That is a whole other ball game. I don’t want to go into detail but we considered that up here, enough to make 2 offers on raw land/tear downs. Here $2 million per acre will get you raw land. But after hiring contractors and architects we decided against it.

Too many reasons to list but, costs to build here are $450-$600/sf, permits in LAH make the Covenant restrictions look easy as pie, you always go over budget, and the market does not support building 6,000+ sf homes from scratch right now because neighboring finished home values won’t justify the construction loan valuation needed.

I could go on, but I have said to much off track in this thread, which was intended to solicit advice about the areas I am looking in. I realize costs to build in SD are lower, as is the land, but there are other reasons we decided against building ourselves. It is not for the faint at heart or the very busy.

I get your point about wanting a house just right for that price. Hence why we will take our time until we find “just” the right house.