We'd been looking for over 3 years.

Never saw anything else that made our hearts go pitty pat. Never felt anything 'got away'.

Knew after walking 10 yards onto this land. I have video of our first meeting, panning the property and saying "This is what we've been looking for."

We waited 2 weeks to make the offer because the owners initially said it wasn't for sale. We pouted and then decided we had nothing to lose with the offer.

We had a very specific list of priorities. This land has exactly none of them yet we don't feel we settled at all.

Only you know if you're shooting yourself in the foot with your search. But I'd say if you are looking back at things that now seem as if they would have met your needs you need to ask why.

Interesting, DLM. How neat to have a video of your initial visit.

The hindsight issue has mostly to do with watching values in our area go up, up up. Prices we balked at a few years ago now seem almost quaint in comparison.

We had looked for 2 years for an old house (1920's) in our downtown area. Couldn't find one and started looking at new construction but all of the new construction was a bit too far from downtown. We like being able to walk to downtown.

Looked at a townhouse going up. The townhouse was awful but as we looked out across the space, we saw a trailer on a blank 3 acre plot of land and then asked the agent for the townhouse what is that? She said, "Oh they're going to build custom houses."

By the end of the week we put our deposit down on what we still consider the prime spot in the development. Nope, no views. We'll have to make our own with our landscaping, but we are 1/2 a mile from downtown with lots of stores and restaurants within walking distance. In fact just a block and 1/2 away is great food and shopping. Oh and the bay is 3 blocks from us so when we get an itch to see a sunset, it just means a short walk.

We looked for our lot for 2 years The right lot in the right location and at the right were of priority in our decision. We found one and are happy with it, even though it has building constraints. Would we do it again yes, as there are no others available which meet our requirements.

Long story because we started out looking very casually in 2009 looking at existing houses, and bought "the one" lot in 2014. Our unique wish list meant that it was going to be hard to find an existing house, so we started looking at lots, while still also looking at houses. There were very few lots in our desired area, except two subdivisions that were completed just prior to the crash. One just wasn't appealing to us. The other one was great and the location near the ski mountain, on town's bike and walking trail, and close to restaurants, while still a bit secluded, was fabulous. This subdivision has a mix of different types of lots, smaller interior lots, larger creekside lots, to very secluded cul de sac creekside 'estate lots,' in the back. The subdivision had rolled out right before the crash and the lots were STILL listed at original prices which were out of our price range so it wasn't really even on our radar.

Still at the casual looking stage, we looked at lots a bit out of town and random infill lots, saw several we really liked but never could quite find on that checked all our boxes, and we weren't in any hurry yet. Then a year or two later, a local real estate blog mentioned that the pricey and fabulously located subdivision was cutting prices. They had sold about 8 lots out of 62 at the original pricing right before the crash and then 3 years without a sale and only two homes had been built. Prices were cut 40% which put it closer to our radar, and I found what I thought might be "the one" a larger creekside lot (but not cul de sac 'estate creekside.'). However, I thought it was still over priced, and that price would have been a real stretch for us in any case. Only 4 of the less expensive interior lots sold with the price drop, and none of the more expensive lots.

By the time we were actively looking, I was aware that the developer had filed bankruptcy and the lender was foreclosing. After the foreclosure, the lender/new owner rolled out a new sales plan in the summer of '13 cutting prices to about a third of the original and had a lot of takers immediately upon the drop with about 15 sales but only on the less expensive interior lots, then under 200,000 and a couple of larger, but not creekside lots, in the mid-to upper 200,000s, but no takers on the more expensive larger creekside lots or creekside estate lots. By this time I had looked at the plat, building envelopes etc, and was sure that the lot I thought might be "the one," really was THE ONE. But I continued to watch and over the winter started to see a few sales at less than asking on the creekside lots, along with more full priced sales on the others. When I realized that I was holding my breath as I checked recent sales reported each week, afraid that "OUR lot" would sell before we jumped in, we took the leap in the spring of '14 and were able to negotiate a bit from asking. Our timing was ideal, because demand picked up that summer and the next few sales were at asking, then the lender/owner started raising prices as sales increased. The subdivision sold out within the next two years and the very similar lot next to us resold last spring at 1.6 times what we paid two years earlier.

