Four Considerations When You Purchase Land

In a previous post, I discussed how we bought our land. However, before we ever put in an offer, how did we choose what land to buy? There were four considerations when purchasing our land that would become Acadie Farm.

Number One-How Much Acreage?

We settled on 42 acres based on our long term goals and purposes for our land. My husband is a hunter, and so we wanted enough space for that, but also we have an interest in growing crops and other endeavors that will make the property self sufficient. Those goals couldn’t be reached with 5-10 acres.

Number Two- Research the Average Price Per Acre

Each state (and even geographical regions of your state) will have an average price per acre. You can find guidelines for each state online. But you shouldn’t stop there, because not every acre is equal. How much you should pay per acre also depends on the type of land. An acre of woodland, wetland, and agricultural fields vary in price due to their usability. It’s important to look at how many acres of each you are purchasing to gauge the price.

Number Three-Zoning Consideration

Something a lot of people overlook when making real estate purchases is to check the local zoning laws (city and/or county), particularly if you want to do more than simply live on the property. We pulled our current county zoning regulations and spoke with our County Zoning Director to confirm the land we were interested in fit our goals and that everything we planned would be possible in the property’s current zoning. He told us that we were one of the few who had come to him before buying and ask permission, as opposed to having to come ask for forgiveness and pay fines.

Number Four-Overall Budget

If you’re purchasing land, make sure you consider the cost of purchasing the land, plus any improvements, including barns, accessory buildings and personal residence when determining the overall budget. When we got our first quote on building our home, I thought we were under budget because I forgot to add in the land purchase price…haha.