Before buying land to build a custom home

[Diana Holbrook]

Originally Posted by riffwraith

You don't need a buyers agent here. In this sit., there is nothing an agent will do for you that a good experienced atty can not.

I don't think the need is legal advice, the need is property development and building expertise. Some agents have that, but not all. Normally you want to make an offer on the property that is contingent on a Feasibility Study that would lock up the property during a study where you confirm the land is suitable for your plans. Then you will need to do that work. It will involve a potentially several experts and tradespeople you'll need to find and get bids from. An agent familiar with vacant land transactions can help get the property under contract at the price you want to offer with those contingencies and timelines in place.

OP I would also be talking to the builder you have in mind for the property. They should be well familiar with what needs to be done at the site and what order to do things in.

You will need to know about site regulations that matter - i.e. wetlands and wetland buffers, endangered species or special restrictions, flood plains, covenants, soil types and drainage, whether there is sewer or you will need to do septic drainage testing and design a septic, run power, install a well or run other utilities.

If it's a large property, you'll need to decide where you'd like to plan the home site, and that decision may be decided according to the considerations above and cost to run utilities some distance. Again, a builder or site engineer might be appropriate depending on how much of the above work has already been done on the site.

[MidValleyDad]

Does the lot meet current local zoning to be built on? In the towns around here many existing lots of record that were platted before current zoning and building setbacks were enacted. For example many are only 40' wide (although they are 200' deep because back then you needed space for a stable with your horse and cow) So given current standard setbacks of 10' on each side you could only build a 20' wide house. Now getting a special exception is not really a big deal but it is an extra series of steps that can be confusing if you haven't been through it. As others mentioned you need to make sure you can get a water and sewer connection (which may come with a substantial 'tap fee' ours is currently about $18,000 and may be raised this coming year to about $26,000). AT one point a few years ago we were under a state mandated consent decree and had a waiting list for sewer taps because due to a drought the flow in the waterway we discharge to had dropped and put it in a different category for discharge chemistry and we had to upgrade the plant (or wait for the drought to end).

[rabbit33]

Clear title, valid survey, status of mineral rights and water rights.

[TamaraSavannah]

When I was buying my ranch, I charted a small airplane and pilot and did a photo recon over the land.