Seattle Land for Sale

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Our Services

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Want to Learn More about Vacant Land? We’ve got some helpful tips!

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Searching for Property

Things to consider when beginning your search for vacant land

• First, define what your dream property is:
  • Are you hoping for a peaceful recreational property by the Puget Sound?
  • Are you looking to build a custom home with a view?
  • Are you wanting agricultural property to farm or raise livestock?
  • Is an equestrian estate with trails to go riding on your dream?
  • Looking to build a cabin in the forest?
• Secondly, how much property or acreage are you looking to purchase? Vacant land in the Seattle Area can come in almost any amount, from a 3000 square foot city lot to 100’s of acres of forest land. How much land you need to purchase will be depend on your goals. You will need to have a larger lot to have livestock than you would need for a small garden. Also, if you need to install a well and septic tank you will need more land to accommodate those services than if you can hook up to water and sewer services.
• Third, where would be the ideal place to begin your search? What you are looking for will partially dictate where you will have the best results. If you are looking for farm land you will likely have the best results looking in the Snoqualmie Valley (Carnation, Duvall, Fall City), out near Enumclaw or up near Snohomish and Monroe. If you are looking to build a small cabin with a view of the water, you might have the best luck out near Gig Harbor or up in Goldbar and Index with a view of the river. If you are looking to build to move into full time, you may have a smaller search area that you decide on based on where you work. Before you begin your search, decide what fits with your goals. If you have questions or need advice on where to find land that fits your goals, give me a call. I can recommend places that would work and set up a search to find properties that work.
• Lastly, how much can you afford? If you can’t afford to purchase the land with cash you will need to get your financing organized. Land financing is slightly different than purchasing a single family home as not every bank even offers land financing. Two banks that our buyers have had success with is Washington Federal or Timberland. Looking for land with offered seller financing can also be a good option. If you are going to finance through a bank, contact a broker to get pre-approved and find out how much you can afford.

Viewing Properties

Once you have narrowed down your search criteria, and nailed down your financing what do you do next?

If you haven’t yet, get in touch with a broker that specializes in Land Sales. They will assist you in your search and can set up a search through the MLS that automatically sends you new properties. Not all brokers work on land so it is important that you find someone familiar with the process.

You can also begin to tour the properties. Be sure to reach out to your broker if you would like to walk on the property so that they show it to you and they can clear it with Listing Agent. It’s important to get permission before doing anything more than driving past the property. Please do not walk on a property without permission. There may be details about the property that the agent will need to relay to you to make the showing successful. You wouldn’t want to get your car stuck on a bumpy driveway or find out there are grazing animals behind a gate that you weren’t expecting! Your agent should also be able to provide a general idea of lot lines and boundaries which is important to understand.

Putting in an Offer & Understanding Contingencies

Price:

Once you have found the perfect piece of property it’s important that you have your agent do a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). This will judge the property against other similar properties that have sold. Your CMA will give you a range of what the agent believes the property is worth and you can use this to think about an appropriate price for an offer.

Typical Contingencies:

Typical contingencies include Title, Feasibility, Financing (if needed) and Well/Septic (if already installed on the property).

Title Contingency: This will allow you a time frame to review the information that is recorded on the Title of the property. This would include any CCR’s, Easements, Liens/Encumbrances, etc.

Financing: If you need financing, having a financing contingency tells the seller how you are going to purchase the property and can protect you if your financing falls through and you cannot complete the purchase.

Well/Septic: If the property already has a Well or a Septic installed you can have a contingency that allows you to test the systems at your own cost. If there is a problem or your find it will not work for your purposes you can back out of the deal as long as you are within the time-frame granted in the contingency.

Feasibility: This is probably the most common and most important contingency in a land purchase. Typical Feasibility Contingency time-frames can run anywhere from 10-60 days or more. This is your time to investigate anything about the property that would help you understand if it would work for your purposes. Some common tests or information that a buyer might look into:

• Perc Test- If the property is not serviced by sewer and a septic tank will need to be installed this test will determine if the soil will work.
• Critical Areas or Wetland Delineation: Some sellers provide these reports but if they are not available some buyers will pay an expert to review the property.
• Well or Water Hookup: Find out if your property is within a Water District and they will be able to tell you how much it would be to hookup. If you need to dig a well, this would be a time to research well drilling companies. You will want to have an understanding of where you are going to place the home and where you will need to place the septic to know where you will place the well.
• Landslide or Geo-tech: If the property is landslide risk area, or sloping you should consider having a geo-tech out to assess the property and make sure that it is stable enough for what you want to do or to understand what type of mitigation might be needed to shore things up.
• Clearing: If you need to clear trees and brush to put in a home you will want to look into the costs with that. It is also helpful to talk to King County about the permitting that you will need in order to do significant clearing.
• Dirt work: Are you going to need to cut in a road or driveway? You can get estimates for that work.
• Meeting with your Builder/Architect: This would be the time to meet with your architect or builder to discuss if there are going to be any problems with your home plans on the property and start getting some cost estimates.
• Taxes: Is this property in a Forestry or Open Space tax designation? This is the time to understand the consequences of removing the property (whole or part) from that designation.

This is by no means an all inclusive list. Each property is unique so it will be important to use your best judgement to decide what is the most critical questions you need answered.

After closing on the property, it is important to double check that the taxes are in your name! I have seen the tax bills go to the former owner more times than I can count!

I hope this has been helpful! It is not intended for legal or specific real estate advice but instead it intended as a general outline of things to consider when purchasing a piece of property. Please call if you have any questions!

Get in Touch

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Locality Brokers Seattle

Office #: 206.317.8159

Copyright Seattle Land for Sale & Molly Smith – All rights reserved