Finding Cheap Homes with Acreage for Sale

When you’re trying to find a home that's on a large lot, you’ll find that the process is little more difficult than finding a regular home. Acreage is in high demand, and you may have to look outside of your normal destination to find the perfect property for your needs. We'll be discussing several sites that you can use to conduct a search for cheap homes with acreage for sale.

Understand Your Limitations

Before we get started, you have to understand your own personal limitations in terms of:

* Where the land is located

* What price range is realistic

* How much work you are willing to put in a home

All of these limitations exist, and will have an effect on your search. Let’s discuss each in a little more detail so that you understand what you can expect from your home search.

Location

The location that you choose is of the utmost importance. You wouldn’t expect to find a large home with acreage in the middle of Manhattan for cheap – it simply doesn’t exist. But you may be able to find cheap homes with acreage in:

* North Carolina
* Georgia
* Arkansas
* Texas
* New Mexico

These are just a few of the states where you’ll find land and a home for cheap. But you also need to be realistic. If you go to Dallas, you won’t find a cheap home in the center of the city, but you may find it in the outskirts.

Price Range

Your price range will have a major impact on the homes that you're shown. We’re going to discuss some of the price ranges, and what you can expect from these homes:

* $50,000 or less will fetch you a home that is in disarray, or a mobile home. The land may be perfectly fine, and you may actually be purchasing the property and not calculating the home price.

* $50,000 - $90,000 is a respectable range depending on where you live. You’re not likely to find these homes in New Jersey, but you can find homes in this range in Arkansas, Kansas and Texas (among others) that have a decent structure on the property. You can still expect to have to renovate the home in most cases.

* $100,000+ is a range where you'll find a home that is decent quality. They may need a few thousand or even $10,000 worth of work. You may also find a cheap home that is in perfect condition depending on how much money you want to spend. Again, this depends on the location.

Anyone that is looking at homes that are under $50,000 want to be very cautious because these homes are likely to have structural problems, mold issues or other major concerns that can tack on tens of thousands of dollars in repairs or more.

The Extent of Repairs

The extent of the repairs needed on a cheap home may surpass your budget greatly. A major concern when buying any piece of property with acreage that is far below market value is that repairs will be needed. The best way to ensure that your investment is in one that isn't going to be a major loss is to have a home inspector inspect the home to tell you the extent of the damage.

A few of the repairs that can be costly include:

* Mold removal and remediation
* Foundation damage
* Roof damage

These are the three big concerns, but even installing new windows in a home that has several windows can cost you several thousands of dollars or more. Always know the extent of the repairs of a home that needs to be renovated. When finding a cheap home, there’s also the chance that the home doesn’t need many repairs, which is definitely a bonus for any buyer.

Finding Your Home with Acreage

There are so many avenues to find a home with acreage. You can use the following mediums:

* Real estate agents
* Bank foreclosures
* Online search sites
* Classified ads

We’re going to be covering how to use online search sites to find your next home. There are a variety of sites that you can use, and a few of the biggest names include:

* MLS
* Trulia
* Zillow
* Realtor.com

Ensure you also check all the hand-picked, below market-price houses we have available, too. Now that you have all of the necessary resources available, you can start your research immediately. Also, you may find local real estate sites that have other listings available for you that will work better than what is listed above.

Set Square Foot Delimiters

When I’m searching for a property with a lot of acreage, I use the filters that these sites provide to my advantage. The one filter that you’ll want to use is the lot size filter. When searching for lot size, you want to remember the following:

* 1 acre = 43,560 square feet

So, if you want to look for properties with 2 acres or more, you would set the lot size filter to 87,120 square feet. This is the fastest and easiest way to filter out homes that will not have the amount of acreage you want.

You can also choose to:

* Set your maximum price range
* Set your location
* Set keyword filters

Keyword filters are important as you may want only find homes that need minor repairs, or homes that have a fireplace. Filters will allow you to further refine your search results, and find the home that you want faster and easier. Another filter that you may want to add is the age of the property.

This will tell you the general age of the home, so that you can better assess the home's quality. If you choose a home that was built in the 1930s, it may be in great condition, or may need a lot of work. But if you choose an age range of 5 to 10 years, there is a good chance that the home is in decent shape – if not in perfect shape.

Buying cheap homes with acreage is a venture that many people want to undertake, but you need to be flexible on where the home is purchased. Oftentimes, people will not be able to find cheap homes in their area or near big cities that have a lot of acreage.