Tips for Property Research

A lot of people want to buy land, but they just don't know where to start or how to find land.  There are several things that should be on your checklist.

The First Step: Decide how you will use the property. Do you want to build a house now, or retire there in a few decades? Do you want to use the property for hunting, camping or other recreation? Would you like to just hold on to the parcel, not use it at all, and sell it in a few years? Different pieces of land will be better for some uses, and might not work at all for others. The first step in your research should always be to figure out what you want your property to do for you.

Step Two: Where to buy. Decide what areas of the country interest you. It could be sunny Arizona or scenic Colorado. Of course, many people want property that is close to where they already live, but if you want to explore other areas, here are some things to look at:

Climate: http://www.weatherbase.com is a great place to look up average

temperatures and precipitation for the area you are investigating.

Price: Look on LandCentral.com and see what the average prices are. You

can also contact a real estate agent in the area and ask for comparables for vacant land and houses in the area.

Growth: Is the area growing? This can be a tricky thing to measure, but one place you can go is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and look

up the county or city that you are interested in. They will give you

population and growth statistics.

Features: Look into the positive and negative features of the general area. For example, is there water such as a lake or the ocean that will affect

property values? Is there a tourist attraction in the area? If you are

looking to use your property for a specific purpose, is the region

suitable?

Step Three: Select possible properties. Visit LandCentral.com and pick out several properties that fit the criteria you’ve discovered in the first two steps. If you are having a hard time finding property, contact us and we will be happy to help you.

Step Four: Where to go for more information. Now that you have picked out some parcels that seem to fit your needs, the legwork begins. You will want to find out as much as you can about the property and whether or not it is what you are looking for. Here are some things to be sure to look at:

Basic Info: Check to see if the county where your property is located has a

website. Many counties allow you to search by Parcel Number and

discover ownership, tax and other information about your property

online.

Zoning: You will want to find out if the property is zoned for the use you

intend it for. Investment properties can have any zoning, but if you

want to build a house you will usually need Residentially Zoned property. For raising horses you might need property with an

Agricultural Zoning. Contact the county where your property is

located (we provide the phone number in each property listing) and

ask them how your property is zoned, and what that zoning means to

you. Remember that zoning can often be changed, so if the land is not

zoned the way you want it right now, ask what the process is to change

the zoning.

Restrictions: While you are on the phone with the zoning department, ask about any restrictions on the land. For example, many areas require property of a certain size before you can develop different things on your land. An apartment complex requires more land than a single-family house, for example. Some areas require a certain amount of land to apply for a well permit or other utilities. Some areas may have restrictions on certain activities due to environmental concerns. Ask if there is a Property Owner’s Association (POA) covering your land.

POA: If you learn there is a Property Owner’s Association on your land, give them a call. Find out what their Terms of Use are and what restrictions they place on property, if any. What advantages do they give you? Many POAs provide road maintenance, utility monitoring or other services. Some have common areas for the use of all property owners. Ask what the yearly dues are and if they bill yearly or monthly.

Taxes: We provide the yearly property tax amount with each of our property listings. You can contact the County Assessor’s office for more information on how this tax amount is determined.

Ownership: We own all of our properties free and clear, in the name of one of our various holding companies. If you wish, you can call the County Assessor’s office to verify our ownership of the property.

Pictures: We provide a satellite image of all of our properties. This image is taken from Google Earth, which is a free downloadable program. You can zoom in and out of this image to get an idea of what the property looks like. If you download Google Earth you can look at even more features, for example you can tilt the image to check slope. If you contact us, we can sometimes provide land-based photos of certain properties.

Step Five: Visit the land. The very best way to determine whether a piece of land will work for you is to visit it yourself. We provide driving directions to all of our properties, based on the latitude and longitude. If it is not possible to visit the land, you can often gain valuable information by contacting someone who lives in the area, for example a local real estate agent, and ask their opinion of the general area.