Savvy investors are always looking for ways to grow returns, diversify asset classes, and mitigate risk, all at the same time. Many investors are looking to alternative assets more than ever, such as farmland.

Land is one of the oldest investment classes. It's often overlooked and considered boring. But when unpredictability seems to be everywhere you look, boring looks quite attractive.

Farmland investing offers a legitimate diversified opportunity that stands the test of time. According to the USDA's Farms and Land in Farms 2021 Summary, there are over 895 million acres of farmland in the U.S. with an average size of 445 acres. Over 60% of farms are owner-operated according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture. That leaves 39% of farmland that's rented.

There’s a reason why the likes of Bill Gates (America’s largest individual farmland owner, with 242,000 acres) and other billionaires are investing in farmland and agriculture. Farmland investments tend to be stable, non-volatile opportunities with solid long-term returns.

According to the USDA, farmland has produced an average annual return of over 11% since the early 1990s, outperforming most other asset classes, including gold.

Land values tend to appreciate in general, but this especially rings true when it comes to agricultural land. Not only is the amount of farmland limited, but the supply is decreasing against increasing demand from a growing global population. Agricultural land values hit all-time highs in 2022.

According to the 2022 Land Values Summary, farm real estate value was up 12% from 2021. Cropland value had an increase of 14% from the previous year. And United States' pasture value was up 12% from 2021.

If you take a quick look at history, you’ll notice farmland investment returns don’t typically move in the same direction as the stock market. When inflation rises above a certain level, stocks usually don’t perform well. There are also many years where traditional markets have lost value, yet farmland has produced positive returns.

Farmland as an investment is a hedge against inflation. There are a few reasons for this. As inflation increases, so do the prices of commodities like corn. Crop price increases can translate into farmland return increases.

As mentioned above, the fact that farmland and the stock market have a low correlation and the fact that it appreciates in value are also reasons why it’s a natural hedge against inflation.

Farmland tends to be less volatile than many other investment asset classes. The S&P 500 has been more than twice as volatile as farmland at times. It’s even been less volatile than commercial real estate, bonds, and gold.

Farmland investments can come with tax savings and deductions. This can come in the form of strategies like property tax breaks, placing farmland in a conservation trust, and other farming-based tax credits or subsidies.

There’s no question about it. Food will always be in high demand. The world’s population is growing, which means the demand for food is growing. One way you can drive returns on your farmland investment is through crop yields.

As stated above, nearly 40% of farmland is rented. So a large number of farmland owners choose not to buy agricultural land themselves but instead lease it from a landowner. If you’re the landowner, those rental payments provide a passive return on your land investment.

Investing in farmland means putting your money behind agricultural production. Farmland, also known as arable land or cropland, is used for growing crops. Rangeland, or pasture land, is land primarily used for grazing livestock.

You can invest in farmland directly or indirectly.

The obvious way to invest in farmland is to buy a farm yourself. There are a few ways you could go about this.

If this is the investment route you’re looking to take, make sure to check out our farms for sale. And if you need help buying or selling agricultural land, take a look at our farmland brokers.

A farmland REIT is a real estate investment trust created for the purpose of holding farmland. The way it works is relatively simple. Once capital is raised by investors, they invest in farmland. Farmers can then rent the land from the REIT. The investors then receive periodic returns from the income the farm generates.

Similar to many investment methods, there are pros and cons. Of the common farmland investment approaches, REITs often generate the lowest returns. But the passive returns that can be earned without having to deal with the responsibilities associated with owning and managing a farm can be attractive to investors.

There are 2 main REITs associated with farmland.

In the past, investing in farmland was largely reserved for institutional investors. Now there are fractional farmland investing options that make farmland investing open to any accredited investor. In other words, similar to REITs, you can own agricultural land without ever stepping foot on the farm or even seeing it. All you need is the Internet.

These platforms often have investment criteria such as duration, minimum financial contribution, secondary market restrictions, and as mentioned above, in many cases you must be accredited.

Here are a few investment platforms with a focus on farmland.

It can’t all be positive, right? As with any investment, there are some risks and nothing contained on this website should be taken as investment advice. Some investments can lead to losses or at the very least underperformance.

In the past, farmland was only owned by farmers. It wasn’t very accessible and there was a high barrier to entry. In recent years, with new farmland investing options, farmland has become more accessible to more investors. You could say there’s still a relatively high barrier to entry, but it’s been lowered considerably. Historically, farmland has been a smart investment and even outpaced the stock market.

If you’re looking to invest in farmland, you should be able to find an investment vehicle that meets your needs. And you don’t have to buy a whole farm or even lace up your boots to reap the benefits of farm ownership anymore. But if it makes sense to add farmland directly to your portfolio, head over to our inventory or farmland for sale.

Is everything actually bigger in Texas? When it comes to ranches… pretty much. Not only is Texas home to some of the biggest ranches, but it also has some of the most extraordinary ranch properties for a number of reasons in addition to size.

When most people think of cowboying, ranching, or large swaths of land, Texas is one of the places that quickly comes to mind. Over 93% of land in Texas is privately owned. These 10 properties combine for nearly 2.5 million acres or over 3,900 square miles. And when it comes to their value, well, it may be too high to count.

From the largest ranch in the U.S. in South Texas and mini Grand Canyons in West Texas, to the world’s most expensive ranch in North Texas and the state’s largest privately-owned lake in East Texas, these ranches are nothing short of legendary. Keep in mind, you can visit some of these ranches even though they’re not public land. As an added bonus, we included honorable mentions at the end.

Enjoy our list of some of the largest and most incredible ranches on the planet.

Being the largest ranch in Texas would be a feat in and of itself, but at 825,000 acres, the King Ranch is the largest ranch in the U.S. as of 2022. It’s larger than the entire state of Rhode Island. Located in South Texas, it consists of 4 divisions and includes portions of 6 Texas counties.

Its history dates back to 1853 and although it’s known for cattle ranching, farming and hunting are a big part of the King Ranch’s agribusiness as well. It’s responsible for developing the Santa Gertrudis breed, a special breed of cattle, as well as producing thoroughbred horses.

The King Ranch is not only one of the most famous cattle ranches in Texas but one of the most iconic properties in the world.

Brewster Ranch spans 424,000 acres and 57 miles in West Texas, making it one of the biggest ranches in Texas. Not only is it enormous, but the acreage is contiguous, which is rare for a property of this size. It’s been assembled from 22 historic ranch properties, many dating back to the settlement of the frontier in the late 1800s.

What’s more, as of September 2022, the ranch is for sale for a whopping $413,400,000.

The property includes 10 headquarters and everything from limestone hills, massive mountains, and grasslands, to forests, deserts, and the Rio Grande River. You’ll also find rugged canyons and deep gorges that may remind you of a small version of the Grand Canyon.

The ranch includes traditional cattle ranching as well as Texas hunting land and is essentially just a continuation of Big Bend National Park.

Nicknamed the “largest ranch under one fence,” the Waggoner ranch covers 535,000 acres, making it not only one of the largest ranches in Texas but one of the largest contiguous ranches in the United States.

It had been owned by the same family from 1849 until 2016, when it was sold to Stan Kroenke. Although the details of the transaction were undisclosed, the asking price was $725,000,000, likely making it the most expensive ranch ever sold.

Located in North Texas, the property spans 6 counties and is extremely diverse. Historically, it has included over 30,000 acres of Texas farmland, a variety of recreational opportunities from large lakes and wildlife, a working ranch operation running thousands of cattle, an oil operation, and a nationally recognized horse program.

The Four Sixes Ranch is truly worthy of being called a legendary property. Located in King County, TX, the 6666 Ranch itself is comprised of 142,372 acres, although it’s part of a larger land holding with the 6666 Dixon Creek Ranch Division (Dixon Creek Ranch) and 6666 Frisco Creek Ranch Division (Frisco Creek Ranch).

In total, it encompasses approximately 266,255 acres of Texas land. 1,000 acres are typically farmed in wheat for grazing; 700 acres are bluestem pasture, and the remaining 140,000 acres are native pasture.

