Nebraska land

[Bill Groom]

Good afternoon all, I am looking to relocate to Nebraska in the next 12-18 months. Would like Holt County, around O'Neill and Atkinson, eastern Sandhills area, close to her family. Farmland is bringing a premium right now, which is surprising. Ideally, 5-25 acres for the kids, dogs, and tractors to play on. If anybody has any pointers or tips to share, I would sure appreciate them.

Have a great Memorial day weekend!

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[ccoon520]

I grew up and still have family back in Nebraska. With O'Neill and Atkinson so close to the SD border if it isn't too far away from family I'd suggest maybe looking there. Fairfax SD is about an hour north which speaking from experience is not a bad distance to drive in the Iowa, SD, and Nebraska area. Reason I suggest this is because land taxes in Nebraska are killer. SD is a little better plus has the bonus of no income tax.

However, If you are dead set on Nebraska you might have better luck with finding an acreage near a larger town like Grand Island. With O'Neill only having a population of 3500 more likely than not you'll run into the issue of the smallest land sales are pushing 30 or more. Not saying it isn't possible to find less but you'll need to watch the sales like a hawk on sites like zillow or find a real estate agent and be ready to jump when what you want becomes available. Farmers are looking for more and more land meaning if it is priced right it goes quick.

Good luck and I hope you can find what you want. Also Go Big Red!

 

[Bill Groom]

Thank you, it must be Nebraska per her divorce decree. She lives and works in Atkinson now, as does most of her family. Not looking to move far from that area, keeping her family close for the kids.

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[ccoon520]

In that case I suggest getting a realtor to start looking for land for you in the area. you may have more luck if you are trying to build because you may be able to snag a small awkward parcel.

But either way it will just turn into a waiting game and the sooner you start looking the better chance you'll have of being move in ready with your time frame.

Good luck!

 

[Bill Groom]

Appreciate the insight, I have reached out to Lashley and Stracke to see what they have to offer. Heading out the in June for 2 weeks to have a look around.

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[lugbolt]

Good luck.

I moved out of Nebraska years ago because of the land taxes. Job forced us out too but I'm glad we settled where we are, MUCH cheaper to live here. In your case the move is understandable and respectable; completely different than ours.

Funny when I moved here we escaped the hustle and bustle of the city (Omaha). Moved to a town here that had about 18,000. MUCH smaller, more country. House had about an acre of land with it and 1400 behind it. City limit was the back fence of the yard. Walk out back, set up a deer stand, hunt to your heart's content. 12 years later the guy who owned all that who said he'd NEVER sell it, sold it, now there's a few thousand houses--all rentals and all owned by the city. Slums. What was once country and real nice & peaceful is now total opposite, the crap we moved away from. I moved again in 13, now back out in the sticks....neighbor closest to me is almost a mile but there is a vacant lot next to me that the owner says he's building a rental on (at 89 years old he'd be stupid to do so but whatever). If/when he starts building, I'm putting my place on the market and I'll do it again. I want to be able to walk out off the back porch in my underwear and take a leak without the neighbors watching. As I'm typing this I'm watching 4 deer graze in the front yard. The neighbors stopped in yesterday asking if I'd seen the bears yet. Nope. Not "yet". Apparently there's a few black bears hanging around according to them, wouldn't surprise me any.

Thought I wanted a place out in North central Nebraska but decided on the central south instead. Job related for one, but I had plenty of opportunities in both locations. I still have family out there, well all over Nebraska, Colorado, SD, and Iowa, although they rarely keep touch with this old redneck. Fine by me. I moved here with zero, I ain't got much now, and I'll leave this earth with the same thing I came here with so it's no big loss.

 

[Bill Groom]

Lugbolt, thank you for the insight. She has the next 11.5 years within the Nebraska borders, then we have discussed retiring to Tennessee. Keeping an eye on the market and have contacted two realtors in her area. Not wanting to move out there and isolate her from her family like the ex did. So our search radius is limited.

Depending on what we find, this may be my last move, or it might be next to last. Tossing around finding the right piece of property and building forever home, vs finding something that works then retiring to a more temperate climate. She is younger than I, so I don't want to leave her with big chores when I am laid to rest.



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[skeets]

Funny you talk about moving out to the sticks,, I have moved out to the stick, and watched them move in on me, and moved out again, and again they moved in, this last move was my last. I have enough around me so I dont have to see the guy next door. And the next move, I wont have to worry about the neighbors

 

[Bill Groom]

Thanks Skeets, I want enough land to have some privacy, yet not so much that it will be hindrance as I / we age. Neighbors are OK, as long as they can't hear me on the regular. Enough land for the kids to play and roam, dogs to run, have a small range, and enough tractor time to keep me happy!

