could subdivide, as could your neighbors. Know your property line and expect the possibility of your neighbor building a horse barn or other large thing two feet from it, even if now they can't build within 25 feet, etc.

But since you could subdivide plan the driveway and how the house sits on the land etc either pro or con.

Land here is worth slightly more if an engineer has already surveyed for well/septic. One has to submit such a plan to the town before building.

 

[GrtArtiste]

Will the parents need Internet service? Do you know what is available at this location?

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: GrtArtiste
Will the parents need Internet service? Do you know what is available at this location?

That is something to get figured out, even if your parents don't care. It doesn't have to super fast, but if all that is available is running off cell towers, it wouldn't be a selling point.
As for the lot size, I figure that if you are going to be in the country, you should be in the country. Depends what your parents want to do, but 5 acres isn't very big, and probably there's all sorts of rules for what you can do. And if there isn't, some guy could have a motocross track or a shooting range. Maybe they want to have some chickens or goats?
Anyways, I like our 100ac, but depending on the neighboring land use and ownership, 10-20ac would be fine. You just have to do a lot of local investigation on zoning, etc.

 

[TWG1572]

Originally Posted By: GrtArtiste
Will the parents need Internet service? Do you know what is available at this location?


Originally Posted By: IndyIan
[As for the lot size, I figure that if you are going to be in the country, you should be in the country. Depends what your parents want to do, but 5 acres isn't very big, and probably there's all sorts of rules for what you can do. And if there isn't, some guy could have a motocross track or a shooting range. Maybe they want to have some chickens or goats?


Two very good points that summarize what I dislike about our 4 acres in the country. Fast internet service is quickly becoming a necessity. Many places don't have it. We have one provider, and can get below 1mbs download frequently when the local DSL hub is overloaded.

People move to the country for different reasons. I moved for space and quiet. Others move so they can escape restrictions around their abiliy to shoot guns/fireworks, run dirt bikes, let their dogs bark all day/night, etc. We live in a development similar to what you are looking at, and while we generally have great neighbors, we do have the barking dog problem. There could be worse for sure.

 

[rjundi]

I actually enjoy my 1 acre squeezed in urban development in country vs my prior 12 acres. You don't have to listen to morons shooting off guns 10pm at night. Here you occasionally hear duck hunting in the bay behind me but at least it has purpose. Neighbors are pure luck. My best was growing up, the National Forest surrounded our property.

Good points here:

I will add another, natural gas if you like low heating bills if it gets cold enough in your area.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I actually enjoy my 1 acre squeezed in urban development in country vs my prior 12 acres. You don't have to listen to morons shooting off guns 10pm at night.


Sorry if I bothered your fancy sensibilities, mr. Sir.

 

[hattaresguy]

Typically rural areas like to stay that way so they zone accordingly.

The best defense against development is lack of sewers and city water, that pretty much assures your going to be in 1-2 acre lot size if not more.

What work has been done to the lots? Perk tests? A2? If they come with a zoning permit in hand and all the engineering done they are worth much more.

In my city R5 is 5k SF lots and my favorite and most profitable zone.

 

[TWG1572]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Originally Posted By: rjundi
I actually enjoy my 1 acre squeezed in urban development in country vs my prior 12 acres. You don't have to listen to morons shooting off guns 10pm at night.


Sorry if I bothered your fancy sensibilities, mr. Sir.


Entertaining. This brief conversation pretty much sums up what can go wrong when living in a rural area.

Neighbor A: Clearly has no concept that shooting guns at 10pm might be annoying to others. Not to mention dangerous since you can't see your target, or what might be behind it.

Neighbor B: Is now branded as a snobby city slicker just because he doesn't like listening to said shooting. Of course, calling them morons didn't help.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: TWG1572
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Originally Posted By: rjundi
I actually enjoy my 1 acre squeezed in urban development in country vs my prior 12 acres. You don't have to listen to morons shooting off guns 10pm at night.


Sorry if I bothered your fancy sensibilities, mr. Sir.


Entertaining. This brief conversation pretty much sums up what can go wrong when living in a rural area.

Neighbor A: Clearly has no concept that shooting guns at 10pm might be annoying to others. Not to mention dangerous since you can't see your target, or what might be behind it.

Neighbor B: Is now branded as a snobby city slicker just because he doesn't like listening to said shooting. Of course, calling them morons didn't help.


You forgot all the new silly laws being passed thanks to people "from away", never one's own wife or kids who've lived there "forever".

 

[JimPghPA]

Usually electric power lines near a city are set up as as giant circles. If there is ever a problem there are sectionizers that enable the power company to isolate the problem and the circle then operates as a giant C with with a small gap like one block instead of the whole circle being down. This means that while the lights may flicker for a few seconds, usually power is not out very long. Also even the houses on the section that gets cut free get the power restored quickly because the people who work for the power company will have to travel less distance to get to the problem area.

Usually electric power lines away from the city are set up as tree branches and if there is a problem everything on the branches are shut down. This results in larger areas being without power for longer periods of time.

Because most heating systems require electric power, if you build away from the city it probably is a good idea to include an automatic generator that will supply electric power to the heating system.

Also since heat-pump systems require a large amount of electric power, you will have to have a very large backup generator if you want to supply backup power to a heat-pump system. So it is probably a good idea to stay away from heat-pumps if you want to have a back up electric power system.

 

[stockrex]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Typically rural areas like to stay that way so they zone accordingly.

The best defense against development is lack of sewers and city water, that pretty much assures your going to be in 1-2 acre lot size if not more.

What work has been done to the lots? Perk tests? A2? If they come with a zoning permit in hand and all the engineering done they are worth much more.

In my city R5 is 5k SF lots and my favorite and most profitable zone.


yeap, some areas have a min lot size in their books, so when you want to split up some land you have can't sell 1 sq ft

 

[stockrex]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Originally Posted By: rjundi
I actually enjoy my 1 acre squeezed in urban development in country vs my prior 12 acres. You don't have to listen to morons shooting off guns 10pm at night.


Sorry if I bothered your fancy sensibilities, mr. Sir.


I actually quoted neighbors to get my suppressor signed by the police chief ;-).