Himself and I were wondering, idly, what it would cost to build a log cabin ourselves up in the mountains. Clearly by far the big cost seems to be land, so I did a little Googling today and came up with nothing. All I can find is lots in subdivisions or eight million dollars worth of most of some big county up there! How do you go about finding a little mountain lot in the middle of nowhere, big enough not to see your neighbors, maybe next to the wilderness area, doesn’t have to have power and water and sewage? Do real estates in the nearest town do that kind of thing? Does the government hold auctions or something?
Most importantly, how cheap could we find middle of nowhere (but still fast to get to by the interstate!) mountain view land in upstate SC?
Also, a related question - if you build a cabin out there in the middle of nowhere, does it have to be up to any codes? Are there inspections to pass? I’ve only built things in town.
When googling for land sales, you really need a location of some kind to narrow down the search, ideally the nearest town, or the county.
This is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. “Mountain view, close to interstate” is NEVER going to be cheap. And “middle of nowhere” land is NEVER “close to interstate”.
Mountain-view land that’s close to the interstate is prime McMansion developer’s territory, and as such is generally (a) expensive and (b) already spoken for.
ETA:
Easy way? Same way you buy land anywhere else: get yourself an agent. Pick the nearest town of any real size (for upstate SC, Greenville, Pickens, or Asheville are going to be your best bets). Most big agencies web sites will let you specify “land only” in searches. Some even include FSBOs (for sale by owner properties).
Hard way? Look in the newspapers that cover the area you want to buy in and scan the classifieds for FSBOs.
Really, really hard way? Drive around looking for FSBOs.
FWIW, there is very little cheap land left up there. When I was in college, some of the professors could still afford to live on Paris Mountain in Greenville. Last time I looked at what property up there cost, I’d be surprised if the deans could afford it.
The Ms. and I tried to do this recently in NW Arkansas. We viewed LOTS of homes and homesites, with and without improvements (water, sewer, electric, roads, etc.) Granted, NW Arkansas was in a bit of a boom at the time, 2-3 years ago, and we were looking for something other than a plain vanilla home, but if it was close enough to the interstate to make commuting for work possible, I can tell you the price in 3 words, In Freaking Credible. For example, a 1/2 acre wooded lot with no view, no road, no water, no phone, no pool, no pets for $25,000. Anything with a lake view was up to double that.
As to how to find such a place, my wife basically combed the MLS listings online for months. She found a real estate broker (not an agent, but a broker) that she liked and told her what we were looking for. Between the broker and the wife, we always had 8-10 properties to look at on any trip to the area. I’d advise narrowing down the area and then looking for a broker or agent local to that area.
Try www.realtor.com. You can specify land only, and with the advanced search you can say how much land, what ZIP code, etc.
In a lot of areas there are not many codes you have to adhere to, but remember codes are there for a reason, and the reason is they make sense.
You will no doubt also be on well water, which is not acceptable to me. We looked at several properties that were very far out but without exception they were on well water. You will of course make sure the land passes a percolation test, but I’m assuming you know all that.
The Link Duck Duck Goose gavce is interesting, but I guess when they say they rarely sell small parcels 100 acres plus, they have to do it for fair market value. I’m not sure how that works but in Arizona north of Payson in the Snow Flake area there was BLM land for sale at $1000 bucks and acre. Up to 17 acres on this particular area lot. There was no water or electric but what they were trying to do is start a little community up there, and the land ended up selling rather quickly.
I’d dig a little deeper into BLM land…Where about are you looking?
Mossy Oak always has lots of rural land for sale here, and they have land in SC too, but when I checked there was only one property listed. Still, I’d suggest contacting them; they may be able to scare somthing up for ya.
There are a number of websites that specialize in rural properties. I didn’t see anything in SC under $1000/acre but there are some under $2000/acre. That seems high to me. Here in Maine you can still sometimes find remote land for less than $500/acre. I suggest trying the following:
I question this. An agent pretty much only deals with land that’s been offered for sale, and always wants a commission (which he may or may not earn).
You’re much better off to start by doing some research. Do some scouting in areas that look as if they might be interesting. Go to the county Tax Office and Registry of Deeds, where you can learn how the parcels are laid out, who owns what, when they bought it, what they paid, what the taxes are, what buildings are on the land, what other property they own, etc. etc.
From this you may well find one or more properties of a size and location that appeal to you, possibly owned by someone who has little interest in them (e.g. recently transferred in an estate to someone who lives far away). Your best bargain will often come on land that’s not actually for sale, but for which the owner would be interested in an offer.
(I’m constantly amazed how much useful info is available this way, how easy it is to obtain, and how many people are willing to do real estate transactions without paying the slightest attention to it.)
You read the financial news from small towns, and cities. When the job market bottoms out, you go looking there for cheap houses, preferably on oversized lots, and ones held for many years by the same owner. His tragedy becomes your hot property.
I agree with Duck, Duck, Goose on your other questions. To answer this one, of course it depends on your locality, but from my experience in rural WV, when you build outside of city limits in rural counties, there are no permits to get, but everywhere in the whole country, your home must be built to federal code.
Now if you are a thousand miles from Nowhere, WV living with the banjo pickers from Deliverance, then I would feel that you would be safe from federal inspectors…
I see small cabins for sale up in the Santa Cruz mtns like that advertised all the time. Some are even “off grid”, many are on a dirt road. Most are within 20 minutes of the Freeway.
But before you consider buying- rent one for a summer. Take a whole month off and try it. It is not for most dudes.
My ex-Mother-in-Law owned such a cabin up by Big Bear Lake, and it was nice to go for a visit,but living up there for an extended period would drive me batty.
When farm owners die, their executors tend to auction off the property rather than market it through a real estate agent. Moreover, the real estate market is slow these days, so even aside from estate sales many owners are resorting to auctioning their properties after being unable to sell them through a listing process. Find some South Carolina real estate auction companies that handle auctions in the area you like, and get yourself onto their mailing lists.
I too am fascinated to hear that there are federal building inspectors at large in this great country of ours. A quick Google browse turns up only the Americans With Disabilities Act, in some situations there are certain seismic/earthquake requirements, and if you’re building public housing you’ll have to comply with HUD requirements.
But as for the feds coming around and inspecting your new home’s wiring, plumbing, and sewage hookups to make sure they’re up to some kind of federal building code–nope, I’m not seeing it. So…cite?
There are a few good listings.
Just for the fun of it.
I hunt for property all the time using Ebay. I haven’t bought anything yet. You can get owner financing and sometimes easy terms. I don’t know how comfortable I am yet to buy property on Ebay but I do have fun shopping for it.