We move in next week!

Like anything else, one has to develop some key criteria (south facing, simple gradients, space for well and septic/leech, allows for L-shaped house, room for outdoor activities, yada, yada.

Than one has to have some experience looking, evaluating and pricing in appealing locations.

Woe be to the one who drives by a vacant piece of land and says, "Wow, I'm buying that this afternoon!" And doesn't know that the limestone quarry is just behind the trees...

I don't think anything ever made us truly fall in love. And that's OK - that might make it that much harder if/when down the road we decide that it's time to make a change.

I land-shopped by using the local GIS system to hunt down parcels unbuilt on, and contact the owners to ask if they were interested in selling. We learned a lot, including the important lesson that some people are inherently unreasonable. We, too, had a set of specifics - in a particular school district, preferring a particular township. I had originally wanted a walk-out basement. As it turns out, this neck of the woods is a bit bereft of much grade, so I ended up throwing that out.

We started looking for 3-5 acres, preferably somewhat wooded, to build a house on, and maybe do a little tiny bit of hobby farming.

We ended up with 10 acres, mostly clear in the center, with such a high water table that any kind of a basement is a non-starter. But it's got 3-1/2 acres in nearly mature walnut trees, a sugar bush, old pasture, a small creek, and a number of other features we didn't even know we wanted until we found them. Or, in a couple of instances, till after we'd bought it and really thought about it.

There were a couple of pieces I thought I would have preferred. One gentleman was unwilling to see unless we were talking "stupid amounts" of money. Another was planning to build his own retirement home on the parcel in question - 6 months later, there is a "For Sale By Owner" sign on it. Go fig. And yet, I think we ended up with the piece best suited for the things we want to do.

One thing we did learn is that all the features you want in a parcel may not exist in the area you've defined to search. Which are absolute musts? Nobody can tell you if it's time to lower your standards or not. But maybe it's time to cast a wider net? Look at pieces you wouldn't have considered for whatever reason. And, have a look at parcels that are not technically "for sale." I find in my area that the best pieces never formally go on the market at all.

Back in the early-ish '90s, I was driving myself and a couple of friends to a meeting in Pioneer Valley, MA. (This is a general region, not a town. Or necessarily even a valley...) It was early summer, and raining heavily, but for some reason the landscape sang to me. In many ways, it reminded me of the landscape around Greenwood Lake (on the border between NY and NJ), where my parents had owned a summer/weekend cabin when I was aged 6 or 7 until I was about 14. By the 1990's (if not a lot earlier), I didn't know anyone still living there.

This section of MA reminded me of that. With the addition that I now knew a LOT of people in western MA. For some reason, I was fascinated.

A few years later I went searching for land. I spent a year and a half looking (well, in the two summers). The second parcel I saw was lovely, but 52 acres? Even at that remarkably affordable asking price, it was ... large. I didn't need THAT much. I'd be happy with, say, 15... enough for livestock and enough for some woodland, and enough for a house.

So, I kept looking. And looking. And when I was close enough logistically, I kept returning to this particular parcel.

On September 11, 1998, I closed on this acreage. It had tons of advantages. A cleared field of about 8 acres, facing south. A paved road and electric, and a flat access driveway potential. Woods you could walk through without a machete. A pre-existing perk test. (There were plenty of places I looked at that were affordable that lacked one or more of these things.) Oh, and I must not forget the pencil-thin 15-acre lots... that were 200 feet roadside and just went back and back until they got to the 15 acres...

Around 2007, I considered building early and using it as a weekend home, but the economy tanked. My industry was doing fine, but it made me nervous so I held off for several years longer...

But anyhow, I'm here, and I still really LOVE this parcel of land!!!!

PS and EDIT: A year before I started to build, I got mail from someone offering to buy my land for a good amount of money, far more than I'd paid for this. No Way Jose! There are some things more valuable than money.

PPS: My next door neighbor is the Nature Conservancy, no, not a limestone quarry!

