Reddit mentions of The Septic System Owner's Manual

You're welcome. It seemed that my own choices/experience lined up with the kind of place you were already picturing.

There is other stuff too -- but most of that is more in the form of "generic" home buying advice (i.e. make certain you get a REALLY GOOD home inspection done before signing, ideally you should be there WITH the guy as he inspects the place).

And in addition to the basics of "inspection" {blatant of big existing problems} you also want to checking for {and at least know about} things like what construction/material choices went into the place {watch out for particle board [bad] or OSB/chipboard [not so great] or plywood [better] or actual boards [best]; and look for PVC/CPVC [acceptable] or copper [best] supply line plumbing rather than Galvanized [bad] or blue Polybutylene [BAD] or even PEX [trendy/debtable], etc -- Cf http://plumbing.about.com/od/basics/tp/Types-Of-Pipe.htm -- Oh and note that copper has other advantages {antimicrobial, etc} that often aren't talked about, and that the other types of pipe lack; plus while PEX is "fast" and cheap to install, it's durability over decades is questionable {tends to get brittle is exposed to UV -- and not all vendors properly store their PEX out of sunlight -- tubing installed might work fine for 10 years, then become brittle and something triggers a break and suddenly start flooding the walls, and unlike copper, "patching" a section of pipe isn't really possible}).

Or other things like making certain the house ISN'T in some recently land-filled or the low-lying area (not just some "flood plain", but you want to avoid too much settling or shifting, not to mention seasonal "muck") -- ideally you should rather want the house itself to be located up a bit higher than much of the surrounding land, enough so that natural drainage will prevent "wet/damp basement" problems, and so on.

Also... especially if you're looking for exurban/rural "country" home & land... make certain you learn a bit about private wells, and private septic systems. Both so that you know what "inspections" should be done, as well as how to "live with" a small residential septic system -- people moving out from cities where they are used to city water/sewer, tend to NOT understand that a private well and private septic are DIFFERENT critters; for example, you don't use the toilet as a "garbage disposal" the way many city folk use their sewer system (at least not unless you want to have to rip out and replace your entire septic leech bed). Think about picking up one of the following (or similar):

• http://www.amazon.com/Septic-System-Owners-Manual/dp/0936070404/
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Country-Plumbing-Living-Septic-System/dp/0911469346/
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Septic-Systems-Slickers-Nancy-Martin/dp/0992367700/
  
  I'd do some additional reading (books or online) about building -- even if you're planning on buying something already existing rather than building your own place -- but keep in mind that a LOT of crap is focused on what is "trendy" and aesthetically appealing (i.e. resale "value" and/or spec home crap designed to get WOMEN to "fall in love" with "dream homes" and etc) rather than solid advice on livability/durability. Plus of course, most everything in the industry is aimed at "families" rather than single people (especially single MEN).. who are considered an unimportant/irrelevant and trivial market niche.

You need this:

https://www.amazon.com/Septic-System-Owners-Manual/dp/0936070404/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523974654&sr=8-1&keywords=septic+system+owners+manual&dpID=6161zjPsUoL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch