Today I'd like to talk about purchasing a country property, because there are a lot of important factors that are different from city properties. When you buy a city property, you're working with city water, city sewer systems, a lot of things you don't have to think about. But when it comes to buying a rural residential property (a country property), there are things that have to be considered.
In a market like this where, it's just so insane that buyers are putting in offers without any conditions, there are ways to protect yourself. (Let me know if you want any information about that - feel free to call or message me). When it comes to a regular market, (which I get the feeling we're heading towards, once interest rates bump up a little bit), the inspection is going to come back in as part of a typical offer. Recently, many people have been moving to country properties - they want acreage, they want to get out of the city.
When it comes to buying a country property you're looking at most likely a septic system for waste management. What that is, is basically a holding tank underground where the waste goes. And when it gets to a certain level, it feeds out into the septic bed. You want to be sure that the septic system works properly - check that it's not cracked or broken. One thing that you should think about too is before closing, it should be pumped out by the current owners. You also have to think how many people are living in that house, as well. If there are more people than the septic system is built for, then there's a good chance it's going to need to be pumped out regularly every year - maybe two years, which is a good idea anyways, to keep the system flowing.
Then there's the well - you've got to think about well water. Chances are, you won't have city water if you're in a country property. The advantage of the well is that you don't have to pay for water, which is a good thing, but you have to make sure your water is clean, safe, potable, drinkable, and the flow rates are adequate to supply the house. When it comes to the drinkability of the water, you have to get a water tester from your local hardware store or you can even get them from a veterinary clinic. Go to Halton or go to whatever region it is, type it in and you can find out where to pick one up. Using that does the testing for E.coli - and the result has to be zero. If it's not zero, then the system has to be shocked, just like a pool (with chlorine) to bring it back to zero. And even if you're a homeowner living in a country property, it's a good idea to test it every so often because it's completely free. You don't want to be drinking contaminated water, that's for sure.
Another important thing too, is the flow rate. You'll have to get someone to come in and check the amount of supply in the well. It has to be sufficient to supply the house. If you're showing a country property and they have something called a cistern, which is basically an external tank as a backup system, then that's a bit of a red flag. That kind of tells you, maybe their well is not supplying sufficient water. And if that's the case, then you're going to have to get water trucked in every month or two. Or you're going to have to get a new well drilled, which costs money. So keep that in mind.
Another important thing to check is that the cap of the well is (about two or three feet) above ground, because the thinking is that in the winter, when the snow comes along, you don't want that cap to be buried. You don't want any seepage or E.coli getting into your well.
And don't forget this - check the basement to see if it's a cinder block foundation or poured concrete. If it's poured concrete and there's ever a crack, water leaking in is so much easier to maintain. With the cinderblock, you have to dig out from the outside which costs $400 or $500 a linear foot to do. If you have to dig out a wall, you're looking at $10,000 to $12,000, which is a lot of money compared to if it's a poured foundation, you just basically just get somebody to come and epoxy inject it for $300 or $400.
You've also got to consider your boundary lines when you're buying a country property - you might have acreage. You can ask for the survey, but if they don't have one, you can possibly go to land registry and get more information from there.
Another thing to also consider (which a lot of people don't think about), is the time and maintenance it takes to look after such a property. A rule of thumb - and I know this because I experienced it when I was a kid (I used to cut the grass in my parents' house) is that on a tractor/mower, one acre took 45 minutes to mow - and I was booking it! So you're looking at about 45 minutes to an hour to cut the grass - and that's going to be a weekly thing. Plus the cost of the fuel - you've got to remember that - you're not going to use a push mower -you've got to get the tractor as well.
There are a lot of positives. There's well water (no city water) and you don't have to pay for it. And your tax bill will be much lower. And you're living in the country - which is your dream. So if you are thinking of buying or selling a country property, let me know and I can help you out.
If you have any questions about buying country property, just let me know, send me a DM, PM, email, phone call, whatever, I'm always around. Thanks, take care.
