In this episode of Land Stories…
Imagine owning property that wasn’t suitable for running water????? Generation Family Properties’ Writer Extraordinaire Mia Nance, almost encountered this very issue when she decided to build on the land she purchased.
Today Mia shares the importance of a Perc test, and the process of completing one for your land. Also, Mia reviews a beautiful property for sale located in Costilla County Colorado while Dave shares what inspired him to buy land in Colorado!
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Intro: welcome to the Land Stories podcast where our goal is to help everyday people like you own land. And now your host, who is an eagle scout that is horrible at tying knots, Dave Denniston.
Dave: all right, my friends. Well, welcome back to another episode of Land Stories Live. I am your host, Dave Denniston of Generation Family Properties where our goal is to help hundreds of people like you own land. Most of all, we want to tell your land story. Well, I am so excited today. I have our second guest on the show. She is someone that is a very valuable member of our team. She lives in Michigan if I remember this right and she has a house that has been an off-grid house she’s gonna tell us about. And she has a little boy and another kiddo coming on the way. Please help me welcome Mia! Mia, what’s going on?
Mia: hi everybody. Hi Dave.
Dave: all right Mia. Well, tell us a little bit about you!
Mia: I am a mum. I am a wife. I have a one year old. I am pregnant with my second child. My one year old’s a boy. I’m pregnant with a girl. So, needless to say, our family is done now. I am very interested in property so it was cool that I got to start working with Dave. My husband and I own some different properties; one that is ready to be built on. We’re not quite ready to build. And then we have a cabin in what we call up north Michigan and so it’s a place we like to visit often. It’s pretty rustic. We do have electricity and water but we don’t have a TV or cable or any of that sort of stuff. So, we like it. We enjoy it; try to get there as much as we can, so –
Dave: that’s awesome. Well, didn’t you tell me something about, like there was an issue with like the water or like getting started on that property? I might not be remembering this right but –
Mia: the properties we have set to build on, we had to before we build which we’ve already done once and we’re going have to do it again before we build because it expires after a certain amount of time is here in Michigan, in the county we live in, we have to have a perc test done. And they come out, we have to hire excavators to come out and dig and they’re digging to find the perfect spot for wells and then septic. So, that’s, we didn’t think we were going to find one the first time, which was kind of nerve-wracking because we’re standing out there with the county and us and the excavator and hole, after hole, after giant hole got dug and then finally we found some spots that worked, so -.
Dave: whoa. So, tell us, were you like nervous? Like, what was going through your mind?
Mia: I was nervous I thought everything is perfect here besides we can’t have water. So, it was like oh no, is this it? Is that the end of this dream? But fortunately enough it worked out for us. We spent a few hours out there that day with these nice people from the county and the excavators and we found our spots and they’re marked now but, like I said, that expires after I think it’s a year and a half. I think it’s 18 months and we had that done when we were originally going to look because we weren’t gonna buy something that we couldn’t have water on. So, now when we are ready, we’re going to have to repay to have the excavators and the county come out and do it all over again. But at least we know what we’re looking for this time. We know the spots. So, everything should be easier. We’re hoping, so –
Dave: wow. And was it hard? You know, tell us about how like difficult that whole process was. For someone that’s maybe never bought land before, like what was it like going through that perc test?
Mia: it was, we had never bought land so it was brand new to us. We had to find out. We found out that we had to do the perc test and that we had to have it done for mortgaging purposes. And we had to do it prior to obviously them moving forward with anything. And I didn’t know the first place to start. My husband said ok, well we should call and there’s septic people and water people here, companies that advertise cleaning septics and doing all of that jazz. And so we called one and they said we don’t do perc tests but here’s a number to somebody that does. So, we called them. They told us ok, well we can do it but you have to call the county first and they have to give you a date that they can come out. And so we went through all these hoops with the county.
And then we had to get once everything was done, we had to wait for them to write a report and then send us the report. And then we had to send the report off to the mortgage company. So, for somebody that was never familiar with this, it was a little trying but now I know what to do. So, it was kind of, it was a learning process and it wasn’t that hard after it was all said and done just a lot of follow up and a lot of –
Dave: yeah.
Mia: coordination, I would say.
Dave: so, how long do you think it took, like getting all that together, any guesses?
