Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Questions to ask when buying land.

My wife and are are on the 10 year countdown to retirement. We would like to buy land, put a camper on it for now, and build on it when we retire and sell our house. This is the only house we've ever owned, and we bought as a For Sale By Owner. We don't want to screw our selves over, and we're newbies at this. What questions do we need to be asking? Should we go through a realtor or go it alone and just take a lawyer to the closing?

We plan on putting in the driveway and utilities unless we find a parcel that's all ready "plumbed." We are looking for 10-40 acres, and I want to be able to shoot/hunt on my property.

What all do we need to be asking when we go look at properties?

What research do we need to do on our own before making an offer?

Thanks for your help guys.

Best Regards,

Gophergunner

Good questions

Use google maps on satelite view to look the land as well as surrounding properties, this is a good way to narrow down the searching and see if there are neighbors with crap scattered all over their property. Look at well and septic reports for surrounding properties. Look at sex offender registries and criminal reports for the area. Check out flood maps to see of the property is in a flood plane. Don't be in a hurry and spend time researching properties in a general area to get an idea of what the market price is per acre. Talks to builders in the area to get an idea of what type of properties to avoid and what issues you might face. Plenty of properties that look good at a glance can have issues that will cost an additional $50-100k to deal with, i.e. steep properties, shallow bedrock that requires blasting, peat that has to be dug up and replaced with fill etc. It's well worth spending a year researching properties in an are to get a feel for it and to know when a good property that is fairly priced hits the market you're set to grab it.

A good realtor is worth working with and will steer you clear of properties that should be avoided. 90% of realtors aren't worth a damn, sometimes that seams to be the case with vacant land.

around here the first question to ask is about the perc test for the soil.

Sister bought a farm with serious acreage with the intent to build, found out all that land could only support one house due to the soil conditions for a septic system. Sounds ok except she was planning on selling some parcels off down the road.

Zoning, flood plain, septic permits and types allowed , well depths in the area. Zoning and use of surrounding property, covenants, utilities distance.

Always get title insurance

Zoning? covenants if it's a "subdivision? perked for septic, if so, conventional or alternative? easements? DOT entrance? power company costs to provide service? HOA fees? Property taxes in that locale? Is it in the 100 yr Flood plain? Mineral rights convey if applicable?

Yes, title Insurance for sure. It saved me $8500.

If you’re gonna build one day, make sure it will perk for a septic system. Make sure water is available. Ask the utlity company (water department) or is drilling a well feasible? Talk to an engineer at the power company. How close is power now to the property ? How much it will it cost to get it there? It’s $8 per foot here to go from the (overhead) closest pole and bring it to your site. You get 350 feet free, but still it adds up quick.

Basicly, is sewer (septic), water and power available?might be difficult to build there if not.

If a local planning/zoning/ building Department exists, it wouldn’t hurt to contact them and talk about that property and your future plans to build. They can be a lot of help in giving you information as it relates to your questions.

The area in which you are looking will determine what you need to look for, and remember this property is "what you want" not what someone else sees as their dream property. Realtors are unemployed democratic candidates, or part time swimming pool sales specialist or a combination of both that were lucky enough to still live at their parents home. Much like pitbulls, some people speak highly of them, until they bite your face off, use your head and avoid both pitbulls and realtors.
Drinking water, a flat place to build and a legal septic system are all essential, the rest can be anything you want, swamp land makes for some great hunting and is a whole lot cheaper than riverfront.

Good luck in your search, you will know it when you see the piece you want, aim high go for 40 average acres over 10 "must have" acres, you can always improve your land, but not always your neighbors.

Did I mention to avoid realtors?

