# Looking for property in WV



## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

Hubby and I have been looking for our little piece of the world for the past year or so with no luck- so I thought I would ask you helpful people if you might know of anything.

We are looking for small homesteading property in West Virginia, prefer 5 acres or more, with fixer-upper house or utilities available (would need water- city or well, sewer or septic, and electric).

Would like no restrictions on property. Don't mind some steep but would like to have good garden space and space for some outbuildings. Wooded or partially wooded preferred.

We have gravitated toward the area between Parkersburg and Charleston but we are open to just about anywhere in West Virginia.

Our budget is somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 and we are looking to purchase within the next month.

Does anyone know of anywhere that would fit this description? I know it exists we just have to find it!! TIA


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## davel745 (Feb 2, 2009)

Just curious if you have looked around Pennsboro area? I know the local real-estate man and I could hook you guys up. Pennsboro is smack dab in the middle of Clarksburg and Parkersburg.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

The Marcellus drilling has affected prices in some areas. Others have significant out of state ownership for hunting which has also driven prices up. If you're planning on a total price of $15,000 to $20,000 with a house, that's going to be tough to find unless you go to certain places in southern WV. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. The united farm site has a minimum maximum of $25,000. I'd start there. There's a place near Burnsville off I-79 that fits your price and acreage criteria.

Anything at that price I'd be cautious about in the area you're considering. Anything said to be a fixer upper at that price might be more worthy of a bulldozer. Or put the axles, wheels and tires back on it and have someone tow it away.

Unless you've already done your homework on the potential issues, buying within the next month might be a bit optimistic. You never know. You could get lucky.


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## PonderosaQ (Jan 12, 2004)

I live on the WV border in SW VA. I'll ask around for you. Do you need work? That plays a big part in where you want to go. Is this budget just for the land or a house as well?


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

nostawmama said:


> Hubby and I have been looking for our little piece of the world for the past year or so with no luck- so I thought I would ask you helpful people if you might know of anything.
> 
> We are looking for small homesteading property in West Virginia, prefer 5 acres or more, with fixer-upper house or utilities available (would need water- city or well, sewer or septic, and electric).
> 
> ...


Do you have your "Budget", $15-20,000 available in cash today? This is an important concern.


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## Grumpy old man (Aug 6, 2013)

google land for sale by owner west Virgina ,Also start checking craigslist in that area , I have bought more than a few pieces of land with very little down with owner finance (NO BANKS / NO QUALIFYING) and you have complete control .For me I will go in and clean /clear a building site /add services and maybe an out building for construction storage and correctly relist the property for a healthy profit with minimal carrying costs while I'm waiting for a buyer .


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## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

Darren said:


> The Marcellus drilling has affected prices in some areas. Others have significant out of state ownership for hunting which has also driven prices up. If you're planning on a total price of $15,000 to $20,000 with a house, that's going to be tough to find unless you go to certain places in southern WV. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. The united farm site has a minimum maximum of $25,000. I'd start there. There's a place near Burnsville off I-79 that fits your price and acreage criteria.
> 
> Anything at that price I'd be cautious about in the area you're considering. Anything said to be a fixer upper at that price might be more worthy of a bulldozer. Or put the axles, wheels and tires back on it and have someone tow it away.
> 
> Unless you've already done your homework on the potential issues, buying within the next month might be a bit optimistic. You never know. You could get lucky.


Darren- actually a bulldozer would be an option. We were looking for a fixer-upper simply because of the utilities. My husband is a contractor and we plan on living in a camper while we build a house. 

PonderosaQ- we would need work, either with someone else or enough people in the area to work for ourselves. We have leaned away from that area of WV because of the low population- great for our hermit like tendencies, not so great for our need of dollars...

edcopp- that is what we are trying for. We have pretty much made a deal for our place here, only thing left waiting for the money to be in our hands. We are waiting to buy until we have the cash in pocket and that hopefully will be in short order!


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

You would be well advised to look at the economic situation in the various areas in WV, along with the drug situation and some of the other possibly unsavory factors.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

I moved back to SC from WV about two years ago, because the economy there is very bad right now. I was in the timber industry there and it pretty much collapsed all but disappeared. There is still gas and coal, but you can't depend on either long term. Many people there do building and home repairs for themselves, or friends or family help. Your husband will have a lot of competition (and West Virginians work hard and cheap) for what little work there is, and pay will be a lot less than somewhere else. I don't mean to be brutal, just realistic. As has been pointed out. Out of state buyers gave driven land prices up a good bit. I bought 28 acres in 2003 for less than $700 per, 5 years later it was going for more like $2000. I hope you find what you are looking for.


