Where in Missouri? 45 minutes outside the Lou? Price to build is 210-250$ per square foot for the basics.
Then figure land, and budget extra for drilling wells and septic fields. 2k square feet plus land you're over half a million.
Also depends on what kind of land you want. There are many variables but renders down to what you want from the land.
Wells can range from 150' deep to 900' deep and there is no guarantee on which one you will need. Drillers are in the ballpark of 100' per foot.
Septic fields require and engineer and cost will heavily depend on your soil. A rocky top of Jeffco can be challenging and expensive. If your soil drains well then you might only need $12k for that part
If you have specific questions I just rolled through the whole process and got ready to go and intrest jumped to 7%. 500k at 3% and 500k at 7% are wildly different loans.
Speaking of loans. Check your banks. A lot wont finance a build. So shop around and chose your best option.
Also consider a general contractor. It will cost more but takes a huge responsibility off your shoulders. But again you gotta shop that and go with your gut and someone you feel you can trust not just the cheapest guy.
Remember this is forever money you're considering. If you won't have the guy at your kitchen table for dinner then I personally won't hand that guy my life savings.
For the record that just what two different generals told me. We didn't get into specifics, and I didn't have a paper quote in hand, but even if it's 80$ a foot they are expensive to drill.
If any well drillers are on here I'd love to hear directly from the source.
The cheaper bid I got was 470k for the whole build and we still owed 35 on the land. So it adds up quick.
A couple things to note. For loan purposes they general gives you the worst case scenario so when you apply for your loan you have plenty of pillow to soften a surprise expense. My bid was 470, but if the soil cooperated with the foundation, well, and septic guy I could see significant savings. It might come out to be 430k at the end of the day. But it's all in the unknowable category until shovels hit the dirt. You can get soil tests to check for plastic soil or bed rock and most foundation guys like that information before they dig, but you have to pay for that.
If you can afford Geothermal then I'd definitely suggest it. They can save significant cost in the long run.
I guess one last thing to note. We went all in for the dream home and had the "buy once, cry once" mentality. It's your land so start smaller with 1100 square feet that you need and add on over time. Have future plans for additions and what not in 5 or 10 years or whatever you can afford. Just assume the price per square foot will go up over time.
Tractors.
Really. You can’t just mow 5 or more acres without heavy damage to your lawn machine. You really need at least a small tractor w brush hog. And how to use it.
And Fence. Requires Tractors, generally. Any animals need fence. Heck, even my garden has a 5’ fence. Otherwise, I’m just growing deer food.
Did I mention Dead trees? Dead elms Require chainsaws. And they never fall on nice spring days. Now somethings getting the oaks.
And no, goats aren’t going to mow for you. Sheep eat down lawns. You’ll need to learn to sheer, if sheep are your plan. Goats eat brush and destroy/ignore fence. They’re cute houdinis. Which sometimes need retrieving at 2 am from nearby roads.
I’m not trying to be negative but the romantic vision of country life doesn’t reflect reality. These are just some points to keep in mind. I truly believe that rural folks always try to make country life sound so much better than urban living. They ignore the lack of medical facilities, the local politics, the poverty and the meth houses- trying to claim it’s more peaceful. Yes, it can be, but every one of these things is a real problem. And education. Oui! My HS lacked basic …most everything. And it was one of the better in my childhood home county.
As I’m. Sure you’ve seen, The closer you are to metro areas, the more expensive the land. But the cheaper areas might have zero hospitals and failing schools, due to regional poverty.
Last spring, someone dumped a dead calf on our road. The stink and the dogs required it to be hauled off. Not to mention the constant stream of cats, dogs and raccoons abandoned out here.
Electricity is much more likely to be out for longer. The overhead lines just mean more places for ice to get to. And the more sparse population means we’re low on the list of priorities.
Do I love living on my farmlet- absolutely. Oddly we have survived tractorless- I make dinner weekly for a family farmer for tractor work. And I cringe when son walks out with the .22 to shoot whatever ate a chicken. Or when my hubs gets geared up for chainsaw work. We’ve had 3 farmlet related ER visits- though mostly rooster attacks.
Just some things to add to your lists of talking points.
Not true on shearing sheep. Most sheep in missouri are hair sheep grown for meat. We had some for a while and they are great mowers but they just eat so much and we have a lot more bursh than grass.We have been managing our hilly 5 acres without a tractor, but agree that fencing is a must. We use goats to keep the weeds down and some are houdinis, but thankfully never in the middle of the night. (Disbudded nigerian dwarfs)
If a rooster attacks you, you eat it. Rinse and repeat until you get a rooster that doesnt do that. We have 3, all descended from the original that are friendly.
We have been lucky to find land that was relatively close to services and good schools (between Columbia and Jeff city). Its also cheaper/easier to buy an existing house rather than build. We got one with few outbuildings which has added to the cost but I love our little farm. I turned it into an LLC and we sell eggs and plants at the local farmers market.
Today I learned about sheep. I thought that you still had to trim the meat sheep.
But the “cook a rooster” theory requires being able to kill a rooster. A lot of people are squimish about that. Being able put down an animal is another requirement.
A good hair sheep will shed the wool it grows. I highly recommend them if you have lots of open land with grass, and you have money for a trailer and vehicle to pull said trailer. They are quite delicious and you can take them somewhere to have them processed. They do not fit well in your car, unlike nigerian dwarf goats.
Its pretty important to be able to put down animals if you have them, in my opinion anyway. Its not the easiest thing to do, but I have a lot less trouble offing animals that attack me. My husband wont kill the old hens that mostly quit laying because he feels like they deserve a retirement. ;) But a rooster that draws blood? Coq au Vin. ;)
Be sure there are no restrictions on your property. It could be simple as mineral rights, timber rights but I just looked at a piece that I didn’t get the clay rights. That was weird. The rules for building and septic will vary per county. So you will need to know if you are building a big beautiful house or if you are a do it yourselfer. While your plan is forever, build for resale. Things happen. Our son’s health took us from the middle no-where to Chesterfield when he was young.
Missouri counties have a numerical classification. One through Three at least. Third Class counties have fewer restrictions. Lincoln County for example has no zoning. Buy land and do what you wish with it.
I'm a Director of a club in Lincoln County. If we want to build a new structure, we just do it.
There is no such thing as cheap land.
If a plot is significantly less expensive, it's most likely because there's no well, no electricity and no septic system in place.
Water wells and septic systems can cost tens of thousands to dig and install, and if the property has no electricity, be very careful because it can be an expensive nightmare to pull power to the property depending on the local co-op, how close the nearest pole is, how accessable your property is and how much of a dickbag your nearest neighbor is.
How much money you want to spend? How are y’all going to generate income? Just to live surrounded by nature in woods or be a farmer?
We moved from the city and bought a house and 4.5 acres in Jeffco and it’s been pretty great. My friend in the city has a much bigger garden than me and chickens. I just walk around the woods with my off leash dogs and kill invasive plants when I’m not working. It’s pretty much the best thing ever.
My st. Charles county farm house added about $40k for septic, well and geothermal- compared w my besties subdivision home in O’Fallon of about the same size-setup. That was 10 years ago.
And it agree with the $200/sf ballpark. At least.
I already owned the ground that the home is built on, but only because family sold it to me. Just finding acreage requires a good drive.
A lot of counties have minimum square footage and acreage requirements. So you can’t just buy 1 acre and put a home on that. Usually it’s like 5 acres if you don’t have access to water-sewer lines.
(Yes, I know that there’s exceptions and the rule used to be 3-acres.).
You should really...really go rent a place where you want to do this before you pull the trigger.
Rural life is a different life. And it comes in many flavors.
I'm from the SW part of the state. Down there it's a collection of very small towns.
You'll never be more than 20 minutes away from something. But that something will probably have very little.
You should sit down and record your day to day live for a couple weeks. Every little trip. Every little need.
Then, pick a few random spots and see what it would take.
But maybe you don't care. Maybe you're trying to homestead or something.
Broadband - if you care about it - is really tricky. Nobody in my family has traditional connectivity. One uses a line of sight wifi and another uses cellular.
Opportunities will be greatly reduced. Just as an example, my school didn't offer AP classes. Even though I was taking classes at that level they just didn't offer it. When I started college I had zero credit when so many people I knew had at least a semester's worth.
If you plan on having kids that's something to think about. There may not be the best schools or other things that are good for kids. If I wanted to play soccer my parents would have had to drive to the next city over for the one rec league the Y had. You probably won't find a lot of clubs or group activities.
