What to Check Before Buying Land

Before you sign a contract to buy land, get answers to six questions. Is this the parcel the listing describes? Can the seller legally sell it? Can you legally reach it? Is the title clean? Does local law allow what you plan to do? Can you get water, sewage disposal and power at a price you can live with? A parcel map helps with the first question. The rest come from county offices, a title company and sometimes a surveyor or attorney.

The Checklist at a Glance

Leave Time in the Contract

Some checks take weeks, and the clock starts when you sign. Ask your agent or attorney how to word a due-diligence or feasibility period, a window in which you can investigate and still back out. Texas A&M's rural land checklist tells buyers to make sure inspection periods, disclosures, contingencies and deadlines are spelled out before they close.

Septic testing shows why. In Anne Arundel County, Maryland, the health department says properties in some areas can only be evaluated in a "wet season," which typically runs between February 1 and April 30. A 30-day window that opens in June wouldn't fit. Your county will have its own rules, so ask early.

Parcel Identity

Get the APN and the legal description from the seller or listing agent, then compare them with the county assessor's record. The APN, acreage and owner should agree with the listing. When they don't, ask why before you ask anything else. Find the parcel on a map and compare its outline, acreage and neighbors with the listing's photos. How to Find a Property That Has No Street Address helps when the listing gives only coordinates, and Legal Description vs Street Address explains why the identifiers should match.

AcreBound doesn't show zoning, title, liens, flood zones or utilities. Everything from here on comes from other sources.

Owner and Seller

Compare the owner of record with the seller's name. A mismatch has ordinary explanations: an estate, a trust, a company, a power of attorney. Ask for the document that connects the two. Parcels can have several owners, and all of them may need to sign. Keep in mind that assessor records show who is responsible for the tax bill, which is usually but not always the legal owner, and they can lag behind a recent sale by a few months. The recorded deed at the county recorder is the better check. See How to Find the Owner of Vacant Land.

Legal Access

This is the check that sinks deals. A road you can see isn't a right you can use. Ask two questions: does the parcel touch a public road, and if not, is there a recorded easement across the land in between? An access easement usually sits in the records of the neighbor's land, so ask the title company to look there too, not only at your parcel.

A Texas A&M AgriLife publication on landlocked property shows what's at stake in one state:

• There is no automatic right to cross a neighbor's land. A handshake agreement leaves the owner in a precarious position.
• An easement should be in writing, signed, specific about the property and its limits, and filed in the county deed records. An unrecorded one is very hard to enforce against later owners.
• Title companies are usually unwilling to insure title to land without legal access. Lenders require title insurance, so a buyer who needs a loan may be shut out.
• The court routes (easement by necessity, by prescription, by estoppel) each require filing suit and proving specific elements. In Texas, an easement by necessity requires that the two tracts were once owned by the same person.

Other states differ on the details. The lesson carries over: get the access right in writing and recorded before you close, and treat a court fight as a last resort rather than a plan. Physical access is a separate question. A recorded easement doesn't guarantee a drivable route, so ask who maintains the road and whether a culvert, a grade or a creek crossing stands between the road and the part of the land you'd use.

Title, Liens and Taxes

Ask the title company for a title commitment early. The NAIC consumer guide describes it as the preliminary report that lists the policy's terms, conditions and exceptions, including easements. Read the exceptions line by line. They tell you what the policy will not cover.

The same guide explains a few points buyers often miss. A lender's policy protects only the lender, so if you want to protect your own money you need an owner's policy. Title insurance covers past title problems, and it doesn't cover issues that arise after closing, such as a neighbor building a fence on the line. An existing boundary dispute or an undisclosed easement may not be covered at all. Whether an owner's policy is required varies by state.

For taxes, ask the county treasurer or assessor whether anything is unpaid, and what the next bill will look like. Some states give farm or timber land a reduced tax valuation, and changing the use can trigger back taxes. Texas A&M's checklist warns about rollback taxes in that state. If the parcel has an agricultural classification where you're buying, ask the assessor what changing the use would cost.

Boundaries and Size

A parcel map gives an approximate shape and acreage. A boundary survey by a licensed surveyor shows where the lines are. Texas A&M strongly recommends a current survey to confirm boundaries, acreage, legal access and any encroachments or rights-of-way. It matters most if you plan to build or fence, if acreage on the listing doesn't match the county record, or if you can see something that crosses a line, such as a neighbor's driveway. See How to Check the Size of a Parcel and Property Line Map vs Land Survey.

Zoning and Permits

Call the planning office with the APN. Ask which district applies, whether your plan is allowed by right or needs a hearing, and what the minimum lot size, road frontage and setbacks are. Be specific about the plan: a house, a cabin, a mobile home, an RV, animals and a short-term rental are often treated differently.

No zoning doesn't mean no rules. Texas A&M notes that many rural Texas properties are not zoned, and still tells buyers to look for county or city ordinances and to find out early which permits apply to wells, septic systems and driveway access. Land that's cheap may be cheap because one of those answers is no.