Not that it needed any more prestige, but it gained even more notoriety recently when it was featured in the TV series “Yellowstone.” In 2021, the Four Sixes Ranch along with the other land holdings sold for the first time in its history. The total asking price was $341,000,000.

The 350,000-acre Longfellow Ranch is a recreational hunting paradise. It’s located in the heart of Big Bend Country in West Texas and is not only a wildlife retreat but also a working cattle ranch. It provides guided hunting for a variety of different game including elk, javelina, whitetail deer, turkey, mule deer, and barbary sheep.

A 4,700-square-foot lodge offers 5-star rooms and dining facilities for events and guests. The land includes everything from upland plateaus and deep canyons to native grassland and limestone ridges. The ranch also includes the Piñon gas field.

The Mesa Vista Ranch in the Texas Panhandle is the essence of a luxury ranch. It took nearly 50 years for oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens to assemble the 64,809 acres, which is a property like no other.

US Highway 70 splits the property with over 15,700 acres in the eastern division and approximately 48,960 acres in the western division. One of its claims to fame is its world-class quail hunting. It’s been transformed into a wildlife paradise and has been quoted as “arguably the finest quail hunting spot in the known universe.”

The property features a main, 25,000-square-foot lodge with an additional 10,000 square feet of porches and patio areas. It also includes an 11,500-square-foot lake house, family house, pub, gun room, gate house, and even a chapel. Mesa Vista has also been described as a large water park with numerous lakes, ponds, waterfalls, and the Canadian River forming the north boundary.

As of September 2022, the ranch is under contract with an asking price of $170,000,000.

The Sandow Lakes Ranch may not be quite as large as the previous ranches on the list, but its 31,631 acres are incredible nonetheless. Located in Central Texas, this property is about as diverse as it gets, including recreational land as well as industrial, and agricultural opportunities.

What sets this ranch apart, though, is the water. It has the largest source of ground and water rights in Texas. Sandow features 14 deep water lakes with 48,379 acre-feet of water covering 1,960 surface acres and 44,000 acre-feet of permitted groundwater rights.

Along with abundant water sources, it has a turnkey industrial complex including 1.5 million square feet of warehousing. If you’re a farmer or outdoorsman, the ranch is home to abundant wildlife with deer, waterfowl, hogs, and even American Bald Eagles as well as thousands of acres of productive pasture, hay, and agricultural land.

This property sold in 2021 for a colossal $240,000,000. Sandow Lakes has been described by Bernard Uechtritz who marketed the property as one of the greatest land reclamation achievements in American history.

At 5,025 acres, Fairfield Lake Ranch is significantly smaller than the other 9 ranches but packs an awesome punch. At the heart of the East Texas property is Fairfield Lake, a 2,400-acre body of water that may be the largest privately-owned lake in Texas. It’s surrounded by 21 miles of shoreline.

But that’s not all. The ranch also includes its own official 1,800-acre state park—Fairfield State Park—leased to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Believe it or not, there’s still more. Within the lake are 2 private islands connected by a land bridge. One island is 150 acres while the other is 30 acres. Needless to say, the imagination runs wild with the development and recreational opportunities the ranch could offer.

As of September 2022, Fairfield Lake Ranch is under contract with an asking price of $110,550,000.

Turkey Track Ranch isn't just a premier Texas ranch; it’s a premier ranch anywhere. Located in the Texas Panhandle, it encompasses nearly 80,000 acres, all under one fence.

Not only is it well-known for its natural resources, but also for its historical heritage and legacy. It’s the site of the Battle of Adobe Walls, where Kit Carson led his forces in 1864.

The land is made up of fertile rangeland, mesa and cap rock country, rolling sandhills, diverse wildlife, and water. It features 26 miles of Canadian River frontage. In 2016, it was awarded the Cattlemen's Beef Association Environmental Stewardship Award for Region IV.

As of September 2022, the ranch is for sale for the first time after 120 years of stewardship for $200,000,000.

“Within its fences, anything is possible,” is how the Rancho Agua Grande ranch is described. It’s located in South Texas and is well-known for first-class hunting and an abundance of water. After all, agua grande means "big water." The property is 17,132 acres and includes Live Oak Creek, over 30 springs, and multiple lakes. To give you an idea of how large the “creek” is, it’s slowed by 10 dams along its 7-mile route.

The land is diverse and features rugged hills, deep canyons, pecan bottoms, limestone caves, and a variety of wildlife. Kangaroos, zebras, camels, water buffalo, and white bison are among the 40 species that call the ranch home. The highest peaks in both Uvalde and Kinney counties are located on the ranch—Salmon Peak and Boiling Mountain.

Don’t forget the 6,000-square-foot lodge with its own antique bar, and dance floor, as well as the 8 antique cabins that date back to the mid-19th century.

As of September 2022, this luxury ranch is for sale for $150,000,000.

It's worth noting these ranch sizes are based on data from September 2022. It's common for portions of the ranch to be split and sold, or for the seller to buy more land to add to the ranch.

While Texas may not be the wild west it once was, it’s still full of wide open spaces, expansive blue skies, desert landscapes, and some of the largest ranches in the United States. Whether it’s famous ranches in South Texas and luxury ranches in East Texas or dude ranches in the Texas Hill Country and working ranches in West Texas, life on the range is alive and well.

Although it has some expensive real estate, it's not all expensive. Texas also happens to be one of the cheapest states to buy land.

If you’re looking for your own slice of rangeland in The Lone Star State, check out our Texas ranches for sale. Or, if you're just looking for general property in the area, head over to our inventory of land for sale in Texas.

Land ownership was a major part of the original American dream. Even now, centuries after we gained our independence, buying your own piece of land can seem like a pipe dream—a luxury only for the wealthy. But this isn’t actually the case. Buying land may not be as out of reach as you thought. More and more people can afford to purchase land and turn their dream of land ownership into a reality.

Whether you’re looking to buy land to build a home, or purchasing recreational land, farmland, or making an investment, land can be deceptively complicated. If you're wondering how to buy land, here's a step-by-step process with everything you need to know about purchasing land.

What are you going to do with the land? This may seem obvious, but the purpose for the land will guide the entire land buying process. It’ll inform important attributes like the acreage, location, market value, improvements, and more.

The reasons for buying land can be as diverse as the landscapes you’ll find throughout the United States. Here are several common land use examples:

You can learn more about how land is used in the United States from the USDA's land use and land cover estimates and check out our post on land use types. It should be noted when it comes to the last example—investment—more and more investors are looking to invest in land because it's a low-risk asset. If you are an investor, you may be interested in our cheapest states to buy land blog. Agricultural land is especially popular. To learn more, see our article discussing how to invest in farmland.

When thinking about how to buy land, this initial research will help you make sure buying land is a good financial decision. Since you know what you’ll buy the land for, you can start looking at the market value for that type of land in whatever area of the country makes sense.

The price per acre can vary drastically even in different areas of the same county. And the type of land also plays a major role in the price. If you’re buying land to build a house you’ll be looking at a different price per acre than if you’re buying remote recreational land. To learn more about valuing land, check out our blog on price per acre land valuation.

There are several ways you can do this. One way is to look at land for sale in that area and see how sellers are pricing it. Another way is to look at comps, or comparables. This approach is looking at the recent prices people purchased land for, usually on a price per acre basis. There are online resources that can help with this.

For example, if you're looking to buy farmland, you could start by looking at the National Agricultural Statistics Service's land values. They're broken down by types and states, but once you get a general idea you'd need to look at the specific county. In many cases, the county’s website in the area you’re searching will have public property comps.

Once you have a general idea of what properties in your area are selling for, you’ll need to make sure you have the money available to buy the land. That’s why the research in the previous step is critical. We’ll talk in more detail about financing below, but if you don’t have the money or a way to get it, like cash or a loan for buying land, then you can forget about purchasing land.

