Things to know when buying Bare land.

·         Does the property have (CC&R’s) Codes, Conveniences and Restrictions applied to deed by a previous seller? When you buy land to live, play or for commercial purposes you need to know if the seller has placed any restrictions that might affect your usage plans. PLEASE, Read these carefully to see if you wish to live and play to these standards. Many times your neighbors will be bound by these also. As a realtor who service’s a local rural area, I try my best to have knowledge of what properties have them or could. If there is any, they will be disclosed on the title report which you get after a signed accepted offer and there is a standard contingency on the review of the title report (3 days). You can reject the property without loosing your earnest monies based off of title report disclosure.

·         What size of property do you need? Some buyers need more acreage so it is good to ask if the property has state land near by or surrounding it. You can go to the Washington State website from my customer care center and get maps of open to the public state land properties and there stipulations for use. Remote and secluded properties are ideal for this, they provide privacy, and they may not be accessible year around by ordinary vehicle. Some may require 4-wheeler or snowmobile, snowshoe, cross country ski’s to get there during high snow pack years. This kind of property can range in price.

·         How far are the utilities? For remote and secluded properties solar and wind energy works great for the weekender, vacation cabin in the woods. For you star gazers, do you like the view of the sky from this property? Many remote properties are good for star gazing due to lack of city and street lights. Power is commonly over a mile away. The last time I got a quote on running power a mile, they said give or take $ 25,000.00 per mile over head poles. Go to Klickitat County PUD website from my Customer care center for exact details. Power approximate above ground $ 5.00 a ft and $ 9.00 a ft below to site. Plus cost of poles quoted $ 13.00 per pole for above ground. Plus cost of power box on ground for both. If you fall under the developer rate it is $ 11.00 per ft for both but than when you get your building permit you get the difference back. If you can also get money back if someone taps into the line for service to their property within the first 5 yrs.

·         Well Depth’s and Septic: Well depth… that can be a deep conversation. I get asked everyday “how deep are the wells?” I can show you the closest well log reports from the Washington Dept of Ecology website. This does not mean you won’t have a 900 foot well! It does reduce the probability but it is no guarantee. I was last quoted about $ 35.00 per ft drilled for wells. Septic system’s; what kind of septic will this property need? Standard can run approx $ 5000.00 and pressurized or mound system $9000.00 and up. This depends on the type of soil on the property. Generally you will need a 5 ft hole with lots of soil to get a standard system.

·          How is the access to the property and will it fit your needs? On remote and secluded properties many roads are a lot of base rock and just plain dirt trail and I have heard some referred to as Goat trails. I thought that was funny but I have been on those roads…. You will need to speak with a road build for these cost, they range from width to length. You again ca do this from my customer care center.

·         What is the Zoning? Know the zoning and what you can do on the different zoning types. Have a meeting with the county and get first hand information for sub-dividing or use a local surveyor who knows the steps and can help you through this process. Research county guidelines for commercial use properties before you buy. How many business options does it have? Does it have a good location for either future development or will it always be recreational? From my customer care center you can review in detail County Zoning information. Here in Goldendale we have some properties that are zone 5 acre residential but because when they broke them off years ago to comply with county rules you would have to buy 20 acres join it and subdivided into 5 acre parcels to get to right to put a structure on the property that attaches to the ground, so in other words it has to be mobile in some fashion. I have seen skids on cabins and trailers. You can still drill a well and put a septic in so for some of you this might work great. I have a nice one that fronts the Little Klickitat River.

·         Survey/Property Lines and Corners:  You want to know where the property corners and lines are. These can be identified in many ways but when in doubted get a survey before you do anything! Some will already have been surveyed and the corners are easy to find with Aerial and topographical maps.