So, just as my wife and I had finally gotten the cash together to buy a piece of land, we find out that it had been in contract with someone else, there is still a chance it wont close next friday, but seeing that it was also a cash offer I doubt that.

The story was, as of this past friday it was still being advertised for sale (not contingent or pending or anything), I talked with our realtor stating we wanted to put in an offer and she emailed their realtor but never got a response. I found out sunday that the status had changed to "contingent" and both my realtor and I had been trying to get ahold of the other realtor and we FINALLY heard back from them today. The property was owned by a church, so it had to first be approved by council then brought before the church for a vote, and that vote happened Sunday. So apparently it had been semi-approved for a few weeks at the point we wanted to make an offer. My question is though, isnt the contract technically not approved then until the church votes on it? And if that is the case, had their realtor responded in time couldnt they have had 2 contracts to vote on instead of one? Either way, I think I am basically out of options on that piece of land unless it miraculously falls through next friday.

So my real question is this, my wife and I (me more then her), were really looking forward to being able to do our own build/design instead of a tract builders design (and what we were going to do was going to be a lot stronger and more energy efficient as well). I am really leaning towards building as opposed to buying a house already on the market (not a ton of good houses, lots of compromises and risks of close to maxing our budget and then having issues to fix).

This leaves us basically with 3 options

1. Land that is a bit further from the city (fine by me, not so much the wife, so obviously the least likely option)
2. Building in a new development in the part of town we want to be in.
3. Appeal to home owners that currently own land (mostly farm) to sell us an acre or two and then get it re-zoned to residential, this would allow us to get land where we want and build what we want.

What option would you try to pick? I am leaning towards #3, but feel I would be terrible at trying to get a land owner to sell me 1-2 acres of their 100+.

I would recommend talking to at least five people per builder if you can. That filters out the wacky people who didn't like their builder because they had unrealistic expectations.

Option 3 is pretty much impossible here is CenCal farm country. Why don't you simply buy a 10 or 20 ac parcel and lease it out for someone to farm. Or if you are very ambitious, farm it yourself. Then you have a nice barrier around you. Other than that, Option 2.

I'm in central ohio, not CA

I guess the point I didnt make is that it might be tough to create a small lot in farm country. There are often minimum lot sizes to contend with.

Where in central OH? I live north of 36 off 71 a quarter mile from Alum Creek where it is still a creek. BlEp will tell me to take it to the other forum, but my runs and rides start on my driveway. I've done the 50 mile loop without ever having to put my foot down (and I can't do track stands).

28 minutes to downtown with no traffic. Usually not much more than that on the ride in. 40'ish coming home. All the bad traffic is inside 270. There is land very close to me that was a farm that was split.

It is easier to get to downtown from my house than it is to get there from around Polaris and a little bit north.

We bought 2.5 acres went semi-custom with a builder. After this, no way I am living on .20 acres in a subdivision.

ETA - https://www.google.com/...hl=en&authuser=0 It looks further out than it is. 18 minutes to Polaris.

I actually saw a 1.4 acres lot off 36 that I like except a high power line going through it on the backside.

We are currently in a less then desirable home on the east side (I bought as a bachelor), so schools are crap. The area we were looking was in Lockbourne/Obetz area.

What semi-final builder did you use?

As far as splitting off small parcels from farm land, I would assume it is possible since those houses that seemed to have already been split are lots smaller then I would ask for and there is developments just up the road.