Building your dream home on undeveloped land
Building your dream home on undeveloped land July 1st, 2006
Charley Highlander, Realtor with Remax in Bellingham, Wa has much experience coaching buyers who wish to build on undeveloped land. “It is possible to save money by buying the land and then hire a builder to build your dream home.”
says Mr. Highlander. “Part of your savings could come from the fact that you take out the construction loan. The builder has no out-of-pocket expenses to cover and so the project isn’t padded to cover unforeseen expenses. Then, also at the conclusion of the house building project, unlike a spec (speculation home), the builder does not have any sales cost associated with marketing the property to sell. So combined between those two, the new homeowner will save about as much as 10% overall compared to purchasing a home that is already built.
The old saying, location, location, location is very true when it comes to undeveloped land. You see in the Bellingham Herald that lot for $40,000 is unbuildable because it either has to be on sewer and the county is not allowing sewer hook-up in that particular area or, the lot is well back in the woods and the builder now has to establish an access road and utilities which can be very expensive.
Now, let’s talk about ball park figures for putting in a well and septic system. In Whatcom County, a 135′ well, will cost you about $10,000. With that additional costs could arise such as naturally occurring arsenic which does occur in Whatcom County. A filtration system for this would cost as much as $7,000.
Septic systems dependant on soil types, can cost between $10,000-$15,000. Lake Whatcom watershed in many cases will not allow septic systems to be installed near the lake.
Sometimes when you see the cost of a lot in a sub-division, it seems costly when compared to raw land. Now you know why.
The beauty of building on undeveloped land is you get to decide where the house goes, the overall design of the home, views, finishes and location.” Charley Highlander is a local realtor with RE/Max Whatcom County Inc. and listing guru for Bellingham, Washington and all of Whatcom County.