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## Rick (May 10, 2002)

We bought smack dab in the middle of those 2 cities, and lived like hermits with no utilities - limited solar and generators for 11 years.

In December the gas drilling set up to frac a well. The still have not finished it. They bulldozed our phone and DSL putting us out of work for 8 days. They are beginning the reclamation phase, but in the meantime the service road to the well pad gushes right down into our road, parking pad, and frequently our cabin. 

They have been considerate where ever possible, but our one lane road is still a mess. I have not been able to make the 1.5 trip to my mailbox on my mountain bike (nice suspension but narrow treadless tires) for one entire Spring/ Summer season.


My advice is make sure you get sub-surface (mineral) rights, and it may cost more than your budget.


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## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

Darren- can you send me a link to the place near Burnsville? 

We have researched quite a bit about different areas of West Virginia and understand the financial aspects of it. As far as the drug aspect, we plan to check out our immediate area if we find something that we are interested in but it seems that you can't get away from drug problems no matter where you go in the U.S.!


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Burnsville is a nice area, close to the mountains to the east, and near Buckhannon, Which has a college, some nice restaurants and shops, and not far from Clarksburg and Morgantown. Glenville is about 15 miles and has a nice State College. Sutton is the county seat and has a very nice, new public library. My place is further West in the same county. The United Country office is run by Jim and Carolyn Yolk. We dealt with them buying our place, and they are fine people.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

The United Country agent in Sand Fork listed the property. It's available for $19,900 You'll have to look at the site. I can't link to the listing. Both the Sand Fork and the Flatwoods agency mentioned by Vicker have listings meeting your criteria.

http://www.sandforkwvrealestate.com/searchmaps.htm


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Oh, and Cedar Creek State Park is one of the nicest State Parks you'll ever see.


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## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

We have found a FSBO in Calhoun County that we are looking into- anything anyone can tell me about this area? Other than sparsely populated.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Calhoun County isn't much for jobs. There is a drug culture. Most of that is almost untouchable except for meth. Check out the Hur Herald which covers Calhoun County.

http://www.hurherald.com/

\When you look at property figure out how long it will take to get to a larger area that will have jobs. Something that's somewhat close to a major highway makes it easier to commute.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

My wife and I bought a place in the area Darren lives this past winter... We had been doing a LOT of looking for land in WV, and what we found was that if you get to the west side of the mountains into the foothills, ,the property prices were a lot lower than if you bought on the east side of the mountains... as a whole.. 

But then as Darren said, the chance of employment and money goes way down...

My wife and I are going to be leaving VERY well paying jobs to move to WV.. We'll worry about jobs once we get there... Yes, you can find decent jobs, especially if you can pass a pee test cleanly... which sounds like most the people out in the area we're in that are looking for jobs can't.. 

If you find an area you like, look at the local paper.. You will probably find a LOT of clues to high drug use... We have traveled all over WV in the past 8 years, and have pretty much found every area well depressed in WV and drug use very high, and constantly news in the papers of people, and Dr's getting busted.. 

You can carve out your own little nitch no matter where you are, and you can isolate yourself from the bad aspects of life if you try hard enough... but no matter where you go, especially where land is cheap, you are probably going to be up against a lot of what you want to avoid... That's part of the price of cheap land.

OH.. and here is one good plus with WV... Look for property with FREE GAS!


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## Brooks WV (Jul 24, 2010)

Summers county, in the SW was where we landed. We have no mining or industrial site to pollute the water/air, property is very inexpensive, regulations are few (and fewer yet, enforced), there is a huge increase in small homestead style farms, and the taxes are really low ($450/year for 53 acres, house and barn).
Beckley and Lewisburg are the closest "big" cities. Most folks work for the rail road, or the mines in Raleigh county.


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

Here's a property out my way that is close to your price range:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/22-Quarter-Dr_Chester_WV_26034_M48420-03174?row=22

Good luck!