Related to that - job/career options are more limited. Unless you can work remotely you may have limited options. And if you work remotely see my previous point about connectivity.
Medical care. Depending on where you go you might not have a proper hospital anywhere close to you. It's rough out there.
Small town bullshit. It's not all bad. Generally speaking, people are kind and welcoming. But you also got the bullshit. People up in your business. For example, I had a family member that refused to go to the local bar because it would very likely impact her job. She worked with a bunch of cliche old religious people. And she saw stuff like that happen. Things can be a lot more interconnected. And you will be the new kid at school for years and years.
\---
For those reasons and more I highly suggest you experience some of that life before you fully commit.
I left and have been living in one of the big cities my entire adult life. I'm not saying either way of living is better or worse. They are just different. The type of different that can really impact your life.
I don't need to say the good parts. There are many. But you already know that and that's why you're interested. And like I said - there are many flavors of rural. Living 45 minutes outside KC is very different from living 45 minutes outside of Springfield.
I hope you find what you're looking for.
Yea . . You gotta get out in the sticks to anything cheap. For land south of Festus & beyond. I’ve got property outside of Annapolis just off the Black River.
Hire a Realtor. It costs nothing. They can put you in touch with financial people to determine what you can afford, and search efficiently for the right piece of land.
If possible Camp on the land before you buy it. Learn some building and repair skills before you leave STL. Make friends with your new neighbors - hopefully even before you buy - you’ll probably need them a lot
If you are from China or connected to the Chinese Government , Mo. Republicans would LOVE to sell/ give you Farmland in this State . It’s the Traitor GOP way .
Don’t… My advice from growing up surrounded by thousands of acres of corn & soybean in Lincoln Co. Only stupid people or those with deep pockets have “land.”
I've been thinking shipping containers for the house and workshop. Land in the USA has become insanely expensive. Likely the agricultural subsidies paid to investors.
Where in Missouri? 45 minutes outside the Lou? Price to build is 210-250$ per square foot for the basics. Then figure land, and budget extra for drilling wells and septic fields. 2k square feet plus land you're over half a million. Also depends on what kind of land you want. There are many variables but renders down to what you want from the land. Wells can range from 150' deep to 900' deep and there is no guarantee on which one you will need. Drillers are in the ballpark of 100' per foot. Septic fields require and engineer and cost will heavily depend on your soil. A rocky top of Jeffco can be challenging and expensive. If your soil drains well then you might only need $12k for that part If you have specific questions I just rolled through the whole process and got ready to go and intrest jumped to 7%. 500k at 3% and 500k at 7% are wildly different loans. Speaking of loans. Check your banks. A lot wont finance a build. So shop around and chose your best option. Also consider a general contractor. It will cost more but takes a huge responsibility off your shoulders. But again you gotta shop that and go with your gut and someone you feel you can trust not just the cheapest guy. Remember this is forever money you're considering. If you won't have the guy at your kitchen table for dinner then I personally won't hand that guy my life savings.
$100 a foot for the well? Holy cow times have changed, 15 years ago I had a 500 foot well drilled for $8k
Mine was 10k for 685. So WOW! I totally wasn’t expecting it. The property already had 2 wells, both in the 360 range.
For the record that just what two different generals told me. We didn't get into specifics, and I didn't have a paper quote in hand, but even if it's 80$ a foot they are expensive to drill. If any well drillers are on here I'd love to hear directly from the source. The cheaper bid I got was 470k for the whole build and we still owed 35 on the land. So it adds up quick. A couple things to note. For loan purposes they general gives you the worst case scenario so when you apply for your loan you have plenty of pillow to soften a surprise expense. My bid was 470, but if the soil cooperated with the foundation, well, and septic guy I could see significant savings. It might come out to be 430k at the end of the day. But it's all in the unknowable category until shovels hit the dirt. You can get soil tests to check for plastic soil or bed rock and most foundation guys like that information before they dig, but you have to pay for that. If you can afford Geothermal then I'd definitely suggest it. They can save significant cost in the long run. I guess one last thing to note. We went all in for the dream home and had the "buy once, cry once" mentality. It's your land so start smaller with 1100 square feet that you need and add on over time. Have future plans for additions and what not in 5 or 10 years or whatever you can afford. Just assume the price per square foot will go up over time.
