Beginning to look for land in OK

Started by Homegrown_Tomatoes, October 11, 2007, 01:40:08 PM

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Redoverfarm

Probably meant "Used" one.  If I had to sue someone working for me I would never refer them to someone else.  Come to think of it everyone that works for you theses days does a PPJ and I haven't made but one a referal in quite some time. He was a old schooled person, punctual, dependable, and did excellent work. He was 70 YOA.

Homegrown Tomatoes

 :)  I figured that was the case, but I couldn't resist asking.    ::)


When they give you the disclosure on a property, do they have to tell you about illegal activities (ie. if someone was cooking meth in the house??)  I've heard that stuff is really toxic and sticks around for a long time, and I don't want to mess with it, but shoot, for what they're asking for the property WITH all mineral rights, it is almost worth buying just for the rights.... it is really hard to find stuff around here that still has the mineral rights with it.  Most places in this area, you can't find 10 acres with even the most minimal improvements for $75K.  You might find 10 acres of interior, heavily wooded undeveloped land for that much, and then have to bargain down.  I figure the fence, well, septic, etc. has to be worth a little, even if it is more trouble than it's worth to dispose of the house... there is also a decent looking chicken house (it appears to be, anyway) with a fenced yard. (It actually looks as liveable as the house.)  I have to wonder, though, WHY it is as cheap as it is... the few pics inside the house are pretty atrocious.  Every square inch is jam-packed with stuff.  The counter in the kitchen has dishes piled on top of the dish drainer on one end, and the other end is covered with everything from food to junk mail to utensils and dishes.  It looked like every other spot in the house was just as piled up...we would definitely have to build.  The question is when... would it be something that we could actually live in temporarily until we build, or would we have to bulldoze it and start from scratch right away? 


glenn kangiser

Local neighbors or the Sheriff's department (if they weren't in charge of operations ::)  ) may be able to give you some information.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Homegrown Tomatoes

Well, when some big crime happens, it seems like the newspapers always mention how many times in the past that the sherriff's department has been called out for domestic disputes, or how many times that child welfare services dealt with a family, so surely you would be able to find out about stuff like someone cooking up drugs in a house?   

It is so beautiful outside today that I really wish that I'd set up the appointment to go looking at land today... it is perfect weather for it, and it would have been fun to have done some hunting while DH is off work today.   I guess I can wait until Monday, though.  I like to look.
I just figured that with the holiday weekend it might have been harder to arrange showings, and I wanted to give the realtor enough time to get stuff set up for us to look.


MountainDon

Here with both the city police and the county sheriff you can find out if/when/why the police/sheriff departments were ever called out to any address. It's a matter of public record. It may take a trip down there in person.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


ScottA

Public records are only public so long as the police want to give out the requested info. We had an incident a few years back where a good friend of mine was arrested and held in jail for 2 days then released with no charges being filed. Attempts to get a copy of the arrest record where fruitless since the police refused to give out the info. We even sent a reporter to try and she failed as well. Later an FBI investigation revealed that he had never been arrested or held in the jail. Go figure. Sorry to hijack.  d*

Homegrown Tomatoes

That's true, Scott...

Went to look at the properties today.  Ended up looking at five places.  Only about two were liveable.  One was WAY overpriced.  My favorite was the one with mineral rights... the house was so bad that the only salvageable thing in it were the two poor human beings who lived there.  The house would have to be bulldozed entirely; it was so bad, in fact, that I was leery of taking my kids through it for fear that the roof might cave in while we were in there.  It reeked to high heavens of dust, mold, and dog urine.  Truly, I don't think I've ever seen a worse place.  I don't know how people live like that.  The poor man was elderly and very sick.  A sign on the door warned against smoking because oxygen was in use, but someone smoking around the oxygen tank should have been the least of their worries.  The woman didn't seem like she was quite "all there."  The land, however, was beautiful and clean, and there was a separate well, septic and electric hookup a little ways from the house which could be used for an RV or trailer.  There were two stocked ponds.  The location was great, 1/4 mile or so from a paved road, and not far to DH's work.  And.... full mineral rights.  Any idea what it would cost to bulldoze and dispose of a little house?? 

