You can learn a lot about a house by walking through it. Vacant land doesn’t tell you much. You can’t see zoning, easements, wetlands, flood risk, or whether power can reach the lot. The most expensive surprises are usually underground or on paper.

We spent a whole segment on this on the Randal Jenkins Real Estate Hour in June. Here’s the checklist version.

Start with one question

What do you want to do with the property?

A homesite, horse property, RV living, a mobile home, commercial use, or a long-term hold each need different checks. A parcel can be perfect for one and worthless for another.

The checklist

Zoning and use:

• What is the current zoning, and can you build?
• What’s the minimum lot size, and what are the setbacks?
• Are mobile homes, RVs, or animals allowed?
• Verify with the county’s planning and zoning staff, and get the answer in writing. Never assume.
• Check the county’s long-range plan to see where water, sewer, and roads are planned.

Deed restrictions:

• Even if zoning allows it, the deed may not. RV storage, mobile homes, livestock, and commercial use are often restricted.

Access:

• Physical access isn’t the same as legal access. A road can exist without you having a right to use it.
• Is the road public or private? Are there recorded easements and a maintenance agreement? Is the parcel landlocked?
• If the road is dirt, ask whether a future paving assessment could fall on the property owners.

Utilities:

• Is electric available? Public water? Sewer? Natural gas? Internet?
• If power isn’t at the lot, a new pole can run $5,000 to $7,000.

Septic:

• Can the soil support a septic system and drain field, and will the county approve it? Budget $15,000 to $20,000. A site that fails septic may not be buildable.

Well:

• How deep are nearby wells, and what are the water quality and quantity? Plan on $15,000 to $30,000 or more, depending on location.

Flood zone:

• Check the FEMA flood maps. A flood zone can mean higher building costs, an elevated foundation, insurance requirements, and less buildable area. Talk to your builder.

Wetlands and soil:

• Wetlands can change everything. A 5-acre parcel may have only one acre you can build on.
• Review wetland maps and delineation studies. Look for poor drainage, fill requirements, sinkhole concerns, and unsuitable soils. You may need a geotechnical study.

Gopher tortoises:

• In Florida, gopher tortoises are listed as threatened, and both the tortoises and their burrows are protected under state law. They have to be relocated, with a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, before land clearing or development. If you see burrows, budget for it. MyFWC.com has details.

Environmental history:

• Was it a dump, fuel storage site, farm, or near industrial use? Contamination can create real liability. You buy it, you own it.

Survey and title:

• Have the title company order the survey, in time for closing, so your title insurance covers the boundaries. They usually get a better price, too.
• Metes-and-bounds descriptions cost more to survey than lot-and-block, especially when a corner sits out in the wetlands.
• Check for liens, judgments, boundary disputes, and mineral rights issues.
• Confirm the seller is the actual owner. Vacant land is a favorite target for deed fraud.

Total cost and financing:

• Add impact fees, clearing, fill dirt, a driveway, well, septic, and utilities. A $50,000 lot can need $75,000 or more before construction begins.
• Land loans usually mean larger down payments, higher rates, shorter terms, and fewer lenders.

Access problems can sometimes be fixed

I once had a seller with a landlocked parcel left over from a divorce split. Nobody would buy it. We worked out a swap with the neighbor: we gave them some of our land plus some cash, and they gave us a 40-foot strip along the length of their parcel. That strip became the access road and made the parcel a flag lot. Some problems can be fixed like that. Some can’t. Know which kind you have before you buy.

The real question isn’t “Can I buy this property?” It’s “Can I legally and economically use it the way I intend?”

I have a full due diligence checklist for land buyers. Call or text me at 727-409-4663 and I’ll send it over. Before you make an expensive decision, let’s look at the complete picture.

Randal Jenkins
Broker-Owner, Florida Real Estate Partners
Loan Officer, American Mortgage Services, NMLS #2053417
727-409-4663 (409-HOME)

“Can I put a mother-in-law unit on this lot?”

“Can I build on this acreage?”

“Can I add a pool that close to the line?”

Buyers ask their agent questions like these all the time. Many agents don’t know the answer. That’s fine. Realtors know a little about a lot of things, and zoning and permitting aren’t our lane.

What happens next is where people get hurt.

The phone call problem

A lot of agents, especially newer ones, call the county, get an answer, and pass it along to their buyer: “I called, and they said you can do it.”

Stop right there.

I love the county. The property appraiser, zoning, and permitting all hand out useful information every day. But you don’t know who’s answering the phone in that department that day. It may be someone new. It may be an answer that’s right for a typical lot and wrong for yours, because a detail didn’t come up on the call.

There’s story after story of people who called, got an answer, relied on it, and found out months later when they tried to build that it wasn’t true. “But I called a few months ago and that’s what they told me” doesn’t get your permit approved.

If your agent is the one who made the call, now you have a secondhand answer from someone who isn’t an expert, about a conversation you weren’t part of.

How to get an answer you can use

We talked about this on the Randal Jenkins Real Estate Hour in June. Eric handles it the way I’d want any agent to:

• The buyer makes the call, or they do it on a conference call with the agent listening.
• Ask for the answer by email, with the name and title of the person giving it.
• Forward that email to everyone who needs it.

An email gives you something in writing. That still may not bind the county if the answer turns out to be wrong, but it’s far better than “somebody told me.”

For anything that will cost real money, get a second opinion from someone who builds there. On one lot I sold, the county was giving out information I was pretty sure was wrong, and the buyer was ready to walk. How do you tell a buyer the county is wrong? I didn’t have to. I asked if they had a builder, and they did. The builder looked into it, explained it, and confirmed the county’s answer was wrong. The deal closed.

When the answer is no

Sometimes the right answer is the one nobody wants.

Eric had a 9.7-acre riverfront parcel in Pasco County listed. A buyer asked if he could build. Eric gave him the county’s number. The buyer called, got sent to another department, then another, and finally reached the people who handle setbacks. The answer: you can’t build there. The setbacks don’t leave enough room.

The county put it in an email. The buyer sent it to Eric, and Eric sent it to the seller. They took the property off the market, relisted it $200,000 lower, and it sold for about $100,000 instead of $300,000.

That hurts. But it’s a lot better than a buyer paying $300,000 for land they can’t build on, and everyone finding out later.

The takeaway for buyers

Before you buy a property for something specific, like building, adding a unit, or putting in a pool, get the answer:

• From the department that actually decides it
• In writing
• Checked by someone who does that work locally, if the stakes are high

Ask the right person, get it in writing, and check it before you sign.

If you’re looking at a property and want help figuring out what questions to ask, call or text me at 727-409-4663. Straight answers.

Watch the full episode: Randal Jenkins Real Estate Hour on YouTube

Randal Jenkins
Broker-Owner, Florida Real Estate Partners
Loan Officer, American Mortgage Services, NMLS #2053417
727-409-4663 (409-HOME)