Selling 5 Acres and a Newer Home in Onalaska: The Combination Buyers Rarely Get

Almost everyone shopping for acreage ends up making the same trade, usually without being told they're about to. You can have the new house, in which case it sits on a quarter acre in a subdivision with a covenant about your fence. Or you can have the five acres, in which case you inherit a house from 1974 and a list of projects. Land and new construction almost never show up on the same listing, because nobody builds new houses one at a time out in the county.

This property was the exception, and that's what I marketed. Five acres of pasture and scattered trees down a quiet country road, with a practically new home sitting on it. No subdivision, no covenants, no thirty-year-old systems to replace in your first winter.

Inside, it's finished like somebody expected to live there rather than flip it. Central air, which is a genuine quality-of-life item in Lewis County now and something almost no older rural home has. Knotty alder cabinets and a spacious island in the kitchen. A primary suite with a large en-suite, double sinks, a big walk-in shower and real storage. And both a main living room and a separate family room, which in a 1,866 square foot house is a smarter use of space than one oversized great room, because it means two things can happen at once without anyone having to leave.

The five acres do what five acres should. Open pasture with scattered trees, room for animals or a garden or just distance from the neighbors, close to lakes, hunting, fishing and skiing. Sold in August 2023.

Worth saying plainly, since I was the one fielding the calls: this one financed every conventional way, FHA, VA, USDA and conventional all on the table. USDA in particular matters out here, because it's zero down in this area and a lot of buyers who assume acreage is out of reach have never been told that.

Most acreage listings ask a buyer to compromise on the house. This one didn't, and that's the whole pitch.