If you own a rural property...

[Stefoscope]

In terms of no immediate neighbours and say at least a third of an acre of land. Is the only way of acquiring such a property being a cash buyer and not in a chain? Or have you managed to time selling your own house, porting an existing mortgage and finding a suitable rural property?

My interest has been recently piqued after spotting a rural property in my local area go STC after a few weeks for potentially a lot less than I would have expected. It was clearly one that needed a lot of money spending on it; new roof, electrics, septic tank etc. Even so the asking price did seem worth it for the location to be able to build a long term home. Unfortunately, we weren't in a proceedable position to enquire and offer on this particular property.

It did make me wonder logistically how these properties get bought. Is it mainly developers with large cash reserves? Or is it possible to buy this type of property when you're in a chain?

If it’s with an estate agent you can buy it when you are in a chain. Sometimes if it’s in a really bad state getting a mortgage can be an issue. You can be a cash buyer and in a chain ie own your house outright but have to sell to buy another.

Don’t underestimate on going maintenance, especially if it’s an older property, plus the time required for maintaining land.

But yes, buying a rural property as part of a chain is no different from buying an urban one.

That’s exactly what we did a few years ago. No neighbours. Acres and acres of land. Beautiful plot with a house that required absolutely everything doing to it. New electrics, new water connection, new central heating, new roof, new septic tank, new drive, new doors, new window etc etc cost more than a new build of the same size!
It’s best to budget as if you are buying a plot of land as opposed to a house. It may not even be safe to live in its current condition.
Also make sure you check for broadband speed and mobile signal. We had to fight for six months to get a cabinet outside for decent internet. Almost impossible task, we nearly sold up and left.
Reinforce boundary as rogue runaway sheep may decide to visit and eat all your baby veg

That's good to hear it may not be an impossible dream. We both grew up in fairly rural villages with bad internet connections and public transport. We're used to the idea of keeping extra bread and milk in the freezer in bad weather as the supermarket lorries often couldn't get through the country roads.

It would be very much a lifestyle choice/labour of love to move out in the sticks, we're very much homebodies. We live frugally at the moment and don't go on holidays, have fancy cars and no plans to have children. Pottering around tending to the house and garden is our idea of a perfect weekend. We could afford to buy a nice detached newbuild with a small garden in a decent neighbourhood, but that just doesn't appeal to us. We love the idea of having land and no neighbours (except for the local wildlife)!

roastedsaltedpeanut - If you don't mind me asking did you have to sell a property first in order to get your rural one? I've read that estate agents don't like you to enquire about buying a house unless you're already on the market or even have an offer accepted. There aren't a huge number of rural properties on the market in my area, so is it just a case of being ready to put your's on the market as soon as you see a house you like and hope for the best? We've never sold a house before so I'm unsure of the etiquette especially since what we're looking for is fairly niche.

Two properties matching that description have recently been sold near me.

Both are by modern standards uninhabitable. Both are unmortgagable. Both went for about 25% of the value they will be worth 'done up'.

Both are struggling to get planning permission to do the work required to make them habitable. Both require at least £150k spending on them before you even start talking about kitchens and bathrooms and nice stuff.

One was a cash buyer 'developer' who hadn't banked on how difficult the planners would be. We suspect he's going to pull some kind of dodgy deal to get stuff through, do it up and sell it on again at vast profit in a few years.

The others sold their house, cashed in their savings, took out huge loans against a business and moved into a caravan so they could become cash buyers. They are now living in the uninhabitable house, freezing to death and trying to do it up bit by bit themselves and pretending they aren't in when the planners and TV license people knock.

Of course there are also just normal people with monthly incomes that are sufficient to allow them to just get a mortgage on a nice rural property. As with other house purchases a cash buyer who can proceed immediately might get it for slightly less than someone in a chain.

We sold our house six months before buying this one. Estate agent’s family friend swooped in and bought the house we offered on previously. Sold for less than my offer! Argh.
Personally I think it is better to focus on selling, then rent while searching. That way you won’t feel the pressure of settling or pleasing others in the chain. I just don’t like being pushed to make decisions.
Anyway!
We lived in a tiny rental because we didn’t want to settle for anything less than perfect for our growing family.

