Finding a Suitable Place
(Page 2 of 3)
March/April 1970
By the Mother Earth News editors
We have prepared a "score-card" which you will find helpful in talking with a real estate man. This "scorecard" is a guide to the qualifications a place in the country should ideally have in order for you to utilize it successfully in accordance with the "Have-More" Plan. Of course, you may not find a place that has everything you want, but with your own good judgement and careful consideration you can pick the best suited available place in your chosen locality.
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Take this "score-card" with you when you talk to any real estate man.
It will save you time in telling him what you want. It will save you fruitless hours of riding from one piece of property to another only to be disappointed because it is not suitable. But most important, it may save you hundreds of dollars and years of work by protecting you from buying a place that you later find impossible to make productive.
When you are buying property it costs nothing to deal with a real estate man. He gets a commission, usually 5% of the sale price, from the seller. Every real estate man has a number of houses with land listed. This same property may also be listed by other real estate agents. So you can see how competition tends to keep the prices on property in line. Usually, it is the best practice for you to talk to a number of real estate agents. Then, you can do business wih the agent you like.
A Word of Caution: If you can, rent a place with an option to buy it at a definite price at the end of a certain time - for example, a year - do this if there is any doubt in your mind about the place and the community.
Land More Important Than House
A good farmer in buying a new farm gives primary consideration to the land - the state it's in . . . whether it's easy to cultivate - neither dry nor wet, nor too sandy, nor too shallow. This you should also do.
We are approaching a wonderful new era of home-building. Shortly houses the like of which we have never seen will become available at low cost. Nobody knows just when these houses will be ready - but authorities agree they are coming. Remember this - and consider seriously buying your land now and getting the land in the condition you want it. Perhaps the house on it - even if it's "just a shack" - can be made livable for the present.
Should you plan to build your own house or buy land with a house on it? This question you can decide for yourself. If you find a suitable piece of land - I mean suitable because of size, condition, levelness, closeness to work - and it has a good substantial house on it that you like then buy it. But if you can't find on one place both a satisfactory house and satisfactory land - take the place where the land is right. You can always build a house - but some land is almost impossible to make fertile.
