Buying Vacant Land

Buying vacant land has many factors to consider once you have picked the location you want to be in and your budget.  You would want to know whether or not you want to be in a village close to town, be secluded , be in the woods, on a hilltop, have a view, have a water resource such as a pond and how many acres or the size of property you are looking to own.  

Once you have established these considerations, you should schedule showings with your realtor to see some properties. 

Be sure to find out the layout of the parcel, the setbacks for building from the local town code enforcer and the elevations. These important facts will affect where the placement of your home, septic and well will be,  how long of a driveway you will need and how if you want a walkout basement .  You want to ensure that there will be good drainage and will not need a pumping station if the house is lower than the septic system.  

After choosing a parcel, and having an accepted offer, you will want to schedule a perk test with your local engineer as well as a possible septic design.  A percolation test is a test to determine the water absorption rate of soil in preparation for the building of a septic drain field (leach field) .You will also need permission from the seller in writing to perform this.  If it is located in the DEP area there is a form that will be provided to the seller to fill out and have it signed.

Having a septic design by a certified local engineer will need planning and design and a visit to the site as well as having the percolation soil test results. The perc test and septic design will determine how much fill you will need and the design will be based on how many bedrooms you will have in your home.