What questions to ask when buying land?

Military here (spouse now and vet, no longer AD myself) also. In '96 hoping for a long stay (and it was- 4 yrs) in TX we had a super realtor and our inlaws- 1&1/2 hrs away- select a farmette for us while we were still in Germany. Talked hours on phone to her- thank goodness for toll free realtor numbers- and in-laws visited a handful of places for us on 3 wkends or so. We really lucked out- got a place from a couple who if they aren't on HT oughtta be (Norbert and Ilke, pm or email me if you read this)- with pool x-fencing orchards ponds barns sheds and garden. All I added was more mulch and some nut trees. Further my inlaws knocked themselves out- these are not HT types so they did really well, just once in a while mentioning the other neighborhoods they preferred (and straightened out as soon as I asked if the area would tolerate my pu truck full of manure for half a week in the driveway).

However land with no house won't give realtor so good a commission. But could some family members in AL look over places you think might work via internet and realtor communications?

What area AL?

So why are you willing to take the same chance far away where you cant keep a eye on the local situation?
You are also taking the risk that you WONT make big bucks on each change of staion.
Id say there would be less chance of a major loss in raw land.Id also say if there was going to be a huge change in land value its going to hit in the next year or so.
But just like everyone else its just a educated WAG.

I also agree that you should never buy land sight unseen. Not only do you need to walk it, you need to camp on it. I went through the process of buying a piece of land, and during the contingency period, I camped on it and found that it was under a low-flying aircraft flightpath (basically the tail of one plane went out of sight/earshot and the next one would come overhead...) and the neighbours had teenagers who played really loud basketball and rock music and I thought: I'm going to put everything I have into this piece of land and put up with the airplane noise and the teenagers?? I got out of the deal. Next piece of land I was interested in, I camped on it before I made an offer. I'm still here, 10 years later

Welcome.

Don't rely on answers from seller as being fact. Some sellers and real estate agents lie thru their teeth. You need to do research to verify their statements of fact. Check with tax office,zoning office,registrar of deeds,talk to neighbors,etc.

RF

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DOn't worry Golden, you can do it, you just need to be smarter than the average bear. You can learn a lot by getting the USGS topographic/contour maps of the area--most states have a book with all the maps in them( which you can get enough info from) but you can order more detailed bigger scale maps from USGS. People build farms and subdivisions where land is flat. You can figure out the more remote areas in the hills that will be the last to be developed--because it's difficult to develop that kind of land on a large scale(water issues, erosion, landslides, road building on steep slopes, emergency vehicle access). Of course that stuff will be hard stuff for you to deal with too, but it's much more manageable on a small scale, and you can decide what trade offs you can make.

The maps will tell you the kind of roads(gravel, pavement), even locations of houses if it is rural enough(our house is on the USGS topo map). You will be able to tell where there will be water flow, wetlands, swamps, seasonal springs and streams. SO just saying if you know your way around a topo map you can get a lot of info from them. Then your relatives can go do a drive by and check out the neighborhood.

You can be able to make a pretty good guess about how close subdivisions will get, and steer clear. THere's a lot of good land out there that can be used for garden and fruit trees (I'm guessing you will want southern exposure?) that will be inappropriate for farming or pasture--but even then chickens dont' need flat land, goats have four hoof drive, ya know?

Also look at that topo map to get a good idea of a home site and the road in you will have to build. Just sayin that yes, real estate agents are liars(never use their info to make a decision) and looking for land from far away is tricky business, BUT you can be smart about it, if you know where to find the information you need. You might want to see if you can find a guy to cruise the timber to give you an appraisal of the timber value, tree condition and how much there is--they should be able to give you a good report of the trees(I mean, you ARE paying them, and if they do a cruddy job they don't get more work, eh?) have a relative walk it with the guy. You should be able to pump the guy for info on soil conditions, local microclimates and water supply as well. You can also call up the local well drillers to get water info too. Call the septic guys I have found the local timber cruiser/well guy/septic guy to be full of GREAT useable information.

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