Continued from page 1
If you plan on building on your land, then having a development plan with an appraised set of blue prints for project will help lender in justifying your loan. If you can use equity from other property, then paying substantial down payments may also be an option.
Final words of caution here are to know values and don’t overpay. Always offer less when possible and research recent sales of comparable properties. The larger a parcel is, cheaper it tends to get per acre. Ask an agent what an acre of land tends to go for in area that you are considering; try to buy more than one acre.
When buying residential lots, builders try to keep raw land costs down to 10 percent of overall value of project. If streets and utilities are already in place, then they will use 25 percent as their guideline. If you can combine or assemble parcels or achieve zoning changes with property, you have a good chance of immediately increasing its value.
Always physically inspect property and do your research before obligating yourself to buy it. And try using contracts with contingencies put in to protect yourself. In essence, these are really options that let you control deal while you investigate and research land’s potential to satisfy your objectives. Happy Hunting and buy high grounds!
By Dan Auito, magicbullets@alaska.com , http://www.magicbullets.com/home.php Dan has been a real estate investor for the past fifteen years & 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.