How to Buy Your Country Dream

Ever dreamed of having your own place in the country? Somewhere with fewer cars, clean air, and friendly people? A place where you could go for peaceful walks beneath a canopy of trees, hear the robins sing, and splash your feet in a cool babbling stream?

If you're like most of us, you've done plenty of thinking about your country dream. But you may not have a clue about how to make a wise decision when you're finally ready to make your country dream come true.

The following will help you to ensure that your country dream doesn't turn into your worst nightmare.

Water Supply. Few country properties offer the convenience of being hooked up to a municipal (piped, treated) water supply. Therefore, you probably will be considering properties that depend upon a well to supply drinking water.

We take drinking water for granted in most parts of the country, but you can't automatically assume that all properties will have an adequate supply of good water. When you have a well, you have to be concerned with both the quantity and quality of water the well supplies. Both can be tested before you buy the property.

To test the output, or quantity of water the well produces, you can perform a well discharge test. This is simply a test where a technician pumps water from the well for a specified amount of time, usually three to four hours. This test can be done with the existing pump in the well, or with a portable pump provided by the technician. Most experts recommend using a high capacity pump that can pump greater volumes of water than the well produces to get a true reading of the gallons per minute of well discharge. For example, if you have a fifteen gallon per minute well and use a ten gallon per minute pump for the test, you'll never know the true capacity of your well.

Water Quality. The quality of the water the well produces is just as important as the quantity. You can have two separate tests done to determine the quality of water that the well produces.

The first is a potability test to verify that the water is safe for human consumption. The main purpose of this test is to verify that the well contains no contamination, and that the water is safe for human consumption. Many lenders require such a test before they will lend on country property.

The second test is a mineral analysis, which provides information on iron, sulphur, acid, hardness, and other characteristics of the water. It's not uncommon to find well water that is high in acid, for example. This condition can result in damage to copper plumbing, but can be treated by installing a neutralizing filter in the water system. Hard water is also a common problem, and can be corrected with the installation of a water softener.

Sewage Disposal. Throughout America, millions of city dwellers take for granted that they can flush the toilet and everything in it will disappear into the sewer.

Country properties, however, usually dispose of sewage with a septic system. Through a rather unsophisticated combination of a holding tank and perforated pipes called leach lines, the sewage is absorbed (leached) into the ground.

As you might imagine, there are all kinds of ways for things to go wrong with such a system. When your septic tank backs up, or your leach lines become plugged, septic tanks are no fun. That's why it's a good idea to make sure the septic system is working properly before you firmly commit to buying your country dream. As with the water potability tests mentioned above, your lender may require a septic system inspection and certification before lending on country property.

Power & Telephone. We've all grown accustomed to flicking a switch to turn on the lights and picking up the phone to talk with someone miles away. But some parts of the country still don't have such conveniences. You might think that you could do without such conveniences and really get away from it all, but it's still a good idea to check on what it would cost to hook up just in case you decide to do so later.

Most utility companies charge heavily to extend service to country properties. It's not uncommon to hear of someone spending thousands of dollars to hook up to power or phone. There are other considerations too, such as obtaining easements across other adjoining properties for placement of poles and lines. If you can't obtain the necessary easements from your new neighbors, you won't be able to bring power in, even if you're willing to bear the costs.

If the property lacks power or phone, be certain that you can live without those conveniences, or research the costs and details before you purchase the property.

Property Access. "There's a road to the property, so there must be access." This is the lament of many a country property owner who didn't ask enough questions. Legal access to your property is critically important. Without it, you are the proud owner of a piece of landlocked, inaccessible property.

There are many types of access, some trouble free and many full of problems. The most trouble free access is where the property adjoins a public road. With no other properties between yours and a public road, few problems can arise.

The fun begins when you find that secluded piece of property, tucked away back on a hill or in a scenic little valley with a stream, hundreds or even thousands of feet from the main road. The access to such a piece of property will undoubtedly be across other surrounding properties, and that's where you'll often encounter access problems. To avoid such problems, verify that the property you are purchasing has deeded access. In other words, the owners of the surrounding properties have signed and recorded deeds granting access to your property.

If the property doesn't have deeded access, you may still have access because the road to the property has been in continuous use for an extended period. This is called prescriptive access, and varies according to the laws of each state. Prescriptive access is unreliable, though, and you may find yourself in court after you purchase the property if your neighbors decide they don't want you crossing their property any longer.

After you've determined that you have access to the property, you need to ask yourself "Who's going to maintain the road?" Unless you are the only one who owns property on the road, you probably will need to share road maintenance expenses with neighboring property owners. Is there a written road maintenance agreement? Or do the owners just get together and share the costs and physical work of maintaining the road? If there's a written maintenance agreement, get a copy of it and study it.

One should consult with a qualified real estate professional prior to implementing any real estate strategies.

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