Land for sale in Maine, check soils, drainage, for ledge.
With the housing inventory for houses for sale in Maine at all time lows, building on land for sale in Maine is picking up tremendously. Even with a hike in building construction material costs, Maine land is extremely popular.
Land for sale in Maine has always been undervalued too.
For so many years the price per acre for good farm ground in Northern Maine was a mere $250 an acre. Cut over woodland with sketchy or missing easy access weighed in at roughly 100 per acre. I know, not like that for quality or prices of land in other real estate arenas around the country.
When you have a state this big, it is no wonder the large supply of Maine land makes finding the perfect property acreage easy. The large selection though of land for sale in Maine still means do your shopping with care.
This blog post today is on land for sale in Maine, check soils, drainage, for ledge.
Searching for a piece of Maine land is not the same as study of what’s for sale when shopping for a home.With houses, the number of bedrooms, square footage, neighborhood, how many baths and when was the kitchen updated last. Those criteria are on top of the how to find the best home for the buck in the what’s for sale listing inventory.
But when you are on the hunt for a piece of property acreage, that Maine land listings look see considers many other factors.
Seeing the potential for the house of your dreams with this many bedrooms, square footage and all the other building ingredients is part of it. But the land for sale in Maine itself. Time to dig out the magnifying glass and a whole new list of what’s important and to be on the look out for in the Maine land listing selection.
After the location time three, the soils of the land for sale in Maine are critical.
You can not change what Mother Nature, the glacier, the maker of Maine land provided you with for soil. All looks the same, dirt is dirt I hear you say? Like people, soils are different.
Soil land profiles in Maine, how do you see what’s below the ground?
Soil maps help show the down under the land surface. But like FEMA flood maps that show patterns of the lay of the land terrain and elevation, those sketches are not so hot at pinpointing the real situation.
Soil samples and reaching for a shovel or using a backhoe to go deep in the land for sale in Maine is needed.
When putting up a house, you have to know before you buy that the perfect knoll to build on does not have blue solid ledge just below the land surface.
If you hit a long vein of ledge,then it’s no new home daylight walk out basement for you. Instead, time for regrouping to find another not so desirable spot on the Maine land to build. The most important feature of building is getting what you want, not something someone else had for a housing dream that became a nightmare.
So land for sale in Maine, ledge is a problem in building what you want and where.
Ledge also makes row crop cultivating impossible. The hobby farm homesteading use of the Maine land is going to need altering. Shift to animals, livestock instead of crops is one adaptation. But you want to know BEFORE you buy the land in Maine for sale what uses are possible for the acreage.
The less land in Maine you buy, the more what you can do with it comes into play.
Smaller dimension Maine land parcels are more restrictive. Limitations on a Maine lake lot due to existing neighbor’s wells and septics impacts your building plans. That’s on top of shore land zoning that is another very important overlay limiting the use in what you can or can not build.
Building on land for sale in Maine is suppose to give you a sky’s the limit in construction choices.
But underneath all is the land. What’s going on with the Maine land you spied with your little eye in a filtered MLS real estate search? Way more than if the lawn is mowed or the woodlot still has some timber on it to increase the land value.
Some Maine land aspects are as obvious as the nose on your face.
Large sloping acreages and signs of soil erosion are hard to miss with the two eyes. Your two feet notice the climb and topography as you inspect the lay of the land terrain. The woods that is growing tells the tale of what the soil is like underneath the Maine land. See that cedar swamp along the road frontage? How far back does it extend?
High and dry is not just because of elevation of the land in Maine.
Maine land soil types lend themselves to drainage or water retention. That pond holds water because the soils are slow to drain or create the perfect “liner” like your pool for not letting it escape. No one ever calls, texts, emails or visit the Maine real estate office asking for what do you have for homes for sale with wet basements. Or questions me to press for some Maine swamp land that you need a snorkel to show and tell for a potential real estate buyer.