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## sand flea (Sep 1, 2013)

After living in the boonies in WV, for a decade... I'll caution you to be aware of where water is flowing -- including looking for signs where it has flowed downhill, in the past. Flash floods are a real issue. In 10 years, the culvert at the end of our driveway washed out - completely washed out - 3 or 4 times. Most of time, the creek was tiny enough to jump over. (That was a 3-4 ft diameter culvert.)

I've also seen rushing torrents of water come down off the hills - like someone turned the faucet on full - during heavy rain.


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## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

sand flea said:


> After living in the boonies in WV, for a decade... I'll caution you to be aware of where water is flowing -- including looking for signs where it has flowed downhill, in the past. Flash floods are a real issue. In 10 years, the culvert at the end of our driveway washed out - completely washed out - 3 or 4 times. Most of time, the creek was tiny enough to jump over. (That was a 3-4 ft diameter culvert.)
> 
> I've also seen rushing torrents of water come down off the hills - like someone turned the faucet on full - during heavy rain.


Thanks for the reminder. It is something we are aware of but it is not always easy to remember when a flash flood in my area takes hours and it is called high tide!


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Flooding can't be emphasized enough. There's a property not far from here that's changed owners many times. Each time its been bought by someone not from around here. No one who grew up here, will buy it. You have zero protection in WV if a real estate deal sticks you with a problem property. 

You get to pay extra on your insurance without usually knowing it for mine subsidance. The mineral rights can also end up sticking it to you if, and that's usually the case, they are owned by someone else.

Be careful.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I think I'm the one that bought that property this time Darren.. 

No actually, I think my wife and I got real lucky... I know the road down from us floods so that we can't get out of a day or so at most, but as far a our property goes, the creek so far hasn't jumped out of the banks and flooded any of our buildings... I'm actually surprised it hasn't with all the rain out there this year.. 

The problem we do have is the creek that flows under the house... I am going to start soon regrading the yard to get the water to flow away from the house, instead of under it... 

It is amazing though the amount of water that runs down the runs from the tops of the hills out there... I don't think I've ever seen so much water in my life in such a small area..


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Welcome to Appalachia. I hadn't seen that either until I moved back here. Now every day is "Is the crick up?" or "Is the crick down enough to get across?"


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## Rick (May 10, 2002)

The biggest storm to hit our place in recent days was Mothers Day 1995 or 1996.

The dual "Y" creeks in the Holler spilled out about 10 to 15 yards or so from the banks, right up to the old farmhouse.


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## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

We actually got very very lucky the other year when those hurricanes dumped so much rain in PA. We were there working with the gas pipeline and had rented a place on top of a mountain. Came down a few days later to some HUGE devastation and we didn't even know anything was wrong or what to be aware of. That was a huge learning experience for us regarding water and mountains!


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## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

Another question for the West Virginians- Any ideas about the cost of putting in a water well? At least an average range?


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Depends on how deep they have to go.. .My well is about 35 feet deep... My neighbors is around 200 feet deep he tells me... 

Depends too on what part of the state and what they have to drill through... rock, or just dirt?

I've heard $15 to $25 or maybe a little more per foot to drill, and then about the same per foot for the casing...


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## baldylocks (Aug 15, 2007)

It would be nice to get mineral rights but those places are few and far between I think. You can find places with free gas but most of the rights were bought a long time ago. 

We have a farm in the area in which you are looking...you have to get off the interstate but there are places for sale...others have described how to find them. I think drug use is pretty much a problem everywhere and esp anywhere with economic troubles. WV is not an economic mecca as you might guess but there are good people here and it's beautiful.

I'd say (as someone else did) be aware of water flow...water runs downhill and fast...and WV is very hilly. Every year there are people who lose everything from flooding. It's a reality here. 

If you look around Jackson County, you are about equidistant from Charleston and Parkersburg. Either are options for jobs but figure on an hour drive give or take. I-77 is a good road though and drives well. Sadly, there are many older folks who are passing and their families often do not want land so you may also check around with local realtors to see if they know of those sorts of situations.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

So true about the water. That little ankle deep creek that seems so nice can go to a hundred yards wide free a good rain. Those pretty flat fields along the creeks are flood plains.


