Cheap vacant land for sale still does exist!
But it does not mean that it is always staring you in the face. You are unlikely to walk down main street, look in a shop window and see a beautiful picture of the perfect parcel of land and have it be at a discount price just waiting for you!
A little knowledge and a little research might be required to get off the beaten track and find your way to cheap vacant land for sale on which to build your glorious future.
For those who prefer not to spend every evening and every weekend researching what is available, there are plenty of services and companies who can offer you plenty of land for sale at standard prices.
Think of land like any commodity, whether it is a stock tip, sports cards on ebay, antique cars or real estate of any kind, if you know your area, if you know what you are looking for and have dialled in your criteria, and if you know the common pitfalls to avoid, then you have a much better chance of success.
If you have not read our previous thoughts on cheap land for sale, catch up here first.
Where Do I Find Cheap Vacant Land for Sale?
Very often, you will not find the cheapest land on main street shopfront windows or glossy magazines. You might find cheaper vacant land for sale direct on land investor websites like ours.
You might find some interesting possibilities on Craigslist by looking at land FSBO. Read more about land for sale by owner here.
Also you can go "old school" and actually talk to real people. If you find an area you like, try to speak to the neighbors, see if they are aware of anyone looking to sell land in the area. Talk to the local tractor supply people, or the septic installers, or the seed suppliers or the cafe owners. Many of these local people are a wealth of information and might be a gold mine of information for you.
Always Check Usability When Assessing Cheap Land For Sale
Always check with the county planning and zoning department how you can use the land and make sure the purpose you have in mind is permitted by the county.
Many people approach us to buy land and simply assume that if they “own” the land they can do as they please. Many are quite shocked and even a little angry when they find out the county actually has the final say in what they can and cant do on their property.
Not surprisingly, one of the most common requests we do get is for cheap vacant land for sale is for "unrestricted" land or "no zoning" land.
Factors To Beware Of When Buying Cheap Vacant Land
The first question to ask any seller when assessing cheap vacant land for sale is -why is it so cheap?
It does not always need to raise suspicions but it is still a fair question as you do not want to be stuck with a useless piece of land that you can't use and you can't sell.
In some cases, a person inherited the land, but they have never been there, they do not want it and they are happy to get rid of it.
In other cases, someone might just need some cash now to pay a bill or for an emergency. Its the same reason why people might sell any asset cheaper than full market value whether its stocks, boats, bitcoin, houses, stamp collection or land.
If you are there at the right time, you might be able to help them out and convert their asset to cash, as well as picking up a nice property at a little discount! Win-win!
If you have not yet read our guide on the 3 essential questions to ask BEFORE buying land, download it here.
You need to make sure there is no debt on the property, that the person selling the land has the legal right to sell it and be able to confirm all the particulars of the land.
As an example, suppose you find 40 acres that looks exactly like the perfect property for you. You deal with Mr X, you agree a great price, you can’t believe your luck! You part with some cash…
You later find out that he does not own the property outright and has 3 siblings who also own the property. If the other 3 legal owners of the property did NOT sign or agree to sell, that means that YOU now do not own the property.
If you close through a title company, they will find this out for you before you close on the deal and part with cash.
If you buy direct from Vacant Land Usa, you can rest assured that we own every parcel outright, free and clear, that we sell, plus we have had title searches done before we buy our properties to make sure they are no nasty surprises for us or for our customers.
However when you are looking at cheap land for sale, you might not want the expense of the title company. In some cases this will double the cost of the land immediately and the land will no longer be “cheap”. Many people who buy land valued at $1000-$20,000 do not hire a title company for this reason. But it is personal preference and depends on your risk profile. If you are buying land >$50,000, it is always a good idea to take it through a title company.
For many people, a simple call to the county will assure the buyer that the seller does own the property outright and most buyers are willing to leave it at that.
You can also call the tax collector for the county and ensure the taxes are fully paid up. And check if there are any known liens on the property.
Can I Make Money From Buying Cheap Land?
Absolutely. If you have the skills and have identified an area that you like that is popular with buyers, one clever way to make some decent cash flow is to find cheap land for sale.
Buy it, develop it and sell it for a profit to someone who does not have the skills or does not have the time to do the improvements.
People are prepared to pay a lot more for a property with most of the work already done.
If you have a few skills, it is very often not difficult to improve a property and make it more valuable to someone else.
Everybody is familiar with the well known renovation “career” in the housing market. Look for run down properties, buy them cheap, then clean, improve them, renovate them and put them back on the market to a grateful family to move in and not have to do the work themselves.