Although you can’t predict all expenses, you’ll need to think about costs like a down payment on a land loan, property taxes, and any expenses associated with what you’ll use the land for such as building a septic system or bringing utilities to the property. Angi estimates the cost to bring utilities to vacant land in 2022 to be between $6,225 and $34,550 with an average of $20,387 depending on factors like location and topography.

One of the most common mistakes people make when buying vacant land is to enter into the process unprepared. You don’t want to pull the trigger on a property too quickly and find out there were hidden problems you didn’t catch. When considering how to buy land, a vital piece of the puzzle is to investigate and research the property. For a land buyer’s checklist, read our article discussing questions to ask when buying land.

There are many issues that are specific to certain types of properties, but here are a few general issues to be aware of and investigate:

If you're looking to buy land, you’re in luck. There are multiple ways to find land for sale. In the modern age, the way most people start searching is online. Finding land near you online to browse hundreds of thousands of land listings, is the ideal way to search for land online. You can search for properties on a map as well as filter and sort properties by type, tag, price, size, keywords, and more.

Another way to find land is to enlist the help of a real estate agent. Fortunately, there are dedicated land brokers, and even specialists in land types, like agriculture and recreation. There’s a specific accreditation also called an Accredited Land Consultant that represents deep expertise of land.

Not all land for sale is listed online, and there are still even times when there’s just a sign posted. Land agents not only have expertise when it comes to land, but also local knowledge of the area they work in. An agent can also help with land price negotiation, paperwork, and other pieces of the land buying process.

If you’re looking for a real estate agent, you can find a land agent near you in our agent directory.

The recommended and most common way to purchase land is with cash.

Not everyone has enough cash on hand to buy land outright. This doesn’t have to stop you from purchasing land. You can get a land loan. It’s important to note, though, that getting a loan to buy land is different than a traditional mortgage on a house. Generally, lenders view vacant land as a higher risk, since there’s not a structure that provides additional value if they have to turn around and sell it to recoup their investment.

The good news is there are institutions that specialize in land loans and want to help. As a rule, buying land with financing comes with a higher down payment and interest rate. To learn more, take a look at our post detailing how to finance your land purchase and explore our land loan calculator.

Another common financing option is owner financing. This is particularly common when it comes to land. Owner financing is when the seller essentially loans you the money to buy the land instead of a bank. After you negotiate the terms to buy the property, you’ll make payments directly to the seller. If you’re interested, read our article discussing owner financing when buying land.

Assuming you can check all the boxes so far, it’s time to make an offer to buy the land. This is normally a document containing information such as the price you're willing to pay and any contingencies like a land survey, environmental test, and more. It’ll also include land purchase terms like who pays closing costs. Hopefully, they’ll accept your offer, but they could come back with a counteroffer.

Once an offer is accepted and financing is secured, you can close on the land purchase. Closing is just another way of stating the sale is finalized. Once you close, congratulations, you’ve just successfully become a landowner.

Buying land is an exciting opportunity but should be approached with caution. It can be more complicated than you think. Still, this shouldn’t scare you off. Thousands of people just like you make wise decisions to buy land every year. We hope this step-by-step guide detailing how to buy land will be helpful to you and if you’re looking to buy land, browse land for sale near you.

Terms like "farm" and "ranch" are thrown around in the land market and often used interchangeably. If you're a land investor, looking to get into agriculture, or just generally interested in land, it's important to be clear on what these land types mean.

A common question that gets asked is… what's the difference between farms and ranches?

If you're looking for agricultural land for sale, it's especially critical to know the similarities and differences between a farm vs a ranch.

A farm is a piece of land used for agriculture. In other words, farms are means of producing crops, energy, fuel, raw materials, or other types of goods used in the agricultural industry. It’s generally broken down into 2 general categories—pasture and cultivable land.

Pasture land, or rangeland, is used primarily for cattle grazing by livestock such as sheep, pigs, cattle, and horses. Cropland, or arable land, is used for producing crops such as corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton, and rice.

Now you may be thinking, “pasture land used for livestock grazing sounds an awful lot like a ranch to me.” And you’d be right. So one main difference between a farm and a ranch is all ranches are farms, but not all farms are ranches.

According to the USDA's Census of Agriculture, farmland accounts for approximately 40% of land in the U.S. with over 900 million acres. It also points out there are more than 2 million farms with the average farm being over 400 acres in size.

Farms can be relatively small or thousands of acres. They not only vary in size but also in ownership and operation. Some are owned and operated by large corporations while others are owned and operated by families or independent farmers.

Agricultural land has become a popular investment vehicle. More and more investors have been taking advantage of new ways to invest in land. To learn more, see our article discussing investing in farmland.

A ranch is a type of farm used for raising livestock. This is usually done through the process of grazing on pasture land or rangeland. They’re often used to produce meat, but can be used for other purposes as well. Some focus on a single animal like cattle, while others may raise a variety of animals like cows, horses, sheep, and pigs.

Although ranching in the traditional sense refers to raising grazing livestock, ranches often include luxurious homes, a variety of wildlife, and crops for the ranch animals.

When most people think of a ranch, they often think of a massive swath of grassland. And there are many examples of this throughout the U.S. But there are also smaller ranches, too. It's common for western ranches to be a combination of privately-owned land mixed with open range pasture land and grazing land leased to the state, Bureau of Land Management, or the U.S. Forest Service. Ranchers and ranch operators are sometimes called cowboys, wranglers, and cattlemen.

We’ve created an easy-to-digest list of similarities and differences between a ranch and farm. It should be noted this is using a standard crop farm as the farming example and a working ranch as the ranching example.

So there you have it—a beginner’s guide to the difference between a ranch and a farm. Although there are some distinct differences in a ranch vs farm, it could be argued they use different methods to accomplish the same goal.

Either way, so much of what we eat and even the clothes we wear come from farms and ranches. Ranchers and farmers work their tails off to help all of us. They should all be commended and thanked for their tremendous efforts. So from us here at LandSearch to all farmers and ranchers we’d like to say… thank you.

And don’t forget, if you’re looking for farms for sale or ranches for sale, we’ve got you covered.

Real estate terms get thrown around every day, assuming everyone knows what they mean. But this isn’t always the case. A lot of the lingo might sound simple, but sometimes there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Land use is a great example. Whether you’re a land buyer, seller, or owner, understanding land usage and types are extremely important. Here’s what you need to know about land use including definitions, why it’s important, and the most common types of property.

Land use describes the relationship between people and land. It’s what it sounds like—how a piece of land is being used. It’s the intent people apply to the land available to them. A more specific land use definition is the characterization of actions people apply to land for various purposes. This is often dictated by the natural resources the land provides and historical use. It can also be enforced from various jurisdictions in an effort to control real estate development and for future land use planning.

Who cares about land use and types of land? Well, we all should, and here’s why. People buy land for a reason. If you’re a land buyer and you find the “perfect” property, it’s of the utmost importance to make sure you can do what you want with it. Once you figure out the land use, it might not be so perfect after all. In other words, if you want to build a house, make sure you can. If you’re looking for a farming operation, make sure the land is designated for agricultural land use. You get the idea.

If you're considering purchasing land, head over to our blog for a step-by-step guide on how to buy land.

Let’s say you’re trying to sell your land. Land usage also matters because it can be a major determining factor in the value of the property. On average (of course, there are exceptions), a commercial lot will have a higher market value than a residential lot of the same size. Why? Because of what the land can be used for. One will more than likely be used to generate revenue and attract a lot of traffic, while the other will just be lived in. So if you’re a land seller, land use can help you put the right price tag on your property as well as get it in front of the right buyer pool.

Current land use can also help predict future land use patterns. Understanding how a parcel of land was used in the past is a pretty good indicator of how it’ll be used in the future. Also, how a property is being used will often tell you how adjacent properties are and will be used.

People have used land for many different purposes throughout history. Land use is the intent that people apply to the land available to them. The major types of land use today are agricultural, commercial, recreational, residential, and transport.

Producing crops and raising livestock is one of the oldest forms of land use. Agricultural land is land devoted to the controlled use of any form of life to produce food for people and is often referred to as cropland or farmland.

