Tips for buying land

I love to work with buyers considering a land purchase. It gives me a change from the usual home sales. I get many inquires from people considering buying land. Most are looking for a place to build a home on but, some are just looking for the land for investment or recreational purposes such as hunting.

When purchasing land there are many details to take into consideration than many people realize. Here are some important tips and information to consider when purchasing a piece of land.

1. Zoning- Different tracts of land will have different zoning which affect the possible uses for that land. Zoning classifications can also vary greatly between states, cities, and counties so it is important you have a knowledgeable agent and/or check with local planning and zoning offices to get the information you need.  With codes such as RC, A, R-1, R-3, PUD, MUD, ORI, I, VC, etc... it can get confusing. If you are looking to find land to subdivide make sure you know how the zoning affects that. For example in Frederick County MD if you buy 9 acres of resource conservation you probably will be unable to subdivide it since you need a minimum of 5 acres per lot but with tract of land zoned Agricultural you may be able to get 4 lots total out of it. Although if this land has already been subdivided since the mid-70's you most likely will be unable to subdivide anymore.

The zoning can affect everything from what type of home you can put on the property to what activities you can legally do on it. Therefore make sure it fits your needs.

2. Water, sewer and other utilities - If you plan on building a home, knowing where will the utilities comes from is very important. If the land isn't available for public water and sewer hookup you will want to make sure that first, it will pass a percolation test for a suitable septic system. It may not pass for a conventional system although a sand mound system may be acceptable. This could triple the cost for installation.

Is electric close? It could be a 1/2 mile away and for you to run it that distance could be quite expensive.

3. Surveys - Making sure a recent survey has been done is very important to make sure you are buying what you expect. I have seen properties that are shown to have a certain acreage size in the tax records only to have less (or more) after a survey was done.

4. Easements -Making sure you have access to the property is important. If the access goes across another property you want to make sure you have a legal easement or you could have problems. Also does anyone else have the right to go across or use  the property.

5. Land features - Having the land in a flood zone could be an obvious problem but also making sure that the land wasn't once a swamp that has been filled in, or that the soil is stable, or even a large amount of rock could be a hefty cost when digging a foundation. Some features are obvious others may not be.

6. Desired qualities - These are usually the obvious which buyers set out with at the onset to look for. Acreage size, remoteness, wooded vs. open, stream/pond, great views are just some of them. Although many of us want everything... the view, large acreage, water oriented, we need to prioritize unless you have unlimited spending power.

Good luck land hunting!

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