Water, Septic and Power

• Water: a municipal connection, or a well? Ask neighbors and the local well drillers what depth and yield to expect, and whether a groundwater district sets rules.
• Septic: with no sewer, call the county health department. Ask whether a soil or percolation evaluation is on file, whether it's still valid, and whether a passing result is a permit or only one step toward one.
• Power and internet: a pole at the road doesn't promise a connection. Ask the provider for a written estimate to serve this parcel.

Anne Arundel's health department lets a prospective buyer apply for a perc test, asks for corners and the proposed house location to be staked first, and in general requires at least three satisfactory tests to establish a sewage disposal area. Counties differ, but the pattern shows why septic needs time and a surveyed or staked site.

Flood, Wetlands and Soil

The FEMA Flood Map Service Center is FEMA's official public source for flood hazard information used by the National Flood Insurance Program. Enter an address, a place or coordinates. FEMA notes that effective maps change and can be superseded, so check the date, and look at its Flood Map Changes Viewer for preliminary or pending revisions. You can download a FIRMette, a small printable version of the flood map, for your file. Lenders generally require flood insurance on mortgaged property in mapped high-risk zones, so ask your lender early. Then ask the county's floodplain administrator what building rules apply.

For wetlands, look at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wetlands Mapper. Where wetlands are mapped, federal and state rules may restrict grading or filling. A map is a screening tool, so for a parcel with a creek, a pond or a wet corner, ask the county and your state environmental agency what's regulated and what buffers apply.

USDA's Web Soil Survey offers free soil maps and data meant for land-use decisions. Use them to see what to test. They don't replace an on-site evaluation by the people your county accepts.

Easements and Covenants

Utility, pipeline, drainage and access easements can take the best building spot off the table. Deed restrictions and HOA or subdivision covenants can limit use, size and appearance. Both live in recorded documents, so ask the title company for copies and for a plot of where each easement runs, then compare them with the land.

Mineral and Water Rights

The surface and what's under it can have different owners. Montana State University Extension explains that a split estate means someone else owns the minerals, and that a surface owner in that position cannot prevent development of the minerals. The guide adds that a standard title search won't always reveal mineral ownership, so extra research, by an attorney, a title company or a landman, may be needed. Texas A&M says mineral, groundwater and even wind rights may have been severed, and that existing leases for grazing, farming, wind or solar can affect a new owner. Water rights rules differ a lot by state. Ask your attorney what applies where you're buying.

If a Check Fails

Walk the Land

No record replaces a visit. Go in more than one season if you can. Look at where water goes after rain, how the road holds up, and what the neighbors are doing. If you want to see where you stand relative to the mapped outline, bring your phone and read How to Find Property Lines With GPS first, because phone GPS and parcel lines are both approximate. For the earlier, quicker screening of candidates, see How to Research Vacant Land. To read the parcels around yours, see How to Research Neighboring Parcels.

Common Mistakes

• Taking the listing's acreage and description at face value.
• Reading a visible road as legal access.
• Skipping the survey or the title commitment to save money.
• Calling the planning office after closing instead of before.
• Treating an online parcel map as a boundary survey.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does land due diligence take?

It depends on how fast county offices answer and on tests with their own schedules, such as septic evaluations that some counties run only in certain seasons. Build extra time into the contract rather than guessing.

Do I need a survey to buy vacant land?

Not always, but it's strongly recommended when boundaries, acreage or access are unclear, or when you plan to build or fence. A parcel map is approximate and can't settle those questions.

Can I buy land without title insurance?

Some states don't require an owner's policy, so it's often your choice. If you borrow money, the lender is likely to require its own policy, and that one protects only the lender. Ask your attorney or title company what you'd be giving up.

What does landlocked land mean?

The parcel has no legal right of access to a public road. Legal access comes from public road frontage or a recorded easement, and a visible track or a neighbor's permission doesn't count.

Does a passed perc test mean I can build?

No. It addresses one question, whether the soil can support a septic system. Zoning, setbacks, permits, access and your county's own septic approval still apply.

Sources

• FEMA Flood Map Service Center Official public source for NFIP flood hazard information.
• FEMA: Flood Data Viewers and Geospatial Data (National Flood Hazard Layer) FIRMettes, preliminary and pending flood data.
• USDA NRCS: Web Soil Survey Soil data for land-use decisions.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Landlocked Property Law in Texas Texas law; other states differ.
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Texas Rural Land Purchasing Checklist Texas-focused buyer guidance.
• NAIC: Consumer Guide to Title Insurance Owner’s vs lender’s policies, commitments, exclusions.
• Montana State University Extension: Understanding Mineral Rights Split estates; general principles, Montana examples.
• Anne Arundel County Department of Health: Perc Testing One county’s process; yours will differ.
• LegalClarity: Who Owns the Property Next to Me? Secondary source on assessor records.