Building your own smaller home on land in Maine.
With COVID19 pandemic adjustment to day to day living, the desire to find affordable land listings in Maine has increased. Maine was already the number one state in the nation for second home ownership. But the spike headed Coronavirus cell just increased the demand for Maine land for the sheer get away and be safe far from city population clusters.
Another cause of real estate buyers on the hunt for Maine land to build a smaller home on it is due to the shortage of existing housing supply.
Sellers in Maine have re-thought listing and letting go of their real estate due to COVID19 and assessing where they live. Most in Maine would agree why would you want to be anywhere but Vacationland with or without the Coronavirus? More on the Maine real estate market report now that the COVID19 effects can be tracked in listings and property sale statistics.
One more reason land, just Maine land is a big part of the local listing and selling is there is so much of it in Vacationland.
With lower populations in all the small communities dotting the Maine land map in Maine’s sixteen counties, the supply of land stays healthy and undervalued. Large supply, low prices, plenty of selection of Maine land is the perfect combination. COVID19 just increased the focus on Maine as the best scenario financially and for the sheer natural beauty.
Land listings in Maine sales always had a big following.
Cheap outdoor camping vacations on the small land acreages in Maine are fun and popular. Often the lower cost Maine land is bought with owner financing terms. The previous owner seller financed the land buyer and the property does not need to be replaced like a house with a mortgage. Which needs to be paid off to have a real estate closing. Maine land can be easily bought on affordable installments. And the next thing you know, the land is no longer mortgages, free and clear.That’s the best kind.
The Maine land for sale used for vacation fun is also a hedge investment if things get to hairy in the city living. If a land investor, you could use the land full time or at least half the year down the road. When you the owner retires and becomes a snow bird headed to the sunny south where no snow shovel is needed to handle the white stuff.
Camp built on the Maine land beside a lake or river or if you are really lucky the Maine coastal ocean location.
How’s that sound? Maine land becomes used for more than recreational once in a while past-time vacation place. Many camps, cabins, cottages evolve into the house that Jack built. Those study but misfit constructed shacks might be a little rough to undo, redo, make do. They were built on a limited or none existent budget or over simplified but the structure did the trick.
The camp or cabin slowly built and reconstructed over the years. To offer shelter and enjoyment up in Maine away from the city crowds and bumper to bumper traffic is a source of pride and entertainment location. But if not maintained, time and Mother Nature can cause them to go into disrepair and eventually collapse. The local wildlife can take up occupancy and further accelerate the structure’s decline.
With high speed Internet broadband connections for telecommuting remotely to your online job happening all over Maine, the real estate appetite for land has increased ten fold.
Sometime Maine land for hunting, fishing, boating and ATV or snow sledding use is the only purpose. But more and more now for a quick fix get me out of the city solution. Where fear of COVID19 virus spread outbreaks and containment are always on people’s minds.
Many second home vacation camps in Maine are put to year round use if Internet is available. Also if plumbing is four season and the getting to the place is possible with a four wheel drive and plow.
So building your own smaller home on land in Maine.
Are you toying with the idea and shopping for Maine land in your budget? Looking for a property with the feature list of “gotta have and don’t want” boxes all checked off neatly? Or do you already have the Maine land titled in your name but just using the parked camper hauled to the property for now.
While you study smaller house plans as you downsize and keep it simpler, healthier on your patch of land living up in Maine.
What to build, where to place it on the Maine land developing the acreage slowly.
Where to start? After the soil test and septic design is prepared when no municipal water and sewer hook ups are available out in the country of Maine, once earthwork is done to begin construction of your smaller house. More on water wells in Maine if you are building from scratch and worry will there be water and how deep to drill to get an adequate supply.
What to build, where to build it on the Maine land puzzle pieces to figure out as you develop the ground.
Getting it cleared and leveled adding the driveway for access. Working out right of way easements or getting the utility hook ups square away if you are not living off grid. Thought about going unplugged and harnessing the wind, solar on your Maine land?
Some Maine land has no road in and waterways are the only routes to access.
Paddle in summer, snow sled in along the ice or on the wood’s trail. Just the way some like it. What is an obstacle for some makes it more enjoyable and protected for others. Have it your way in Maine. Lots of Maine land in all sizes, locations, prices and loaded with various features. Owner financing too is available to make buying the Maine land easy peasy simple.
It’s time for the what will it be for housing on your Maine land. Lots of local Maine log home dealers with cedar and pine native wood kits in all price ranges and styles. Lumber from Maine and even trucked in from across the US – Canadian border is low priced and readily available too.
