From the video:
If you’re thinking about investing in land, have you done your due diligence yet? Investing can provide solid returns for investors but before buying land for sale in Port Charlotte, do your legwork. In this blog post, we’ll look at a few things you should check when investing in land…
Land investments. They seem so simple compared to other types of real estate, right? With a house, you’ll have to check on the foundation and how solid the structure is, you’ll have to check for things like lead paint, when the roof and windows were last replaced, and a whole other list of things.
With commercial property, you’ll have to make sure your property is compliant with the types of companies renting from you. But what about a land investment? It seems so simple, in comparison.
Think again! While land investment can be very lucrative and is pretty straightforward, it’s important that before buying property in Port Charlotte, do your legwork. Just because there are no tenants and no structures or housing, you can’t skip the dirty work!
(If you’re looking for land, get in touch to ask us about our ever-evolving list of land investments.)
This means that you need to do your due diligence, you need to research the property to see if its features and qualities align with what you’re looking for in your land investment.
Here are some things you should consider checking that aren’t usually top of mind.
Before Buying Land In Port Charlotte Do Your Legwork On The Following Things…
Topography/soil report
The topography of your land will help to determine its best use, and can guide you to find the right buyer to acquire the property from you. Land with too much clay might be better for one type of usage than another; land with thick, rich topsoil might be better for completely different usage; drainage will also play a factor into this as well.
In the Port Charlotte area, odds are you’re going to be using that property for a house. Whether it’s a new family home, a retirement spot, a vacation home, it’s probably going to be in that vein.
Florida has the highest amount of wet sandy soil of all the states. If you’re building a home, you might need some reinforcement for the foundation or you might have to bring in fill dirt to compensate for this.
You can use the NRCS Web Soil Survey to check and see what’s going on. You could also have an expert brought it, it’ll cost more but it might be a good idea before you start building your dream home.
Check if neighbors are encroaching
Sometimes with empty land, the practical use differs from the actual owner. For example, a neighbor might cut across your property with their driveway simply because it’s shorter and no one has stopped them.
This is surprisingly common in rural areas, I don’t think this is that common in Port Charlotte, I’ve never had any issues with neighbors for any of the property that we’ve owned there. I don’t think this is an issue there because the area is so built up, and most of it is meant for subdivisions.
In that scenario, it’s difficult to build or encroach on the neighbors property because you need permits for everything, and that requires a surveyor, whose responsibility it is to check the property boundaries.
In any case, you can have a survey conducted to ensure that neighbors aren’t encroaching, and that your property boundaries are being respected.
Check on access issues
Land can’t be moved so before you buy, make sure that you can access the property you’re buying. Do you have to get permission from the neighbor to drive across their property to get to yours?
This may not be a showstopper but you should at least be aware of access issues because you might be able to get to the property now but you should have a plan in case that changes in the future (like if that friendly neighbor moves and a more private or less friendly one moves in).
Again, this shouldn’t be a big issue for land for sale in Port Charlotte. Most of the land in that area is already platted and prepped for subdivisions.
One obstacle that we come across in this area from time to time is that the road to the property is overgrown, or it’s not paved. You might run into this for areas or subdivisions that were platted out years ago, but haven’t seen much growth recently.
Summary
It’s easy to read this list and think, “oh maybe I shouldn’t buy land” but that’s not our intention at all. Buying land can be very straightforward and profitable.
However, just like every other investment, before buying land for sale in Port Charlotte, do your legwork. A few minutes of due diligence before acquiring a property will help you have a more enjoyable and profitable experience! Especially in a state like Florida, where on top of the usual suspects, you have additional things to look at like scrub jays and water management.
Ready to look at some properties in Port Charlotte? We have a growing list of land investments.
To access our list, click here or call us at (313) 349-0434 and we’ll share our weekly inventory list with you.
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