Couldn’t move in straight away as it was uninhabitable, rental was on monthly renewal and furniture kept in storage elsewhere.
Fixed water, electric, septic tank and roof first then moved in. Repaired and changed windows and floors while living in it. It’s a lot of hard work but highly rewarding.

It is a black hole in term of money. And non of the work shows as they are infrastructural.
On the bright side, very much like you, I just love being out here. Not having any neighbours means I can truly relax, this is just personal preference, it doesn’t mean everyone has to the same!

You can check for the super fast broadband - if it is available or being routed in the future.
You never know what is going on with the vendors, sometimes they are completely out of the loop with their agent especially if the property is not habited.

Any properties like that (or just well priced) going up in our area are generally snapped up by cash buyers pretty much as soon as they are listed. Saying that there was a house that needed way too much doing on it a couple of years ago and that took quite a while to shift.

Thanks to everyone who's replied, it's given me lots to think about.

We wouldn't be going for anything unmortgagble or unihabitable, so we're not expecting to get an absolute bargain with the hopes of selling it on for a profit in a few years time. We'd hopefully be staying put for the next 20+ years. We're not really one for spending lots on fancy kitchens etc, all the big money improvements we've made to our current house have been on things like a new roof and boiler.

roastedsaltedpeanut - Estate agents can be so sneaky. Hopefully the house you ended up buying worked out better than the one you missed out on. I did wonder whether we'd be better off selling up and renting whilst we look. The main reason I'm not keen on renting is that we have a lot of pets, so may struggle to find a landlord who'll have us. It's definitely worth looking into though.

Bought ours in a matter of weeks. We had already sold and were ready to go. Seller was desperate to go. Found it online via estate agent.

Main costs/jobs we've had so far:

Biggest expense was borehole for a new private water supply (about £10k for a 52m deep hole and pump). Dug trench/ plumbed it in to the house myself to save money). Previous water supply was basically run off and after heavy rain had a lot of sediment in it even after extensive filtering.

Fences were poor quality and all came down in the first winter but again replaced those myself.

Out buildings needed tlc - mainly new mortar between the field stones. Turned this into a fun family activity of cement mixing and throwing into gaps over one Easter holiday.

Central heating/hot water was oil fuelled but we replaced this with modern wood fuel boiler (another 10k) At the time there was Scottish government green deal incentives so this will work out cost neutral in a few years.

Oh, and the Internet speed was awful - 0.9mbs. A few years ago EE did a 4G modem and would mount an external antenna for £99. We got 1 bar of 4G and this took us to about 10mbs but signal drop was frequent. Also expensive and data capped.

Last year as part of Scotland's high speed Internet for everyone policy we got a fibre line plugged straight in to the house. 300mbs 😎

Too variable to give a definitive answer! There are plenty of “normal” rural homes, that have been looked after and are in just as good condition as you’d find in a town. There are ones that have been “refurbished” with full-on goldfish-bowl style wall-replaced-by-windows. There are ones which need massive updating but are perfectly habitable in the meantime. And there are out-and-our money pits.
Buying process just the same: although because there are fewer of them likely to go quicker than in town, if you offer enough to make up for being in a chain then no problem of course! However most sellers will want to make sure you’re not just day dreaming about a new lifestyle and won’t change your mind when the reality gets closer.

Lots of these kind of properties available where I live... definitely not all run down tho, many beautifully maintained. Can view through estate agents as normal and buy in a chain, with mortgage.

Saz12 is right, A very wide question!

My auntie bought a tumbledown bungalow on 4 acres and built an amazing house which she is now trying to sell, just gone on market. She did buy the original place without a mortgage, having done up another very rural property previously.

I'm looking for something like this now that I'm full time working at home. Alas my budget is £100k ish for a wreck, tho my current house was a wreck, just in a city. I'm longing for some quiet and wildlife!

DS is in a chain with a couple who are buying a farmhouse. It has acres of land and lots of farm building. It's just about habitable and is empty because the owner, a farmer, has built himself a bungalow to retire to.