Buying Land/property that seems to good to be true

[Connor Mather]

Hi everyone,

Often times I find properties in seemingly good locations, with great buildings around it. However the zillow post says its been on the market for over 100 days or even longer. This makes me think that there is some underlying red flag related to the location, ability to develop the land, or some other issue. Where can I dig up this info on whether or not property is buildable, why it hasn't sold, it has changed owners frequently over the last 5 years, and/or other potential issues. Many times I cannot go to the actual house because many of the properties are out of the state that I live in. I would hate to buy a piece of land that looks great and then have the city say I can't build for x,y, z reason, discover that it has changed hands so many times because there is some major land issue, easement that isn't good for owners, ect and now I am stuck with a non-income producing piece of land that would be hard to sell. 

What do you all do for your due diligence to make sure the tear downs or land that you buy are able to be turned into the vision you have for the property before placing an offer? And how can I replicate your advice from out of state if pieces of your advice require me to be at or around the location (maybe this is impossible).

Thank you in advance

-Connor

[Mason Hickman]

@Connor Mather

You know the old saying about if it’s too good to be true.....

There are a couple of quick ways I will look into a property:

1. Search on google for the property address and the town name and the words planning board. If there are old planning board meeting minutes regarding the property, read everything you can find. If you suspect others have tried building on the property, there will be records of it.

2. Do the same searches of the town name and the previous owners. Sometimes the address or lot information doesn’t show up in local news articles but they will write about the building or development.

3. Call the building department and ask about the lot you’re considering. Oftentimes, they can tell you a lot of information about any given property in town. I would wait to do this until going through the first two steps. The town workers will get annoyed with you for calling every day with new properties; do your own homework first.

Hope some of these help!