How Can You Apply This To Cheap Vacant Land?
Some vacant land parcels you find at a discount may be run down. Ie as no one is living on it or using it regularly, some neighbors or passers by might use it as a dumping ground for trash.
What can you do?
Clean it up- in just a few hours for either land or a house, this immediately could increased value to the sale price.
Then you can take it further. Add the services people might require like a water well and septic system.
If there are no trees on a property, maybe you could plant a few trees to increase appeal. If there are too many trees maybe you could clear a few to “show” people how lovely it could be to live there.
If you have the skills (and depending on the county rules), you could place a mobile home on the site or a cabin or tiny home or a shipping container home or a modular home or something of that nature.
Of course this all takes time and money… but as always, you can start small. Look for cheap land for sale, and maybe you just clean up the first parcel of cheap land and add nothing further and sell it for a profit.
After you have successfully done this a few times, maybe the next few land parcels you look to add a well and septic. You get the idea…
Scale up gradually as you start to learn land values in your area, understand what the buyers are looking for in your area and then put yourself in a position to provide just that!
Maybe you have some friends with aligned skills and interests and you can pool funds together and start going after bigger projects… who knows?
Many customers are just looking to buy the largest acreage they can afford and are looking to build their “forever” off grid home or homestead. They buy acreage big enough so that later, they can add businesses to the land, whether that be horses, cattle, pigs, or gardens, aquaponics or a ton of other cool ideas.
Once you start getting in to this realm, you may be able to approach a bank to get some finance either to lend to you to buy or improve your home. Or as a business loan to expand or start your business.
But it all starts with identifying cheap vacant land for sale in the first place.
How Much Can I Expect To Pay When Buying Cheap Vacant Land?
This will vary hugely across the country. As many of you will have read in our previous article on buying land cheap, cheap is relative to the neighboring properties.
What do you want? Are you looking for a business opportunity or a home? Do you like desert? mountains? water? Lots of acreage or small and simple?
If you want desert land, miles from any town with no services, dirt roads, and no utilities you can find land for $200-$300/acre in places like Nevada and New Mexico.
Many people DO want this type of land and prefer to be away from others. They enjoy peace and quiet. There may be plenty of ATV, hunting or horse riding and lots of wide open space.
If you prefer a babbling brook, electric, water, sewer, oak trees, and close to your local cappuccino haunt, it will be more a lot more expensive…
It is possible that $20,000 for a parcel of land with mountain views, plenty of trees, a creek and water rights is cheap in that state.
But $20,000 for land 30 minutes away but surrounded by a toxic dump and industrial warehouses might be expensive.
When you buy rural acreage, remember to check out the quality of roads, access to your property, utility access such as water and electricity. If you are wanting to farm, you might need to investigate the soil quality works for what you are trying to do.
To give you some real examples, we have some land for sale in New Mexico for under $1000. Yes -it had direct street access, yes- it was within 10 miles of Wal-Mart and yes- there was electric in the area.
We have had land in Missouri range between $1500/ac to $19,000/ac depending on the area.
Naturally it is more expensive near the big urban areas.
Land can often be sourced Nevada for $300-$500/acre- sometimes less!
In Oregon, you can find land for $500-$1000 an acre, though many parts of Oregon are a lot pricier.
Should I Buy Cheap Vacant Land?
It is always worth looking for cheap high quality land to buy. Even if you own land now, if you know the values in your area and come across a bargain, it can be worth snapping it up.
If you do not own any land now, it is a really stable asset to have in your portfolio for the long term. It is a great hedge against high inflation- and with all the billions of dollars being printed now.... who knows what will happen?
Some people love to speculate. They know land is a great long term, safe investment and they pick up cheap vacant land for sale whenever they can, sometimes across different states.
They don't plan to do anything with it- they just want to hold if for several decades as it tends to go up over time without having to do anything!
As areas get built up around it, the value of the land increases as the demand continues to rise. It requires patience, but not much else.
In most cases, the property taxes are super low- and there is no upkeep and maintenance required (unless you buy into an HOA) so it is easy and painless to hold for the long term…
Identify what type of land you like- Hunting property? A ranch for livestock? A farm? Land for dirt bikes and ATVs? Land for homesteading? Land for commercial uses? Residential lots? Camping property?
Outline your criteria, then set an alert to check out new opportunities once a week. You can always check our current cheap land available or send us an email to let us know what you are looking for. We are happy to update you of any new properties we get that may suit your needs.