tl;dr Buying land to build dream home on, no idea what major pitfalls or common mistakes I need to avoid...advice?


My wife and I are sick of living in the city (lol 30K people in my town, but sandwiched between 200K people on one side and 80K on the other) so we're looking to move back to where I'm from. I'm from a town of 80 people (lol again)...but I loved growing up there. And my whole family (tons of cousins/aunts/uncles) live within 20 minutes of the area in surrounding towns of 2-30K people.

I already know the area, already know the school district boundaries, and have several pieces of land in mind that are currently for sale. And as long as I buy at least 20 acres I'm able to build a house + shop + barn etc. and the county won't mind.

Problem: I've bought raw land before (nothing there just buying ahead of the growth with intent to resale) and I've bought real estate (apartments/my own house to live in) but I've never bought farm land/timber land before. And since I've learned a fair amount about real estate, I've learned how big and costly mistakes can be, and how easy they are to make. I'd prefer to get advice/take it slow, and try to minimize my opportunity for making a big mistake.

Two sections of land I found for sale (going to look at tomorrow) one is 44.5 acres, other is 26 acres. The 44 acres is 6 acres timberland rest farmland with verbal 1 year lease @ $70 per acre, does have a creek that runs year round. The 26 acres is almost all timberland (I live in Idaho).

Neither place has ANYTHING on it, nor even had someone try to find a place for a well, or septic etc. However my mom/dad live 8 miles away and the area never really has an issue for those type of things, but I still think it'd be smart to check/do some research etc. before buying? How do I check?

Does it matter what type of crops used to be grown or anything like that? I'd plan on getting rid of the farming and turning it all into timberland like it used to be decades ago. Do you need permits/zoning permission for something like that?

What are common mistakes people make with this type of purchase?

Would love some input/advice guys

i got nothing,

but i would test the **** out of your well and ground water, and creek

its cheap and you 1000% need to know.

8-12 years down the road could see myself doing this with a cabin. Got nothing to help you, but just chiming in to say please update the thread as you do it. Would definitely like to see the process. Good luck!

Does Idaho get enough rainfall for profitable timber?

Do you have to pay to get electricity to the land?

I'm by no means an expert, but my parents did something like this (not in Idaho though). They said they got a significant break on property taxes by leaving it zoned agricultural, so they continue to lease a portion to a local farmer. Property tax laws are always local so it may be different for you.

If you want to keep people off your property (hunters, campers etc.) you may need to build a fence, which can be a considerable expense. 40 acres takes 1 mile of fence to enclose if it is rectangular.

That's a very good point (not only testing the underground water, but testing the creek)...I'll make sure to do that. Thanks for the input, I appreciate it

I currently live/will be buying in northern Idaho (which is extremely different then southern Idaho) and yes it gets enough rainfall. My aunt about 20 years ago used to own land about 8 miles west of here, and she made money by growing timber on ~20 acres of land. (no idea on how much she made or anything like that, I was ~11 at the time...but I'm sure I could call and ask her)

Thanks for looking at it from all angles though, different points of view is exactly why I posted/asked the question. Thanks

Yes. I'm not sure on the cost of that yet, I need to call the electric company to find out how much it'd be.

Thanks for the input.

You're 100% spot on, turning it from ag to timberland (or just land where I use it as a motorcycle track etc.) will increase the property taxes. I have no idea by how much though, I need to look into that.

And the fence is another really good point. I have no idea how much it'd cost in a situation like this, I'll have to call around and find out.

The midwesterner in me cringed when you said "convert farmland to timberland" but that $/acre is a lot lower than what I know (I don't know a damn thing about the potato market and quality of ground matters obviously) At least that is a very easy ROI% calc.
Lol'd hard at "permits/zoning permission". We are so whipped by gov't these days. Only thing that hasn't been covered off the top of my head but is obvious is just make sure you have a good idea of what it's worth before you buy it. I'm sure you already have done something on that front already though.

(I get it btw, I went back to a small town myself (3k ish)).

20+ years ago people were making a lot more on this stuff than they are now in ROI% terms though.

I'm guessing this isn't much of an issue in Idaho - but make sure you know all the zoning rules around building a house on rural property.

In most areas where I am now (Southern Ontario) it's extremely hard to get a permit to build a new house on farmland that doesn't already have a residence.

I'd also make sure you get answers on where you can build and where you can fit septic and water systems. Again I don't know your area very well, but around here there's a ton of regulations about these things. Particularly if you're close to a water source of any kind.

I don't know if anything similar applies in Idaho or if you'd even be interested, but my dad bought a couple hundred acres here in Ohio to build his house on. He's a big outdoorsman/hunter. The government paid him pretty ridiculous money to build wetlands on the land. It damn near paid for all the land, he kept a few acres that his house actually sits on out of the program so he has complete freedom there. Though he can pretty much do whatever he wants on all of it, as long as the wetlands remain. Local nrcs office would be the place to talk to.

Thanks for the input. That's an interesting idea, I never thought of actually getting paid to revert the land to what it originally was. I'll check and see if Idaho has a program like that.

Glad I'm not the only small town person in here lol

One minor detail (doubt it changes anything but just wanted to clarify)...in northern Idaho we don't grow potatoes (that's all southern Idaho) so this land will almost all be wheat/hay fields.

i would talk to a few local realtors who deal with these types of properties regularly. not just the listing agent obviously

also lots of small towns have a helpful planning department that will be generous with their time

I would make sure that a company will offer you cable/internet and that you get cell phone reception by the major carriers in the area you are attempting to purchase.

If it's anything like rural Ohio, satellite is pretty much your only option for tv or decent internet, and by decent internet, I mean very ****ty internet but better than any other alternatives.

Just went through something a little like this although on a much smaller and more local scale.

Advice in thread is good imo.

Prior to doing anything, I would engage local realtor, lawyer, insurance agent, surveyor.

Get referrals from above for contractors, site workers, well companies etc.

Talk to all service providers (elec, cell, internet, septic etc) in advance.

Research and understand any and all local, state and federal regs, ordinances etc.

GL

Also, is timberland pretty uniform in Idaho? Here the value can change pretty significantly based on what trees are there and when it was last logged.

grunching and not really related to question but relates to OP question.

i involuntarily moved from "perceived as shiiittthole" but wide open700 k city to arguably #1 city in world (very cramped and expensive though)..... i miss the wide-open crappy city alot

Good luck. We are involved in ag in CA, it's a pretty different climate (business, regulatory-wise, not weather...though that too is significant), so I'm curious to see how things develop for you in Idaho.

First few thoughts, make sure you recognize any easements with neighbors. Second is make sure you're actually allowed to pull water from the creek and don't run afoul with the government or downstream landowners.

I'm assuming it's the same in Idaho, but that too is something I don't really "know" and would need to look further into.

Most of the land in the area has to be satellite (like another poster mentioned)...but I'm learning every once in a blue moon we're finding land close enough to have cable/phone etc...but still it's pretty rare.

Well thanks everyone who has posted in this thread so far, I appreciate it. Read it all, and it's been very good advice.

Unfortunately we're going to pass on the 44 acre spot. The best building spots were too close to the neighbors (3 good locations to build, 2 at the edges of the property, right next to already built homes, and the other was right next to a dirt road that the whole area uses)

We're going to just keep on looking...I'm sure something will pop up eventually as long as we're patient and don't rush it.