Holly Stockley we did the same thing with the GIS mapping. Nothing through the MLS or traditional By Owner avenues was producing anything for us but we'd see land driving around that seemed to fit our criteria. So we mapped them and found more than what we had seen by driving - sent about 25 letters after some sleuthing to determine initial suitability. We didn't have your experience with anyone being unreasonable, in fact just the opposite. We were shocked by people who told us they were not selling but would call back weeks later to inquire if we'd seen xyz's parcel to make sure we weren't missing anything - it was a lovely experience. Even our land sounds similar to your - 6.25 acres, beautiful creek on the south lot line, mostly clear in the center and wooded all around with a corner 3/4 acre stand of mature oaks. We got our full basement but the roll is so gentle we had to forgo the walkout or completely change the contours which was part of why we loved it to begin with.

Looking since 2011. Started with lots and planning to build, switched to existing homes then switched back to lots/build since the existing homes available in the area I'm interested in were not to my liking. Closed this autumn and looking forward to ground breaking next spring.

When I saw the lot and walked it, I right away knew it was the one.

We love our current home (which made us pretty picky) but were keeping our eyes open (and a Redfin alert) going for something that would fit our needs a bit closer in to the city and more importantly our daughter's school. We also wanted to stay close to family in our pocket of the city, which really limited us. I did the same as other describe, using our city's GIS to find unbuilt parcels or existing houses that might fit our needs to see how many were even out there. One day, driving home from my parents house I noticed a for sale by owner sign on the street next to their house, but the number was indecipherable. My husband suggested I see if I could find it online. I couldn't, but discovered that the back lot on the same street, which shares a long property line with my parents, had just been listed. It doesn't have everything we wanted (we're on the more expensive side of the county line, lots of slope to deal with, difficult city regulations, and not quite as much farther in as we wanted). That said, it's an awesome opportunity to own 20 acres within 20 minutes of the downtown of our pretty major city - most people don't realize lots like this even exist, they're so rare. And it's an awesome site. And it's next door to my parents (to the extent that two houses each centered on 20 acres can be "next door" - my daughter will be able to walk through the woods to visit her grandparents. And, quite frankly, having done the GIS info searches I knew that things that would fit our need better just didn't exist. We're finishing plans with our architect now with the hope of starting in May (because of environmental overlays we're very restricted in what we can do from November - May).

I think it's a lot harder to find your dream parcel in a city you already live in (or know well) v. a new place - you have so many connections already to places and things, you're often much less willing to compromise on location - at least that was our experience.

Thanks for your stories! It's nice to know we're not alone.

GIS mapping sleuths, can you elaborate on how you did this? Is there a certain program or website you use?

In terms of tech knowledge, I'm still learning how to program the VCR.

Well...the question was, "how do you know?"

Few have answered the question. Sure one can use technology to search. But when you have a list of half a dozen potential sites, how do you know?

It's not "love at first sight"...it's not "I really liked this"...the OP is asking WHY? HOW did you know? What criteria was it that made you say NO to one site and YES to another.

Come on folks...! :-)

OK Virgil, I'll bite. In late 2006 I (and spouse) started looking for a small piece of land (he was a country boy) - thinking maybe 1 acre - in the next county over (Waller County - just West of Harris County, where Houston, TX is). So every weekend we drove out - we didn't want to be very far South of I-10, road to San Antonio (we have hurricanes here!) and we didn't want to be very close to the West side of I-45 North (road to Dallas). Both are very high traffic roads. Both of us were still working, although I was hoping for retirement in 2 years.

Shortly after we started looking, grandson decided he 'wanted to move to the country' also - so that meant we needed 2 acres. I used the internet to find property listings, talked to a couple of 'local' realtors, and continued my web search. Finding one or two acres wasn't easy - most parcels were larger.

My husband was having some physical problems so many weekends the grandson went with me. Six months later a property that had been on the market for months was reduced and showed up in my search. We drove out to look at it, and when we drove up the driveway the first thing out of both husband and grandson's mouth was "this is it".