People put up yurts, create dome homes, dig for creation of underground places and re-purpose railroad cars and shipping containers. Buses are bought for a song and turned into home away from home use and driven up into the deep woods of Maine. You see it all as a Maine real estate broker and many are highly creative and energy efficient creations with folks working with small budgets for Maine housing. Little tiny towns in Maine don’t have restrictive building codes of layers of players to enforce zoning regulations. No people, no sprawl or rapid growth to control when it is a handful of people town after town in under populated Maine.
Building smaller homes in Maine does not have to mean hauling in tiny housing structures.
If you worry the cost of construction will be too high in Maine, it could be based on urban not rural costs experiences. Lots of one person tradesmen who work cheaply and do great work to lend you a hand. You DIY as much as you can but these folks have tools and local knowledge to save you time and money. But mobile homes, modulars, double wides can be put on the Maine land to speed up the process.
The smaller home on land in Maine, how many bedrooms do you need?
Could an area be that extra bedroom but not tied up waiting for guests to use them? Looking at boats and RV campers, you see lots of pretty ingenious ways to make the most of tight spaces. Have
you studied Pinterest boards on smaller home designs? Something geared for later years vacation or retirement use? Is there a lifestyle like homesteading tied to the smaller home in Maine? Want to horse around and have fenced pastures, barns with box or standing stalls? Crops, critters, something agricultural flavored?
Vaulted cathedral ceilings, lots of floor to ceiling glass, masonry brick or stone work, maybe a fireplace? Granite counter tops, quarters or heck no. Barn board with a zillion layers of gym seal to make it look like glass and thick? Take your time, study the pins and what is trending or is tried and true classic. It’s your home or camp or cottage or farmstead, homestead remember?
Building your own home in Maine on your own land, lots to consider where you have a blank acreage canvas.
How big a kitchen, galley small or New England farmhouse large for all the field hands in your family? One big open living area or lots of rooms and levels for many in the multi generational land buying pool that will need personal space?
With COVID19, many folks are looking for less people, lower cost Maine land to start new. I hear it a lot on the phone, in the email and text or personal visits with Maine land buyers. Something is missing in their life or living where I do now is not the right place with the direction the country is heading.
Many feel things are adrift and that Washington politicians are not the ones to fix it.
Look at the heated debate on whether you should wear a mask or not. So bail out and head to Maine with the proceeds from a fast seller’s real estate market and buy outright. No mortgage, no working three jobs and with the desire to live and enjoy life. Not race through it.
Cost effectiveness happens when the construction approach considers where the bathroom and kitchen are located on the Maine land.
The cost of plumbing is impacted by the placement of those two areas tied to the same waterworks. Open spaces that flow and share areas to combine for a sense of more elbow room. Less walls, no wasted dark hallways. Lighting, ceiling height, angles and orientation on the Maine land all impact the success of the finished housing results.
If you take your time building with a plan, remember all you liked and were not so fond of in your past homes. Isn’t it time to once in your life build a place that is all you. Just the way you see housing perfection or comfort? Not all would agree but you are out to please yourself and your loved ones, the cats and dogs too. Lifestyle, what does the house say and reflect about the owner? When you build it from A to Z, a lot. Everything really.
The land in Maine property listings are all different and offer negatives and positives. But when you can see a home that is not there now but will be if you have anything to say about it in the near future on your Maine land. That is a beautiful thing if you go slow, do your home work.
Building new and not overhauling something another thought worked best has it’s own set of risks but lots of rewards.
Building from scratch, stick built constructing your Maine home a 2″ x 4″ or 6″ or whatever dimension lumber. If time is not a big factor and just getting it weather tight for winter is needed you have breathing room. The smaller Maine home construction can evolve without a bank loan schedule of events that need to happen ASAP ticking loudly in the background.
Building a home comes with delays, unknowns but can be the best route to go.
Especially if you have a hand in the building from the ground level up on your Maine land. You become personally invested and involved in the decision making on where what goes and how the Maine home turns out in the final analysis. A slow cooked Maine home built carefully and within your budget or as you go reduces the fear of new construction. Being your own general contractor and putting construction items out for bid mean time has to be built into the process. Patience and putting up with long drawn out home construction means no minding a table saw parked in your living area.
If “all we do is work on this house” causes heated partnership bickering, take a break and enjoy the outdoor beauty of Maine around your land.
There are plenty of distractions to clear your head. To help you reset your mind up in Maine. Online help from others who built smaller homes on land in Maine are plentiful and free to glean for the right perspective. To save heartache and expensive mistakes that could be avoid. Had the thought crossed your mind? Building your own smaller home on land in Maine?
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA