I'm in the LA area, and waiting 10 years might mean that the lot could cost you a million more! It also won't be undeveloped. You will have to tear down the old house first.

You need to do some research of the area. What are the real estate trends for the last 20 years, 10 years, 5 years? How much has RE appreciated? Are there any major current or future state/highway/commercial projects that might impact the area. Is there undeveloped land now? Will there be any land left in 10 years or will you have to do a teardown?

"How soon we should look for property."

Now. It will start educating you on how to do what when where.

"How long it takes to plan and build a custom home."

Depends on the complexity of the structure, the weather, and the architect's and builder's schedules.

Find a local architect where you want to build and have a chat. Don't take them out to lunch, they won't know what to do.

Thanks for the comments, now I feel pressured to act soon! :( The Seattle real estate market is HORRIBLE for buyers; it is reportedly the #1 city nationwide for sales prices/climbing costs due to lack of inventory. But- Olympia is more than an hour south of Seattle, so I'm not sure how bad things are down there. And like I mentioned earlier, I have no idea how much undeveloped land is in Olympia currently. We have no desires to do a tear down. But then again, from perusing other posts, it sounds like costs for undeveloped land can be very expensive too, i.e. septic, water, power, etc. Could a tear down be cheaper?

We are suburbanites and currently are in a cookie cutter tract home on 1/4 acre. I'm an avid gardener, which is why I'd like up to 1 acre, but reading about all these land developments are a bit frightening...

Interest rates are down and land prices are only going to go up. IMO.....buy lot ASAP. Chispa is in a different world in LA! Prices there are 'insane'!!

All RE is local. Olympia is surely not Seattle. A tear down is not all that bad and at least in my area is the same price as newly developing land. Get rural and a teardown should be cheaper which will of course be reflected in the house/land cost. I would say that build times have a lot to do with local jurisdictions. It takes a year apparently to get a permit in my father's area in NoCA. My build at a rural beach took 8 months to get the septic worked out despite having a septic plan before purchasing lot.

Predicting interest rates and RE prices that far out is really really hard. Don't try.

We had our land for 5 years before building. I spent that time studying our land at different times of the year so I could orient the house in the best way possible considering views, energy efficiency, topography, etc. I also did a lot of research on energy-efficient construction, and dabbled with countless house designs. Lastly, I learned about all of the phases of home construction, as our house is largely DIY. Designing and building my own house has been a life-long 'itch', so it was a labor of love through the entire project. I'm sure your experience will be totally different, but a lot of what I learned is good to know going in to a fully custom home project. Even if I never picked up a tool, I'd be very hands-on throughout the entire process. It didn't cost much to buy the land in advance as taxes are very low here. Land prices have boomed in the meantime.

Criteria for selecting property, regulatory approvals, design and building a custom house: there are 1) fast; 2) cheap and 3) well-done. Pick one. No one gets all three.

8 months to a year out (depending on regulatory issues) is a good time frame to start designing. You will want plenty of time to select the lot in advance so the latest to start looking is two years from start of construction. If you have the resources to start construction before retirement date start looking for land 3 years from R-day.

However; I agree with Mark. Now is a good time to start. It will take a while to learn your likes and dislikes for the area you plan to move to. Plan trips to the area and stay as long as possible. Learn where the traffic is bad, where the sun comes up and goes down in the winter, where your favorite restaurants and coffee shops are. Poke around looking at land and if the right parcel comes along go ahead and buy it.

BTW- my restaurant manners are not that bad. :)

A quick Redfin search shows the real estate market in Olympia is nothing like the market in Seattle. That said, it also looks like it's growing pretty rapidly there, too. Spend a few hours on Redfin (or your real estate search engine of choice) to get an idea what's out there, then spend a weekend down there driving around to get an idea where specifically you'd like to be. Then, set up a search that will email you every time property that fits your criteria becomes available. It's an easy way to keep an eye on things without having to spend a lot of time searching.

My impression (we have relatives in two locations) of western Washington, and, in particular the Olympia-Seattle I-5 corridor (and the locations within commute-distance of either) is that traffic congestion and real estate prices are staggering. Usually, for many of us, retirement and fixed income means looking for places with less congestion, slower pace and lower prices. Have you considered eastern Washington?

Just some casual thoughts...

Now, back to our regular programming...I fully agree with the comments above. If you are looking for raw land on which to build, even acre lots, start looking now and learning the basics of land evaluation, site planning and development, and the types of locations/prices which fit your life style and budget.

Keep in mind that buying land, regulatory permits and fees, design and engineering fees, and construction change orders all typically combine to make custom design and building more expensive than buying an existing house, even with minor remodels. That can quickly change, however, if the existing house needs new foundations, roof framing, HVAC replacement, etc.,or is a gut-and-replace everything remodel.