My most important criteria was I wanted some trees, no 'bald prairie'. This piece is approx 5 acres, the previous owners left the trees on the perimeter so only the center is 'open'. Shortly before we found this piece we learned why my husband was having physical problems - he was diagnosed with cancer (and died 2 years later). Since he had this health issue, it was fortunate that the property already had a well and septic system, along with a driveway. There were 2 manufactured homes on the property so it was 'move in ready'. We had planned to build a regular home, probably ICF, but the change in our situation eliminated that.

When I retired, I moved out here full time; grandson married and is now the father of two children - we all live here. Grandson and his family plan to purchase a home in the next small town West of us (in a neighborhood so kids have playmates) and will rent out the home they have been living in.

We said no to sites for a variety of reason - too close to the freeway (noise carries farther than you'd think), too small to allow for a shop for my husband's extensive car hobby, too far from our daughter's school (that eliminated a lot of options), too far from family, too steep to build on without a lot of stilts, out of our price range, and on too busy a road. (Those are the ones I can think of off hand). We wanted a lot of land, but in the county we preferred all big parcels were being subdivided into tiny lots and thus selling for more than we could afford (with the plan of 20+ homes on .1 acre lots) so we ended up with a big lot in the more expensive county, since they are more restrictive on what can be subdivided because of environmental zoning.

As I said above, our lot is pretty unique in its location (next door to my parents) and size (20 acres within city limits and 15 - 20 minutes to downtown). It also passed all the tests for which we eliminated other lots - no freeway noise, space for a shop, closer to our daughter's school, steep but with a less steep building site, and set far back from the road.

I think it really helped that we'd been passively looking for awhile and exploring options, so when our property came up we knew how unique it was, and recognized that while there were some compromises, they were compromises with which we could live (v. those with which we wouldn't).

As for how, our city has a great property information system (you can see it at www.portlandmaps.com) with which we could research properties. We used this combined with ariel shots from google maps/earth, drive-by shots from google maps, and zillow for information about the neighborhood and whether things had been listed in the past few years. I also spent quite a bit of time driving around just about every street in areas that appealed to us to see what was there.

Ok Virgil - you asked for it! Our HOW did we know is very personal. Just as there is talk here about 'architectural parti', we had a 'journey parti'. Back when the economy tanked my husband's business transitioned from high end kitchens, baths, additions to home maintenance and modest updates and as his customer base had to cut back so did we. At the same time we had one son in WA the other in CO (we were in Chicago) and between their work and school schedules, holiday airfare and our budget constraints I knew we wouldn't see either of them for Thanksgiving or Hanukkah/Christmas and I was heartbroken. At the same time we had other family members who were having difficulties - it felt as if the rug was being pulled out from under all of us. My husband and I dreamed of finding a place where we could all be together but independent, and pool the talents in our family from medicine, law, engineering, chemistry, teaching, create a compound of cottages, community garden, a few chickens, goats..... and be 'safe' from any storm. I know, I know - a hippie pipe dream. It took us a few years to recover financially and begin searching but we looked at houses on acreage and land for a long time. We didn't want to be isolated, wanted to be able to access stores and medical facilities but craved privacy. When we walked onto what was to become our property it literally felt like home. That's the same feeling we had the first time we flew into western NC as we came over the mountains I exhaled and felt I was home. It's private but 5 minutes from town, has a beautiful creek, gentle grade, multiple possible build sites, trees and open meadow. Our original list included city water/sewer, natural gas, and not on a gravel road. We have well & septic, no natural gas and a gravel road. It's perfect.

It's a bit of a convoluted story as to how we ended up building on the lot we are building on. It didn't start out to be our dream lot, but I think it's turning into that.

We bought the lot 8 years ago with plans to build on it. It was in the exact development we wanted to be in, but not exactly the best lot. However at the time, not many people were selling their lots because prices had plummeted and not many people wanted to take a loss. We felt fortunate to get it.