With more than 900 million acres, farmland accounts for approximately 40% of land in the United States, according to the USDA's Census of Agriculture. It’s divided into 2 major categories—cultivable and pasture land. Cropland is used for producing crops such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. Pasture land, or rangeland, is used primarily for cattle grazing by livestock such as cattle, sheep, and horses. To learn more, check out our article on the difference between a ranch and a farm. If you’re in the market for farmland, head over to our agricultural land for sale.

Here are a few examples of agricultural land use.

It's also worth mentioning many investors are buying agricultural land as an investment due to its solid history of stable returns. Head over to our blog to find out how to invest in farmland.

Recreational land is property used for personal enjoyment. The point is to have fun and provide relaxation in the outdoors. This could be privately owned land or property owned by a government entity. It could include anything from city parks and open spaces to national parks and large tracts of hunting land. Ready for your own getaway? Take a look at our recreational land for sale.

Here are some examples of recreational land use.

Commercial land is property that’s used for business activity or commerce. The purpose of this land is to operate income-producing business. Commercial land is often included in city land use planning because it's essential to the health of the local economy.

Land designated as commercial use is often appraised differently and the land values can vary drastically. Even if the land isn't zoned commercial, it could be valuable if it's in the path of economic growth. Commercial property is also a common type of real estate that tends to be leased to produce rental income. If you’re looking to start your own business, our inventory of commercial land for sale is a good place to start.

Here are a few examples of commercial land use.

Residential land is property that either includes a residence or is a good fit to build one. This land is zoned to support primary housing where people live. In many cases, people want to find residential land so they can design their own homes.

Beware, there are often restrictions associated with residential land use. These include the types of materials that can be used to build, minimum or maximum build size, and the type of animals allowed (if any are permitted). Ready to build your dream home? We’ve got you covered with our residential land for sale.

Residential land values can also vary depending on location and other factors. For example, a quarter-acre of beachfront land for sale can be significantly more expensive than the same size lot a few miles inland. Another land type that tends to be expensive is our islands for sale.

Here are a couple examples of residential land use.

Mixed land use is exactly what it sounds like—a combination of land uses on a single property. Although this could technically include a mixture of any of the types of land mentioned, the most common form is a combination of commercial and residential land use.

Here are several examples of mixed-use land.

People tend to not think about transport land use as much as the other land usages, and it’s often underappreciated (until something goes wrong). People need to be able to get around to live, work, and play in a given location. Products and animals also need to be able to get from one location to another. Transport land is real estate that allows people to travel from one place to another. In other words, it’s used to enable you to get from “A to B.” If you need to go to the office from your house, transportation land is the vehicle that makes it possible.

The majority of transport land is owned by government entities like the city. Often times it takes major land use planning and possibly bringing in land use consultants to maintain, upgrade, or create new transportation land.

If you’re not crystal clear, here are a few examples of transport land use that will probably clear it up for you.

In urban land use, or urban land use planning, the government for example will take a look at the existing land uses in an area. Often they’ll record the data on a land use map. In many cases, they’ll compare the statistics with land use stats from other communities. The goal is to find out what the optimal land use distribution and patterns are and implement them in their own community. This not only prevents land-use conflicts, but can also improve the quality of the area while not harming the environment and its natural resources. It’s important to note major land use changes can impact water resources, ecosystems, and land in general. To learn more read our article discussing land use and water pollution.

If you’re interested, here are the U.S. land use stats of the 2.3 billion total acres according to the latest major uses of land in the United States report from the Economic Research Service. They break the land use classifications down a little differently.

Real estate is a type of real property that includes land and any permanent improvements attached to it. The improvement may be natural or unnatural. This includes not only homes, office buildings, apartments, garages, and other structures, but also trees, minerals, bridges, crops, and fences.

This is opposed to personal property, which is movable. Examples of personal property are farm equipment, livestock, cars, and tools.

This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people search for the definition of land. The technical definition of land is it’s the solid part of the earth that’s not underwater. Some say an everyday definition of land is real estate minus structures but land can include structures, it’s just the real estate under and around them.

One of the valuable components of land is there’s a limited amount of it. And sometimes it holds precious minerals below the surface. Depending on multiple factors such as location and land use, land can be either extremely valuable, cheap, or somewhere in between. We’ve got a great selection of general land for sale as well as cheap land for sale.

Vacant land is a type of real estate with no structures of significant value. It's also referred to as unimproved, undeveloped, or raw land. It has the potential to be a versatile, hands-off asset and often appreciates in value. Some vacant lots are buildable while others aren't depending on the topography and land use and zoning laws.

Although it’s sometimes called raw or undeveloped land, vacant land can be distinguishable from these. Vacant land may be improved with attributes like utilities, driveways, or septic and still be called vacant. If you’re looking for this type of property, check out our vacant land for sale.

Undeveloped land is real estate without any improvements whatsoever. So this means no buildings, driveways, or public utilities. In other words, it lacks development of any kind. It’s nature in its rawest form without significant intervention from people. As stated above, it tends to appreciate in value due to limited supply and growing demand.

This type of land tends to be the most inexpensive. Curious about cheap land? Check out our article to find out which state has the cheapest land.

Many of these real estate and land use terms are used interchangeably. If you’re a land investor, it’s important to be aware of that and make sure you’re crystal clear on what a seller means when they use them. Mossy Oak Properties provides an in-depth analysis of Florida's land types and why it's important for land buyers for be knowledgeable about them.

There are many qualities that contribute to how land can be used. Zoning, easements, climate, topography, and biology are a few. Fortunately, there’s land for sale out there for whatever you’d like to do, and the sky’s the limit. Understanding land use policy and property types are a piece of the puzzle to help set you up for success.

Conservation. Simplicity. Freedom. These are a few of the goals associated with "living off the grid." You don’t have to be a bushman or elite military to be successful either. You may just want a simpler life, to connect with nature, and get rid of distractions.

Even though you don’t have to be a survival expert, off-the-grid living isn’t for the faint of heart.

Buy land, sell your stuff, move to the woods, grow food, and build a cabin. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast. It takes preparation, hard work, and persistence to go totally off the grid.

Living off the grid means you survive on what the land provides naturally without public utilities. The less dependent you are on outside sources, the more independent you are in the world. Off grid living is a way to become self-sufficient and live sustainably.

If you’re not going to use modern sources to sustain you, then you’ll need to find alternatives. This could include an off grid solar system for power, gardens for food, and rainwater harvesting for drinking water and showering just as examples.

There are advantages and disadvantages of living off the land. If you’re thinking of saying goodbye to society, here are the pros and cons of remote living.

Wondering if you’ve got what it takes? Here are the basics.

You’ll need to find land in a good location that’s conducive to off-grid living. This means you can afford it and you're unrestricted from building a cabin or raising animals. To learn more, read our article discussing land use and property types. A good location is often secluded away from large cities.

You’ll also need to make sure it has legal access and can provide you with resources for sustainability. Some people even choose to live in off-grid communities. If you're considering a land purchase, take a look at our blog discussing how to buy land.

Off-the-grid land can be one of the more inexpensive types of land. To find out more, check out our post highlighting the cheapest land in the United States.

Some form of shelter is essential. It protects you from the elements such as rain, snow, and extreme cold or heat. It can keep you safe from dangerous predators as well.

There are many options for housing. You could build an off grid cabin similar to one of the cool cabin designs from Den. Other options include tiny houses, log homes, RVs, or just a more traditional rural home. Shop our cabins for sale if you’re looking for a jump start.

The goal is to make sure your shelter can provide what you need. Storage, warmth in the winter, and some type of bedding are examples.

A water source is essential for off the grid living. The average person can only survive a short while without water, depending on the circumstances. In addition to having water for drinking, you’ll also need it for bathing.

There are a few ways you can bring water to your site. A reliable option could be to dig a well. Another way is to harvest rainwater by setting up a water collection system. Last, if you have access to a fresh water source, you could haul water or possibly use power to supply it to your home.

