Hi Tom, there's a lot to look out for when purchasing raw land for building. There are quite a few state/ city/ county regulatory hoops to jump through in order to build your own home, most which your builder would handle. However, before purchasing any land, make sure that ultimately you can build the house you want to build on the land you choose. In my opinion, here are the due diligence questions you should ask:
1/ Is the land you are looking at buildable from a regulatory perspective? I would call the Collier County Planning & Zoning Dept to find the answer to this question. You need to know what zone the land you are looking at is in. There will be requirements by zone for how much minimum frontage you must have, minimum lot size, building setbacks, and what land uses are allowed, such as single family residential, which is what you are obviously looking for. There may also be special rules or tweaks to the zoning code in certain areas, called overlays, which you should also ask about.
2/ Is there legal access to the property or is it landlocked? You need to make sure you have access from either a public or private road, or at least have an easement through someone else's property that gets you from the road to your property. If it is a private road, ask if you will have to pay to maintain the road, or share that cost.
3/ Does your property have affordable access to utilities? What is the property's suitability for septic or proximity to sanitary sewer lines? Is there access to public water lines or ability to draw water from a well? How close are electric lines? If there are problems with any of these, there is usually a way to solve the issue, but more important is the question, "At what cost?" You will want to take note of utility easements for water, sewer and electricity. If those services are in the area, make sure you can extend lateral lines to your home through utility easements, and that you won't be blocked somehow by someone's private property. The utility companies themselves should be able to research this for you.
If utilities aren't in the area, for water you will need to research aquifers in the area and the likelihood of you being able to draw clean water from a well at an acceptable depth and flow. I would call a local driller to ask about this. For sewer, if there are no sanitary sewer lines, which is common in the country, you will need to have the county health department come and test the soil for a "perc test" that will tell you if your soil is suitable for leach fields that will slowly decontaminate wastewater from your home. Some places require space for a primary leach field and a backup or secondary leach field, so you will need to make sure you have enough square footage of suitable soil to support a septic system for a house of the size you are wanting to build. Also, Florida's sandy soil and high water table can be very problematic for "old-timey" leach field septic systems. Because of rising seas and nitrogen from septic causing algae blooms, county regulations in Florida regarding septic are becoming more restrictive and expensive, requiring more technologically sophisticated systems. So, if there are no sewer lines, make sure you are prepared to pay for the septic system required of you in the area you choose. The cost can be a very nasty surprise. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regulates septic in FL. Here is a link
https://floridadep.gov/water/onsite-sewage
For electricity, if electric lines are far away, you will have to pay to have them brought to your property, which can also be quite expensive. If there is electricity at the road, however, you should be able to hook up easily and cheaply to that from your property, as long as the location of your house isn't far from the road. Additionally, and I think importantly in Florida, you will want to have a professional soil test to understand your land's suitability for building. You need to make sure that the composition of the soil has the ability to maintain the weight of the house you wish to build. The test may dictate certain building methods for the foundation, etc. that you will be required to use, so check that before you buy. Lastly, check on availability of broadband/ cable/ fiber. I wouldn't assume it is present or fast in rural areas.
4/ Will the city/ county/ state via its building code let you build the kind of home you want to build on the land you have chosen? These rules won't be nearly as restrictive or cosmetic as those of an HOA might, but counties can differ in what they will regard as a single family home. So, for instance, a tiny home may not qualify as a house in Collier County. I really don't know, but if that's the case, you would not be able to get a loan on it. Beyond building code and building permits, if you are disturbing more than 1 acre of land surface for your building and grading, you will need a permit from the Florida DEP. If you border any bodies of water, rivers or streams, there will be environmental permits associated with that (see #5) Also, when you are zeroed in on an actual parcel, you will want to check if there are any restrictions on the face of any plat that may exist or in the deed that may dictate what you can and cannot build.
5/ You will want to check the property for the presence of wetlands and flood zones, both of which, as I'm sure you know, are common in Florida. The presence of wetlands or flood zones isn't necessarily a problem for building, especially if it is just 10-20% or so of the acreage, but you will have to understand where these areas are and the regulations associated with them, such as how far away or what elevation you will need to build. Here are two links you can use to look these up
https://fwsprimary.wim.usgs.gov/wetlands/apps/wetlands-mapper/
https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home
There's a lot going on now about homeowner's and flood insurance in Florida, but since you live there you already know all about that. Same thing with environmental hazards, in terms of habitat for endangered species. I would call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission about any potential issues that may exist on your land before you buy.
6/ Once you are serious about a property, I would spend the money to have a survey done, to make sure again that all the easements and setbacks etc. that are of record will not prevent you from using your land as you intend. Once you're in contract, I would have a thorough title search done to alert you of any issues with the title or the chain of custody.
About negotiation to get the best buy, beyond trying to find a motivated seller, I would make sure the seller understands how much money the improvements to the land will cost you (if any). The seller may say the land is "perfect for building, with several building spots," but does he really have any idea about the downsides of his property, such as how much getting utilities to it will cost, or the percent of it that is unbuildable? If it's vacant land, he may have never researched it, and so the costs to make the land buildable may help bring him down to earth.
I think that's about it. This ended up being a lot longer than I thought, but rather than edit it down, I will leave the detail in case it is helpful to you.