3 years later another lot came up in the same development that was twice as large, up against a hill, had a great view and just felt like our "dream lot." In fact, I would actually have dreams about living there LOL. In that particular area, some houses had serious settling issues so I had a soils engineer do an extensive soils investigation and we were told the soil was good and we would have no problem building. So we spent 2 years designing the house and doing all the things to get ready to build. We broke ground last April and on the second day, the excavator told us he had run into collapsible clay. To avoid making a long story even longer, after 2 weeks of digging and hiring different soils engineers to check things out, we had to abandon the project because it was going to cost over $100,000 to make the lot build-able, and then we still weren't guaranteed our house wouldn't sink.

So after another few months of trying to decide what to do, I quickly designed another house to build on our first lot and broke ground in August. Since then, I have started to love the lot. We have already become friends with the neighbors, we cut down a couple of dead trees and now have a beautiful view, and I like the idea of a smaller lot with less upkeep. Even though I was absolutely devastated when we had to abandon the first house, I think this lot was meant to be.

How did we narrow it down out of 2 dozen parcels? First, we drew a circle out from the city to our maximum distance. We searched the MLS listings, using acreage and price as filters. It was easy to say 'no'. Most parcels had issues- too steep, flood zones, poor access, next to a pig farm, etc. That's where GIS really shines. We also rejected any parcels with HOA's or minimum house size restrictions. I guess we knew ours was 'the one' when we couldn't find anything wrong with it! We didn't even know that we had a panoramic (winter) view of the mountains until the leaves were off of the trees.

We had been looking for land for quite some time. Looking for 25 or so acres maybe. We discounted several places due to price, location (school district) and topography. Parcels this size don't come around often. An old farm was being divided up into lots and my partner bought one (3acres) and built on it. They opened phase two with larger lots. We talked to the developer and there was a 17 acre piece at the highest point of the property. It had a steep slop in the back, but access in the front wasn't too bad. We agreed on a price, but the bank appraisal came in under by at least 1/3! developer was unwilling to negotiate. Given the steepness in the back of the property, it wasn't as wonderful as we'd hoped, so we decided not to pay the extra.

Fast-forward 3 years. My wife and I looked at a 12acre property with a house only a couple minutes from my office. We didn't like it. The house was very odd. Great views, but a pretty good grade and 12 acres of nothing but side hill grass! I wanted nothing to do with mowing it! We passed on it. But in talking to the realtor. He knew of a bar being sold- I know, odd, but it was on 50 acres.

We looked at the bar property. Steep hill from the bar up to the top of the property. But this was good in separating the house from the restaurant. We would sell the restaurant if we bought it. But up on top.... a beautiful saddle on top to build a house. We would need a right-of-way from neighbors to get driveway in. So, off to the neighbors property to talk to them about right-of-way. They didn't want to give us the access we hoped for, but offered a different spot to access. I had an engineering friend of mine look at it and he cost-estimated just the excavation for the driveway to be in the 150k range (lots of switchbacks d/t the access point). Nope. But, while at the neighboring farm, I had mentioned to one of the owners that if the ever wanted to see part of it, let me know.

Fast-forward 2 months or so. Phone call. The neighbors to the bar might be interested in selling. Its 3 brothers. We take a ride out and view the property. Its the right school district. Much bigger than we wanted. But beautiful. There were two obvious home sites- both accessible by relatively simple drives compared to other things we looked at. There is a stream (can't see it from the house, but we liked water on property). It is 6 minutes to the mall and cuts my work commute in half. Great school district. Negotiated for 1 year and 9months before finally closing on it. Enjoy the 270 degree panorama. North is to the right edge, East the left edge and south is over the picnic table. There is an apple orchard adjoining the property on the north side.

Here's how we knew. It was a wooded 10 acre lot with 2 acres of it being water (riparian rights) on a "no gas motor" lake. The build site is a peninsula with city water and sewer in a well established neighborhood that had house prices that could justify the cost of our build. It sat on the border of two cute small towns, one with an excellent small school system, the other with an excellent large school system. 20 minute commute for my wife (decrease) and 45 for me (increase). In short, we're lucky we found a property that checked off all of our boxes.

