4 Tips on How to Find Cheap Land

My wife has dreamed of living in one of the towns surrounding Pineview reservoir in Utah for quite some time. She loves it there because of the lake, the beautiful scenery and the cleaner air. Houses in those surrounding towns are not very cheap and neither is land. We would joke about buying a piece of land and then living in a trailer on our land. It sounds like a fun adventure, but we do have a toddler, 2 dogs, 2 ducks and some chickens so living in trailer probably wouldn’t last long. We did recently purchase a piece of land in that area and so we wanted to share some ideas around finding land in your ideal area for cheap as well as what we did to find our land.Always be looking

1. Always be looking

The most important factor in finding land for cheap is to always be looking. When a good deal pops up it goes fast so constantly being on the lookout is so important. Hand in hand with always looking is being ready to pull the trigger on the deal. If you are not ready to put in an offer in because you need more time to think about it then it is likely to get snagged by someone else. My wife was constantly looking at land for sale in the Eden/Huntsville/Liberty area. Constantly looking at land for sale in an area helps you understand the market in that area. You start to recognize what the average price for land is, what is overpriced and what is listed under market value.

2. Look at several listing sources

When looking to find a cheap piece of land in an area you love it is important to look at as many listing sources as you can. Look at your local real estate listing website and get a realtor to send you email updates on new plots of land for sale that fit your desired criteria. Check your local classified listings like Craigslist. The more listing sources you are looking at the more likely you are to see all the land for sale in your chosen area and avoid missing out on finding a cheap piece of land. In Utah we use www.utahrealestate.com and www.classifieds.ksl.com then search in Other Real Estate/Land/Lots for Sale.

3. Drive the location

Driving around the location is a great way to find properties for sale. In rare cases you may find that someone has put a for sale sign out but has not posted the property online so driving by is the only way to know it is for sale. If they are not posting their land online, they likely don’t have a realtor to tell them what comparable plots of land are selling for and thus may be selling it below the market value. An added benefit of driving around the area is when you do find a piece of land for sale you don’t have to judge based on pictures whether you like the plot of land or the specific area that it is in. It is a great way to get familiar with the area and find secluded places off the main roads.

4. Talk with the locals

Talking with the locals is a great way to find pieces of land for sale. No one will know the place better than the people living there. Often, they know exactly what is for sale and sometimes they may know of people who are just thinking about selling but haven’t done anything about it yet. This avenue takes courage, but it gets results. You can find locals to talk to in several places such as restaurants, walking around neighborhoods or at the local church.

When my wife was looking for land she was doing a combination of all these suggestions. She was constantly looking at several listing sites, she had a realtor sending her lists of new properties for sale and always wanted to go for drives around the area to look for land for sale. It was during one of these drives that we went past a church where several people were outside. We stopped at the church and she jumped out to go talk with the people and ask them if they knew of any land for sale. One young couple excitedly told us about some land near by that was for sale which was just down the street from them. When we went to go see it we found it was what we were looking for. The next day we put in an offer and have since closed on it! Hopefully in the next few months we will have a house on it as well so be looking for future posts about that.

(picture from www.visitogdenvalley.com)