MountainDon

Maybe the local fire department would like to make a deal on having a training fire?
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Homegrown Tomatoes

 ;D  Great idea, Don!  There was nothing close to the house of any value that could have been burned, anyway.  I bet some of the little fire departments out in that area would welcome the training opportunity, and if not, there is a whole fire protection department at Oklahoma State which isn't far away... I don't think they have any other offers on the place, and they're pretty desperate to sell... they need to get someplace where they don't have to maintain the land and where they can be closer to  the doctors, etc.  Hmmmm... it has a lot of potential.


Homegrown Tomatoes

DH asked me last night to contact a couple of places just to see what it would cost to get rid of that old house on the place.... but if we could get a local fire department to do it for us, they might do it for free.  That would probably be the safest way to get rid of it, anyway.... the mold and dust alone seemed pretty toxic.   Felt really sorry for this couple living in there.... they really need out of it badly. There is a small tank battery just behind the house, and they said that they get a check from the oil company every couple of months.  Because of the oilfield equipment, the drives were well-gravelled and maintained, as was the rest of the area around the house. 

Well, I guess I should quit daydreaming about land and go clear out the dining room.  We bought a new dining room table and chairs (we've been using a couple of folding metal chairs and some wicker chairs for ages around our cheapy table bought at goodwill.)  They're supposed to deliver the new table and chairs today, but DH forgot to help me clear out the room yesterday.

glenn kangiser

The place sounds pretty good, and beneficial to both if it is reasonable.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Homegrown Tomatoes

they're asking $75K for the 20 acres and the mineral rights.  I didn't have the heart to tell them I really didn't even want to look in the house... I could tell from the outside that it wasn't going to be liveable... well, I wouldn't want my family to live in it, anyway.  I guess this couple has been surviving there for quite a while, but it was really in rough shape.  It's only about 30 minutes to DH's work, and most of that on good roads...The others I looked at included a house that HAD been nice but has been sitting empty for more than a year, and they're asking $199K, and it's on really bad roads, and the clean up from this past winter's ice storms around that house would probably take years... it really got slammed apparantly.  The woods were so thick with fallen tree limbs that you couldn't walk to the end of the property even.  And that one had no mineral rights and only partial fencing.  None of the land was really decent for farming.  No pond. Looked at another property with a decent double-wide on it.  Five acres was cleared and horse fenced, and overgrazed down to the dirt.  The rest was wooded and unfenced.  The house reeked of smoke to the point you could smell it outside the house.  It was pretty rolling landscape and a good location, and it was listed at $114K.  I looked at one that was 9.5 acres, with an older but fairly well maintained double-wide on it. It had a couple of acres fenced as pasture and a decent chicken house and fence to keep the coyotes out, a garden spot, etc.  Most of the front of the property was fairly clear with the exception of a few good-sized post oaks and the back 6-7 acres was pretty heavily wooded.  The property line had been cleared along both sides down to the back of the property, wide enough to get a tractor or truck down to the far end of the property.  It was on a hilltop and had a great view, but no mineral rights, and they were listing it at $85K.  The place behind the house could be a small hay meadow or another pasture, if we were to do a little work and put in some fencing.  Right now, most of it is native tall grass prairie, except for a hollow where they tried to build a pond 12 years ago, and then filled it back in with dirt when it didn't fill at the first few years' rains.  The others I looked at were so bad I've tried to block them out of my memory.  Hopefully next week I'll get to look at some places that don't have existing homes on them.... see what plain ol' land costs.


