Buying land

[Ralph Corgain]

How can I calculate exactly what I should purchase a piece of land for?

[Jimmy Nguyen]

If purchasing land that will not be able to tap into a municipal water supply or septic system, it would be advisable to see what type of soil the land has.  I guess even if you have the ability to tap into municipal lines, you should checkout the soil conditions to see if conditions are good for a basement or if you have the dreaded shrink/swell soil.  Shrink/swell soil may force you to change your footer size and reinforcements.  

An online tool that I always use is the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service's Soil Survey tool.  You can type in any address or the street name your plot is on, zoom in and out, and then select the area you want to analyze.  The data is quite accurate as it is based on decades of soil surveys done around the country.  

If you think you have a good plot of land and good soil, I would still put a contingency in the contract that says the land must perc for a conventional septic system.  More and more counties are requiring higher cost sand mound filtration septic systems that cost $10,000-$20,000 more than a conventional septic system with the added cost of having annual inspections.  

Also, the county cooperative extension service is great to talk to about land.  They usually have a soil expert or a soil conservation office that can help you determine the characteristics of the soil. They may even come out and do some hand borings for you to determine how deep the soil is to shale or other limiting layer.