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[Tornado]

I work in the tax assessor office in a county here in Florida. I assist with our sales analysis and do most all of the cadastral mapping here, so I obviously work in and around the real estate market every day. Nebraska is of course different from Florida, but your questions are not unlike many questions I often get asked here. The best piece of advice I could give you has already been given - find you a GOOD realtor. Most people I run into know very little about buying and selling land and all that it entails - you may know a lot about it I'm not sure. If you don't know all the ins and outs of buying and selling real estate a GOOD realtor can help make the process much less painful.

Second suggestion I would offer is to get a survey of the land you intend to buy. If you get a mortgage the bank will likely require this anyways, but if not Its not a bad investment at all to survey the land. Have the surveyor put you in some good permanent monuments, then the first thing you do when you get the property is take some metal T posts or something similar and go drive them deep into the ground at every marker (many permanent survey markers are buried and hard to find without surveyors equipment) And then you will forever have your exact corners marked. I cant tell you how many times in my career as a mapper that I get to play middle man in disputes over property lines. Having a survey often brings such disputes to a quick end. Many people buying land never want to get a survey because of the cost. I would personally never buy a piece of land WITHOUT a survey being done. The only exception to this rule for me would be if there is already a good legal that exists for the property description, and the markers are already marked on the property. The objective here though is to know where your markers are based on a licensed survey - not by the previous owners fence he put up where he thought the line was.

Third and final suggestion - Have a title search done on the property! Again - if you are mortgaging this purchase the bank will likely require this as well. if not again - a title policy can help uncover clouds or issue with the title that you may not be aware of. Does it have a documented legal access easement? are their any leans on the property that you may not know about? is there any cloud on the title? having an abstract done on the property will answer all these questions for you and ensure you are buying a property that is free and clear of any unseen issues.

A good realtor however will help walk you through all of these things I mention above and others. They will find you the property you want, then help you get it purchased, and if they are good they will do things with your best interest in mind and help you avoid issues you may not be aware of.

 

[Bill Groom]

Excellent advise, Tornado, and I thank you for sharing! I am in touch with two reputable realtors in the area I am looking, and having bought and sold property before, I concur with your points of attention. A title search and survey are paramount to a successful transaction, in my experience.

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[Tornado]

Excellent advise, Tornado, and I thank you for sharing! I am in touch with two reputable realtors in the area I am looking, and having bought and sold property before, I concur with your points of attention. A title search and survey are paramount to a successful transaction, in my experience.

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Yes I love a good survey. Surveys solve so many problems. Once you close on your property and take ownership, and the deed is recorded with the clerk of circuit court of the county, the tax assessor office ends up with it eventually - and then we have to record the transaction, and map any changes. We read over that deed word for word. I find errors in deeds every day - most often that error is in the legal description of the property. If you are in a bigger county you may never know about that error in your deed. In our county we reach out to property owners if we find an error just as a courtesy. Other counties I know don't do this, so you can have an error sit on a deed, and even be on several deeds in a chain of title and never get corrected. It can be a minor error - a slight bearing or measurement call that is typo'd as 137 feet instead of 173 feet, or it can be a big error that puts the property in the entirely wrong spot. Just 2 days ago I had to contact a surveyor regarding a deed that was filed, which he had surveyed the legal for - he had the property sitting in the middle of a swamp when I mapped it - one number was wrong in the legal, a total typo on his part when he done the survey, but it was recorded that way so the owner had to fix it, and record a 2nd deed to correct the error. I say all this just to highlight the unique nature of buying and selling land and real estate. Its so different than buying a car or a tractor. There is so much more involved, so much to be aware of. It's good you are an experienced buyer and take all this in. Pardon me for harping on it, I just want to try and share these things given I see so many errors made. If I can save someone a headache I try to do so, as I would personally appreciate the info myself if I didnt know. Best of luck in your property search!

EDIT: last bit of harping advice : at closing take time to proof read your deed! You may not know how to read legal descriptions, but you can at least find typo's or misspellings. Once that deed is recorded it is a Permenant record for all of time- you can not unrecord a deed, only record a 2nd one to correct any error in the chain of title. Its always better however to have it all done right the first time! Ive seen ppl have their name misspelled in the title.....they never bothered to proof read it at closing! Getting it corrected often means you have to contact the seller again, annoy them to sign a 2nd corrective deed, get the attorney or closing agent to draw it all up again - its a headache.