Some land help plz!

[Shannonbeth]

Hey all, been MIA for a while. My Fiancee started a new job so money's been tight till he get's more into it. Anyway, I am wondering if there are way's to find land around my area in Minnesota (Willmar or outskirts) for a cheaper price? We really can't affor 50,000 for 2 acres and i think that's a bit nuts anyway. i would like to try to find 5 plus acres as our house would be HUGE due to a large family and pets.
Any information is appreicated, thanks!
Shannon

[StressMan79]

Shannon,

1) keep your house as small as is practical. I'm sure others will agree and chime in.
2) There is no secret book of land for sale at discount prices. You basically have to decide what you want, what you need, and what you can do without. It helps if what you want/need is different from what others do, and really helps if you can do without what others won't. dunno why land is so expensive up your way. Iowa farmland is roughly 7k/acre, don't know why it would be that much more where you are. Anyhow, you might try to go to church bazaars and hang w/ the old farmers... First get a feel for pices by hiring a real estate broker to show you around. Then if you find a good deal (the term is relative) go for it.

-Peter

[Mark OBrien]

Willmar is too rural to get that kind of pricing for property! That's right where US71 and US12 meet up, am I right? Somebody wants to get wealthy off of 2 acres! Come on down to Missouri! Land is much less expensive, winters aren't as cold, we have several big lakes and our mosquitos aren't quite as ubiquitous as in MN!

[GT.]

www.edinarealty.com

http://www.landsofminnesota.com/minnesota/land-for-sale/index.cfm?PageNum=1&price=&region_id=&county=&listingtype=ForSale&state_id=27&county_id=&style=&sqft=&sortby=price&sortbydirection=asc

[Basil]

It's just like everything else, you can either spend time to save money or spend money to save time. It took three years of searching, going to auctions, touring houses and farms, talking to realtors, pounding the pavement, and asking questions before we found the right property at the right price (in our case, $1600/acre with creek frontage on a country road). My wife got fed up with the process and didn't even know what to say when I told her we had bought 65 acres.

[lbrowne]

Hi Shannon,

I've noticed your posts before with talking about needing such a large house. Answer these questions for yourself, not us.

What is more important?

a) building at a low cost
b) building the biggest house you can afford the mortgage on

a) having any piece of property to build on
b) having the perfect piece of property

a) building once and never having to do it again
b) am open to building once to get out of debt however it needs to be done (many future options: could live in, sell for profit to buy large home, sell for profit and build that larger home)

There are no "one-fits-all" answers. Inexpensive does not equal easy in building the house and very rarely in land. You might not feel you can afford $50K for 2 acres, but if it were a great 10 acres could you? Then it isn't what you can afford, it's choices and what we're willing to do to make things happen. If you can't afford it, then look at other possible options. The least desirable properties that have sat on the market the longest are sometimes the most affordable, while other desirable places might come on the market at a decent price and are snapped up immediately. Don't rule out a small old house on a run-down piece of land. It could be more work, but less expensive than bare land. Whatever it is that's out there for you, it may just take a lot of legwork and patience to find it. Good luck! :)

~ Linda

[Shannonbeth]

I'm not ruling out small, but we already have 6 children and 4 dogs, so i need some room i guess. I'm not thinking about like a 6500sq ft or something, but enough room to not be crowded, i should be more specific. I am just stating it will be a house and not a cabin.

[Klapton]

I am the youngest of seven kids. Unless you are RICH (we weren't, lol) you are going to be crowded, lol.

The 40 x 40 stock plans from LHBA could be easily modified to have three to four bedrooms upstairs + master suite downstairs. Basically it's 3200 sq. ft. that you can lay out any way you like. (With the butt and pass method, the outer walls and RPSLs support all the roof loads, so you can do the interior floor plan any way you like.)