Having a reliable food source can be the difference between failure and success. Without food, you can forget about surviving, much less having an enjoyable experience. You need plenty of calories for the work that’s required.

Hunter-gatherers were people that lived a lifestyle of getting their food from either hunting or foraging. You’ll need to become a hunter-gatherer yourself if you plan on going totally off grid. Other options are fishing and agriculture, although unless you’re a pro, fishing can be hit or miss.

Consider buying a small farm or a homestead to jump start crop production.

Proper clothes are essential. Make sure you’re prepared with outdoor apparel, especially for extreme weather conditions. It’ll depend on what part of the country your land is located, but research how cold and hot it gets and pack appropriately.

You won’t be connected to the power grid. Most people make sure they have a source of off-grid power, even if they’re extremely independent. Solar energy is a popular off-grid power option while wind turbines and running water are viable power sources too.

It’s smart to also have a backup power option and even a power storage system. For example, if a solar generator is your primary power source, your backup could be wind or hydroelectric power. It’s not a bad idea have a backup generator, just in case.

People produce lots of waste. It’s easy to take this for granted, but you’ll quickly realize it's a real issue to be dealt with.

You could make a compost toilet, which is basically a bucket with a seat. After you do your business add sawdust. When the bucket gets full, dump it into your compost pile. You can then use it in your garden. Alternatively, you could build a small outhouse or pit latrine in a location where the waste doesn’t get close to your water source. The third option is to install a septic system.

When people consider living off the land, they often assume how much cheaper it will be. And it could in the long run, but off grid living can be costly to jump start so estimating your costs is important.

Not only will you need startup capital to buy land, shelter, electrical generators, and other supplies, but you’ll also need reserves for emergencies like equipment failure.

Here’s are some average costs and as you can see, off-grid expenses add up quick. Data sources include our land pricing, HomeAdvisor, Angi, and SolarReviews.

One of the largest and most common mistakes off-grid adventurers make is a lack of preparation. You’d want to research weather, wildlife, and plant life in the area you’re going to. You’ll need a set of survival skills before you begin such as how to start a fire, navigate the wilderness, and what to do in case of an emergency.

It also won't hurt to make sure you’re in relatively good shape. Off-grid living requires an active lifestyle even if things go as planned, and could be even harder work when the unexpected happens.

An often overlooked aspect of off grid living is what happens to your mind when you're by yourself. All of a sudden you can find yourself with a fearful, gloomy perspective. If you’ve ever watched the History Channel’s reality show “Alone," you know in many cases people tap out and quit simply because they’re lonely, scared, or focusing on what they miss.

The solution is to make sure you can cultivate a positive attitude. There are many ways to do this, but meditation and trying to stay in the present moment are a couple that you can use. If you focus on a problem, it tends to increase, and if you focus on a solution, the solution increases.

This article is geared towards going totally off the grid but you don't have to go all in. Some people still shop at a grocery store, install modern amenities, and even watch TV and use the Internet.

An off-grid lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but it can lead to a fulfilling life for some. Becoming free and self-sufficient is certainly attractive, but you need to know what you’re doing. Going in unprepared can be dangerous. So the key isn't to jump right in, but to do due diligence and then enjoy your new way of living and experiencing the world. If you’re ready to get started, browse our inventory of off grid land for sale.

Some consider buying land to be the original American dream. Shopping for land for sale is exciting and loaded with potential. After all, unlike buying a home, land is a blank canvas waiting for your creative ideas — the sky’s the limit.

You may be thinking… “I’d love to buy land, but I’m not even close to being wealthy. It’s just not in the cards.” Unfortunately, many stop here, assuming they can’t afford land. But that may not be the case since there’s cheap land for sale throughout the country, you just have to know where to look.

The price of land is dependent on several factors. 1,000 acres of timberland in the Southeast, predominantly pine, may be significantly cheaper than 1,000 acres of Douglas fir in the Pacific Northwest. A half-acre residential lot a mile inland will be cheaper than the same property beachfront. Check out our article discussing how big is an acre of land to learn more about the size of an acre.

Saying buying land in certain states is cheaper than in other states can be somewhat misleading because it depends on the specific location within the state. There are counties where the average price per acre on the western side is 2 times cheaper than land on the eastern side and vice versa. Land that generates income will likely be more expensive than land that doesn't. You get the point. To learn more about land use, read our article on land use and land types.

Typically the cheapest acreage in the United States tends to be desert land with no utilities. This is land where the uses are pretty limited. Other examples of budget-friendly real estate are tracts with no legal access like land-locked properties, extremely remote, off-the-grid land, where any timber is unharvestable, and other non-buildable lots.

Using values from our price per acre data, we took a look at land prices throughout the country to find out where you can buy cheap land.

Here are the states where you can buy the cheapest land in the U.S. Keep in mind, we’re only referring to portions of each state.

Although New Mexico’s geography is surprisingly diverse and includes forested mountains, green valleys, and grasslands, much of the state is desert. This results in New Mexico being one of the cheapest states to buy land. The Chihuahuan Desert runs through the southern part of the state and you can buy affordable land for sale in Deming as low as $200 per acre.

In the central part of the state, where there’s remote desert, you can also find cheap land for sale in New Mexico. For example, outside Bosque, you may come across land under $100 per acre.

Nevada is one of the cheapest places to buy land, because it’s home to a large amount of remote desert. Northern Nevada is located in the Great Basin. This is a desert area with hot summer temperatures and cold winter temperatures. In areas outside of cities like Wells, Lovelock, and Winnemucca, you can buy cheap land for sale in Nevada in the $100-$200 per acre range.

Another place to buy cheap land is in Arizona. Although parts of Arizona are home to forests, canyons, and even ski resorts, much of southern and western Arizona is arid desert land. It’s known for having extremely hot summers, and mild winters, and is home to plants such as the cactus.

Although you can buy cheap land for sale in Arizona throughout the state, you’ll have the most success by looking west and south. Near cities like Wikieup, Kingman, Meadview, and Bullhead City in western Arizona you can often find low-cost land for sale in the $250-$500 per acre range. And in southern areas around Douglas, Hereford, Bisbee, and McNeal, you can buy $400-$600 per acre properties.

Maine is also home to some of America's cheapest land. While it’s certainly not desert land, it’s located in a part of New England known for its jagged coastline and heavily forested timberland. It’s the most northeastern U.S. state and one of the least densely populated.

There’s a lot of unorganized state territory consisting of over 420 townships. As a result, much of the land in Maine is extremely secluded and remote, with no signs of civilization in sight. Also, land in Maine tends to come in large parcels, which can lower the average price per acre.

If you’re looking for cheap land for sale in Maine, the eastern portion of the state is a good place to start, specifically the Northeast. In northeastern towns like Van Buren, Connor Township, and Castle Hill you can buy remote properties sometimes as low as $450-$800 per acre. In certain eastern towns like Amity, Cary, Dyer Brook, and Linneus you can buy tracts for $400-700 per acre.

There’s also some very affordable land further south in places like Perkins Township, Franklin, and Hermon for $575-$800 per acre.

Michigan is home to some cheap land for the same reason as Maine. It’s essentially 2 large peninsulas—the Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula. Even though the state has a large population, there are very remote and sparsely-populated regions, especially the Upper Peninsula. There you can buy large tracts of hunting land, cabin properties, and other recreational acreage.

You’ll even see land with water features come on the market for affordable prices. This is due to the remote, off-the-grid nature of the geography. The peninsula is in the extreme North and surrounded by Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron.

If you’re searching for cheap land for sale in Michigan, check out the Upper Peninsula. You’ll see land prices as low as $250-$600 per acre.

Colorado is one of the cheapest states to buy land. This comes as a surprise to a lot of people, but not so much to people who live there. While it has some very expensive real estate in places like Aspen and Steamboat Springs, it’s also home to desert and inhospitable mountain land. It also tends to sell in large parcels. Surprisingly, you can buy cheap land for sale in Colorado throughout the state, but it’s more common outside the central mountains.

