Looking for land partners in (MA, ME, VT, NH)

[Bishopknight]

I am starting my "back to the earth" journey of building my own house and I'm interested in meeting other people who are also in the same boat as I am. That is, people who already have or want to buy some land as a group. I would only want about 2-5 wooded acres myself but I feel if a group of us got a larger amount of land and subdivided it, the price would fall per acre as well as allow us to share a common goal, help each other build our houses and build a small community of people to help each other.

If you'd like to know more about me, here is my myspace page. I'm 30 yrs old with a great deal of remodeling experience. I also have solar power and electrical experience. I've been studying home building books for the last few months and would love to hear from you if this is something you're also interested in or you have some land you would like to subdivide off to me at a fair price in the New England area.

Thanks,
Sean

[glenn kangiser]

Welcome to the forum, Sean.  Sounds like an interesting project.  I have thought of having a community of family or friends also but in my later years I have just become more of a loner - a rebel - a troglodyte... but I still have lots of friends to call on when needed as well as to help them also.

[Bishopknight]

Thanks Glenn, I really love the forums you have here.

I'm prepared to go it alone. I've read tips on acquiring land inexpensively. I'm looking in Maine. The following is something I read that someone swears by. I'm recalling it by memory. If anyone has any tips in this process, please feel free to share with the rest of us.

  1. Go to the local county town hall / courthouse
  2. Visit the Tax Appraisers office, development offices
  3. View plat maps to see who owns what
  4. Drive to empty properties ( Sometimes good to find properties with broken windows, run down )
  5. Check tax records and see if property tax is paid up, if it isnt, pay the tax and get in the drivers seat
  6. Write the owner a letter telling them you're interested in buying their land and what they want for it
  7. Check with the county agent that the land is not toxic / Get an environmental audit

Thanks,
Sean

[glenn kangiser]

desdawg has done a lot of this - he posted some info here somewhere.  Haven't found it yet though.

[glenn-k]

This is it I think - may have been a bit more somewhere.

http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1168182210/2#2

[glenn-k]

More here.

http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1155456664/8#8

[MountainDon]

Peter, while you're checking on the other details about your land purchase you may as well ask about the counties rules regarding selling portions. These rules vary all over the place.

One thing to watch for about selling off small parcels is you may run into a subdivision rule. Here in NM the parcel size is somewhere around 6 acres... go smaller than that and you find yourself (the seller) having to provide roads that meet certain minimum standards (24 ft right of way, 6 inch crushed rock or other suitable road base, maximum allowable grade, etc.)