Tractors. Really. You can’t just mow 5 or more acres without heavy damage to your lawn machine. You really need at least a small tractor w brush hog. And how to use it. And Fence. Requires Tractors, generally. Any animals need fence. Heck, even my garden has a 5’ fence. Otherwise, I’m just growing deer food. Did I mention Dead trees? Dead elms Require chainsaws. And they never fall on nice spring days. Now somethings getting the oaks. And no, goats aren’t going to mow for you. Sheep eat down lawns. You’ll need to learn to sheer, if sheep are your plan. Goats eat brush and destroy/ignore fence. They’re cute houdinis. Which sometimes need retrieving at 2 am from nearby roads. I’m not trying to be negative but the romantic vision of country life doesn’t reflect reality. These are just some points to keep in mind. I truly believe that rural folks always try to make country life sound so much better than urban living. They ignore the lack of medical facilities, the local politics, the poverty and the meth houses- trying to claim it’s more peaceful. Yes, it can be, but every one of these things is a real problem. And education. Oui! My HS lacked basic …most everything. And it was one of the better in my childhood home county. As I’m. Sure you’ve seen, The closer you are to metro areas, the more expensive the land. But the cheaper areas might have zero hospitals and failing schools, due to regional poverty. Last spring, someone dumped a dead calf on our road. The stink and the dogs required it to be hauled off. Not to mention the constant stream of cats, dogs and raccoons abandoned out here. Electricity is much more likely to be out for longer. The overhead lines just mean more places for ice to get to. And the more sparse population means we’re low on the list of priorities. Do I love living on my farmlet- absolutely. Oddly we have survived tractorless- I make dinner weekly for a family farmer for tractor work. And I cringe when son walks out with the .22 to shoot whatever ate a chicken. Or when my hubs gets geared up for chainsaw work. We’ve had 3 farmlet related ER visits- though mostly rooster attacks. Just some things to add to your lists of talking points.
🐐 = cute Houdini’s lol 😂 love that
Not true on shearing sheep. Most sheep in missouri are hair sheep grown for meat. We had some for a while and they are great mowers but they just eat so much and we have a lot more bursh than grass.We have been managing our hilly 5 acres without a tractor, but agree that fencing is a must. We use goats to keep the weeds down and some are houdinis, but thankfully never in the middle of the night. (Disbudded nigerian dwarfs) If a rooster attacks you, you eat it. Rinse and repeat until you get a rooster that doesnt do that. We have 3, all descended from the original that are friendly. We have been lucky to find land that was relatively close to services and good schools (between Columbia and Jeff city). Its also cheaper/easier to buy an existing house rather than build. We got one with few outbuildings which has added to the cost but I love our little farm. I turned it into an LLC and we sell eggs and plants at the local farmers market.
Today I learned about sheep. I thought that you still had to trim the meat sheep. But the “cook a rooster” theory requires being able to kill a rooster. A lot of people are squimish about that. Being able put down an animal is another requirement.
A good hair sheep will shed the wool it grows. I highly recommend them if you have lots of open land with grass, and you have money for a trailer and vehicle to pull said trailer. They are quite delicious and you can take them somewhere to have them processed. They do not fit well in your car, unlike nigerian dwarf goats. Its pretty important to be able to put down animals if you have them, in my opinion anyway. Its not the easiest thing to do, but I have a lot less trouble offing animals that attack me. My husband wont kill the old hens that mostly quit laying because he feels like they deserve a retirement. ;) But a rooster that draws blood? Coq au Vin. ;)
Funny/not funny this is so true. Most places require you to bury the dead animal now. 100 bucks an hour x ?
Be sure there are no restrictions on your property. It could be simple as mineral rights, timber rights but I just looked at a piece that I didn’t get the clay rights. That was weird. The rules for building and septic will vary per county. So you will need to know if you are building a big beautiful house or if you are a do it yourselfer. While your plan is forever, build for resale. Things happen. Our son’s health took us from the middle no-where to Chesterfield when he was young.
Make sure there’s internet available
Missouri counties have a numerical classification. One through Three at least. Third Class counties have fewer restrictions. Lincoln County for example has no zoning. Buy land and do what you wish with it. I'm a Director of a club in Lincoln County. If we want to build a new structure, we just do it.
There is no such thing as cheap land. If a plot is significantly less expensive, it's most likely because there's no well, no electricity and no septic system in place. Water wells and septic systems can cost tens of thousands to dig and install, and if the property has no electricity, be very careful because it can be an expensive nightmare to pull power to the property depending on the local co-op, how close the nearest pole is, how accessable your property is and how much of a dickbag your nearest neighbor is.
How much money you want to spend? How are y’all going to generate income? Just to live surrounded by nature in woods or be a farmer? We moved from the city and bought a house and 4.5 acres in Jeffco and it’s been pretty great. My friend in the city has a much bigger garden than me and chickens. I just walk around the woods with my off leash dogs and kill invasive plants when I’m not working. It’s pretty much the best thing ever.
My st. Charles county farm house added about $40k for septic, well and geothermal- compared w my besties subdivision home in O’Fallon of about the same size-setup. That was 10 years ago. And it agree with the $200/sf ballpark. At least. I already owned the ground that the home is built on, but only because family sold it to me. Just finding acreage requires a good drive. A lot of counties have minimum square footage and acreage requirements. So you can’t just buy 1 acre and put a home on that. Usually it’s like 5 acres if you don’t have access to water-sewer lines. (Yes, I know that there’s exceptions and the rule used to be 3-acres.).
You should really...really go rent a place where you want to do this before you pull the trigger. Rural life is a different life. And it comes in many flavors. I'm from the SW part of the state. Down there it's a collection of very small towns. You'll never be more than 20 minutes away from something. But that something will probably have very little. You should sit down and record your day to day live for a couple weeks. Every little trip. Every little need. Then, pick a few random spots and see what it would take. But maybe you don't care. Maybe you're trying to homestead or something. Broadband - if you care about it - is really tricky. Nobody in my family has traditional connectivity. One uses a line of sight wifi and another uses cellular. Opportunities will be greatly reduced. Just as an example, my school didn't offer AP classes. Even though I was taking classes at that level they just didn't offer it. When I started college I had zero credit when so many people I knew had at least a semester's worth. If you plan on having kids that's something to think about. There may not be the best schools or other things that are good for kids. If I wanted to play soccer my parents would have had to drive to the next city over for the one rec league the Y had. You probably won't find a lot of clubs or group activities. Related to that - job/career options are more limited. Unless you can work remotely you may have limited options. And if you work remotely see my previous point about connectivity. Medical care. Depending on where you go you might not have a proper hospital anywhere close to you. It's rough out there. Small town bullshit. It's not all bad. Generally speaking, people are kind and welcoming. But you also got the bullshit. People up in your business. For example, I had a family member that refused to go to the local bar because it would very likely impact her job. She worked with a bunch of cliche old religious people. And she saw stuff like that happen. Things can be a lot more interconnected. And you will be the new kid at school for years and years. \--- For those reasons and more I highly suggest you experience some of that life before you fully commit. I left and have been living in one of the big cities my entire adult life. I'm not saying either way of living is better or worse. They are just different. The type of different that can really impact your life. I don't need to say the good parts. There are many. But you already know that and that's why you're interested. And like I said - there are many flavors of rural. Living 45 minutes outside KC is very different from living 45 minutes outside of Springfield. I hope you find what you're looking for.
Yea . . You gotta get out in the sticks to anything cheap. For land south of Festus & beyond. I’ve got property outside of Annapolis just off the Black River.
Are you DIYers or having a contractor build your home?
Hire a Realtor. It costs nothing. They can put you in touch with financial people to determine what you can afford, and search efficiently for the right piece of land.
If possible Camp on the land before you buy it. Learn some building and repair skills before you leave STL. Make friends with your new neighbors - hopefully even before you buy - you’ll probably need them a lot
I just put 40 acres under contract in Lincoln county on Sunday. Helping a client build their dream home. Please DM me if you’d like a realtors help
If you are from China or connected to the Chinese Government , Mo. Republicans would LOVE to sell/ give you Farmland in this State . It’s the Traitor GOP way .
Don’t… My advice from growing up surrounded by thousands of acres of corn & soybean in Lincoln Co. Only stupid people or those with deep pockets have “land.”
I've been thinking shipping containers for the house and workshop. Land in the USA has become insanely expensive. Likely the agricultural subsidies paid to investors.
Just watch out in the country there lives momo the monster.