In the eastern plains and especially the Southeast around cities like Kim, Campo, Eads, and Hasty, you can buy land for sale for $680-$1,000 per acre. In the West, you’ll find some desert-like conditions mixed with mountainous terrain. Here you can find land on the market for $500-900 per acre.

Down South in places such as Walsenburg, Del Norte, and Moffat, prices can be as low as $750-$1,000 per acre. Even in the central part of the state, in sites like Yoder, you can buy parcels for under $1,000 per acre.

Many people think of desert land when they think of Texas. But actually, less than 10% of land in Texas is considered desert. It’s home to a variety of landscapes including coastline, forests, and grasslands. Since Texas is so large, around 10% is still over 17 million desert acres which means it has some of the cheapest land in the United States.

If you’re shopping for cheap land for sale in Texas, almost the entire western portion of Texas along the western New Mexico and southern Mexican border is desert. For example, in western areas like Sierra Blanca and Monahans, you can find land as cheap as $350-$600 per acre. Towards the Mexican border, around cities such as Dryden and Sanderson, you can buy land as low as $350-$500 per acre.

Oregon is one of the United States’ most geographically diverse states. You’ll find everything from dense forests and volcanoes to crystal-clear lakes, mountains, and the Pacific coastline. In addition to that, it’s also home to desert and shrubland, which is where you can buy cheap land for sale. If you’re looking for cheap land for sale in Oregon, the western and southern parts of the state are good places to start your search.

Around cities like Adel, Plush, and Bonanza, you can buy land in the $250-$650 per acre range. As you move north to areas around Christmas Valley, Summer Lake, Brothers, and then Service Creek, you’ll find land prices as low as $300-$700 per acre.

Similar to Oregon and a few other states mentioned, Utah has diverse geography. Most of the population is found in the Wasatch Front running down the center of the state. A large amount of the state is made up of rugged terrain, arid desert, and other challenging landscapes. Because of this, you can buy cheap land for sale in Utah across much of the state, especially the extremes.

In the Northwest areas like Grouse Creek, you can sometimes find parcels for sale for as low as $150 per acre. At times, in central Oregon, parcels come on the market for $350-$750 per acre outside cities such as Delta and Fillmore. And in the South, you can buy land in areas around Beryl for $375-$600 per acre.

As mentioned, the average price of land in the U.S. varies significantly depending on factors such as income-generating potential, location, desirability, use, demand, and more. According to our data, the average asking price per acre of land in the U.S. in 2024 is $16,437.

Take a look at our step-by-step guide detailing how to buy land and check out our acreage pricing data to see how much land you can afford in each state.

LandSearch is a great resource to help you find affordable land throughout the United States. In addition to our pre-filtered cheap land for sale, you can search nearby land for sale sorted by price to find the cheapest land near you.

Cheap land is inexpensive for a reason. It’s important to do research and answer these questions before you purchase land. You want to make a good investment and ensure you can use the property the way you intend.

There are plenty of places to buy cheap land in the United States. Our list isn’t comprehensive, but if you’re looking to buy the cheapest land in the country, it can hopefully point you in the right direction.

After doing some research, you found a great property for pennies on the dollar and decided to go ahead and pull the trigger. The deal was so good that through the whole process you were asking yourself, “why didn’t anybody else take advantage of this incredible opportunity?” Dollar signs are going through your head envisioning how much money you're going to make when you flip it.

There’s a problem though… the land just isn’t selling.

One of the most common and frustrating questions in real estate is “why isn’t my property selling?” Dumping a bunch of money into a property with the expectation of getting it back twofold and it not happening can be unsettling, to say the least. It may be even more common in the land market since on average, it takes longer for land to sell than homes. According to realtor.com historical data, the average time on market for houses in 2019 was 66 days. Although no national time on market data is available for land-specific listings, the average is significantly larger than 72 days. Depending on the circumstances, unsettling may be the word for some people while desperate or frantic may be the description of the situation for others. There are folks out there whose family, livelihood, and next stage of life is dependent on the money generated from selling a property.

Never fear! Before you get too discouraged, it’s helpful to know you’re not unique. Many people have run into this obstacle, and their experience has led to some solutions that work in many cases as long as you’re willing to apply them to your situation.

In order to find out what to do when your land won’t sell, it’s first important to understand why it isn’t selling. If you can find out why you can then formulate a strategic approach that makes sense. Sometimes this is easier said than done. In certain cases, it’s relatively easy to pinpoint what’s going on when a property isn’t selling. In other cases, it can be somewhat difficult. In a few rare instances, it may be a mystery and you may never be able to figure out why.

When you get down do it, if your land isn’t selling, it’s usually going to fall into one of these first two categories (and it could fall into both). It's possible though, the culprit could be something a little less obvious.

A piece of property that is priced too high is almost guaranteed to push buyers away. Since people work hard for their money, it’s important to them and they’re going to spend it wisely, proceeding with caution. They also have the innate desire to be treated fairly. Even if your price is a relatively small amount of money for a specific buyer, if they feel they’re getting a raw deal, they’re probably not going to pay what you’re asking. They need to feel that the item they’re getting in return for their hard-earned money is at least equal in value to the money. A good business policy is to treat people fairly no matter what not because they’re fair, but because you are.

Even though this doesn’t automatically mean your land is priced wrong, it does mean buyers who have seen your land and are interested in that type of property disagree with your valuation. You could either be overshooting the mark on your valuation or failing to provide sufficient evidence of why the property is that valuable to buyers.

If you actually find a buyer that’s willing to pay a premium but needs a loan from an institution, you could run into the situation where the land won’t appraise, the lender won’t loan, and the sale doesn’t happen.

Let’s assume you’ve done a lot of research and priced your property fairly but it’s still on the market. If the right buyer is out there, you simply haven’t reached them. In other words, you need to take a closer look at your marketing efforts and possibly approach it differently.

The real problem could be found in a number of different details. It may be that you aren’t utilizing the Internet and getting in front of enough buyers. Or if you are reaching buyers, it’s possible your photography and property description need some work to ensure your land is attractive.

This may seem obvious but you’d be surprised how it often gets overlooked. It’s related to marketing in that if your land doesn’t look attractive, who would you expect buyers to be attracted to it. Even if your photography is well done and highlights the right features, if buyers visit the property and it looks nasty, chaotic, and trashy, many buyers will move on to something else when they might not otherwise.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, everything that flies the real estate flag is not the same. It’s a well-known fact that some real estate agents are simply better than others. If your land isn’t selling, it could be because selling your property is not a priority for the agent you’ve hired or they’re too busy. There’s always the possibility they don’t care, but we hope that’s not the case.

A property’s title is a legal concept of ownership that describes the relationship, or rights, between the title holder and the property. Problems with a title are almost sure to scare off many buyers. These issues could range from liens, encumbrances, and easements, to forgeries boundary concerns, and even errors in public records. The reason buyers get spooked is because many times the details about these complications are unknown and can cause big-time trouble in the future.

Since a property’s location is considered one of the most important factors in determining value, it makes sense that it could also be a reason why you’re land hasn’t sold. Your property being situated in a high-crime area, in a flood zone, near a landfill, by a nuclear plant, or for some just too far away from civilization, could what’s turning buyers off.

Since we’ve established several possible explanations for why your land isn’t selling, we can take those and devise a game plan that will place the property in a better position to sell. These methods have proven they get results and the results speak for themselves.

Since this is one of the more common reasons why properties aren’t currently selling, it’s vital to review your marketing strategy and be willing to try something different. The greatest justification for changing anything is because it’s not working. A strong marketing strategy is critical for real estate success. The majority of buyers start their search online, so digital marketing is where the bulk of your focus should go. With all the competition out there today, you have to step up your marketing game to get potential buyers to even notice you. The key is to make sure you represent your property with the highest quality possible. This could be addressed in several different ways.

