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Thinking about building a house in the mountains — advice? (1 Viewer)

Otis

Otis

Footballguy
Considering buying a piece of land, something preferably between 10-50 acres, up in the Catskills region, and building a house from scratch. I’m thinking I’d like to do something completely off the grid—solar power, geothermal heating, well water? (I guess a septic tank for waste?). 

Anyone ever do anything like this?  What do I need to look out for?

Would like to build something fairly big, with space to host other families with us, and with lots of great Mountain Views. A mix of open fields and some forest area for hiking and exploring with the family. 

Whatcha got?

 
From scratch? Wow. You'll have plenty of time for planning. You'll want to buy land ASAP and plant a bunch of trees as you'll need to wait 10+ years for the trees to grow to have enough timber to get started.

 
Good shtick so far.

What I mean is, I'm looking to buy a piece of land and then hire some people to build me a house.  It would be a weekend/vacation home, and a place to go whenever Trump or whomever runs the country into the ground and the governments collapse.  And good point re: a place for the daughters to get married, not a bad idea.  Also contemplating renting it out during most of ski season, since we don't ski.  We'd probably mostly go up in the Spring and Fall here and there to get away from the hustle and bustle.

Maybe a piece of land like this to start: https://www.timberlandproperties.net/catskillsrealestate/mls-38148-address-TBD-Johnson-Hollow-12430-Halcott-NY.php

 
Would love to do something fairly big, maybe 5k+ sqft.  Something with a guest wing, or even multiple guest wings, so extended family can come up and stay, have their own bathrooms etc.  We'll want a really nice pool and outdoor kitchen area/poolhouse too, to make it rad for summer.  

Figure I'll hire some dude to manage the property locally when I'm not around, cut the grass, maintenance etc.

If I can get the land for $100k or less, maybe we could be all-in for less than $1M?  $800k?

 
Be careful of land slides and floods.  So maybe get some elevation on top of a giant rock ridge.

 
Otis said:
Would love to do something fairly big, maybe 5k+ sqft.  Something with a guest wing, or even multiple guest wings, so extended family can come up and stay, have their own bathrooms etc.  We'll want a really nice pool and outdoor kitchen area/poolhouse too, to make it rad for summer.  

Figure I'll hire some dude to manage the property locally when I'm not around, cut the grass, maintenance etc.

If I can get the land for $100k or less, maybe we could be all-in for less than $1M?  $800k?
Click to expand...
Over

 
Now you say you're leavin' home
'Cause you want to be alone.
Ain't it funny how you feel
When you're findin' out it's real?

Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain
With the barkers and the colored balloons.
 

 
My family used to have a cabin in the mountains. It was awesome. Have a ton of great memories. I would highly recommend having it rented out during cold season so the place is always being checked on. I can definitely remember some frozen pipe issues and furnace issues from being unattended in the bitter cold. 

 
Otis said:
Would love to do something fairly big, maybe 5k+ sqft.  Something with a guest wing, or even multiple guest wings, so extended family can come up and stay, have their own bathrooms etc.  We'll want a really nice pool and outdoor kitchen area/poolhouse too, to make it rad for summer.  

Figure I'll hire some dude to manage the property locally when I'm not around, cut the grass, maintenance etc.

If I can get the land for $100k or less, maybe we could be all-in for less than $1M?  $800k?
Click to expand...
$39k https://www.point2homes.com/US/Vacant-Land-For-Sale/NY/Hamden-Meredith/Greater-Hamden/3-Reed-Road/75503773.html

you can Venmo me my finders fee of $10k.  Still come out $50k ahead.

 
parasaurolophus said:
My family used to have a cabin in the mountains. It was awesome. Have a ton of great memories. I would highly recommend having it rented out during cold season so the place is always being checked on. I can definitely remember some frozen pipe issues and furnace issues from being unattended in the bitter cold. 
Click to expand...
Do rich people rent out their vacation homes?   I wonder if you just hire someone to check on it.

 
Otis said:
Would love to do something fairly big, maybe 5k+ sqft.  Something with a guest wing, or even multiple guest wings, so extended family can come up and stay, have their own bathrooms etc.  We'll want a really nice pool and outdoor kitchen area/poolhouse too, to make it rad for summer.  

Figure I'll hire some dude to manage the property locally when I'm not around, cut the grass, maintenance etc.

If I can get the land for $100k or less, maybe we could be all-in for less than $1M?  $800k?
Click to expand...
To each his own , but I don’t like the idea of having a vacation home that is larger and more maintenance than my main house (of course, maybe your main house is >5k sqft, but you don’t strike me as a multimillionaire ;)  )

I think building a vacation house that's "just big enough" is the way to go. If you have 2 kids, build a 4 BR max, one of which has double bunk beds with trundles underneath to sleep 6 in a single room. And a fold out couch for 2 more. 

My parents has a vacation house in the Poconos when I was a kid and was much bigger than our house in Brooklyn (not saying much) and it was such a large house to take care off whenever you visit, when you should be going there to relax. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
joey said:
To each his own , but I don’t like the idea of having a vacation home that is larger and more maintenance than my main house (of course, maybe your main house is >5k sqft, but you don’t strike me as a multimillionaire ;)  )

I think building a vacation house that's "just big enough" is the way to go. If you have 2 kids, build a 4 BR max, one of which has double bunk beds with trundles underneath to sleep 6 in a single room. And a fold out couch for 2 more. 

My parents has a vacation house in the Poconos when I was a kid and was much bigger than our house in Brooklyn (not saying much) and there was such a large house to take care off when you should be going there to relax. 
Click to expand...
Regular house is close to, but not quite, 5k. 

I love big open spaces. For a family of 5 I’d love a nice sized 4BR, but also a “guest wing” down the hall with a few bedrooms and bathroom for a guest family. And we need a big family room and kitchen, and a finished basement/game room type thing. Also big pool and poolhouse and outdoor setup. Nice sized garage for some toys.  

 
We can set up cornhole and and horseshoes and a ritz court for when @shuke and @General Malaise and the boys come to town. Could be like a FBG compound of sorts. 

Imagine the FFA Olympics we could hold there.  Skeet shoot too, no question I’d have a couple guns and a clay pigeon launcher. 

 
Maybe add some cattle to the equation to generate a little revenue. Same dude who checks on the house could be the cowboy you hire to tend to the animals. Might make the entire operation a little more respectable to outsiders looking in - an actual working ranch instead of "some rich dude's vacation home." Future value has to be considered. You're going to be so spread out though. So much potential to be a PITA, which is why I'd recommend some type of revenue being generated just to make it worth while inside your head. Give it a "purpose," so to speak. And make sure you don't isolate yourself so much that it's like you become trapped on your own, private island. With the house design, find someone who has done it before. In an endeavor like this experience costs A LOT, and you don't want to have to learn things the hard way if you don't have to. Also consider if you ever have to cut and run in some type of emergency situation that there's enough value and demand that it won't be hard to get rid of in a reasonable amount of time. If you had to.

 
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