We get it. Your income is limited yet you still want to go out to nice restaurants and have fun with your friends. Buying a house or condo is just too much right now. And who knows where you’ll be in a year or two. You want the freedom to go anywhere and live life to the fullest.

But, you don’t want to completely neglect the future and you realize you could afford maybe a $100 to $200 monthly payment. And after looking and researching you found this great piece of land at a great price. So now what do you do?

You know land is a good investment and that vacant land prices are still low in some places and NOW is always a good time to buy. With a low down payment and reasonable terms, almost any property can be affordable. So what do you do? How do you buy land? What is the process?

It can really be very easy. There are just a few basic steps so let’s get started.

 

The Basics

Most importantly of all, the legal document that determines who owns a particular piece of, what is referred to as “Real Property,” which includes land, is called a “Deed.” The deed describes who the seller and buyer is, has the legal description of the property and any other restrictions or requirements. It will also have the notarized signature of the seller. In other words, it was signed in front of a notary who authenticated the signature although some states now allow remote, digital notarization.

When you buy a lot or parcel of land somewhere, a new deed is prepared showing you as the buyer or “Grantee” and the seller as the “Grantor.”  The new seller signs the deed with their notarized signature and the property is all yours. You don’t sign it until you sell and a new one is prepared.

Deeds are typically recorded by the county, or sometimes city, in which the property is located. Each county in the US, and there are over 3,000 of them, has three departments you should be aware of.

The “Recorder,” usually for a small fee, will record or make a copy of your deed and return the original to you. That information is then sent to the “Assessor” who uses it to determine the value of the property. That value is then used by the “Treasurer” to determine your property taxes.

So, to buy a parcel of land, basically all you need to do is typically exchange some amount of money for a new deed. Now, there are many types of deeds with a Warranty Deed typically being the best, but they all serve the same purpose – to indicate who owns the property.

 

Additional Considerations

OK, so those are the basics. Some additional steps you may encounter are a “Purchase Agreement” which spells out the terms agreed to for the sale. This is not required but as a legal document, if executed by both seller and buyer, it can be used to enforce a sale. It is also typically given to a title company to open escrow if you go that route. In addition there may be loan documents as well if you are financing your purchase.

You may at this point be asking, “what is a title company?”  A title company, and some of the national ones are First American, Chicago and Stewart, is a neutral, third party company that, through their escrow department, process a sale. They then hire others, or have different departments, that do a title search and provide title insurance. On higher value properties, or properties with improvements like a house, a title company may be more important because title insurance only insures against title errors up to the value of the purchase price.

 

Disclaimer & Help

Now, we have only glossed over most of the process and each step could be further explained in more detail, but at this point you should have a basic understanding of how to buy land. Here at LandForSaleStore we have simple, easy to read documents, a 30 day guarantee and a sincere desire to make sure you are completely happy with your purchase.

Remember, in most cases we bought our properties first, and our reputation is on the line with each sale so you can shop with us in confidence. Just check out our testimonials from prior, happy customers.

And if you have any questions, on this blog post or anything else related to land, feel free to email them to us at info@landforsalestore.com and we will do our best to help you out. Just remember . . .