In light of a few recent threads here on the forum, I thought I might offer up a tongue-in-cheek look at what I consider important, when shopping for property.
Size of property....take an honest look at your finances. Be realistic when figuring out just how much land you can afford to purchase. When you have arrived at a dollar amount that you feel comfortable spending, immediately double it. Maybe triple. Having your kids pay their own way through college is a character-building exercise, and coming up with a second identity so you can sell blood plasma twice a week really isn't that difficult.
Really - it's THAT important. Additional land is more than space for a bigger pond, (although that is a nice perk), it's about creating a buffer zone. Trust me on this.
Location is everything....before you ever head out to look at that first parcel of real estate, arm yourself with a plat map. One of those that shows the general outline of the surrounding properties, and shows how much acreage they contain. What you're looking for, in an ideal situation, is for the parcel you have your eye on to be surrounded by large parcels of land.....nothing smaller than 50 acres, and bigger is better. The idea is to have the adjoining properties be large enough that their occupants have no need or desire to come over onto you.
If your dream parcel is surrounded by 3-5 acre plots, be careful. There's a chance that the folks on those smaller plots have already discovered what I warned you about earlier....their land isn't big enough to have a couple horses, a cow, chickens, umpteen rabbits for the kids, a dog or two, a pond, a Llama(?), a giant garden where they want to grow their own produce, beehives for fresh honey, a shooting range, A four wheeler track and/or trail, and oh yeah, a house. And a garage. And a barn.
Roads.....roads bad.... no roads. Roads convey people, and people have eyes. You NEED a road to get to your land, you just don't want the road going BY your land. That's what those neighbors with large parcels of land are for....buffers. No part of your land should be visible from a road.
"But spark", I hear you saying "If there isn't a road going right by my property, AND my property is surrounded by adjoining parcels of land, how on earth do I get to MY property?"
Good question, and the answer is an easement. BE FOREWARNED HOWEVER, that all easements are not created equal. Let me back up a minute....I neglected to mention something of vital importance. The property you're looking at should have a house already on it, and if not currently in use it should be very recently vacated. This does two things, the first being the establishment of property lines already in force, and the second being the recognized and acknowledged fact that an easement exists, and has likely been maintained for a period of time. You can always tear that house down and build another, but convincing an adjoining property owner that he needs to move his or her horseshoe pit so you can access an easement that hasn't been utilized for decades may be very problematic.
Moving water....streams, creeks, rivers, anything that has water moving in it, or looks like it may have water moving in it during wet periods, might be trouble. Check the plat map...does it have a name?? Bad omen if so. Rivers, streams, and creeks are simply very damp roads. And remember, roads bad. Roads convey people. People have eyes.
