Choosing and Purchasing Land

For us, and for anyone wanting to own property, choosing the right piece of land is monumentally important. Before we even did our first search on Zillow or clicked on a single Craigslist ad, we sat down and had a conversation about what we wanted in a piece of property. Once we had an idea of what we wanted, we began searching online, saving searches that we liked, and doing tons of research on potential properties and the surrounding areas. After almost two years of searching and visiting properties, we finally found the right place for us in a location we felt a deep connection to.

The process of finding land is a bit like speed dating-  one must analyze many potential matches with limited information before narrowing down the choices and committing to just one. We know that much like speed dating, this can be overwhelming and scary, so we put together this list of things of ten things to look for to help you find “The One.”

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Our little slice of paradise; found after years of planning and searching

1. Goal for the property. Do you plan on building you own house? How much space do you need? These are important questions to work out, but you probably already have answers if you are serious about this. We knew that we would build our own house and that we wanted somewhere between one and five acres of wooded land that had never been developed, and where we could set up our own off-grid energy system.
2. Location location location! Yes, this old adage is true. Where is it that you want to live? For us, this one was easy. We had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted: a wooded, undeveloped lot in Alaska with a climate suitable for maintaining a large vegetable garden, yet plenty of snow for cross-country skiing in the winter. We wanted to be close (within biking distance) to a town, yet far enough away to give us plenty of space and privacy.
3. Price. You probably have a budget, or at least an idea of how much you are willing to spend. If you don’t, then you should. Make sure you do your research and know a fair price for comparable pieces of land in the same area.
4. Access. This one is pretty important for land in Alaska, but slightly less so for the lower 48. We found loads of parcels of land in Alaska that seem too good to be true (think lakefront acreage with incredible mountain views at a rock bottom price), and the reason for that was usually that there was no road access to the property (either that or the land had issues like flooding or permafrost but we’ll cover that in #5). One memorable property that we found was $50k and 40 acres on the Kashwitna river. It allegedly had highway frontage as well. After a lot of investigation we discovered that it was 2 lots from the road system with no hope of getting an access easement, the river frontage was maybe 20ft of the total acreage, and the Alaska Railroad went right through the middle of it! The point is there are a lot of listings like this and you need access to your property. If it’s not already there(you can’t drive a truck there) access will not be affordable or reasonable and you will likely end up in debt before you even start building your home.  We understand the allure of that kind of privacy and seclusion, but for us, road access was a huge priority (even though we knew we would have to pay more for it)
5. Potential problems. This is one that is really hard to gauge unless you visit the property in person, but sometimes you can get clues from pictures, google earth, or by communicating with the owner/realtor. In Alaska, a big one to watch out for is permafrost. Building on permafrost, though not impossible, can be incredibly challenging and taxing on the bank account, so it’s better to avoid it all together (again, if you see a too-good-to-be-true price, that should send up a red flag that it might be mostly permafrost). A good rule of thumb for determining if land is permafrosted is to look at the trees. Black spruce are typically the dominant species on permafrost ground, and they will appear stunted and scraggly. The trees look  like ones you see in Dr. Seuss books. There also won’t be much else other than black spruce growing there. You will also want to watch out for other forces of nature that could pose a problem- flooding, wind, extreme temperatures, etc. Again, it’s hard to gauge these from an internet posting, so you must see it in person. We were thrilled when we happened to visit a couple of potential properties the day after a torrential rain storm. One of them was completely flooded- the buildable area was covered with 6-12″ of standing water! The second property was not flooded in the slightest. We ended up purchasing the latter.
6. Covenants, zoning and codes. Most neighborhoods have some type of covenants that residents *should* abide by (though in Alaska at least it is often the case that these covenants aren’t enforced and therefore no one follows them). Similarly, you will need to know how the land is zoned (commercial, residential, etc) and what codes you will need to follow. These are good things to find out (a realtor will be invaluable in assisting you with this) because we saw several prospective parcels that had highly restrictive and enforceable covenants, such as requiring all driveways to be 50 feet in length or limiting the number of pets permitted on each lot. In our case, we wanted as much freedom as possible to build our house and homesite exactly the way we wanted (composting toilet and all), so the property that we ultimately settled on was in an area where building codes did not need to be followed (good news for the composting toilet), and where neighborhood covenants were minimal and also not enforced.
7. Resources. This goes back to your goal for the property. We wanted to be off of the grid, so we needed land where sunshine and/or wind was abundant and easy to harness. We also wanted plenty of large trees on the lot to use for building. The property that we ended up purchasing had a south-facing slope, and was in an area with generous wind (perfect for solar and wind energy). There were also plenty of mature trees, and it had the added bonuses of bordering a creek and containing abundant wild blueberry bushes. Score!
8. Utilities/amenities. It is also important to consider hookups to utilities such as sewer, water, electric, natural gas, and internet. Or at least it’s important to know which of these utilities you need and which you don’t. Since we knew we were going to get our energy from solar/wind, have a composting toilet, and collect rain water, we determined that we did not need hookups to sewer, water, electric, or natural gas. This was great because the property that we bought didn’t have established hookups for any of those things. However, we determined that internet was a necessity for us, given that we rely on it to make important purchases, run a business, do research on projects, and keep in touch with family and friends.
9. Other stuff. You’ll want to do your homework and find out about any weird legal issues, water rights, mineral rights, and etc. These are great things to ask your realtor, which brings us to…
10. Getting a realtor. This small task is actually really important. You will want to find someone who understands your vision and what you’re looking for, and who is also committed to getting you the best deal possible. A good realtor will have a masterful grasp of local properties and pricing. To find a realtor, a great place to look is online; sites like Zillow and Trulia list realtors in addition to properties, and will provide customer reviews as well as the number of recent sales.