ScottA

Sounds a little high Homegrown. How far is it from the city?

glenn kangiser

20 acres here with nothing is $300,000 in a remote - 4miles from town - fairly desirable location --- below our place.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


Homegrown Tomatoes

Quote from: ScottA on March 25, 2008, 12:32:43 PM
Sounds a little high Homegrown. How far is it from the city?
Scott, it's in Luther.  They're putting in new gates on I-44 at Luther soon, so the cost of land will be going up in that area.  It is roughly 30 minutes from DH's workplace without the turnpike access, a little less if he could take I-44, probably.
Like I said, around the OKC/Shawnee/Edmond/Guthrie/Norman area, it's harder and harder to find anything with mineral rights, too.  All the others were way over priced, for sure.  Granted, if he wanted a longer commute, I could find a place over by Pink or Tecumseh for a lot less, but considering the location, I don't think it's all that bad.  Of course, I'd never pay the asking price, though!  The one that was priced at $199K was SOOOO overpriced.  I think they were wanting to charge for what it potentially COULD be, not what it was. 

Granted, I didn't want to pay over $2K an acre, and even if they accepted $60K for the place, it would still be $3K per acre, but that does include full mineral rights, and it is also fenced around the entire perimeter, and has two good-sized stocked ponds...  I don't know. :-\  I hate to think of spending $75K on anything I couldn't live in... but at the same time, I really liked the place.  Land is getting so expensive around OKC.  Tulsa is actually more reasonable these days.

ScottA

I'm not surprised. Some guy was asking $60k for 2 vacant lots in town here. I told him he was nuts. Some people have the idea they can charge California prices everywhere. They will just sit on it until some sucker comes along. Usualy a someone just moving into the area. There's not really much on the market here. You have to find out who owns it and ask them to sell.

Homegrown Tomatoes

I have a great aunt who lives in Yukon and thinks it is the greatest town on earth, and she was trying to talk us into buying over there.  I told her that she was nuts.  First of all, it's kind of flat and ugly (no offense to anyone who lives there!) and secondly, they want like ten grand an acre over there!!!! 

Homegrown Tomatoes

My hometown and the surrounding areas now goes for $5K-9K per acre... it is unbelievable.  My grandma sold the farm several years back for $1K per acre, and we were all shocked that you could get that much for it.  Now that'd be a steal.  It's grown up around there too much anyway, and I really don't want to be back over there... don't hardly know anyone over there anymore.  Went with mom to a breakfast at the Legion Hall and only saw a handful of people I recognized. 

Homegrown Tomatoes

the price on the land with the mineral rights dropped a couple of thousand dollars.   [cool]

Homegrown Tomatoes

Found another place close to my hometown this morning that looks really interesting.  It's only 7 acres, but was very pretty... big stocked pond and most of the wooded areas around the house are cleared out so that they look like a park.  It's got a big 3B/2B house with a chain link back yard, and a huge porch on the front.  Had a barn with a loft, and $3K more will get you the tractor/lawn mower/tractor attachments to go with it.  They were asking $159K for it, which still seems like a lot, but is more reasonable than a lot of stuff around there  nowdays, and it's actually a nice house.  I don't know if the perimeter of the whole 7 acres was fenced or not, but it looks like it should be if not.  If we were to buy something like that, it would change our plans a bit, and we would be building a MIL cottage instead of building our own home.  I don't know if I want to spend that much, but I at least want to look at the property.


Homegrown Tomatoes

I just looked at the listing again and it is actually a 4 bedroom instead of 3.  Big house.

ScottA

Sounds nice Homegrown. Not to rain on your parade or anything but I'd like to share my views on houses. Big houses cost more money to heat, cool and maintain than smaller homes. Add more to that if it's an older home. We decided to downsize in order to save money and time, not just on construction but on upkeep after the fact as well. Another thing to consider is how much labor cost is in the price of the house. If you build yourself you can save a huge chunk of the cost. I think Americans in general expect way to big of a house. Much more than they really need in most cases. I'm an advocate of right sized homes. What right sized is depends on several factors such as family size and lifstyle. In general though I'd say around 300 sq. ft. per occupant is enough. Add a bit more if you have a home based business. YMMV

