A fair plea on behalf of a good principle. We will keep it in mind. (I’ll note, because it probably isn’t clear from what I’ve said so far, that we are people of limited means and would be building only a small house/cabin. Maybe just a little A-frame thing. Nevertheless, even a small house can be destructive, so your advice is well-taken.)
I can answer a bit about this since I live in the DC area and I have land in West Virginia. I bought a house in the Romney, WV/Cumberland , MD area two years ago. We bought in a subdivision with the lots being around 5 acres. Usually if there’s any kind of HOA, there is with ours but it’s cheap, the lots need to be perked before they can be sold. I believe this means there has to be a way to get electricity, water, and septic on the land. I know in the area we bought in there are plenty of places that people buy land and never do anything with it. Our taxes are around $300 a year, that’s with us not being from the state.
That being said, I will advise you to think about where you want to buy. Berkley Springs is going up in price because people want to do the same thing you are, buy land and put a house on it. Plus people are willing to commute that far to work in DC, as there are a couple in my office. What you will want to look out for though is getting out there. We live in Montgomery county so we have to go up I-270, on Fridays this can be a killer. Normally it takes us 2:15 to make it out to our place, but I’ve been in the car for a lot longer then that to just turn around and come home. Coming back on Sundays can be the same way. This can be frustrating and isn’t a lot of fun sometimes. We have learned to leave on Saturday morning, but then you don’t get the full weekend.
You might be able to find a house prebuilt that would be cheaper then having one built. If you go further out you will find cheaper land, not because the land is not good, but because people don’t want to travel that far. I tend to use homesdatabase because we are hoping that the land around our house will come up for sale so we can have even less neighbors.
Just so you know, in my area 5 acre lots go for 20-25k. Though people have been asking for more, none have sold that I’ve seen.
Edward the Head, thanks for the ridiculously on-point advice. So “perked” means that it will be possible to get electricity and water to the property, and install a septic system, but not that any of those things are already present?
I mentioned Berkeley Springs because it is a town I know and like (based on limited experience). But we would settle for anywhere that is within a 15 or 20 minute drive from a town that has some attractive and redeeming qualities (restaurants; shopping; history; etc.) Do Romney and/or Cumberland fit that description?
Part of the problem is that it is very difficult for us to explore all the areas out there. Would you recommend that we find a real estate agent and throw ourselves into his or her hands?
You are talking about a percolation test or “perc test,” designed to determine whether the soil drains well enough to accomodate a septic system. This can be a problem in rocky areas or areas with a lot of clay in the soil. Nowadays, counties in these parts require a more comprehensive soil analysis (beyond a simple perc test) before a building permit will be issued. A purchaser would be wise to make any deal contingent on the land being suitable for a standard septic system.
You are also going to want to inquire about water. Is there city water, or will you have to drill a well? If you have to drill a well, inquire among the neighbors whether the well water in the area is good. (Some areas tend to yield iron water or sulphur water. There are filtration systems you can buy, but they can be expensive, and they require maintenance.)
One necessity I haven’t seen mentioned: good internet access. 
I must be a bit wrong on exactly what it means, but I believe you have to have the land tested for at least septic before it can be sold. At least that’s what I’ve been told, but I’ve been lied to before as well by realtors. As I said, if there’s a number of other people around then you should be able to get what you need. There are power lines that run through our neighborhood.
Well Romney is not that big of a town, does have history, but I don’t really know much about it. No real shopping, unless you like the Family Dollar, which we do. There are resturants, but we don’t go that way much so I don’t know about them. Cumberland is a much lager city, does have history, C&O Canal, railroads. It’s a normal city, 20,000 people or so, but I don’t know about the shopping.* They are both 15-20 minutes from me along a good road.
I wouldn’t throw myself one any of them, but I will admit that we looked two or three times and always talking to someone different with no problems. I’m sure you can find maps and directions on the net no problem to see how far you want to drive. It takes us, with little to no traffic, 2:15 to go 115 miles.
I don’t know much about other areas, but you might be able to find something a bit south of Bearkly springs for cheaper. If you don’t mind the 20 minute drive they might be a lot cheaper. I never looked in that area and we got lucky when we found ours and loved it right away.
*I think of shopping as buying stuff you don’t need, I don’t buy antiques or stuff like that so places like the Dollar Store are good for me.
Yeah, I’ve always understood “perking” of property to refer to percolation tests. Nothing to do with utilities.
Something else to keep in mind. Depending on where you’re at, and what the local health codes are, a septic system may cost a lot more than what you might imagine. In a lot of places, the days of putting a tank in the ground with a simple drain field for $6K or so are gone. Our septic system cost us around $19K…and we had no say in the matter. Whatever the engineer from the city or county comes out and says you have to have, that’s what you have to put in. Also there is a limit to how close your well and septic can be to each other…so make sure you find out where on the land you can put stuff. If your land has any sort of stream or creak going through it, I would anticipate an expensive system.
Good Luck!
We have a small log home about 2 hrs from NYC, in the Catskills. It’s in a hollow, so there aren’t sweeping mountain vistas to be had, but it’s a nice quiet spot with a field (my so-called lawn), a creek on one border and across the creek is state land.
When we bought the vacant land the seller had already perc-tested it, and while it’s a 4 acre parcel in a 5 acre zone, the seller got a variance.
We bought the land and paid it off over 4 years, then built the house. Over the course of those years we came up during all seasons and had a good idea about how where we wanted to put the house when the time came.
We had to put in a driveway, septic, electric, phone, and a well. The whole shebang. No cell reception in the holler.
One thing that made it work was we had a budget and stuck to it. When talking to people who built, one of the take home messages was don’t make any changes to the plans once building has started. So we planned carefully and didn’t have to make any changes to the house itself. We did however, have to change the drainage plan on the property, but a lot of those costs were reimbursed by the city, since the land is on NYC watershed.
One thing about picking a spot of land is you don’t want to pay too much, of course, but at the same time you don’t want to be in an area that’s terribly run down.
A couple of other things to keep in mind:
While the vacation home itself might be simple, you’re still running two households. It can be a bit much sometimes.
Unless you enjoy spending your time doing yard work (I do, to a point), keep the landscaping simple to maintain. You don’t want to spend too much time ‘working’ at your ‘vacation’ home.
If you buy vacant land and build on it, don’t plan on realizing any profit anytime soon. I would only do it if I planned on keeping it for a while.
Mortgages on vacation homes usually come with a higher interest rate, so plan on that.
Land in WV eh? Be aware that many areas are extended-family areas where everyone is related (including government officials) and you might find it hard to fit in, and you might find yourself in the middle of family squabbles (like hunting rights and gate abuse.) If people have been using or hunting on your land for generations, it may be hard for a city slicker to move in and tell them they can’t.
Also, as I believe was mentioned before, be sure you are aware of any right-of-ways on the land, a relative of mine bought land on a mountain and now has logging trucks going down his driveway to get to trees further up the mountain. This shouldn’t last but so long, but will probably recur every so often.