To Build or Buy? Help!

Today I went looking at undeveloped land. I already have a house in contract. Though theoretically I could buy both the raw acreage and the developed property, doing so would leave me house poor. Meaning I would have so much money tied up in real estate that I’d be having to watch my spending to get by. So really I have to choose.

If I wasn’t doing this on mobile (still no internet at my new place) I’d fill this post with pictures I took of beautiful vistas today . Maybe I’ll come back at the end of the week to update it to include more. For now, here’s just one.

Now granted, you’ve got to like that desert aesthetic to appreciate it, which has grown on me.

Minimal Impact

There were a couple properties I could see myself building on, but none at my desired price per acre had the landscape features I would need to make the decision an easy one. Specifically, when you develop undeveloped land, altering it to suit humans for the first time, you want to have minimal impact. At the same time, I like trees and want mature ones on my property.

So if I buy land that’s all sagebrush I have to plant trees. No biggy, but you can only transplant a young tree. So it would be years before I’d have the shade or privacy I want them for. (Though I could immediately enjoy their energetic presence and beauty.)

If on the other hand I buy land that is forest, I immediately have mature trees, but have to pull up many just to have someplace to build the house. I don’t like the idea of that at all. Which brings me to my initial question: build on raw land or just buy a house that is on land that has already been altered for human use? Don’t advance the frontier.

The house I have in contract is purely for renting out for cash flow better than a bank can give me, so for that I’m not debating about a home for me to live in. That property completely doesn’t work for me personally. It’s just an amazing profit opportunity that I would only pass up if it was so that I could start the process of building a home that is really my art project for the next few years.

And maybe that is what I want. Maybe I want to let the investment house go and buy some raw land instead, assuming I can find some in the area I want to live in that has both flatlands and forest, and at no more than what I think raw land is worth here.

What do you think?

Would you buy the investment house and just rent a lovely place (one you couldn’t afford to buy), giving up the idea of slowly building your dream home as you can afford it?

Or would you keep the cash on hand in case the perfect land does come along for minimal impact development?

Do you not really factor in the human conversion of wilds into suburbs?

Well this is what my head is going around in circles with today. Have to decide whether to move forward with the house purchase or let it go this week. Big decisions.