?Is this Vacant Land a Deal?

[Katherine O.]

I was offered this property in El Sobrante, CA. It's vacant land in a neighborhood with other houses. The lot is 21,000 sqft, it's assessed at $52,000, and the seller wants $35,000. She owes $800 in back taxes. The other houses range in price from $300K - $350K (according to Zillow); one house is $575K. The lot sizes of the other homes vary a lot maybe from 0.2 acres to 0.8 acres.

My thinking was that a developer might spend $200K building a 2000 sqft house. According to one website I found, getting permits, sewer, water, electric, hardscaping, landscaping, etc. could be as much as $100K. This seems really close to the price of other homes in the area, and I just wonder if it's worth trying to make this work.

What do you think?