Basic Raw Land Checklist

by Dan Auito

Let's get down to the business of evaluating, negotiating and financing our well-sought piece of terra firma. What follows is a basic checklist. There is more to consider but this will get you off to a running start.
· Get the most recent and valid information available: A copy of the deed containing the legal description with any covenants and/or restrictions.

· Get the street address, a plot plan indicating the specific property location, a survey, a preliminary title report, a recent map and any aerial or land based photographs to help you locate fence lines, trails, roads, streams, ponds, building locations, etc. Walk the land to verify, evaluate and correlate what is indicated, also looking for any signs of hazardous waste dumping, burying or burning.

· Determine present use in zoning, according to what planning and zoning tells you. Symbols are used to designate uses - here are a few:

A1: Agricultural with single family home

C: Commercial business

CO: Commercial office

FP: Flood plain

M: Industrial

R1: Residential single family

R1H: Residential hillside

R2 : Residential multifamily

RT : Recreational tourist/ Residential transitional

General categories include:

Farm, Ranch and Timberland, Recreational or Resort, Industrial, Commercial/Business, Residential, Mixed use

· Confirm who owns it, their full name, address and phone number

· Find out what they do; are they a dealer in real estate?

· Ask if anyone else is on the title or has authority to act

· What are the annual taxes and assessed values?

· Ask why they are selling and how long they have owned it

· If the owner doesn’t want to sell, ask if they would consider selling a parcel of it.

The preceding is an abbreviated checklist. It is meant to get you started off on the right foot.

Many people will research buying a new car more thoroughly than they would when buying raw land, and there are many good books that are devoted solely to the subject of raw land. This type of investment is generally not the best choice for the new investor. But often times people look to build their dream homes away from developed areas. And for that reason I have included my two cents here.

About the Author
Dan Auito,
magicbullets@alaska.com
http://www.magicbullets.com/home.php
Dan Auito has been a real estate investor for the past fifteen years. Licensed in Florida and Alaska, he is also a certified appraisal assistant. Auito has bought, sold, and rented seventeen properties to date, totaling more than $1.3 million - all on a blue-collar salary before the age of forty. He lives in Kodiak, Alaska with his wife and their two children. For more information visit: www.magicbullets.com