The ABCs of Getting a Mortgage Loan for First-Timers

Posted on: 2 October 2017

Instead of buying a house, you may have decided to purchase a vacant lot on which you can build your dream home. Before you buy a vacant property, however, use the following tips for checking it out to make sure it is suitable for construction.

Find Out about Any Prior Usage

Finding out about how the lot was used before could impact your ability to build a house on it, as well as how you must deal with the land before construction. For example, if you discover that the property used to be a gas station, there may be underground gas tanks that would have to be removed. Having this done could end up costing you a fortune.

After finding a potential lot, you should first find out about any prior usage of the land. You can either ask the seller or real estate agent, or you could check with the courthouse for any public records regarding the property. If you find out the property has always been vacant or used to have a house on it, you can then go ahead and continue your investigation of the lot.

Ask about Available Utility Hookups

Another thing you should ask about before considering the purchase of a specific lot is the availability of utilities. Ideally, water, sewage, and electrical lines should be easily accessible or already installed on the property.

If the lot has not been set up for any utilities, you will have to have the main lines installed through the individual companies prior to building your new home. Since these endeavors can run into a lot of money, you would have to factor in these costs when totaling the purchase of the property and construction of your house.

Visit the Lot after a Rainstorm

If you first viewed the lot on a dry, sunny day, you may not have a full picture of the drainage capabilities of the land on the lot. To get a view of how well the water runs off of the property, revisit the property during or after a rainstorm.

While inspecting the lot, look for any deep puddles of water that may indicate either a dip in the land or a possible sinkhole. If the entire lot floods during a heavy rain, you may want to reconsider buying it. Even if the land is built up during the construction of your home, you may still face flooding in your basement.

After using the tips above to inspect a potential vacant lot, you may decide you need to look elsewhere. If so, contact your real estate agent to seek recommendations about properties for sale that would be ideal for building your new house. For more information, contact companies like Re/Max of Boulder, Inc.