This siren's song of security just might be a red herring. 

Title company escrowed 2x the anticipated amount needed, so the incentive to the seller to actually follow through is to get the balance of their money back (about $8k), but the contract also states that if the seller does not pursue the riparian grant for whatever reason, the title company can use the excess escrowed money to legally enforce them to do so.I feel okay about it, I think, as this seems fairly common in this part of NJ, but any other red flags here I might be missing?

Too many red flags.

To me that's a red flag.

But if there are other red flags, this may be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Originally posted by @Iesha Padilla:...For me, red flags seem to be popping up all over the place.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of hiring a crew to cleanup the site and then build as normal, or if there will be some nightmare of red tape, soil remediation or who-knows-what kind of obstacles.I'm sure i could ask the listing agents for some information but they are hardly impartial so I wouldn't want to rely on that. 

It is red hot right now.

It is typical with a new administration looking to rebound the economy but also slow down the middle class from tapping to much equity at low rates.There was a huge spike in investment property purchases in the last (24) months and that through up a red flag. 

First Cathie, I'm reluctant to chase the latest red hot hand as most investors who do so don't fair well long term as they pay an absolutely insane high price to buy into them.