According to a National Association of Realtors 2017 report, 95% of buyers search online websites for property, 72% search on their mobile phone, tablet, or use an app, and 36% use online video websites. 83% of all buyers use the Internet to search frequently. 89% found photos useful and 85% found detailed information about the property helpful. 93% of real estate firms have a website and the most common feature is property listings at 95%.

Photography is a great place to start. Many advertising platforms have a lot of listings with high-quality photos and videos. It’s doubtful that anyone shopping for land will notice your listings if you have low-quality, unattractive photos, or maybe even no photos at all. Buyers will scroll right past your listing to a property that’s visually appealing. The importance of photography in real estate probably can’t be overstated. You have to make sure you depict your property with high-quality, professional photography or the first impression will be the last impression. For more details, check out our article discussing the power of photography in land marketing.

The property description is another aspect to take a look at. Can you believe some people write 5 to 6-word property descriptions and some don’t write them at all? Again, with all the options available in the market, a dynamic, compelling property description is more likely to get people’s attention. It’s important to note that with land, you’ll need to help the reader envision the appealing things they can do with the property whether it be improvements, recreation, or farming.

Here are 2 examples of actual property descriptions found in 2 different land listings. You be the judge on which one would be more likely to grab the reader’s attention and help them decide if this is the type of property they’re looking for.

Vacant lot close to town.

Take a look at this smaller property located south of Dallas City. If you have been in the market for a great building site in the country then you know properties like this are very hard to come by. The property is located about a mile off of Route 9 with blacktop frontage. The property is mostly flat and would make a great home site along with ample room for a shop or machine shed along with a nice pond that offers great fishing opportunities. There is a well on the adjacent property that can be hooked up to for a primary water source and power is available at the road. Property lines on the east are negotiable. Call or email for more details or to schedule a showing.

Advertising can be the difference in whether the land sells or continues to sit on the market. The questions are… where and when? To answer the question of where, ask the question, “where are the buyers?” The answer is buyers are hanging out where they can find the most comprehensive list of nearby land for sale and have the best experience in the process. LandSearch fits the bill and is the ultimate resource for selling land. To get your property listed and significantly increase the chances it selling, check out our land marketing services page or let us know you'd like to post your property on LandSearch.

Another place buyers spend time is on social media platforms. If you’re not getting many bites, try posting your land for sale on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Post frequently and research the ideal times to post on each platform to get the most engagement.

If you have the time and money, you can create a promotional video. Videos are becoming the status quo in real estate. It’s doesn’t have to be extravagant, it just needs to communicate the value and hopefully capture the attention of viewers. Here’s a great example from California Outdoor Properties.

The first in-person impression of a property has the power to dictate the buyer's whole attitude and angle of approach through the rest of the process. Will it be a positive, enthusiastic perspective, or a negative, disinterested one? Make sure the property is clean and neat. Cut the grass. Declutter anything you can to make the land look open and spacious. If there are any structures clean them and make them look well-kept. Providing the property with some “curb appeal” will help in cultivating a positive point of view for any buyer, and it definitely won’t hurt.

Most buyers are keenly aware that a dirty title can cause them some serious headaches. In order to not scare buyers away, you should try and resolve any and all issues with the title and therefore your ownership. Buyers want to know there is sole undisputed ownership of the property because there are no liens, levies, or easements. Pay who you need to pay and take the actions necessary to ensure the title and is free and clear.

If you’ve hired an agent to assist you in selling your land and the job isn’t getting done, it may be time to take a serious look at hiring a different agent. Some agents are distracted, some don’t care, some have no social skills, while others are inexperienced. Selling land is different than selling houses. You may want to enlist the services of an Accredited Land Specialist. To find a land broker near you, head over to our agent directory. If your current agent won’t put in the time find someone who will. If you’re interested in learning how to approach the process, check out our article on how to find the best real estate agent. There are a lot of reliable real estate agents out there that can be a huge asset to you through the selling process. You just have to find them.

Pretty much any property you find will have positive and negative aspects associated with it. Even though you don’t have to highlight the undesirable features of a property, it’s important to embrace them and do the best you can with what you have to work with. In other words, be honest about them and don’t try to hide them. If buyers find out you kept something important from them, the appropriate response will be… what else are they hiding? Trust might just be the most important factor in any relationship, but especially relationships where large sums of money are involved.

Notice this suggestion says “look” at lowering the price, not lower the price. Adjusting the price should be the last house on the block, the last resort so to speak. It should be what to try when all other ideas have failed. You wouldn’t want to slash your price first, receive less money, and find out you could have gotten your original asking price if you would have just marketed better. As stated above, the key is to price the property fairly. Do the required amount of research to find out what a fair market value is. Look at comps if any are available (this is more difficult when it comes to land). This way you can communicate the value to the buyer in a way that makes sense.

There are useful resources available that can be helpful in determining whether your land valuation is in the ballpark of other values, depending on what type of land it is. Here’s the USDA Land Values 2020 Summary that can help with cropland, farm real estate, and pasture values. Forisk Consulting is a great resource to find out about the value of timberland. Here's a few price per acre stats from 2017. Take a look at our blog if you want to find out more about evaluating price per acre for land.

Obtaining a land loan tends to be a little more difficult than securing a loan for a home, and everybody doesn’t have a stack of cash laying around they can use to buy a property. Some upstanding citizens don’t have bad credit, they just have no credit. If obtaining financing is the barrier standing in the way of your land being sold, owner financing can be a practical solution. Consider listing your property in our land for sale with owner financing available. Offering this alternative allows people who couldn’t ordinarily buy your property to become capable of buying it. Not only will it almost instantly increase your buyer pool, it can actually turn out better for you as well. You dictate the down payments, terms, and have a constant stream of revenue flowing into your bank account.

If you really want to sell your land, you’ll be willing to put in some extra effort to make it happen. One of the tried and true techniques to aid in the process is to create a targeted, streamlined buyers list. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s basically a list of people that, based on the research you’ve done, might be interested in buying the type of property you’re trying to sell. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Had you rather spend your time trying to sell your land to a person whom you have no idea whether or not they’re interested, or to a person that you already know is interested? Building out a buyer’s list takes time but in the end is worth the trouble. This may be apparent already, but once you create the list, you’ve got to pick up the phone and go after them. Seth Williams with REtipster.com offers an in-depth 4-part series detailing how to build a buyers list.

There are cases where you’re getting some interest from buyers but the deal breaker is it doesn’t have certain improvements they want. If you run into this enough, you may want to bite the bullet and shell out a little extra money to give them what they're looking for. Access roads and utilities are common improvements people like to have. It’s also possible you’d have better luck with buyers if you tear down an improvement like an old worn-down storage building, or a barn that’s falling apart.

People always want a cure but are not willing to have the surgery. In other words, if your goal is to sell your land, act like a person that wants to sell your land. This may mean adjusting your expectations to fall in line with reality. It could indicate you need to be willing to put in some extra hours and effort answering the phone, doing research, or showing your property. Whatever the case may be, stay positive, be flexible, and when the market speaks, listen.

If you’ve ever dealt with any type of property, whether it’s vacant land, commercial lots, or a homesite to build your dream house, then you’re familiar with the acre. Square feet and acres are the standard units of measurement we use for real estate in the United States. But have you ever stopped to think what exactly is an acre, where it came from, and what originally determined the size of an acre?

Not only is the origin of the acre interesting, but it can be helpful to understand land history and why we operate the way we do in real estate.

The word “acre” traces back to the Old English term æcer meaning “open field” and was generally used to describe unoccupied country. In English, it was historically spelled “aker” and was related to the Latin word “ager” meaning “field.”

The very first definition of an acre was very interesting. Originally, an acre was the typical area of land that could be plowed by one man, in one day, using a team of oxen and a wooden plow. If you’re thinking… that seems like an inexact science, you’d be right. Here’s the story explaining how you can come up with an acre measurement using that early way of doing things.

It was standard practice to rest the oxen after they plowed ⅛ of a mile (660 feet). A unit of measurement came out of this practice known as a furrow-long, or furlong which measured that exact distance of 660 feet. A farmer would want to plow as much and as far as he could before he had to rest the animals.

