Buying land then subdividing

[Justin Reed]

Hello all, I currently live in the Raleigh, NC area and have been thinking of ways to get into the market. My fiancé and I are currently living with relatives while we save for our wedding and first house next spring/summer. I've been thinking about the best way to jump start our investments while also giving my soon to be wife her 1st house. Has anyone has any success with the idea of buying a few acres of land and then building your personal house on it then dividing the land into plots and either selling them off or hiring a construction company to build house on it for you to sell it off or rent out? I've only noticed big plots of land 20+ acres or less than an acre. I'd like to give us a little more room but we don't need 20 acres. Just wanted to get some opinions on it and if anyone is familiar with the raleigh area where this might be a good strategy. Additionally, we would like to either use FHA or USDA loans to found at least the initial investment. Thanks!

[Rori Stumpf]

I'm on the Zoning Board in my town. Make SURE  you know the zoning laws for the locality you want to subdivide in. Some require frontage that might be hard to get on a subdivision unless you put a road in etc... setbacks, minimum lot sizes etc. Allowed uses. Make sure you know exactly what you can and cannot do with the land. Some towns have great staff that will help you evaluate and advise you on land for this purpose. It all depends... just make sure you know what the local requirements are.