buying land

[HappyCPE]

Lots of good advice here.
My suggestion? Hire an environmental engineer to do a "phase 1 environmental site assesment." He will do a report based on a physical survey, a historical search and public document search. You can do this youself but you may not have the time and probably don't have the expertise. I did one for my place and it was the best $2500 I spent. Not cheap but in NJ you never know what's buried on your land or the neighbor's.

 

[EddieWalker]

Lots of great advice so far.

Listen to it. Really listen to it. MAKE SURE YOU LISTEN TO IT!!!!!!!

The funny thing is that after you buy the place and something comes up, you'll also realize that somebody told you about it, but you didn't listen. It's real easy to focus on all of the positives when buying something you really want, and ignore the little red flags popping up in your mind.

Never assume anything.
NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING!!!!!!

Lots of times you'll see something that you don't understand or doesn't feel right. Especially with neighbors. Assume the worse and make sure it won't affect you.

I had a house on an acre with a neighbor who had 40 acres. He had his water lines runing down the side of the road to an old moble home. Everyone said it was unlivable and that he was going to get rid of it. After I sold the place, he hired a lawyer who threatened to sue me if I didn't run a new water line to his moble so his mom could live there. I asked how he thought it was my responsibility, and he said that I put in a new water line to the house I had and now his water line didn't work anymore.

Turns out he was bluffing and his lawyer backed down when I told them that I'd love to see them in court.

Be very careful of easements and shared roads. This is usually the biggest nightmare you'll have to deal with and it never gets better.

Don't fall in love with the land yet. Think of it as an investment and really, REALLY look at all the negatives. Search out the negatives and TRY to find reasons not to buy the place. If you still want it after you know all the negatives, than it's probably the right thing to do.

If so, congratulations!!!

If not, don's worry, there's always another deal out there someplace.

Eddie

 

[dmccarty]

Posts: 3,506

Re: buying land

Listen to it. Really listen to it. MAKE SURE YOU LISTEN TO IT!!!!!!!

The funny thing is that after you buy the place and something comes up, you'll also realize that somebody told you about it, but you didn't listen. It's real easy to focus on all of the positives when buying something you really want, and ignore the little red flags popping up in your mind.

Never assume anything.
NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING!!!!!!

Lots of times you'll see something that you don't understand or doesn't feel right. Especially with neighbors. Assume the worse and make sure it won't affect you.

Be very careful of easements and shared roads. This is usually the biggest nightmare you'll have to deal with and it never gets better.

Don't fall in love with the land yet. Think of it as an investment and really, REALLY look at all the negatives. Search out the negatives and TRY to find reasons not to buy the place. If you still want it after you know all the negatives, than it's probably the right thing to do.

If not, don's worry, there's always another deal out there someplace.

I redid Eddies words to highlight what HE said. They are VERY important. We almost need a FAQ on land buying advice with a check list of the thoughts that popped up in this thread.

I can't believe it took until Eddie's post to mention easements. Lordy the TBN Collective is loosing it or maybe it just me. If you have not read mbarbs easement nightmare thread do so.....

It took us 4-5 years to find the land we bought. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had been able to buy some of the land we first bid on... THERE ALWAYS IS ANOTHER DEAL OUT THERE. Not get rushed into a deal. We got an awesome deal on ours but it took some huge risk on our part and some big you know what to do what we did. Its worked out but it was risky.

Figure out what you want. Prioritzie the list. And be reasonable. My wife is a broker and has a buyer looking for land. The buyer seem unwilling to compromise on her list. Until she does she will never buy land. She is looking for a parcel that only exists in the Promised Land. She ain't gonna find it here on earth. But make the list and figure out what is important but be ready to change if required. Unless you have Bill Gate's money and then its a moot point.

Later,
Dan

 

[monkeymonk]

Water rights?

who has them if there is any?

We found a choice piece, pasture, hidden nooks,many building sites,trees, roaded and a large fresh water pond Turns out the neighbor below had the rights to the pond and stream which were located in the middle of the property. Now that would hae been a nightmare.

If we had gotten that place than we wouldn't be here and theres no place like home.

good luck!

 

[thatguy]

one thing I havent seen listed is to check deed restrictions.. Down the road you may want to sell off some of the land and it could have restrictions that you cant subdivide..

I doubt that 160 acres would have such a restriction, but better to find out now than when you are ready to give 5 acres to a son/daughter and find out you cant.

 

[HGM]

one thing I havent seen listed is to check deed restrictions.. Down the road you may want to sell off some of the land and it could have restrictions that you cant subdivide..

I doubt that 160 acres would have such a restriction, but better to find out now than when you are ready to give 5 acres to a son/daughter and find out you cant.

Here in Georgia, probably elsewhere too, we have a "conservation" agreement that the land owner can apply for.. This agreement makes it illeagal for you to do anything on the property as far as improvements go... Allot of people here choose to go this route to lower their tax bill and continue to hunt it, just cant cut trees or build anything.. I'm not sure how this would transfer to the new owners, but a 10yr contract would surely put a damper on building your dream home... Something to look into anyhow..

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Here in Georgia, probably elsewhere too, we have a "conservation" agreement that the land owner can apply for.. This agreement makes it illeagal for you to do anything on the property as far as improvements go... Allot of people here choose to go this route to lower their tax bill and continue to hunt it, just cant cut trees or build anything.. I'm not sure how this would transfer to the new owners, but a 10yr contract would surely put a damper on building your dream home... Something to look into anyhow..

A CRP contract might well limit what a parcel of land can be used for until contract runs out. Not sure how ownership transfer of CRP land is handled. Something to check out though.

 

[txdon]

That is a nice size piece of land.

1. Does the land come with the mineral rights? If not try to negotiate them to be transfer to you upon the owners death or a certain number of years.

2. Taxes: In Texas - Is the land currently AG-exempt. Are you going to continue with the Ag practice. If not how high will your property taxes increase?

3. Repeating: Get a survey. NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING.

 

[goodoleboy]

Make Sure you get a survey. If neighbors dispute a fence line or anything else related they can take it up with the Licensed Professional Land Surveyor and In court if need be.


Be aware of future development such highways, commerical zoning possibilities, and neighborhoods.

Look for signs of enviromental damage.. One property I looked at had pertroleum smell in the water. On higher ground I found an old oil holding tank.
Does the property have trails or roads that have been used by locals for years possibly creating an easement?

Have fun, bring a camera and watch out for snakes and critters when walking the properties.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

Lots of good advice, when/if you make an offer have it contingent on many of these items that people have talked about. We had a few contingencies that went like: if the wet land study comes back that we are unable to build on either of the hills, or unable to cross the wet land we could opt out, and she (the owner at the time) paid for the wet land study. If we could build on the hills and cross the wetland we paid for the wet land study. You can do this type of set up with water, permits really anything that you want.

Get actual bids not ball park bids, for the power, phone, road, the actual permit costs for a home and shop.

dmccarty, got lucky not having to pay for his power, we paid around $5,000 for 1200 feet, and that is not including the trench. Just so we could have electricity we were into it for just shy of $10,000.

steve