What comes first? House or Land?

Getting started is probably the hardest part of moving a house. Your land must fit the house and the house must fit the land. If one of them doesn't, then the project will not work. If you only have a short period of time then getting things to work could be tricky.

I bought my piece of land with a trailer already on it and lived in the trailer for 5 years before moving to my new house. Once I was in the new house I looked around for another two years until I finally found a house that was suitable for my land. Once I found the house, it was just a matter of moving the trailer off the land and moving the house on.

I looked at houses for about 4 years before I found a house that was suitable. My trailer was located on a road that was about 30 feet wide, with large pine trees on each side of it- this meant I was limited to a house that was less than 30 feet wide!

Unlike shopping for a new house or buying a house with the property it's on, when looking at a house that will have to be moved you have much less of a selection and will have to settle on what's available, although you can get lucky. The house I moved was one of the nicer houses I'd looked at.

One of the restraints you'll face is that a house that has to moved usually has some kind of a deadline. In most cases, a house is being moved because someone wants to use the land for another purpose. I had about 3 months to move my house. For that reason it may be better to find the land first. On the other hand, if you come across a house that you really like, then it could be risky to pass it up. I've know people to store their homes on an empty lot while they found a piece of land that was suitable for their house.

Keep in mind that unless you have cash, you'll be paying interest on either the house or the land while you're waiting for the other to become available- that will add to the cost of the total project.

So.... there is not a set rule on which comes first. You'll have to look around see what land is available, what houses are available and look at your finances to determine how you want to move forward.