buying/selling vacant land out-of-state

[Katy Nguyen]

I saw a few Craigslist ads selling vacant land in other states.  Is buying/selling land out-of-state any different than if that property was in the same state?  I understand that in some states, there needs to be a witness when the seller signs the contract.  Other than that, is the process of buying/selling land the same for all states?  Thanks.

[Andrew Johnson]

@Katy Nguyen I don't know if I can add value if this is purely a process question.  However, buying land out-of-state can have more than a few challenges.  Vacant land always ends up on Craigslist and most of it reminds me of those NRPI ads with Erik Estrada.  If you haven't seen them, look them up, NRPI was based out of Irvine and most of the team went over to create Auction.com  Basically, because you're out of state and have little idea as to what you're buying it can be, well, troublesome.  As @Wayne Brooks pointed out: Is it buildable, in a floodplain, has it had a recent perc test, how close is it to a major road, etc.  It's definitely one of those buyer-beware situations.  Most of the time what I've seen (in the one area I know a little about raw land) people reselling are looking to get $7K/acre when the locals would only pay $4K-$5K/acre.  Someone out of state (like from Irvine or San Diego) that doesn't know what raw land trades for can get burned.  You start mixing comps of land that's farmable vs. land with rocky outcroppings and pretty soon you don't know what the heck you're buying!  Anyway, I'm rambling now and it doesn't specifically address "getting the transaction" closed but maybe it will lend perspective to anyone looking at raw land on Craigslist.