I bought a beautiful 1.3 acre lot out in the county near a river for 175k.  It has a huge septic already in, a good well and an existing home from the early 1920's that I am planning on tearing down.  The area has million dollar homes right down the street on some 5 acre lots so I think there quite a bit of potential for a custom build.

My question is, what to build?  I have considered building a big beautiful custom home and have interviewed builders but that requires a lot of cash down, I was quoted $184 a sq ft based on the building plans, which put me at around 460k for the build, which brings me to around 635k all in.  Based on the lot size and lack of comparable properties in the area its been a little hard to project a list price but I would like to clear a good chunk of money for my efforts.  And selling in that 700-900 range properties tend to sit a bit longer because there are less buyers in that price range.

I have also considered building a spec home at a considerably lower price, and I am also toying with the idea of putting a manufactured home on it for around 100k and getting a quick return.  Would love your thoughts Bigger Pockets!