OWNER BUILT | TP OF THE MONTH

March

Evaluating a building site

It seems easy enough, you know the area of town you want to live. You find a lot, that has nice homes in the area and your saving money because your buying directly from the owner of the lot with no realtors involved. Its only after you start your project that you learn there is a $15,000 buy in for the water line in front of the house. Now the electric company informs you your power hasn’t been installed to the property line, but they will gladly do it for a $10,000 fee. It seemed the slope across the lot was mild, but with the pad and retaining walls you take another hit for $20,000, maybe it wasn’t such a good deal after all. Doing your homework before buying a lot is critical, here are a few tips.

• Use a realtor that is familiar with land sales, the realtor will require the seller to fill out a disclosure form that should list items such as water/sewer assessments, access problems, lot line disputes or anything that could effect the value of a lot, like the proposed freeway one block over.

• HOA (home owners association) Many subdivisions have strict and very enforceable restrictions that could effect the cost of construction, style of home, or what you can or cannot do on your property, have your realtor provide you with a copy of these restrictions and find out what the monthly dues are prior to making an offer. You can also have your realtor check the price of any recently sold lots in the area, this will help determine the value of the lot your considering for purchase.

• Zoning, Contact the municipal agency that the lot resides in, ask questions like the minimum square foot home required for the area. If any commercial land is near your lot or if manufactured homes are allowed, and what type of animal privileges are allowed, etc.

• Meet with a construction professional to access the cost to develop the lot, will a pad be required, or expensive retaining walls, are there drainage issue’s, is the soil suitable for building, will the shape of the lot effect the type of house you can build, etc.

Doing a little investigating can go a long ways in considering the purchase of a building site.

* The information contained in this “tips” section is to be used as a general guide only. When making decisions about your project a professional should be consulted using the specific information that is unique to your project.