Buying a parcel of Land

[LTb1ow]

Just a very early research into this.

Looking to buy a piece of land, and from what I found banks are very tough on lending money for barren lots. Seem to want 20-40% down for mortgage.

Does this normally mean you need to find land owned by builder/developer and buy the "house"? I know that what my parents did, but I was looking at a large plot in nowhere land not upcoming suburbia.

Thoughts?

[PolarBear]

Where are you looking? Is it coincidence with this election that this post has gone up? lol. I was just thinking this morning that I need to move ASAP




if not sooner

[LTb1ow]

When wife finishes school/residency, will need to move to where she is. Hoping for Dauphin county PA area.

Just so happens that current political atmosphere will make the move better

Basically trying to get a handle on whats needed to be done in order to buy property, then build a house on it. Without being a millionaire fronting it myself.

[wretched73]

Did you mention to the bank that you would be building a house on it? Maybe they assume you're buying it as an investment? In that case it would likely be harder for them to recoup their money if you didn't pay the mortgage on it where as a house would be a faster flip and less risk to the bank

Edit- so with this thought, maybe you can get approved for X amount for the land and pre approved for a future amount (Y) to build the house.

[sweetbmxrider]

Start squattin son!

[ar0ck]

I researched this as well a while ago. Its high risk for banks, for instance if someone purchases land, and abandons it, its difficult for the banks to recoup their money. What I gathered was it was best to buy parcels privately. I know for the VA Loan, in order to receive money for plots of land you need to have house blueprints on hand.

[BonzoHansen]

mobile home!

[unstable bob gable]

I own a one inch by one inch square of soil from Area 51.

[The_Bishop]

You are part of the government coverup!

[unstable bob gable]

Originally Posted by The_Bishop

You are part of the government coverup!

[1QWIKBIRD]

Originally Posted by ar0ck

I researched this as well a while ago. Its high risk for banks, for instance if someone purchases land, and abandons it, its difficult for the banks to recoup their money. What I gathered was it was best to buy parcels privately. I know for the VA Loan, in order to receive money for plots of land you need to have house blueprints on hand.

This ^^^ is pretty accurate info. Banks don't like lending money on undeveloped land, especially if its far off the beaten path. It sounds like you would need to investigate a construction loan, which may be one way to secure some cash from a lender, then convert the construction loan into a typical mortgage. I do surveying for a living and we deal with this sort of stuff all the time. Ideally, you would be best served to find a piece of land, owned by a small spot builder, and go through the builder initially, then convert to a typical mortgage. Builders sometime have financial relationships with banks and lending institutions to get project started.

Look for land that already has approvals to build, and make sure those approvals have not expired. Sometimes, perc tests, well tests etc all need to be updated or sometimes, the regulations change and what was once acceptable, no longer is. Land with approvals will cost more, but is also more attractive to a potential lender for obvious reasons.

Be wary of land with lots of environmental restrictions (flood zones, wetlands, etc.) as this is just more headache you want to avoid.

To buy a random piece of land, outsource the engineering, architecture, surveying, get approvals etc from planning board, then act as your own Construction Manager takes a decent amount of liquid cash up front and whole bunch of time potentially. Depending on the land and where it is, it could take years to get through an approval proce$$.

Good luck, do lots of homework.

[LS1ow]

Originally Posted by 1QWIKBIRD

Be wary of land with lots of environmental restrictions (flood zones, wetlands, etc.) as this is just more headache you want to avoid.

We recently bought a new piece of land for our new dealership and ran into a ton of problems like this. I think we had to purchase some land elsewere and keep it preserved or something along those lines.

[qwikz28]

Originally Posted by LS1ow

We recently bought a new piece of land for our new dealership and ran into a ton of problems like this. I think we had to purchase some land elsewere and keep it preserved or something along those lines.

That's unique to your area because of the Meadowlands Conservation Trust.