We have purchased 2 parcels of raw land and in each case, we ultimately built on both. The first was 40 acres and the second is 282 acres. Prior to the first raw land purchase we lived in a house on five acres. Some of the key considerations that we had as we looked for properties (and we looked at over 100 over four years before we purchased our current 282 acres) - First we looked for areas of the state in which we wanted to live - i.e. the preferred topography, nearness to larger cities/towns, the type of rural community (ag, forestry, retirement hobby farms). It took us a while to figure that out. Once we did, we started to look at specific properties in several likely areas. You will become attuned to understanding easements (both on your property and those that your property has over an adjoining property, survey property lines versus fenced property line (trying to find corner pins can be tough in some cases). Then we started looking at potential home sites, road access to that home site, how power and phone lines would be brought in, what is the local history for wells (if springs are not available). The very first thing we did on both acreages once in our possession was to drill a well. In both case we were lucky (and successful). We also looked carefully at our neighboring properties to see how close our neighbors were and to some degree - what kind of neighbors would they be. Obviously, price was a critical factor, but over time we developed a spreadsheet that helped us to understand what the going price was per acre, depending on what type of land it was. It would have been much easier if we had had Google earth,

Along with all that, you might just stop at a place, neighbor to be, and ask about these issues?

well.... i am not an attorney or realtor, but did do a lot of surveying which meant i spent alot of time reading deeds, wills etc found tracts that people wanted to sell, but pappys estate was not settled yet and there were other owners (heirs)
found old right of ways reserved in deeds, restrictions on property, and a bunch of other stuff ..
so heres my 2cents :

get the address or at least a close one and put it here https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search to see if its in a flood zone.
my state laws mandate that you have to be 500 feet from a dwelling to shoot a firearm.
some tracts have restrictions, and/or homeowner assoc fees
what will it cost to have utilities brought to your site
how much are the taxes per year
is it in a conservatory program
are the minerals rights included
how deep to water (local drillers would have an idea, or neighbors)
can they show you the corners and lines of the property
google some other sites regarding crime rates, perverts etc
does the County have Planning Regs, check with them also
whats the soil type, will a standard septic suffice; again local neighbors or health dept.
if your going to do it alone, make sure seller has 100% interest they are selling, and no liens or other encumbrances
against it. thats something you could (should) pay your attorney to check on, and make them go back more than their standard research term.
weigh the difference of going thru a realtor vs going it alone; alot of this the realtor should (better) already know, and you can make an offer less than the asking price
thats just off the top of my head, i am sure others will chime in...

ps... Good for you guys for planning ahead, and best wishes in your search..
man, i am a slow typer ... told you others would post

Do you own the land you're selling?

Contact surrounding land/home owners
Question the people with decent homes
That don't have junk trucks , mowers , atvs all around their trailers
Clusters of places like this might be a tell tale sign.
Look at condition of homes in areas
Tell ya what type of problems you might have

Questions about bubba,s riding 4 wheelers like everyone's
Land is theirs

Poaching problems

Arseholes speeding everywhere

Basically try to avoid living around Larry the cable guy and his extended
Family and friends.

Real estate agents ain't gonna tell ya chyt like this
Find it out beforehand before you have to live with it after buying.

A dozen years ago my wife was looking at houses in a small town in WA. The realtor wasn't allowed to say if a neighborhood was crime free or not. They had some stupid city ordinance about it or something. What she did say was how many large dogs you should have in certain areas. If you needed 3 or more dogs, that was a hint to keep looking. 0 to 2 dogs was much better. A few areas required as many as 5 dogs and she wouldn't even show properties there.

The last thing I want to do, is let anyone local know that I'm interested in a property until I have a signed sales agreement in my hand.

Just one for around here, check that the fences are where they should be. Forest Service started checking fence locations a few years ago and some were way off. In one case the "owners" choldn't believe that great-grandpa had put the fence in the wrong place. He had. By about a half mile.

Around here (I know, I know), you need to see if you can build at all due to land use ordinances. Lot's of stories about buying a piece of land and not being allowed to build due to growth boundaries, etc.

Mineral Rights?
Rights of Way?
Easements?
Full access all borders?
Utilities?
Mud District?
Hud District?
School Taxes?

You're right. That could create interested competition. Nothing can stimulate bids like an outsider interested in moving to the neighborhood. By the way, what is wrong with redneck neighbors with a little junk and 4 wheelers. I guess a lot of folks would not like my rifle range.