Two commercial sub pumps to keep the water from hanging around a newly poured, expensive Maine home basement. That is not a selling feature and mold, moisture, dampness that chills you as soon as you reach the lower level of your home. Wouldn’t it be better to have a bone dry cellar so you could consider using it for extra living space? Proper drainage around the foundation helps. Or a design on a monolithic concrete slab or frost fall approach to the foundation support makes a big difference.
Building on land in Maine, YOU want to decide which way you in your heart of hearts want to construct your next full time home or once in awhile vacation getaway.
No surprises please which can be expensive. But building on Maine land is not like a turn key existing house real estate purchase. Building takes time, is expensive upfront but worth it in the long run if you study the Maine land.
Real estate websites like Zillow, REALTOR dot com, Trulia or Redfin are not land websites.
Those are house sites lacking Maine land property listing features in the write up descriptions. Not a lot of real estate agents and brokers are that well versed in helping you select the best Maine land listing available. Just listing and selling homes and houses does not improve your expertise with land that is a whole other animal.
Land listings in Maine, you gotta love the dirt and understand the soils to have success in real estate sales when look Mom, no house, no homes.
Land for sale in Maine, check soils, drainage, for ledge. Kick the dirt to see if there is fertile rich rusting soils that air can get to and that has the right farming characteristics. The soil amendment ingredients from a good steward of the Maine land will save you lots of time using it for agriculture. Soil and water conservation map study helps. Talking with the folks who work at USDA will help you find the best piece of land for sale in Maine available.
There is a Maine expression to remember. “It’s hard tellin’ not knowin’ ” and it applies big time to Maine land.
Link up with a Maine real estate broker or agent that has personal experience with land soils. That knows the dirt and what’s happening under the surface of the Maine land. Who has personal work experience and valuable knowledge in farming or woodlot management Maine land operations.
Someone willing to take the time to carry a shovel to sample spots of the Maine land to see what’s cooking underneath that is good investment. Or ends up haunting you down the road if this acreage parcel is the one you do end up buying.
Lots more to know than what’s the Maine land property acreage and how much road or water frontage, the property taxes.
Don’t be afraid of getting dirty or mud caking to your dress shoes. Better put on boots and old clothes to prepare to explore every corner of the Maine land. More than a pretty view setting of the Maine land that turns the head and can excite. Is the land for sale in Maine on an esker, a gravel deposit “horseback” that could be used to sell or use in building purposes?
Are you at the bottom of four direction major hills where water has not place to go but straight at you with speed?
If you build on this kind of Maine land that is dime a dozen, nothing but fighting water intrusion in whatever you do build is what to look forward down the road.
Proposed windmill electric power transmission lines coming after you buy the Maine land to spoil the unobstructed panoramic views? Easements and existing or potential right of ways criss-crossing your Maine land will interfere with the personal enjoyment and property value down the road.
Development of Maine land near yours makes the quiet enjoyment threatened and you need to know what’s ahead that impacts your decision on which acreage to buy.
Is there owner financing with the Maine land, one more money and time saving aspect one property has over another without it.
How attractive the terms to buy the Maine land in a seller carried, owner financing sale helps you select which listing is best for you. Make sure to check the title to the Maine land and to avoid issues you can not see from walking the property. The drama and lint on the title hidden in the registry of deeds where the land title is record tells the tale good or bad. If you buy a piece of land with shaky title, it becomes your problem to wrestle with after the Maine real estate closing if fully disclosed.
What about the road in and out if there is one to the Maine land? Who maintained the access road to the Maine land you are thinking strongly of buying? Cost for power if you are not planning to light up your life off grid and on your own? The bringing in with underground cable or overhead power poles, what’s that little operation going to set you back buying Maine land?
Hope this blog post on buying land for sale in Maine, check soils, drainage, for ledge was helpful.
MOOERS REALTY tries to create blog posts that don’t waste your time or are filled with fluff. Saving time, money, and adding to your knowledge out in the real estate audience is behind everything we do in our “broadcasts from Maine.