Of course the advantage of custom home design and construction (and to an extent gut-remodel design and construction) is that one achieves what they truly want (and can afford), in a place of their choosing.

Without the time for regulatory approvals (which vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with Olympia area likely expensive and long), architect design phase is probably 6 months or so, start to finish; bidding for construction is probably 6-8 weeks before award of construction contracts; construction can be up to 12 months, or more (depending on weather and complexity).

All of this can be seriously reduced by going to an existing tract development under construction or completed.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

I agree with Sophie that your priorities will change - both due to aging and retirement priorities are sometimes different than you think. That said, if they do change a lot then sell the lot that you've purchased.

Working backwards:

• Our build is expected to take 14-18 months. Hopefully not longer.
• We applied for the building permit in Aug and hope to have it in Dec. Some permits go through in 2 weeks some take months. We've been having to work with the city to satisfy them on some environmental issues (which is funny since our landscape architect is renowned for his environmental sensitivity).
• We began design work 4 years ago. There were a couple of hiccups along the way like the original plan being 20% over budget on first pass which means the final cost will likely be 30-50% over. So, start again. Some people get a design done in 6 months and I've heard of 8 years. I'd allow at least 2-3 years so you're not rushed and have time to mull on things, do research, mull some more, etc.
• We began looking at lots in 2007. Found what we wanted and purchased in 2012. We sort of retired in 2015 (Wife is still on numerous boards and I'm a journalist and photographer so retirement for me is only doing articles I really want to).

Things don't always go as planned. Lot costs could go way up... or come way down and you're bummed you paid so much.

The trend is towards people moving closer in to cities or to communities/suburbs that have safe walking and bicycling to school, grocery, coffee café, etc. Land costs will continue to go up in these locations for at least the next decade and likely for much longer so here purchase sooner.

Places farther from core cities or from commuter trains in to them or that have lots of multi-lane roads or that don't have good walking and biking will see either stable prices or declines. You can wait to purchase in these locations and will likely have increasing selection and declining prices.

You are definitely not to early too start looking for your lot. We started the process about 6 years ago. It took 2 years of looking before we found our 2 acre lot, which has now been sitting vacant for 4 years. Another year went by before we hired an architect, and just now we are getting the construction drawings completed. Hopefully, we can break ground in the next year, before fees, and construction costs climb even higher than they are now. To complicate matters a bit, we currently live 2,000 miles from where we will build and retire. But this forum and our own research has been very beneficial.

Thanks to everyone for so much great advice! If we're able to pull off this dream, we want to definitely ensure we do it thoughtfully, carefully, and correctly (thank you Virgil!). I'll be 54 when I retire and hubby will be 56. Years ago he used to talk about getting 10+ acres so I've had to drag him back to reality with regard to maintenance as we age. My best friend custom built on 10 acres an hour north of Sacramento (her DH is very talented and built it himself) and I've seen the nightmare in time commitment for the upkeep. Now I'm thinking half an acre tops will work.

We can't/won't stay in our current home for several reasons: it's a 2 -story with many wasted rooms for just the 2 of us (we want a single story and smaller), it's in a more expensive county than Olympia, and we own 40 acres of land (for DH who is an avid duck hunter) that is currently 1.5 hours from us but is only about 30 minutes from Olympia. The traffic around Olympia isn't so bad (especially since we won't be working then) and it's a big enough city to give us all the amenities we need, including good medical care. We love Western WA and do not like Eastern WA at all.

David Cary- I definitely won't even attempt to predict land prices and interest rates so far into the future. But how would I find out about estimates for tear downs?

Virgil- Thanks for the estimates on time frames for all the various phases. You said "All of this can be seriously reduced by going to an existing tract development under construction or completed." I've read a few posts of people purchasing lots in tract developments. But does this mean I'd have to pick one of their builder's models or could only choose finishes? I'm not interested in doing that at all.

Kristin S and Summit-nice ideas about poking around on Redfin now and spending some time in Olympia to see where we may want to live. I like the idea of being able to set up a search. But here's another question that is kind of rhetorical- a few months ago DH said he DIDN'T want to look for land too soon in Olympia. He cited the horrendous ongoing and growing homelessness problem in Seattle (it's actually spread to a suburb 20 minutes from us, of course on a smaller scale) and said he didn't want to buy land if Olympia may end up having similar problems. I sort of agree but think we'd really need a crystal ball to answer that question!

"...Virgil- Thanks for the estimates on time frames for all the various phases. You said "All of this can be seriously reduced by going to an existing tract development under construction or completed." I've read a few posts of people purchasing lots in tract developments. But does this mean I'd have to pick one of their builder's models or could only choose finishes?..."

Pretty much. In tracts by nation-wide developers: definitely.