Whats the big deal?

   “How hard can it be to buy a good piece of dirt?” The fact is, when most people begin to buy land to build a home on, they approach the process completely backwards. The majority of homesite buyers put more effort and planning into the kitchen cabinets than into picking the land. Crazy but true. You and your family are going to be living in the home and spending the majority of your time in that structure. You want to make it just right; a place to enjoy your family, rest and relax and generally live the dream of home ownership in a beautiful environment. And I understand that thinking. Planning your kitchen and bathrooms, bedrooms and home color is a lot more fun that thinking about a piece of dirt. But nothing will effect your investment more than placing it on a quality lot - it’s the one decision that is unchangeable.

   Beyond a short list of “wants”, when it comes to lot buying, few people really get into the nuts and bolts of looking for one. The few that do reap the rewards of their efforts for not only as long as they own that land, but often on the resale value as well.

   Here’s the short and simple truth. When your home gets outdated you can redecorate. When you have a child or two or an elderly parent needs to move in, you can add a room or finish off a basement for more space. When the kids move out, you can move some walls and make a big hobby room for your retirement pleasure. Feel like putting in a shed? Go for it. Want to add a deck? Have a great time. All of this is doable with time, planning and, of course, money.

   However once you purchase land, no matter what happens in the future; you can not change your lot. You’re stuck with it. When something happens that has a negative effect on your property however, there is often very little, if anything, you can do about it. Once you own a piece of property you are at the mercy of those around you. They are going to do whatever they are allowed to do with or on their own land. Never assume you know what people can and can’t do with that property.

   Let’s look at some examples assuming you’ve just closed on your dream lot a month ago.

 - What happens if someone builds a gas station on that woody piece of land right behind your lot? As long as it’s allowed by the zoning board, sorry there’s nothing you can do about it. Sure you can put your house up for sale, but what’s happened to the resale value? Before you had a nice wooded lot behind you, now a 24 hour gas station and convenience store with glaring lights and cars coming and going all day and night long.

 - You suddenly realize that the left side of your lot floods every spring? That’s too bad.

 - You’re buying a few acres and you never walked the whole lot. Now you’ve got a $2000 bill to remove rusty old oil drums? 

 - As hunting season comes around, you suddenly realize that every hunter in a three county radius parks and parties in the field across the street for four weeks? The guy that owns that land allowed this for years; he’s one of them!

- Your homeowners association builds a maintenance shed for all the lawn mowers in the development right outside your kitchen window? The association approved the new building two years before you bought your land.

- The town builds a major four lane bypass that runs right past your once quiet street? It was approved two years ago by the town board.

See where I’m going with this?

- You buy your lot and turn in the floor plans for your dream home only to find out there is a 60 foot easement running down the side property line. Your floor plan not only won’t fit on the lot but you can only build a much smaller home. You didn’t do your homework.

- A guy down the street builds a motocross track in his back yard for his three sons’ dirt bikes. And they ride every morning before school, after school ‘til dark, and all day Saturday and Sunday. Nothing in your town code says he can’t do it!

 - The old shooting range down the road that everyone told you closed years ago has reopened for business? It’s free shotgun rental day and they are lining up! Or, those old railroad tracks, right behind your land, that haven’t been used since the Great Depression suddenly come back into service? Things change. These types of situations happen all the time.

   Sure, you can raise hell, call the papers, call the cops, get an attorney and sue the town. While you’re at it, get all the neighbors up in arms with pitchforks and torches…make it a party. But here’s the thing…99.9% of the time, when there are issues like the examples above, it’s totally legal and approved. It’s been on the books for years, or it’s simply zoned that way or, even simpler, there’s nothing to say they can’t do it. Does it have a negative impact on your land? Sure! Is it fair? Depends on how you look at it! But it happens all the time.  And whose fault is it you didn’t know? Your real estate agent, your lawyer, the guy who sold you the land?

   In the end, it really dosen’t matter. If the above happens you are the proud owner of a bad lot. You’ve got to deal with the noise, hassle and/or resale value hit  Someone once said: “The best way to get out of a bad situation is never to get in it in the first place.” When it comes to land that sentance hits the nail on the head. Do your homework before you buy land and make sure you read the next post before you starting looking at home sites.