Buying land in Eastern WA

[TyOfWa]

After watching the way "Change" is blowing through the country, and the unbridled excesses from our Federal Reserve (Which is neither), I have decided that now would be a good time to spend pre-inflation dollars on land. Most of my searches took me to the East side of Lk Roosevelt, but now I am considering property in Kittitas Co area. Though we are considering some listed properties, the main source of leads comes from lumber/timber companies interested in selling surplus land.

Has anyone had success in buying raw land lately? What areas did you choose, and what price/per acre is the going rate? We don’t care about electricity availability that much as we expect to build off-grid with solar / wind / micro hydro. What we DO care about is locating property which is accessible any time during the year, and has the ability to produce food for our family and neighbors.

Thanks!
/Ty

Read More

 

[jrw]

Check this out, I found this interesting and I am sure you have thought about a lot of what he brings up but still good info. I actually did see this on the green channel on Comcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqdv...5BB4CCED&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=47

 

[torpedoman]

stevens county is a user friendly county and the prices are good.

 

[mxitman]

There are many sources to look at, just do some internet searching... A good friend just bought 20 acres and this is what he told me to do, we currently don't have all our money saved yet but will be looking to buy in the next 2 years what you need to do is to find a Realtor or 2 or 3 etc...in the area your interested in.

Give them an exact list of your minimum requirements and the price your willing to pay, most Realtors don't make much on raw land say 1.5% to 3% max so on a $30,000 lot even at the high end that's only $900 most likely if they are with a company they only keep 1.5% so at $450 your not even worth their time... He instead gave a $2500 reward to the Realtor who he ended up getting his land connection through. He also paid for everything in cash, so not everyone can do that.

Good luck

 

[Silver Fox]

Having had been a Realtor at one time in my life in Albany, OR, I would recommend you publish an ad in the local Nickel ads or similar type of paper. Because of the rural area Craigs List may not be the #1 read classifieds ad. Posting your reward will get the talk of the town and the attention of local Realtors.

SF-

 

[Johnny_boy]

Where about in Kittatas county are you looking around? I am in the same boat as you and have been looking at Cle Elum, Ellensburg and Goldendale area. I think I am going to rule out Cle Elum, since it is really hard to find 20 acres out there for decent quality and price (most of the 20 acres were sub-divided to 3 acre lots).

My main concern is wheather to get a land with water rights or drill a well on the property.

I didn't know you could buy surplus land from timber companies. What is a good soruce for looking more into this?

 

[TyOfWa]

Here are some sources I located for surplus timber land in WA:

• Plum Creek - Colliers.com
• Gallatian - Westslopeproperties.com

I am looking at some land on Friday in the Kittitas CO area.. will post if we decide to take it. I did some research and discovered that the land is typically in areas zoned for commercial forest. This will allow for a residence and outbuildings, but probably not subdividing below 80 AC, and some use restrictions. In my research so far, I discovered that water and mineral rights may not be implicit. Something to note when writing an offer and closing.

Well, I will keep the thread posted on my progress.

 

[Sun195]

One thing to watch-out for with timber lands (or any acreage, for that matter): if the land has reduced taxes under the Open Space Tax Act (which taxes some timber lands at a lower rate if they are unused), there can be significant back taxes owed for removing it from that classification (like, say, for building a home on it).

More here: <broken link removed>

Just something to keep an eye out for.

 

[Johnny_boy]

I've found another website with good listing of land/farm to sell.
http://www.unitedcountry.com

It had a few listings around Lake Roosevelt that looked interesting.

 

[littlecars]

I have been looking also. you cant go wrong with land, just watch the property taxes!

 

[TyOfWa]

I took my motorcycle over to Easton / Cle Elum area on Friday to look at some parcels of land. Specifically, at a property called <broken link removed>. It was beautiful, but steep. It was treed in the last 10 years, and the track lines showed. Had I liked what I saw, I would have placed an offer on one of the parcels as the tract is waaaay out of range for our budget. One side note.. there is a political issue with water raging in Kittitas CO. If you are looking for land now, please note that no well drilling is allowed at this time.

After looking around more, I think that former logging co land is not for me. My definition of 'selective logging' appears to be different than theirs. We are now looking in Steven's county, and indeed the costs are much better per acre.

Thanks to all who responded, and the PMs. I will be sure to update the thread when we finally decide on something.

 

[Johnny_boy]

Well if we are considering Steven's county, have you thought about going out to Idaho (just cross the border)? It might take just as long to get there since driving on I-90 will be faster.

I checked out the area around this propoerty and seems to be a decent area as well. Close enough to Coeur d' Alene, it can double duty as a vacation home.

<broken link removed>

Also check out the washington section:
http://www.survivalrealty.com/united-states/washington/

 

[fromotoc]

If you consider Idaho, look at the saint maries area, I've got land out there and got it for a steal. The price has gone up a bit, but it can still be found for cheap. It's about 30-40 minutes from Couer D'Alene and is all mounain property. I paid a little over $2k per acre, it's now at about $4k per acre but still is a good deal.

 

[ironmangler]

For a land search one should look at all that is at hand. I am no expert but
I have been looking and buying for a while.Washington is not very gun friendly Idaho has income and sales TAX.Idaho and Montana alow fullauto and supprest Firearms.Here is a link I like www.northwest-national.com

 

[kenno]

I have concidered selling 10 acres of my land east of the cascade range, water is no problem but the price would have to be high due to the expense of short ploting, but the area is well sited for excluding baddies.

 

[Thebastidge]

Something to remember about eastern Washington: what you see is not what you get in a SHTF scenario.

Eastern Washington has been made to bloom through irrigation. It's not natural, and without a vast infrastructure of canals and pumping, it will quickly return to its semi-desert origins. I went to High School in Yakima. The place is hot and dry in the summer. It's cold and fairly dry in the winter. If you look at the current agricultural production, it can easily fool you into thinking you could support yourself on that land in a SHTF scenario, but you may be over-estimating. It's not as bad as Southern California, simply because it's not as densely populated, but the same prinicples apply.

 

[slimmer13]

Yep its no good here, stay put everyone

 

[kenno]

Water is no problem where I live in fact you'd have to install one or two culverts for your driveway.

 

[A.I.P.]

PM sent

 

[wjjones2]

Removed