Well, in some ways this question is a bit like "how did you know you'd found the person you were going to marry?" Some will claim love at first sight, others will tell of multiple break ups and getting back together, while still others were longtime friends first.

We were actually starting to feel a little depressed. The two parcels we'd seen that we'd have liked to have were not for sale. (Or, not for a reasonable amount.) A couple were possessed of such strong negatives that, while we nearly talked ourselves into it, we passed by. (One was next to a new highway bypass. Another was covered with Scotch pine trees, and would have been $$ to clear - plus it had issues with well quality).

Finally we found a parcel that met most of our requirements (in the right district, electricity, natural gas and cable available at the street, acreage), and thought about what we wanted to DO with it: house, hobby farm, space for the kids to be outside without being effectively on leashes. We nearly lost out by low-balling the owner. Late one night, we went over what we wanted, what it had, and decided that his asking price (which was, effectively, the assessed value) was worth making this "the one."

After we owned it, it started to sink in how very right it is for us. 3-1/2 acres in nearly mature black walnut trees. Some apple trees. A sugar bush. Old pasture that can probably be rehabilitated with some rotational grazing and frost seeding. And enough of a fence row on all sides to be nearly impenetrable. Which means I can let the kids roam on it a bit without being quite so psychotic. (Both are ASD. Wandering is an issue).

In all, we're pleased. It's certainly better for us that those we passed over. And probably even better for us than most of the pieces we would have liked to have and couldn't.

To use Holly Stockley's future marriage partner analogy, the purchase of our lot was the outcome of a crush. A long, slow burning crush!

We had visited the home on the lot many times as it belonged to our good friends and neighbors. Our own much loved home of 22 years is only 3 doors away on a lovely lake in Florida. Our friends had at times expressed their pride and gratitude that they had the best lot on the lake. We could not disagree. It is unusually elevated and has wonderful 9 mile long views of the lake.

A few years ago the property changed hands. The new owner tore down the house in preparation for building his forever dream home but time passed and there was no sign of a new build. Having now decided that we needed to downsize, DH and I discussed the many options in Florida and beyond. Every conversation ended the same way....we love our home, the location, and our neighbors are like the best of family.....how could we leave!

As we daily walked past the now vacant lot I would dream aloud about building a home there. The ideal home on the best lot! DH would respond by suggesting that I call the owner to find out if he would be willing to sell but I felt it unfair to harass the poor guy when I knew very well that he intended to build his 'forever' house there. Finally I caved and his response was a shock...to him and to me! He said my timing was uncanny as they had just that week decided not to build.....and that he would be delighted to sell to us!

Our great timing seems to have come to an abrupt end as building contractors are now in short supply due to a building boom and the aftermath of the hurricanes in Florida, Texas and Puerto Rica. Consequently costs are currently through the roof so we are once again weighing our options, though they do not include selling our dream lot!

My wife saw the lot and knew exactly how she wanted the house constructed. There was no doubt.

Ahh...the Spouse Decision! Works every time. Almost...

But the point of this thread is...how did she know?

Easy answer: We knew we wanted to live on the island (Innerarity Island), we knew wanted water view, we wanted a cul de sac street and a lot not in a flood zone and a lot with no neighbors behind us. Our lot checked every box and it took a lot of digging and it wasn’t for sale. We located the owners out of state, sent a letter and the rest is history.

Now there's a why and a how...! :-)

We tried, we were not going to accept anything less. We actually identified 18 possible lots, none of which were for sale. Using the county property appraiser's website, I identified the owners some of which had moved. Being a PI, finding them was easy. We sent out 18 generic "would you consider selling your lot?" letters. Letter 17 was a winner and here we are. Innerarity Island is a private island in Pensacola with maybe 400 homesites of which there are maybe 150 homes out there now.

These pics were taken from a drone 400' up directly above our lot. In the last pic, our lot is just to the right of the horse shoe driveway. We are 225' off the bay. House is 3 story with the garage underneath and the 3rd floor "floor" is 29' up which gives us a wide open view of the bay with zero obstructions. We paid under $30K for the lot vs far and away more to be 50' across the street directly on the water.

The wife and I spent 3 years hunting for property. We knew that we wanted to be within a 20 mile radius of our jobs / family and wanted a 3 - 5 acre wooded lot. Those were the must haves. In addition, I wanted a creek on the property or a small pond. During our hunt, we found multiple parcels that on first glance met our must haves. If a property made the first cut, we began to research the property via GIS maps and perk test results for adjacent properties.

At the beginning of year 2, we found the perfect spot, passed all of our research and made an offer. It was a FSBO and the owner dragged everything out. It took 5 weeks to get a response to our initial offer. We spent 5 months trying to come to terms because we really wanted it but never succeeded. For the next 6 months, it was "the one that got away".

Then we found our dream lot. 9 acres of woods at the end of a subdivision. No creek / pond but on our first visit we spotted a doe & twin fawns. We did our homework and made an offer. Reached agreement and scheduled closing. At the close, the owner added a request for an easement to reach another parcel of 6 acres. We declined and cancelled the deal. 5 months later the owner offered to combine the parcels for an additional 5K and we accepted. We have loved living here for the last 15 years.

We have no regrets. We obtained our must-haves and settled on not having a creek/pond. "The one that got away" - a few years later, 7 chicken houses went in across the road - so we dodged a bullet.

After a 3-year on and off search for a house with some useable land we "Knew it when we saw it". We were driving out to look at "house on acreage" which turned out to be just a wooded hill with no spot to put a garden. We saw a sign that said land for sale, took the turn and drove, drove, drove what seemed like forever til we saw it. We drove down the field driveway and knew we wanted it, 5 months later it was ours!

But... then we dated. We have been paying off the land for the past 10 years, spending nearly every non-winter weekend out there working in the garden, sleeping in a tent. So we know the land intimately, knew exactly where we wanted the house, the driveway etc. So last year as we made our final land payment, we started the plans for the house.

We were looking for at least 20 acres in the mountains and our realtor had taken us to multiple properties which were okay. I saw one online and asked him to take us to it as there were multiple large parcels. The first two parcels were clear cut and ugly although had awesome long range views. When we walked into the back parcel which still had its trees and these awesome rock outcroppings we fell in love. We had a peace that came over us and just knew this piece of land was it. We purchased the 40 acres last year and are now building a home.

I know I posted above, but I ran across the message below cleaning out the notes on my iPad and thought it may be helpful. The bottom line is that there is no lot has everything but there is your THIS IS IT LOT or THE ONE out there once you really think through your priorities.

Gradually we realized that there would never be the perfect lot. The "perfect" lot would be several acres, but low maintenance; out in the country away from the hustle and bustle of town, but within walking/ biking (think cruisers, not mountain bikes) distance to grocery stores, restaurants, skiing, entertainment and all the resort has to offer; isolated, but in a nice neighborhood; on a mountainside with 360 degree views, but no steep roads; and it would be nice if a river ran through it. It also must be a place where we can age in place and the price must be right. Not happening! Not happening at any price!

Just because the perfect lot doesn't exist, that didn't mean that our IT lot didn't. We finally made a ranked list. Surprisingly, besides aging in place, for us dog walking, walkability/bikeability (think casual cruisers) and accessibility to groceries, restaurants and entertainment, topped the list. We upped our budget a bit and sacrificed lot size, but ended up with a lot in a great neighborhood close to everything and even backing to a pristine year round mountain stream. It might not be everyones perfect lot, but for US it was IT -- THE ONE.

My story is one that rarely happens in real life. My husband and I had discussed building "someday". On Thanksgiving in 2014, he mentioned that we might want to think about buying a lot for a future build, since building had picked back up in our area and lots were harder to find. I took that and ran with it :) We live in a town of about 250,000 people, and most of the building was happening on the outskirts and in neighboring suburbs/towns. We started there and found a lot that was "fine", but we weren't wowed. I've always lived with close neighbors, but this lot sloped down from the back, so our neighbors behind would always be perched right above us, which I wasn't crazy about. We found another lot in a new neighborhood, but it was literally a flat patch with no character or landscaping, basically we could build a nicer house than we had but still would be looking right into the neighbor's house.

