So my wife and I have been looking at houses for a while now, and are kicking around the idea of buying some land. We found ~10 acres in Kernersville with its own private lake. I know this sounds redneck, but we are thinking about buying the land, putting a pre-fab house/doublewide or something like that on it and living in that for a few years while the land value appreciates and we save money. Then, after a few years, either selling it and upgrading or building a nice house on it. Has anyone had any experience or done this?

10/17/2007 9:48:39 AM

Be sure you have some $$$ saved. I don't think banks are too crazy for land loans.

10/17/2007 9:53:09 AM

Make sure you have the property surveyed and have the soil types and drainage characteristics checked. Make sure it's not prone to flooding.

10/17/2007 11:03:17 AM

if you have any questions contact me

do the modular thing instead of the doublewide


modulars are considered houses, they appreciate, they also are built very well for the price

10/17/2007 11:24:05 AM

Hate to be Captain Obvious, but some people don't even think of it.

Check the zoning with the County, and make sure it matches what you want to do.

How will utilities be supplied to the property. Are you on public water and sewer? If so, who is supplying it. If not, you need to figure out what kind of well and septic you need to meet your needs and get health department approval.

Make sure you account for all the costs of developing the land, even for a modular home.

And as ^ said, modular homes are financed and taxed like homes and appreciate, trailers do not.

10/17/2007 2:15:15 PM

Doublewides are waaay too much money for something that is depreciating. You could buy a used trailer for next to nothing (literally) as long as the county will allow you to move it. A lot of places have heavy restrictions that just about make it useless to try to move a used trailer though.

It seems like it might be difficult to sell a modest modular on 10 acres of land...Most people that can afford the land will want a nice house and most people who want the modular can't afford the land. You may want to plan the location of the house in such a way that the land can be subdivided and sold as a modular on .5 acre and a separate 9.5 acre tract. If you do that you'd probably want to scope out the land and see where it would make the most sense to put the house (i.e. road front corner instead of next to the pond.)

[Edited on October 17, 2007 at 2:44 PM. Reason : s]

10/17/2007 2:43:01 PM

10/17/2007 2:47:56 PM

^ yeah, set it up so that the modular can be split from the rest of the property


so down the road you can either sell the mod and lot, or rent it and build elsewhere on the property


that stewie gif kicks ass


it is good to have land!

10/17/2007 8:10:59 PM

i want some land (more than i have).

10/17/2007 8:45:22 PM

I'm in the process of doing this myself, except I want to build now. Banks will give you a land loan but I haven't found one that does better than 90% financing. Also call the small banks, they have better deals, esp if you have a credit score over 680.

10/17/2007 8:47:44 PM

I havent looked into all the zoning/utilities and that kind of thing yet, but have thought of it. Thanks for the advice. One main question I have is; do I get two seperate loans for this? Like, one for the land and one for the modular home, or would it fall under one construction loan? I've never bought any property before, so I dont know how this works. Obviously, I'm going to do my homework before I spend any money, I was just wondering if anyone out there had any tips or do's and don'ts. Keep the advice coming though, its all appreciated, and maybe somebody else can use it down the road.

10/17/2007 9:46:56 PM

you can get it all in one loan, the bank may require you to split the land up anyway


call Farm Credit of NC

they seem to do the best job handling land loans for clients of mine

10/17/2007 11:06:34 PM

got my last one through Sun Trust. They had the best rates and options. also how does the land perk? would you be able to subdivide it later (that would be important in thinking of where to put the house).

10/18/2007 6:56:04 PM