You're making the right decision. It's not worth putting yourself that close to the financial edge. You say you're emotionally attached -- you know emotions shouldn't play into a piece of property, and though you sound sad, you also sound like you know you're making the right choice.

Land is DIFFICULT to sell, and you may well find that the seller -- once he realizes you really and truly won't pay his price -- may come back to you. I'd suggest that you have your realtor tell him that you're still very interested, and IF he wants to reconsider your offer, you'll still consider it . . . but in the meantime, you're looking for other property. Aggressively looking for other property. Let him think you're likely to find something else.

Personal experience: Our first house proved difficult to sell, and we had two mortgages for about a year and a half. We always knew it'd be fine once we sold the house . . . but it was a difficult time for us. Looking back, I'm not sure we made the right decision. That year and a half was a low point in our marriage, and I don't think that was coincidence.

Thanks MrsPete. I was really trying to stay emotionally detached, but it crept up on me :) but I do feel it's best we wait. I actually had to convince my DH that it wasn't the right, time, but after some number crunching he agrees that it is too close for comfort. We know that we likely won't be able to build for at least a year, even if we do sell this place quickly, which then poses the question where would we live if it actually did sell quickly. We do need to declutter, and would have to put stuff in storage which would be an additional monthly expense. He says well why don't we just do that lastâ¦um b/c if I did the cleaning first, and shampooed the carpets by the time I got him to help declutter everything else would need redone.

This property was listed last year for about 6 months before being pulled off the market, in that time he did drop his asking about 1400, and dropped it another 1100 i think the 2nd time he listed it. Our relator said he would work on the seller, b/c i think he knows that this maybe the best offer he gets.

When my neighbor passed away I had my eye on his 20 acres, it would just make my adjacent 10 even better, no intention of building on it. I found they were asking quite a bit more than I wanted to pay for it but being very rural they didn't get much activity. I waited about 6 months, got the listing agents e-mail address and made an offer thru the mail for $50k which was about 1/3 of the asking price. The property was in probate so had some issues. He came back in a couple weeks w/a counter of $100k, I said no thanks. I was a little disappointed as it was a very nice piece of property with a mix of conifers/hardwoods and about 1/2 pasture just below my own, in fact it was my view. Another 4 months went by and the agent sent me an e-mail asking if I was still interested, I told him I was for $50k. He said "write up on offer", I ended up paying $55k cash for 20 acres w/utilities, 3 barns, an old house and a pond. We tore out the old house, harvested some trees, planted more, made a lot of trails and have been attracting game animals. I felt like the OP in some ways, I'd been fantasizing about the property for some time and REALLY wanted it. It taught me a lesson, if you want something bad enough you may have to wait longer than you want to get it but if you keep wanting it bad enough, eventually you'll get it as long as you work toward that end. It may not be the exact thing you wanted but it will be what your after.

so glad to hear that Mistman, Found some info on another site about the list history of the property..I thought it had only been on the market on again off again for a year, it actually has been on again off again since 2010. With the original list price 13,000 hire than current list price! That kind of makes me feel better. I would hope the previous list price included the trailer that was once on it..b/c I'm thinking there is no way this property alone was worth the original list price. I would think the 3br trailer, prefab whatever that was on it would have been worth at least 30,000, It was removed several years agoâ¦so original list price minus 30k would put it more inline with our offer

Well and septic issues? Keep looking! Trust me, I'm looking, too....and you can build a new barn for less than digging a well and redoing the septic. The right place is out there, you just have to keep looking :)

We are supposed to hear from the realtor tomorrow as to whether the seller is reconsidering our offer with the most recent market analysis done . We have included in our bid a contingency that we have to be able to tie in to the current septic and if that isn't the possible then we can walk away penalty free. The current well that is there is just shy of 15 feet, and works fine, but I don't know that it would be deep enough for our family, i've been told by others that it's not, but I honestly have no way of knowing. So any input on that is more than welcomed!! :)

question for you all though, the tax assessment on the property is only 25% of the asking price for the property, I'm thinking this is quite a difference, I know tax assessment and appraisals very, but this significantly?!?

Divine_serenity, if you can get the info from the landowner (or if you have only a few contractors nearby who can drill wells), try phoning up the well contractor and asking for the well history and other info.
In our area (admittedly, central Canada), there are only a handful of well drillers, and once I gave them our location they could provide some basic info really quick, and free to boot!
(Our water is 115' down tho, so alot deeper than yours!)

With raw land it's not unusual to see large differences between appraised value and the tax assessment. I do wonder if the taxing body is aware of the well, septic and barn though. If county assessments are online you might read past the value and see if the barn is assessed.

