OK guys, I have a problem. My girlfriend and I have lived with

>>18702577

A little more context:

The old family house is basically a wreck right now. My grandma is senile and lets her dogs piss and shit everywhere. The downstairs floors will need replaced. There is and mouse infestation, so it'd need an exterminator. There's a lot of junk on the land and parts of the fields are overgrown with weeds. Grandma's a hoarder so some of the upstairs rooms and the garage will need a dumpster to go through.

My parents live right down the road, so they could help. Because of family drama, no one has really been able to do much up there. We both work full time jobs. I've graduated college, my gf is just starting , and we've been taking care of my grandmother so we haven't made much headway.

My though is with her (and her dogs) gone we could really make the place beautiful. We could skip the whole "starter home" thing and go strait to our house in the country. But my gf wants to build a house one day and have it designed by us.

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>>18702577
Always get the land. You don't have to live there forever. Use it profitably. Let people live there to work, feed your family. Don't listen to your girlfriend, OP. She is not thinking resourcefully. Never give up acreage with water that is capable of food production. It is a long term project, but it is worthwhile and can be very profitable.

>>18702594
You can build within the house. With proper budgeting, you can "build from the ground up," if the house is really in as poor shape as you think. And don't forget about additions all around the property! Monticello took like 20 years man, but look at it! Always skip the starter home if you can. "The Housing Trap." Owning land is the best you can do. Hell, are you even free if you don't own any land? I don't think so, personally.

>>18702596

That's my thought. Ideally I would like to keep it, maybe pass it along to my grandchildren one day. But I can see where she'said coming from. It has a new odd floorplan, cramped bathrooms, typically 50's house issues but is solid structurally. Plumbing is new and electrical stuff is fairly new. Needs a new fuse box.

>>18702610
I'm not really attached to the house itself, it's the land I want. She wants to build a house eventually which I'm not opposed to. I just don't like the idea of being $200-300k further in debt. But if 10-15 years down the line we feel cramped there I wouldn't be opposed to knocking the current house down and building new. I just worry that if we pass it up this land that's been my family's for over a century I'll resent my gf (who I plan on marrying) for the rest of my life. On the other hand, I don't want her to resent me for getting "stuck" there.

If your girlfriend is not going to contribute monetarily, both in the short term and long term, as far as you know, then her opinion should have little weight, especially when this tract of land with the house is a century old family heirloom. There's obviously two competing interests here: the objective value of the property and the sentimental value. If you're keeping it on mostly the sentimental grounds, then again, it's not that her own feelings don't matter, it's that they don't apply to this one issue, to which she has attachment to.

Now obviously, if you like a girl and want to marry her, then you want to keep her happy, and her feelings matter a whole lot then. But that's more of a separate issue in my opinion. You should fully explore your options, see how much it would cost to refurbish and expansions to the house versus a complete demolish and rebuilding a new one.

Or, and to play devil's advocate, if the project is not worth it, the land is not worth as much as you think, maybe the chick has a point. So get an expert's opinion. Run the numbers. Talk primarily to your family (will any of them help contribute a penny?) and then your girlfriend. Really just talk like adults, and do what feels right in the end. No one here can tell you what's the best decision since we lack both the objective information and your emotional attachment.

>>18702659
THIS

>>18702659

She won't be contributing financially to any real estate purchases directly but she does and will be contributing to utilities/future mortgage payments whatever we do.

We're going to sit down this weekend with my family (mom, aunt, and an uncle) and talk it all over like adults. I do feel a major sentimental attachment which I worry might effect my judgment, but to me the idea of owning such a large tract of land in my mid-20s seems too good to pass up.

The worst issue is that we've already got this other house in town that we'very been on track to buy. I haven't signed any closing documents and the worst I would lose would be a few hundred dollars of earnest money, but we're estimated to close on it by the 22nd. All of a sudden my aunt springs the news about selling the family land and here we are.

Another issue is my grandmother herself. As delicate of an issue as it is we'd HAVE to have an agreement where she does move in with my aunt. My worry is that they'll backslide on things and we'll be "stuck" caring for her. I really, really hate to put it like that but it is what it is. We've done it for two years now.

I suppose I'm not asking for a silver bullet answer, but people's opinions on owning a plot of land like that vs going the "starter home" route. I imagine if we buy it for 100-120k (about what it appraised for a few years ago) at worst we could improve it and have it be worth half again that much in a few years.

>>18702684
>I imagine if we buy it for 100-120k (about what it appraised for a few years ago) at worst we could improve it and have it be worth half again that much in a few years.

Sorry, my reading comprehension is maybe failing, since I've been having insomnia for the last couple of days.

I thought the land, at least, was free, as in, it was strictly just going to be an inheritance type of transfer. Or are you referring to the other plot of land that you're interested in?

If it's the former, and your relatives are going to sell it to you for 100-120k then that changes everything. If money is changing hands, then yes, your girlfriend, maybe has a point, and you should buy the property that will make you, and her happy.

Taking a step back here. If you're basically shopping around for a plot of land, deciding where to put your roots/eggs in a basket/whatever idiom you prefer, then you do want to make the best decision possible, and her girlfriend, if you two are truly serious, should have a say. An unhappy partner, before you've even tied the knot, is just a recipe for a quick divorce. But again, this is getting off onto the relationship issue.

With regards to your elderly grandma, that's a toughie. I personally wouldn't want to take care of my own grandma (she's pushing 80). So I definitely sympathize with you not wanting to take that responsibility. If you feel that your aunt is gonna backslide you on that issue, then that should factor into your decision making. See. It's not always about the money with these things.

Well anyway, I would echo that owning land, especially good land like an anon said, is very important today's world. I'm a city dweller and my grandpa--actually both--owned lands in the country, and for one reason after another they lost them or sold them. So here I am, living on an all important coast, and I'm never going to own any land in this hellhole. So I very much see the allure of having a nice comfy plot of land somewhere.

>>18702718

Yeah, we would be buying it at a fair price. From everything that I've read you pretty much have to pay market value to make it legal.

So for the land and house it would be about $120k. For the property that we were going to buy in town it would be $80k.

I just wish we'd know that they were going to plan to sell it sooner, before we starting legalwork on buying the house in town. This is a major life decision and now we're being rushed into choosing.

And the real kicker is the other house is move in ready. It's prisine. At Grandma's you open the door and get a big wife of dog piss.

>>18702577
My fiancee's grandpa sold his land to get back with his ex. It broke the man's spirit.

Always get the land like >>18702596
said. It is one of the few things that will not depreciate in value with time. If anything, ten years from now it would be worth a fortune depending on the region.

>>18702577
Girlfriends come and go, a relationship comes with zero guarantees. Your families land will always be your families land. Buy it and fix it up. Use it to make money. Look into whether or not the old house is worth keeping and perhaps you can just build your new house designed by you now. Don't let the land go to someone else. You will regret that forever...if your gf leaves you, you will regret it for a few months to a couple of years.. Both of which are shorter than a lifetime.

I appreciate all advice everyone, thank you.

How the fuck can he house be too small if the one you were planning on getting is more than 1000 square feet smaller than your grandmother's?

You say you can afford both, so why not just buy the land, tear down the house, and build a new one on the land? If you can afford both at the same time, you can afford that.

Both of you are being stupid.

>>18702876

I meant we can afford one or the other.

That might be what we end up doing, tearing down the house in a few years and building new