Buying land for the first time: ten mistakes we see every month
Houses come with a lender, an appraiser and an inspector checking the work. Raw land comes with none of that. Here is what first-time buyers miss.
When you buy a house, several paid professionals quietly check the deal for you. A lender orders an appraisal. An inspector walks the structure. A title company reads the chain. Buy five acres of raw land with cash and none of that happens. Nobody is checking anything unless you ask for it.
1. Assuming a road means access
The most expensive first-time mistake. Physical access — a driveway, a track, an open gate — is not legal access. Legal access is a public road frontage or a recorded easement that runs with the land. Without it the parcel is landlocked, and every lender and every future buyer will find that out.
2. Trusting the acreage instead of the buildable acreage
Twenty acres with three buildable acres is a three-acre property with a twenty-acre tax bill. Flood zone, floodway, wetlands, slope and setbacks all subtract from what you can actually use.
3. Believing the seller about zoning
What a parcel is zoned and what the county will permit today are two different questions, and the answer to the second one is only good in writing. Call the planning department yourself and describe your actual plan.
4. Not asking where the water comes from
Public water, a well, or nothing. Well permits are restricted in more places every year, and in some basins pumping is allocated. Confirm the rule that applies to this parcel, not the rule that applied to the neighbor in 2009.
5. Skipping the septic question
No sewer means septic, and septic needs soil that drains. County health departments keep records of past percolation tests, failures included. A quiet relisting after a failed perc is a common pattern.
6. Forgetting that someone else may own what is underneath
Minerals are severed from the surface in much of the country. A severed mineral owner can have the right to use the surface to reach them. This does not always kill a deal, but it should never be a surprise after closing.
7. Not reading the restrictions in full
Covenants, conservation easements, agricultural contracts and old subdivision restrictions are recorded documents. Read them. A single line about manufactured homes, livestock or rentals can end the plan you bought the land for.
8. Underwriting the seller's tax bill
Agricultural and preferential assessments can trigger rollback taxes when the use changes, and in some states assessed value resets on transfer. Model the bill you will pay after you buy and after you build.
9. Ignoring the cost of getting to buildable
Driveway, culvert, power run, well, septic, clearing, permits and impact fees routinely add more than the purchase price on a cheap rural parcel. That number, not the listing price, is what you are really deciding on.
10. Writing an offer with no way out
Anything you cannot resolve before signing belongs in the contract as a contingency: survey, perc, access, financing, permit feasibility. Contingencies are how a first-time buyer buys time to be right.
- Prove legal access from a recorded document, not a driveway.
- Map flood, floodway and wetlands before you value the acreage.
- Ask the planning department about your plan, in writing.
- Confirm water and septic feasibility under today's rules.
- Price the road to buildable, then decide.
Want this run on your parcel instead of read about? We research one parcel at a time, flat fee, no commission.
Land due diligence: the complete guide — our full hub of land research guides, from title and access to soils, zoning and cost.