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