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

I know of a place out in the area where Darren and I are... It's 33.85 acres I think it is.. .a pond, a REAL nice house and a nice new small log cabin.. free gas, and a heck of a water system along with a whole house gennie running on free gas... It's kind of out of the way off the main road, but close to town... A good amount of flat land, and no worries about flooding around the house... not sure about the road to it.. 

My wife and I looked at it last year when we bought our place.. We wanted it bad, but couldn't swing the price... I can hook you up with the listing if you are interested.. It's in Lewis county WV.. OH, it was priced a fair bit lower last year... but I bet they would take a chunk less than the asking price..


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## nostawmama (Dec 29, 2011)

That place looks very nice simi-steading but pretty far out of our price range. Wish I we could though!


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Ah.. so you found it.. I didn't know what you price range was, so thought I'd at least tell you about it.. here is another listing out there for 47 acres, but there is nothing there, but I also noticed they said could be good for a development and there are a couple other houses around it..


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## Hollowdweller (Jul 13, 2011)

Darren said:


> The United Country agent in Sand Fork listed the property. It's available for $19,900 You'll have to look at the site. I can't link to the listing. Both the Sand Fork and the Flatwoods agency mentioned by Vicker have listings meeting your criteria.
> 
> http://www.sandforkwvrealestate.com/searchmaps.htm


 
My wife and I are both graduates of Glenville.

Sand Fork is cool. So is Cedarville.

My wife and I always dreamed of living in Cedarville but we wound up living in Cabell Co.

As others have said the main difficulty is finding work. For instance if my wife and I moved to OH or PA and transferred there, doing exactly the same jobs we do now, we would earn 10 to 15,000 more per year. Any job in WV you will work twice as hard, drive twice as far, and make half the salary.

One of the problems in Gilmer County is if you had some sort of life threatening condition you'd be dead. The nearest hospital is Weston and it's small. I'm not sure about now, but I'm thinking at one time there was not even a doctor in Glenville you had to go out 33 to nearly Weston.

One good thing about our farm where we live now is 4 miles away is a grocery store. There is a hospital probably 10 min away. So if you had a stroke or MI chances are they could get you there before you were seriously damaged.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

You're right about the medical situation. The ambulance authority does their best. There is a small clinic that opened a few years ago. That won't do you any good after hours.

The college recently opened a portion of a new building that will serve several purposes. Land resources moved in for the new school year. It was also supposed to have a clinic. I'm not sure what the status of that is. They were trying to get a hospital located in Calhoun County to operate it. They declined on the first go-around. The board has changed. It may be up for reconsideration. 

I'm five minutes away from an old-fashioned country store. They carry quite a few plumbing, electrical and hardware items that saves a trip to Weston or in most cases now, Buckhannon.


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## Hollowdweller (Jul 13, 2011)

Darren said:


> You're right about the medical situation. The ambulance authority does their best. There is a small clinic that opened a few years ago. That won't do you any good after hours.
> 
> The college recently opened a portion of a new building that will serve several purposes. Land resources moved in for the new school year. It was also supposed to have a clinic. I'm not sure what the status of that is. They were trying to get a hospital located in Calhoun County to operate it. They declined on the first go-around. The board has changed. It may be up for reconsideration.
> 
> I'm five minutes away from an old-fashioned country store. They carry quite a few plumbing, electrical and hardware items that saves a trip to Weston or in most cases now, Buckhannon.


 
So the Forestry Dept is not there in the Eberle bldg anymore???


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Thankfully I've got an paramedic that lives about a mile from me... I hear he's one of the best in the state... and the fire department  I just hope they aren't busy if I ever need them.. but better off, hope I don't need them.. 

BTW Darren... I was wondering where the LifeFlight comes from that would land at the Weston band-aid station?

That whole job situation out there has me a little worried though... It's going to be tough I'm sure just walking in much of anywhere and getting a job...


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Hollowdweller said:


> So the Forestry Dept is not there in the Eberle bldg anymore???


Eberle Hall was demolished this year to make room for the new building. 

Healthnet usually flys out of Ripley or Buckhannon for this area.

http://www.healthnetaeromedical.com/servicearea.html


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## simi-steading (Sep 27, 2012)

Thanks Darren. I had no idea.. I figured the closest place would be Charleston.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

If they're not already on a call, it doesn't take long. We always have to hustle to get the landing zone setup before they arrive.


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