Ever sold a house with a cistern?
I have a country house I'm wanting to sell that has a cistern as its water source. Inevitably some buyers will be turned off immediately because of that. But it's only about 5 miles from the local water supply, where you can fill a 500 gal tank up with just a few quarters. The end of the rural water line is about a half mile away and they quoted me about $60k to run it the rest of the way to the house. There has never been a well on the property that I know of, but with the rocky soil it will cost roughly $5-6k to see if you can get water out of the ground. There may be a local person who hauls water who can be for hire, but no one seems to advertise that they will haul water for a reasonable fee.
Are there any thoughts on anything that would help with marketing or negotiating with a property like this? Should I take a $5-6k risk and drill a well? The house will list for about $160k.