Mia: I would say about a month, getting everything coordinated and then everybody out there. And probably seven days to get the report back. So, around a month; maybe a little bit longer.
Dave: that’s not too bad. So, it can be done pretty quick.
Mia: yeah.
Dave: and discover the answer. And you know, this is why I let folks know you know we have that return policy. So, if something doesn’t work out on a property, right? Like we have the 90 day money back guarantee and we have those other kinds of things just in case, you know, cause we don’t get a perc test done on every property. That just costs a lot of money. How much did that cost? Any idea, any guesses?
Mia: it cost us around 300 dollars to have the excavators come out. And the perc test itself was around two. So, we’re looking a little over five, just to know we had water or could have water and could have a septic. So, it was a little bit of an investment for what we though at the time when we were standing out there and they’re not finding it would be no reward because we didn’t get anything back if they didn’t find spots.
Dave: right?
Mia: it was, you know, I was a gamble but we were hoping it was a sure thing and it wound up being. But I know it could’ve gone the other way, so –
Dave: awesome. Well, for everyone out there, Mia does a lot of writing for us. So, you might see some emails. Mia secretly is behind the scenes helping me to write the emails. So, it might look like it’s me. It’s actually Mia. So, here’s the lady who’s helping to write the emails now. I did it all myself for a couple of years but I just got to the point I can’t do it all. And so Mia is here to help me out. Now, Mia also is on Facebook and so you may run into her as we market properties and she’s particularly focusing on Colorado, on our Colorado properties. And behind me, on my pretend green screen, we have the Rio Grande River, which Mia I don’t know if I ever told you this story. Did I ever tell you how I kind of got interested in Colorado and land?
Mia: no, I don’t think so.
Dave: so, what happened is I have another business and in that business I have some clients. And I would go see this client in Colorado. He is not in Costilla County but his property is in, what is the county? It is further north and west of where this is. But his house is on the Rio Grande River, as a matter of fact. And there are these mountains all above it and I just fell in love with this area – South Fork – that’s the name of the town where his property is.
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Dave: and so I would go driving through Costilla County, which is where the river is that we have behind us here. And I was like man, all of these mountains, I would love to buy land out here one day. And lo and behold, we got into the land business and here we are. And so I know you’ve been talking on Facebook about this property quite a bit that is pretty close to the Rio Grande River. So, I’d love for you if you could share your screen and we’d love for you to tell us about this property.
Mia: ok, give me one second.
Dave: sure.
Mia: I will definitely share it. All right. Bear with me guys, I’m on my phone.
Dave: we got you.
Mia: being a –
Dave: we see it there.
Mia: ok. There we go. Here we are. This property, I’m working on featuring this week, I like it so much because of the access to the river, being able to spend some time near water is always fun. You can always find something to do with water; fish, kayak, all that fun stuff. And what a better backdrop to have than the mountains right behind it too? So, I like that it’s pretty off the grid. It’s close to New Mexico, which I think is pretty cool, another place you could go and explore if this was something you picked up and spent your time in. San Luis would be the closest big town where I’m sure, it’s not very large, but that’s where you would get your supplies, your groceries, all that stuff and be able to take it back to whether it’s your camp, or your tiny house, or your cabin, or your main home. You know, you could do anything here, which I love. I love that about most of these properties that you can just you know build your own dream. And it’s really beautiful. You can fish, all that. And I just love it.
Dave: and you can see here, here’s a picture that’s near the Rio Grande River. This isn’t the view from the property everybody, the picture we’re looking at right this second but it is what a five minute walk, two minute drive or something to the river? You wanna maybe scroll down to the map and we can take look at that?
Mia: yeah. I’m gonna zoom in some so then we can see exactly –
Dave: yeah, look how close that is. You can see that pin is down on the –
Mia: yeah –
Dave: bottom part there and there is the Rio Grande River right there, I mean you are really close. Some nice mountains all around. Mia, you wanna zoom out a little bit and we can kind of see some of the surrounding cities. So, you can see there’s highway 142, which you can get to go to the property. There’s Mesita there to the east, which is a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny little town. Up in the upper right hand corner is San Luis, which is what you were just talking about and that’s where the county seat is guys. So, if you ever call Costilla County they’re in San Luis is where they’re headquartered. Alamosa, you can see is up to the northwest, which is the city. It has a regional airport and highway 160 going to Fort Garland. We’ve owned some properties out in the east of Fort Garland in Forbes Park in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains so you’re pretty close to all of that. Why don’t we keep on zooming out? What else we got here?
