Tennessee is known for it's panoramic mountain views. Lots and acreage can be found in your typical subdivision and country settings. With gently rolling or steep inclines purchasing a piece of property is more than the beauty captured in a picture.

In order to protect you, your new investment there are 2 essential steps prior to purchasing your new parcel. I strongly suggest while negotiating you ask your agent to place a contingency in your offer to purchase. A contingency protects you. It allows you to gracefully and legally terminate your offer IF your contingency has not been met.

For example : You are purchasing a 1 acre parcel. There are no documents on file. No one knows if this particular piece of property will pass a soil test or what the property will certify for as far as a septic goes. Let's say you plan on building a 3 bedroom home on that particular parcel. The Environmental Department are the only professionals who can certify a permit for a 3 bedroom septic.

Your contingency should read something like this :

Contingent upon approved soil test AND property must certify for no less than 3 bedroom septic.

Prior to any test's being performed on your specified parcel you will need to go to the property location and stake it out with flags where your building site will be. The Environmental offices will not perform any of the necessary test's without the building site being staked out.

A soil analysis - Will cost roughly about $250.00. The soil analysis will tell you if the soil is viable to hold a septic system. It will not tell you what size septic the soil will hold.

Septic Certification - This will also cost roughly about $250.00. You should be prepared to go to your Department of Environmental Office with a copy of your soil test , your check and complete a small application. This application gives the needed information on the parcels location, where the "assumed" location of the home will be built. Upon environmantal's analysis they will certify that particular property based on what the analysis produces ie : 1, 2  or 3 bedroom if it certifies at all. These certifications are good for 5 years.

A septic certification can NOT be completed without a soil test unless you are purchasing multiple tracks of land ( 10+, however, please be sure to check with your Department of Environmental Services for their criteria )

I strongly suggest you have BOTH test's done PRIOR to the purchase of your new investment. In many cases just because the parcel passes a soil test does NOT mean it will certify for your desired number of bedrooms. We have had many cases where a particular parcel passes the soil test but ONLY certifies for a 1 bedroom septic.

Understand : These test's are different. By-passing the septic permit for simply a soil test can cost you a lot more money later if your parcel will not hold a septic system that will suit your needs.

If at some point you decided to move the location of where you originally wanted to build your home...the soil test and certification are void...and you must repeat steps 1 and 2. So be sure where you have staked out the property for environmental is the actual building place.

Courtesy of Melissa Grant, Affiliate Broker