So a week later, my husband decides to search in a zip code farther into the established part of the city and BAM--there it was. A lot in a neighborhood that was built in the 1980's, full of well-maintained unique homes, mostly all brick. It is literally a 2 minute drive to my work, and so close to everything we do. A cul-de-sac, weird shaped lot with some building restrictions due to some underground drainage pipes, but it looked like a park and we fell in love. We did some due diligence about the drainage, etc with the city and bought it a week later. We still thought we would wait to build until our youngest was out of high school, but turns out she wanted to move, so we built. In less than a year after that first discussion, we moved into our custom home. Every single day, I look out my window and think how lucky we are to live there. Were there compromises? Sure, we are not that far from a highway, but I don't even notice the road noise. I couldn't build a side-facing garage, but who cares when I spend all my time on my back porch, barely able to see my neighbors due to mature trees and the angle of our house. Sometimes, you just know....

How did we know the land was the one...

Well...I was out driving one day on the way to the supermarket and decided to take a long-cut on an untraveled county road. In the middle of the extended journey, my car ran out of gas. I coasted to as stop and got out, wondering what to do.

Suddenly, the sun came out from behind the clouds, a chorus began singing in 4-part harmony, and a deer came out from behind a tree on the land to my left and looked at me with its very large eyes.

So I did the only thing possible: I called AAA on my mobile phone, waited until the truck arrived with a gas can and filled my tank.

I finally got to HEB (it's a Texas grocery store), paid my $250 and went home with a week's worth of food.

That's my story--it's the way it happened--and I'm sticking to it...:-)

Well we found The One, but it’s super pricy and we are trying to gather financing, since we are concurrently putting in an offer on a house (this afternoon, if all goes well!). We will live in the house while we build, because our rent is just too high compared to a mortgage for this area, and even with a land loan AND mortgage we’d still be paying several hundred less per month. Crazy right?

How did we know it was The One? Well we found The One in our previous state and adored it, but it was almost impossible to build on, even for my structural engineer husband. Very small house bench but the most amazing views and access on a mountainside. The inlet, the city, and a nature preserve below. Just stunningly beautiful, and close to church and work. It checked the boxes of view, access, and proximity to our stuff and people. But it was expensive, and we just couldn’t justify the list price. We offered but the owner wasn’t ready to budge on price and declined. Then life happened - special needs baby, move to a new state, and I’ve never been so glad to have capital AND flexibility. We actually dodged a bullet, given the situation in the state’s economy now. And though our new location is less beautiful, it has plenty of things to commend it.

The new The One, here in this state, is also overpriced. Access may be a little trickier too, as the roadway is at the bottom of the property instead of the top, but we think we can make it work. It won’t be as handicapped accessible as I wanted, being on a hillside, but it has proximity (the MOST important factor, it is literally three minutes from work and one minute from church, five minutes from shopping, and seven minutes from major medical). It also has a view, and is almost the highest point in the whole county. 360 degree views in the Midwest! It also has all major utilities, no septic or wells needed. It’s perfect except for the price, being one of the ‘special’ last lots that he developer decided was too costly to build on, himself. So we are going to have to lowball a bit, because we simply can’t make the list price work. But we knew it was The One through a search in a radius around work, and as soon as we walked to the top we were blown away. Oh, it’s nice from the street, but the real money is somewhat hidden at the top of the lot when you see what you’d see from the house.

We didn’t fall in love right away, because the view from the street and price tag were at odds. And if it falls through in the next few days or our offer gets declined I will be a little sad, for sure, but we will see if it is available in a year and of the developer is more willing to bargain then.

But basically my criteria, after having done the commute thing and realized that more rural properties sound nicer than they actually live, given how much we use services in town, we wanted the prime location first and foremost. Then we wanted a view, or st least a slight hill for drainage. Next was utilities, though we would compromise on that for the view and location. Nice to have features would be a cheap price and no close neighbor, but you can’t get that in the city, really. This is about as good as it gets with the current inventory, so good thoughts for financing and a generous developer would be appreciated ;)