The appeal of buying a bit of land and building your family home can be so strong that you might be setting yourself up for a lot of extra expense.
Not every plot of land is ready for a house right away.
Yet still we see eager buyers signing without getting a builders' opinion or worse, buying a piece of land without getting a clear title using a title company. Buying land without sound purchasing advice is dangerous.
Here are a few problems that you may run into while buying land.
There isn't an established ingress or egress to the property
Can you get on and off the property that you want to buy? It sounds so simple, but ingress and egress (entry and exit) can be very complicated when it comes to property. Getting to the public road might require an easement to get through somebody else's property. If you didn't know any better, you might wind up buying a property that is land locked, with no simple entry or exit to a public road.
Trees need to be removed
Only certain slopes and areas of land are suitable for a house. It could turn out that trees need to be moved in order make the property suitable for building a home. Of course, moving or removing trees can cost thousands of dollars. If you hadn't planned on it, a problem like this could wreck the budget for your dream home.
The slope of your land needs to be changed
Every piece of land you look at has a slope, sometimes so subtle that you can't tell by simply looking at it. Even though you can't see it, that slope affects whether or not a house can be built on the land. Bringing your property to a specific work would require a tractor, moving dirt and hauling it off, all of which costs quite a bit of money.
Avoid these surprises by consulting a builder
These are only a few of the ways in which a simple land purchase can turn into a nightmare. But you can avoid these problems by having a builder inspect the land you're interested in before you buy it.
If you would like to know more, we have additional information about buying land suitable for building.
