Buying a vacant lot in Tacoma

[Debbie LaRue]

Hello! What is the best approach to buying a vacant lot in Tacoma and building a home on it? I can immediately put a for sale sign on it (I’m a RE agent) or live in it myself. Is it better to go through a bank or a hard money lender? I’m confident it would sell quickly; it’s a good location.

[Matt J.]

@Debbie LaRue The building process will take too long for a hard money loan to make sense. Most are 6-9 month terms. Depending on the lot and needed improvements you could be looking at well over a year for the building process.

Your easiest route would to buy and build as your primary residence. There are several regional banks that will finance you with enough down (I’d estimate 25% minimum).

It will be a lot more work to get it done if you’re going to do it as a spec home.

Good luck.