There is a thread in the buying/selling forum on the value of a barn. Typically it's not much.

Be patient - if it's meant to be, it will be. We have had 5 acres of raw ground for sale for years! We came down quite a bit from our original asking price.
We really rarely had much interest in it. And the couple that bought it had looked at it 2 years ago. They tried to buy some other land that had a creek, etc - but the sale fell through and they came back to us. We were willing to drop the price just to get rid of it. You may get that lucky in time as well.

And as for the tax assessment - our county had our 5 acres assessed at about 15% of the actual value. That's one process I don't understand at all!

looking at the tax assessment they do have the barn and other out building listed. The barn was built and then added on to, so they actually have the assessment for the barn divided by sections one having a 10ft roof, the other part 12, plus and additional small 3 walled out building, all of which was assessed for 11,400. It's funny b/c the assessment says no residence, no basement, crawl space etcâ¦but then has marked a kitchen sink and a water heaterâ¦neither of which the outbuilding has. strange!

the realtor emailed last night saying that the seller's wife is getting on him to just get rid of it.

In this area most everyone is on a well, so i'm not sure I'd be able to find out who the contractor on the well would be.. my in-laws well is 90ft, but it also has 2 homes on the property that share a well, and a a pump house..and at one time had some kind of live stock or something I thinkâ¦that was WAY before my time.

@Naween what info should i need about the well..like I've said that is new territory for me, I've never been on wellâ¦another thing (possibly TMI coming :P) any time I go to the in laws if I consume too much of their water I get the runsâ¦hopefully that will change once my gut gets use to that being it's constant source of hydration. YIKES lol

Ok all, opinions needed. Seller came back with a counter less than $300 more than our original offer, with the contingency that we have to pay the fall 2014 taxes, and he will not pay renters insuranceâ¦we had said that he could use the property for his cattle and the barn for hay storage for 12 months as long as he would pay renters insurance and maintain the property as he is currently, my thought is if he doesn't want to pay renters insurance than we remove our offer to allow him use of the property as we have no protection he won't destroy somethingâ¦or is the renters insurance more to protect him? I mean we will have property insuranceâ¦HELP he wants an answer soon..I

Or if we do allow him to use than land (as it would help us since we still live 80 miles away and maintaining 8 acres would be difficult) and just carry landlord insurance in case he damages something?!? not that there is much there to damage, nor do i feel that he will but one has to protect themselves!

Insurance varies by state -- talk to your insurance company or agent to get the right info. Renter's insurance is typically to insure what the renter has on the property -- their belongings, not yours or the land and structures. It is not generally liability insurance and his getting that would be more difficult and expensive. Your property insurance would generally be the insurance to cover any damage, and you may pay more for insurance with a tenant on the premises (not only can he cause damage, he could be injured and sue you for having a dangerous condition -- where that responsibility for maintaining the property would need to be clearly set out in writing). Your situation is different from a home with daily living and the risks that come with it (cooking, plumbing, floods, fires, etc.) Contractors are often bonded to cover loss to property they work on. Something like that might be possible for your situation.

The dollar amount on the property is negligible -- about $37 per acre. Make sure you know what the taxes are. Typically they would be prorated, so you would normally have 1/4 but would be agreeing to the additional 3/4. Make sure he isn't behind on the taxes or that there aren't other surprises.

I think you need to talk to the pros to verify what these costs are. That should make your answer a lot easier. I don't think you can make an intelligent decision without knowing those things first.

Ok I've got my ducks in a row in regards to our insurance needs for the property, but I also want to CMA (cover my a$$) since he has chosen not to carry his own insurance. So I have created this document (and it is being reviewed by a lawyer friend) but I value the opinion of those here on GW and would like to see what you think also.

I (seller's name) being at least 18 years of age and of sound mind hereby waive and release (divine serenity and spouse (: ) (property owners) from all liability relating to personal injury, dismemberment or death that may occur to myself and my property while participating in activities on owners property. Activities of participation include but are not limited to: harvesting of crops, feeding of live stock, maintenance of grounds, out buildings, and structures.

By signing this agreement I forever release and discharge property owners of address of property) , of liability to myself, my property and any other persons that I allow on to the grounds of afore mentioned property. This discharge specifically includes but is not limited to liability claims for injury, illness, death, or damage due to negligence of Property Owners.

This contract shall remain in effect indefinitely throughout my participation in above mentioned activities.

This post was edited by divine_serenity on Thu, Sep 18, 14 at 21:52