Homegrown Tomatoes

I agree with you Scott, and I would prefer to live in a smaller house, but my husband and I have a few conflicting opinions on this matter.   ::)  (I think this is because he never has to CLEAN the house, so he doesn't realize what I mean when I tell him that more house just means more to keep up with!)  It's funny because my inlaws live in a tiny (by our standards) apartment in Seoul, and that's all my husband ever knew before coming to the US.  I think the main reason that he wants a big (or bigger) house is because of the ease of having a big group of people over.  Our house in WI had TINY rooms, even though the house itself was ample.  We couldn't ever have more than one couple at a time over for dinner, and even then it was very crowded.  What he forgets is that here, you can gather outdoors as often as not, and so therefore you need less house.  The house I mentioned in the above post did have one feature that I forgot to mention, which is that it has zoned heat and AC, so you can turn off all the heat/AC to the bedrooms during the day or night as you wish, or turn off the living area during the night, etc, which would help save a little on the heat and cool.  Also, considering that there will be 5 of us within the next month and a half, we probably wouldn't want to live long-term in too small of a house.... we also seem to be people-magnets, and so there's always someone dropping by for dinner or to hang out, and his folks are planning on coming and spending months at a time with us during the upcoming years... so a bigger house may not be a bad idea, though I'm still in favor of a reasonable sized house with a little guest cottage, if for no other reason than to keep my MIL from taking over my kitchen.  (Did I mention that my MIL is coming for two months after the baby is born??  It should be an interesting experiment... it's going to be her first trip to the US.)

Homegrown Tomatoes

Whew... just got back from the second house/land hunting expedition.  Looked at three places today.  The one mentioned above had some great pictures on the online listing, but wasn't that impressive up close and personal.  There were water issues and the roof needed replaced... some of the upstairs closets had water/mold damage.  We looked at two others as well.  The first one was ten acres that was divided into several different pastures and had three old trailers on it.  The folks lived in one and rented the other two out, for $400 and $350 a month....which would pay the mortgage on the property and then some, but I wouldn't want to have to deal with the rental properties as they were in really bad shape.  Anyway, the treasure of the day was quite unexpected.  From the listing, I didn't expect much... it just said 1999 manufactured home on 30 acres.  Pond.  It was a beautiful setting.  There was an additional 30 acres that could be purchased at the same time that had this gorgeous pond (it was clear all the way to the bottom and was spring fed.)  The entire property had good fences and gates, and the house sat up on top of the hill.  It really wasn't anything fancy, but it didn't feel like a mobile home.  It had cedar siding on it, and the carpet had all been taken out and replaced with tile floors, which I liked.  It had a fireplace in one living area and a wood burning stove in the other.  There were multiple pastures fenced off, and another pond behind the house, as well as the spring-fed creek that ran along the back of the property.  The owner told me that during the drought a few years ago, they'd had 24 horses on that property without stressing the pasture, and I could believe it to look at the place, which had a combination of love grass and native prairie grasses.  It was just gorgeous.  I could see myself living there.  A lot better than I can see myself living here.  Anyway, it is fun to look.  Maybe they won't sell it before we sell our house in WI.

Homegrown Tomatoes

Well, we decided that the one mentioned in the previous post was just a little too far... it would require a LOT of driving, and since DH doesn't have a hybrid, it is kind of out of the question.  I cancelled this week's landhunting trip due to the deluge, but next week, weather permitting, I'm going to look at several land properties a little north of here.  They range in size from 8.5 acres to 80 acres.  The one I am most interested in is 40 acres, fully fenced, at $2K/acre.  Most of it is pasture, with some trees, and there are two small creeks on the property.  The listing mentions that though there is no well on the property, there are wells on either adjoining property at around 200' deep.  I told the realtor not to schedule the showings so close that I don't have time to walk over the whole acreage... I am getting tired of looking only at the houses and would much rather see the land.  Still very interested in the 20 acres with mineral rights, too.