Finding Your Lot
It took my husband and I years to find our forever land. Of course during this time period, we weren’t always ready to pull the trigger, but that didn’t stop us from constantly checking what was selling on the market. We toggled back and forth from Zillow and Realtor every night before bed. We didn’t expect the housing market to explode; otherwise, we may have purchased sooner. This made things harder as the good lots sold before they even hit the market. Nevertheless, I think where we ended up is going to be perfect.
There are a lot of variables to consider when purchasing land; some are obvious and others not so much. Let’s start with the obvious. We chose the towns that we wanted to live in based first and foremost on proximity to work. I’m a stay at home mom and now builder, so I have the luxury of making my own territory. My husband’s work, however, varies between central and southern New Jersey, so we had to be somewhere in between.
Our next priority was the school district. The listings will provide a rating system on the schools in your area, but we also used US News and World Report as well as Niche in our research. Most importantly, we spoke with parents who had children that went through the school system. There are some things statistics can’t measure.
Another obvious variable was the tax rate. Every town will have its own tax rate. In New Jersey, some of them can get extremely high. We narrowed down the towns we were interested in based on tax rate because we didn’t want to work the rest of our lives to pay off our taxes. We also knew we wanted a larger lot and more luxurious home, so we would most likely be slammed with property tax. We did a simple google search for the tax rates in our desired county. You can reach out to the tax assessor for each town for more detailed information (i.e. if I build a 2,000 square foot home on a 1 acre lot, what would my taxes look like?). We also researched homes in the area that were newer and had similar lot and house size. Keep in mind that lower tax rates may mean less amenities such as trash removal. If this is a make or break for you, reach out to the township to see what they offer.
The most obvious variable: price. Do a comparative market analysis in your area and make sure you are not over paying for the property. A good realtor will be able to give you some insight on the property value based on the market. Also, make sure that you’re leaving enough in your budget to build after the purchase and improvements of your land.
Sometimes you may think you’ve found a great deal, but when you start working with your engineer, you realize why the land was so cheap. There are a number of things that can make your land unbuildable. For example, we had an offer accepted on a 7-acre lot. The seller said everything was approved; however, the zoning, septic, and well would need to be resubmitted. After reaching out to the township, they said they couldn’t accept the wetland delineation because it was expired. We knew there were wetlands, but we didn’t know that the delineation expired. After speaking with our engineer and the state, a new wetland delineation could take a year and approximately $10,000 with no guarantee that we would get approved to build on the land. Even further, the new approval may warrant further setbacks, which would actually make the land unusable for anything but farming. If we didn’t do our homework and we just listened to the seller, we would have been in over our heads. Here are a few things to look out for when purchasing property:
Zoning requirements- What is your lot zoned (residential, agriculture-residential, commercial)? Based on the zoning, what are the required setbacks?
Improvements- Will the township require you to make any improvements to your land or nearby land in order to build? This may include curbing, sidewalks, widening the road, moving utilities, etc. You can reach out to your construction office for this information.
Wetlands- Are there wetlands on the property as determined by an engineer and the state? If so, do the setbacks for the wetlands leave enough room to meet the zoning requirements?
Flood Zones- Is your property in a flood zone area? How does that affect your building requirements?
Easements- Is a piece of your property legally owned by another person or organization for use? Examples would be easements for public utilities, a neighbor’s driveway, etc.
Development rights- Is the lot farmland preserved?
Roll back taxes- If land is being converted from agricultural to residential, this is the difference you’ll pay in the taxes that are associated when you go to build.
Utility availability- Does the lot have city water, sewer, electric and natural gas or will you need septic, well, and propane? Will you need to extend utilities to get to your property? What are the tie in fees for the public utilities that are offered?
Here are a couple of things you can do to ensure you’ll be able to build on the property:
Make a contingency offer based on the fact that you can build on the lot
If your offer is accepted, get as much information as you can from the realtor/seller: tax map, deed, etc.
Reach out to the zoning office in your township. Provide the lot and block and ask if it is buildable.
Pay an engineer to review all available information.
Your land will be just as important as the house that you put on it. In today's market, it may take time to find that special place. Be patient, shop around, and do your research. Be open to different opportunities and in time you will find what you are looking for.
