TIPS FOR BUYING LAND: PART ONE

You’ve decided you’d like to buy some land. Land is a great investment and a wonderful alternative to buying stocks or bonds. We here at UC Midwest Lifestyle Properties want to give you some money and time-saving tips for buying land.

Land flipping is fast becoming a great investment tool. Here is a checklist of questions and suggestions we’d like to share with you on buying land:

• Know the terrain
• Cleared land or treed land
• Is this land a wetland area
• Flood zone
• Access to county maintained road
• Utilities present
• Cell service quality
• Who’s in the neighborhood
• Endangered species
• How is the land zoned

TERRAIN

“Stand on your investment” is our favorite tagline, but it’s a wise tip we give to all our customers- get on the land and look around. Our real estate team takes great pride in getting to know “the lay of the land” by walking the property and you should be doing this as well.

Walking the parcel gives you a definite feel for the land. You’ll be able to see many features of the land such as trees, hills, cliffs, marsh, pond, agricultural area, building sites, etc. If you can, take a notebook and roughly sketch out the different terrain.

In addition to getting out and walking the land, you can also employ a handy tool called Google Earth Desktop. This is an indispensable tool, which is free to use. Google Earth can also be used in conjunction with other programs providing you with soil information as well as wetland mapping. The more information you can arm yourself with, the better prepared you are for making the best deal on your land investment.

CLEARED OR TREED LAND?

Depending on what you want to do with the land, having the land cleared or treed land is a big deal. Be sure to pay attention to the land comparisons in the area as this affects the price greatly.

Cutting down trees is not as simple as it was 50 years ago. Check with local, county, and state regulations. There are many avenues to investigate when considering cutting down trees. Some even may be money generating and improve the value of the land.

Understand and familiarize yourself with local covenants, conditions and restrictions. Better to be safe than sorry. It could end up costing you a lot of money for “assuming” mistakes.

WETLAND

Anyone, anywhere wishing to buy land had better be paying attention to a wetland. What may sound like a “steal of a deal price”, could end up becoming a big surprise if you don’t do your homework.

Wetlands, per the EPA, is defined as:

“Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season. Water saturation (hydrology) largely determines how the soil develops and the types of plant and animal communities living in and on the soil. Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species. The prolonged presence of water creates conditions that favor the growth of specially adapted plants (hydrophytes) and promote the development of characteristic wetland (hydric) soils.”-EPA WEBSITE

Wetlands are also categories of wetland:

1. costal or tidal
2. inland or non-tidal

Then from there, we move into a classification of wetland and types of wetland. Wetlands are their own ecosystem and therefore have regulations that you must follow and abide by. 

A great tool to use is the National Wetlands Inventory Mapper. This can also be used in conjunction with Google Earth Desktop. Wetlands greatly affect how you will be using your property and therefore may be costly in consideration of building a home and accessing it on the land.

FLOOD ZONE

Having land that is in a flood zone isn’t necessarily a bad deal. Flood zones are determined by FEMA. A great mindset to have- floods are common and can happen anywhere at any time. Depending on your project type, check with local insurance companies if flood insurance is available in that area.

Check back with our UC Midwest Lifestyle Properties blog for part two of “Tips for Buying Land”. We hope to see you soon and be a supportive part of your next land purchase.