Need to sell: No money for well or septic

**rick1502** · 07-15-2011, 11:52 AM

Hi,

I am building a home and I was supposed to have my job transfer in spring of next year. The company decided to close up instead and I will be unemployed sometime this September.

I have no choice but to sell the house. The house is a custom log home on 70+ acres, made of 8 inch eastern pine logs sitting on a full basement of 10 inch solid poured concrete walls, (2400 sq ft) and will be finished in about 2 months from now, as a dried in shell only, no plumbing, electricity etc. I had planned on doing the inside work myself.

I got the septic permit this spring and there were 2 existing wells on the property when I bought it, one is hand-dug and the other is machine dug. I had the water tested before I bought the land and it was good.

My question is regarding the selling of this house without a well and septic. I do not have the money now to pay for the septic or to have the well hooked up. I have just enough cash to pay for the dry shell and without a job I am broke.

My wife thinks I should try to have the septic and well hooked up before selling so the property will be worth more, but I dont have the money. Is there any problem with selling a home as a dried in shell with no septic or well hookups? I realize the selling price would need to reflect this.

Thanks for reading this,

Rick

**barbdear** · 07-15-2011, 01:05 PM

Hi Rick,
Sorry to hear you are having such difficulties. Although you may be able to price the house to attract a buyer (even without well/septic), the house is unfinance-able in its present condition. Not only would any mortgage lender require well/septic, they will also require plumbing, heating and electric. With 70 acres, I expect you will also run into an appraisal problem - the value of the land usually cannot exceed 30% of the total appraised value of the property.

So ... it sounds like you will only be able to market to all-cash buyers (a very small market), unless there are no liens against the property now and you can hold the financing yourself. You may have to discount the price dramatically to attract an all-cash buyer, or figure out a way to hold a land contract or deed of trust. Talk to a real attorney if you plan to finance it yourself.

Sorry I can't offer a more optimistic scenario. Best of luck!

**rick1502** · 07-15-2011, 04:29 PM

Thanks for the info I appreciate it.

Rick

**Greg** · 07-16-2011, 07:19 AM

Make sure you have the permits for the septic and the well so the buyer won't have to worry about this. Also get some price quotes for the septic, well, electric and everything else needed to finish the house so any buyer knows what they are getting into.

When in doubt buyers look elsewhere.

Don't worry about the land value and a buyer getting a loan. We have lots of houses (mine included) where the land value is higher than the building value and they finance easily.

Expect to sell at a discount.

**MarticiaLancaster** · 07-19-2011, 06:56 PM

Yeah right, I agree with Greg.. Go with proper authorization / requirements to avoid encountering any problems during the sale.

**J&E** · 07-20-2011, 10:26 AM

Its going to be tough looking for all cash buyers. I would try to make your home available to as many people as possible by doing what is necessary for a loan.