Tuesday, August 10, 2021

TEN QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU BUY RURAL PROPERTY

 

So you’ve decided you are going to move to the country. Of course, you want to make

sure that it is the best possible move with the least amount of stress. There are 10

questions to ask yourself before you begin looking at country property.


1) The first is, what is the biggest reason, or reasons that you want to move to

the country? Now, there can be a lot of those. Some people want privacy or

seclusion. Some people can work from home, and they want to do so in a

quiet environment. Some people move to the country because they want to

have animals, horses, goats, or other livestock. Maybe you want to move to

the country because you want to raise your kids in the country, or if you are like

us, you want to have a place where grandkids can't wait to get to come to see

grandma and grandpa. Maybe you want a garden or farm, or maybe you're

looking for rural recreation. Maybe you're into fishing, or hunting, or hiking, but

you need to know what those reasons might be because they will make a big 

difference in what kind of property you look for.


2) The second thing you would have to determine is what does my ideal country

property look like? Am I looking for scenic views? Do I want to a stream or a

pond, or maybe to be lakeside? Do I want some, or maybe a lot of timber? Do

I want something property that I could have trails in? Am I looking for a property

that's got some roll to it? Maybe I want some hills for hiking, or do you want

the more open property? Do I want more grassland because I want grazing

animals? But have in your mind, and be able to describe to lenders and

realtors what your ideal country property looks like.


3) The third question is, what does my ideal country house look like? Now, this

isn't a lot different from what you would answer in the city. Do you want to live in a

ranch or a two-story? Do you prefer brick to regular siding? How many

bedrooms, bathrooms? Do you want a walk-out basement? All the things that

you would normally decide in the city apply here as well. Or maybe what

you are looking for is a lot to build on, in which case you can build a home

that is specific to exactly what you want. In either event, you should be able to

give a description of what type of house do you want to live in.


4) Now, this fourth question is important because it really impacts the amount of

money you are going to spend. That is, how far am I willing to live away from

the city or other facilities? Most of the people who we deal with as realtors

have some need to live close to the city where there might be work or school,

or they just like getting into the city for shopping, restaurants, healthcare

facilities, or any number of things. You have to think clearly in terms of how far

away can I be from the things that are in the city that are important to me. How

long a commute can I tolerate when I need to go to those things? Now, if

you are planning on living in the country and still working in the city, obviously,

you are going to want to be as reasonably close as possible.

If you don't need to go into the city for work every day, then you just need to

think in terms of what are the normal facilities that I need? When you think of

this, don't think in terms of miles, but think in terms of time. In other words, I

need to be 30 minutes away from the city center, or I need to be no further

than 45 minutes away from my place of work. One of the things you will find

when you move to the country is that the commute times are much less

because you can pretty much drive highway speed most of the time. So think

in terms of time, not miles.


5) The fifth question is perhaps the most obvious. What's your maximum budget

amount? You should think that through to make certain that you don't wind up

with payments that are uncomfortable and recognize there are going to be

some other additional expenses you might not have considered. You are

probably going to spend more on gasoline, for example, than you would when

you were living in the city.


6) The sixth question is have you already lined up the necessary financing?

What you will find is that when you move to the country, particularly if you want

larger acreages, the lender you used to buy your home in the city may not be

able to help you. If you are willing to move to the country and buy a home on five

or fewer acres, you can probably use the same lender that you used when

you bought your current home, but the more acreage you want, you are going

to find out that some of those lenders are unable to help you.

Quite often when buying a country property if the value of the land is

significantly higher than the value of the house the requirements for minimum

down payments and potentially higher interest rates will have to be

addressed. Now, as luck would have it, we have several podcasts on our

website, RuralKC.com, about financing country property where we talk with

various lenders about optional financing programs. But don't just assume that

you can use the lender when you're buying a home in a subdivision.


7) The seventh question you would want to ask, is what are the minimums and

maximums that you might want on acreage? Often people will come to us and

say, "I just want to buy 1 or 2 acres out in the country for privacy."  You find

that in most of the counties on either side of the state line around Kansas City,

the counties have minimum acreage requirements. Meaning that if you want

to build a house, or you are expecting to live in a home in the country, you are

going to have to live on a minimum of 10 to 20 acres. Now, often counties

have various programs that allow you to live on less than that but don't just

assume that you can carve out any acreage that you want. Most counties

have zoning regulations that will prevent that.


8) The eighth question is have you considered all the pros and cons of living in

the country? We've got a podcast on our website RuralKC.com that

addresses the pros and cons. People move to the country mostly to change

their lifestyle, and we don't want you buying into a country property that you are

going to be unhappy with. Make sure you know what you are getting into.


9) Now, the ninth question is do I have an experienced realtor that knows the ins

and outs of buying property in the country to help me? I like to put it this way;

if you came to me and said, "I am looking to negotiate a lease on a

condominium in downtown Kansas City."  I would politely say, "Let me help

you find somebody who is experienced and who really knows all about that

because I'm personally not your guy."  I think that applies equally well when

you are talking about buying rural property.

The issues that you run into when you buy rural property are not the same

issues you had when you were buying a home in a subdivision. If you are

considering a doctor, you don't want to have a doctor that isn’t an expert in

your particular illness. In the same way, you are going to want an expert in

buying country property.


There are all types of issues, that a rural realtor will understand that an agent

for subdivision homes won’t understand. Things like septic systems, surveys,

gas and oil leases, easements, rural internet access, zoning regulations,

fencing laws, and a whole host of things that you may not have come across

before, which means that you need to deal with somebody who has got a lot of

experience in helping people buy country property.

If a realtor is not experienced in the type of real estate that you are buying, in

this case, country property, a good realtor will tell you that and will help you

find a realtor that can make it work.


10) Now, that brings us to our 10th and final question. Do you know the phone

number or email of an experienced realtor to help you? As luck would have it,

you are not going to have to wonder about that question at all. I'm going to

answer it for you. We here at the Rural KC Real Estate would like to think that

we are the folks that have the experience and desire to help. So call or text us

at 913-837-0760, 913-837-0411, or email us at Bill@RuralKC.com


For more information, we’d encourage you to visit our website RuralKC.com,

where we have all kinds of information on a country property, thousands of

listings of country land and homes, and when there be sure and check out our

podcasts and blogs where we cover all these issues and many more.


The Rural KC Team

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