Prices of land vary greatly, which is better - expensive or cheap?

Question

I'm looking at how much land costs in certain places and see this everywhere: The same amount of land, say 1 acre, costing only $20,000, and another acre in the same area costing $100,000 or more. I know this must be because of how buildable the lot is and if it includes utilities, electric, etc. My question is, in general, would it be more expensive in the long run to buy the cheap land and have to put everything in, or buy the more expensive land that has everything there? Or would it be pretty much equal either way? Anyone with experience know? What's best for a young person without experience building a house?

Answer 1

Depending on your knowledge of operations and your connections is what it comes down to. The Undeveloped Property could more than likely be set up as functional for $15000 or less, so do the math.
Get some contractors to estimate and or bid on the job, sewer-$5000,Utility Pole $5000,Land $20,000, my brain tells me that $30,000 is less than $100,000. Those are not actuall figures, just a general sampling. Then you talk about Zones, Com-Res,Res-Com,Res,Com,L1,L2,L3,L4,L5,L6, and so on has a major impact on a property,
I knew a fella that bought some property and found out he couldnt build on it. That was the law as it applied to that parcel. Next door the fella built a nice house, that was cause they paid the right people.
Yes its a crooked system, and yes someone will make money, and even you might, eventually. Just have fun in whatever you do and it will all be ok.

Answer 2

Consider this - location, location, location. That is one of, (if not THE) most important things in considering real estate. Why buy a $20k plot if it takes $100k to make it buildable (hypothetical numbers) if there is a $100k plot (same size) available and ready to build. The only way to know is to find a good contractor that will evaluate the site with you and give you a good faith estimate of the cost to build. Find the property with the lowest bottom line and go from there. Don't forget to consider the area you will be living in. For example, there is a reason why the average home price in Southern California is well over half a million. It's the location. Is it worth it? I say absolutely. I've lived here all my life and love it even more every time I visit another state. So to answer your question, a cheap house in a terrible neighborhood is exactly that. Consider all things (not just price) before proceeding.

Answer 3

Price of land depends on the area where it is located rather than utilities, etc. If you have two identical lots in the same area one with utilities etc. the other without then the one WITH is a better way to go BECAUSE you know FOR SURE that you will not have any issues getting these to the property AND you know exactly what it will cost you .. it can be VERY expensive in some places to have utilities etc. brought to a property.

Hope that helps.

Answer 4

buying raw land verse land that has been readied for a house is not a comparison. If you know how to do the work you can save big money if not it is 6 of one half dozen of the other. The more import things to me would be blow test and well sights are how much to plumb out to city water and sewer if available. I am lucky that I can do most of the work myself and it saves me money but there is a lot that still gets subed out to professionals.

Answer 5

good question??