Mia: so I’ll move a little further.
Dave: and you can see folks you got the New Mexico border there, that dotted white line so you’re not too far from there, Pagosa Springs out to the west, highway 25 out to the east, Trinidad out there. And this is pretty far down south. How far is this do you think from Denver? Mia, how far do you think it is?
Mia: from Denver, I think it’s about three hours I believe.
Dave: yeah, something like that. Three or four hours depending on how quick you’re driving.
Mia: right, it depends on who’s driving.
Dave: and definitely a lot of wildlife there. Anything else Mia? Maybe you wanna look at what kind of homes people can build, anything like that people should be aware of?
Mia: yeah, absolutely. Look at all that national forest here. So much for you to do. For this one, it’s owned residential so we could do a tiny house. I mean it’s 600 square feet’s still pretty small or you could even drop a manufactured home up there as long as it is built after 76. So, got a lot of options for whatever you personally want to do and live in and stay in, so –
Dave: and like Mia mentioned, you can camp on this lot, my friends. So, there is a restriction on camping in RVs but you can do it. 14 days every three months or 56 in the year. And you can, one thing we don’t have on here is that if you want to start building, you can get a permit from the county to live on it in an RV while you are building so it’s a special permit to do it. And Mia what are the taxes on this lot?
Mia: they are I mean less than 48 dollars a year, 47.12, that’s crazy.
Dave: 47 bucks. 47 dollars a year! That’s less than 4 dollars a month.
Mia: yeah, for a year. Yeah, I don’t even know how you beat that, that’s insane.
Dave: I don’t think you can, I really don’t.
Mia: no, I think this is an awesome deal to look out for.
Dave: yeah, what’s the cost of this property Mia, if someone wants to buy it?
Mia: if someone wants to buy it, we are looking at a cash price of 3799, which is amazing or you can do an owner financing for 4499 and less than 100 dollars a month or, I’m sorry, month payment so 96 dollars and only 249 down.
Dave: that’s it? 249 down and 96 dollars a month, those are minimums my friends, that’s it.
Mia: that’s quite a deal, it’s a steal.
Dave: Mia, any final thoughts on this property?
Mia: no, I think that even these pictures are, I know there’s more pictures available for anybody interested to look at but these pictures really speak for themselves. I know that there is endless opportunities out here and I hope somebody takes advantage of this great deal. I am reachable by Facebook via Messenger or via phone at, you can reach me at 720-336-1232, if you’d like to chat about this or you have an area you’re looking for, you know, we can always help you out.
Dave: great and what was that phone number again, Mia?
Mia: it was 720-336-1232.
Dave: perfect, perfect. Well, thank you so much Mia. So fun having you on.
Mia: thanks Dave. I appreciate the chance to get out here and talk about some of the stuff I’ve been doing.
Dave: cool. All right you guys. Well, that’s it today and that’s gonna wrap up the episode. Make sure to tune in every Monday at 11:30am central. Tuesdays at 4:30pm central. So, you can see Mia every Tuesday at 4:30, as long as –
Mia: all right –
Dave: she is with us before the baby gets born.
Mia: yes. I’ll be out for a little bit.
Dave: well, thanks again so much for tuning into Land Stories with me, Dave Denniston, and make sure to check out all of our properties at genfamproperties.com, that’s g-e-n-f-a-mproperties.com. And if you’re looking for land I know Mia would love to speak with you. Mia, one more time, what is that phone number, so people can text or call you?
Mia: it is 720-336-1232.
Dave: all right, that’s it guys. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. Take care.
Mia: bye.
Dave [outro]: all right my friends. Well, that wraps up the episode for today. And just remember, it’s just for through the end of December. We would love to give you the opportunity to win 5 acres, 5 acres in Colorado, no strings attached. You can enter completely free as a gift from us to you. Make sure to text freeland, f-r-e-e-l-a-n-d to 44222. Again, text freeland, all one word, to 44222 and we will get y’all entered into the drawing to win 5 acres. All right my friends, we’ll talk to you later. Have a good one, bye-bye.