The easiest way to accomplish this was to plow as far as he could in a straight line. Turning the plow around wasn’t as easy as it might sound with the oxen team in the heat of the sun. Farmers tended to plow long distances to reduce the number of times they’d have to turn the plow in the opposite direction as well.

Today we define an acre as 43,560 square feet, but the original size of an acre originated in agriculture with quite a bit less precision.

Farmers took pride in being able to plow a straight furrow. With a plowshare around 10 inches wide, your average farmer supposedly could plow a furlong’s length 80 times in a day covering a width of around 66 feet of farmland. 66 feet multiplied by a furlong of 660 feet comes out to 43,560 square feet.

As you can easily see, there are many variables in this equation. The chances of an actual farmer plowing exactly 43,560 square feet every time they stepped on the field is quite small. How old is the farmer and what kind of shape is he in? Are the oxen well-fed and healthy or in bad condition, old, or sick? Is the field topography level with rich soil or is it hilly and rocky? These variations translated into variations in the area a farmer could till, which in turn resulted in variation in the size of an acre.

During his reign in England from 1272 - 1307, Edward I (also known as Edward Longshanks) enacted a statutory value for the area of an acre as 4 rods wide by 40 rods long (one rod equals 16.5 feet). Edward III, Edward VIII, George IV, and then Queen Victoria in 1878 with the Weights and Measures Acts also contributed to creating exact values for the acre.

It's worth notating that although an acre is the same when it comes to size, it's not at all the same when it comes to price. An acre of beachfront land is likely to be worth significantly more than an acre without waterfront. If you're interested in learning more, check out our article discussing the cheapest place to buy land.

In this short video by America’s Heartland, Dan Macon sums up just how big an acre is and how many average bushels of certain crops are produced on an acre.

There are all kinds of units of measurements we could use to measure land area, so why do we use the acre? There are several reasons. The acre is what England was using at the time the United States was being established. Since that’s what we’ve always used and change is hard, we’ve kept using it.

More importantly, the acre makes sense for all property sizes. There are times when square miles is used for large tracts of land, but it wouldn’t be practical to use square miles on small properties. A square mile is the equivalent of 640 acres. It’s much easier to envision half an acre than 1/1,280 of a square mile.

Square feet are often used with small residential lots and certain commercial properties, but when you start getting into larger tracts of land you’re going to be talking thousands and millions of square feet, which isn’t practical either. The acre works for large and small properties alike.

What about surface area? It makes sense to wonder if surface area comes into play in the measurement of acres. What about hilly or mountainous land as opposed to flat, level ground? The answer is surface area doesn’t matter in acreage. Surveyors use basic geometry (geometry literally means earth measurement) to calculate acreage based on a common horizontal topography called plane surveying for almost all types of land.

Even though a parcel may contain a significantly larger surface area than another, the surveyor will act as though they are both flat and they could both end up totaling the same acreage.

Since square footage is used with so many properties, especially land with houses and commercial properties with structures, it’s useful to know how to convert square feet to acres and acres to square feet. The easiest way to do this is to use proportions or simple multiplication and division.

To convert square feet to acres, simply divide the square footage by 43,560.

Here's a simple example.

59,670 square feet is how many acres?
59,670 / 43,560 = 1.37
59,670 square feet is the same as 1.37 acres

To convert acres to square feet, since 1 acre = 43,560 square feet, multiply the acreage by 43,560.

Take a look at this scenario.

0.85 acres is how many square feet?
0.85 x 43,560 = 37,026
0.85 acres is the same as 37,026 square feet.

Take a look at these conversions. Some you may recognize and some you may not.

The acre is interesting in that it can literally be any shape, as long as the total area of the shape is 43,560 square feet. Acreage comes into play in all sorts of outdoor endeavors whether you're buying and selling property, hunting, or landscaping.

Most people deal with real estate in one way or another throughout their lives. When it comes to land, acres are especially important since the price per acre you’re going to pay is largely dependent on its size. Hopefully knowing a little background and history will make dealing with acreage a little more interesting as you explore land for sale.

The value of investing in land has been a subject of debate for a long time. You can find article after article, post after post, blog after blog, discussing why it’s a great idea, and then read another explaining why it’s a terrible idea. The truth is, the reason certain topics are argued and discussed over and over again, is usually because there’s not a black and white answer. Activities that are good for some people end up being lousy for others. Ventures that turned out awful for some, wind up being extremely valuable endeavors for others.

Imagine you hold a crisp $5 dollar bill up to your best friend and say, “Tell me what you see.” Your trusted friend replies, “The Lincoln Memorial.” You then respond by asserting, “No, you’re wrong, it’s a photo of Abraham Lincoln!” You came back with two completely opposing results, so who’s right and who’s wrong? The answer is you’re both right, you were just staring at the front of the bill and your companion was staring at the back. In other words, you were looking at the situation from different perspectives.

Since every situation and circumstance is somewhat different and brings an element of the unknown with it, whether or not investing in land is a good idea depends on the person, the surrounding circumstances, and the land. Take almost any subject matter and you can find opposing ideas, opinions, and experiences. Instead of debating whether or not investing in land is a good idea, maybe the real question is… is investing in land a good idea for you? When these conditions are taken into account along with research and experience, there are several practical reasons why investing in raw land could be the perfect investment for you.

It’s hard to argue with Mark Twain’s well-known quote “Buy land. They’re not making it anymore.” Just because something is rare, doesn’t automatically make it valuable, but in many instances, that turns out to be the case. There’s only a certain amount of vacant land available, and that amount is decreasing every day as properties are being developed. According to a report by American Farmland Trust, the U.S. is losing 3 acres of farmland every minute. Buying land especially can make sense if it’s located in or around cities that are growing economically. You can bet when the development reaches your property, someone will come knocking on your door ready to make an offer.

Instead of putting money in a literal bank such as a savings account, some investors have started using land as the bank. It’s referred to as “land banking.” It doesn’t seem like a bad idea to place money in a fixed asset that most likely will only appreciate over time. It’s the definition of a safe investment.

When you go to a restaurant and they accidentally get your order wrong, you can at least take the ingredients you didn’t want off your burger and eat it anyway (although especially picky eaters may have to reorder). It’s not that easy with a property that’s already developed. You're either stuck with the current structure and designated use or have to prepare to invest extra time and money to start over. The great thing about vacant land is you're free to do whatever you want with it (as long as it lies within the zoning laws). You may choose not to do anything, but it’s nice to have options.

One of the major challenges has always been a lack of information available about land-centric properties. Comparables, soil data, statistics concerning surrounding properties, market values, and many other types of needed information have been hard to find in the past and somewhat neglected to the housing market. Fortunately, as technology has advanced, so has the data that’s available to the public. Although a buyer may want to try to walk the property, the idea is to be able to learn as much as possible sitting in the recliner. People buy and sell properties without ever setting foot on them. A great resource for learning more about land values is our land price calculator where you can see the price per acre of land in each state.
 

There’s a whole lot of businesses centered around granular land data popping up and being sold for big-time money. DuPont bought Granular for $300 million. Bayer agreed to purchase Monsanto for $66 billion. Agco purchased Precision Planting for an undisclosed amount. John Deere paid $305 million to acquire Blue River Technology. These acquisition prices point to the fact that land data is extremely valuable and still somewhat rare.

How skilled are you in the art of negotiation? When you're in a highly competitive market like housing, this could be the difference in whether or not you succeed in getting the property you want. The land market is a different story. Everyone needs a house, but not everybody is out there purchasing land. If you’re the only buyer showing interest in a parcel of land, who cares about your negotiation skills. A lack of competition can play out to your advantage and you may end up creating a great opportunity no one else was able to see, especially since a lot of landowners you're going to deal with will end up being motivated to sell.

There’s a large problem with most material possessions… they can be stolen, lost, damaged, or taken away in some form or another. Land is different. Once you own it outright, it becomes a reliable investment vehicle that will be there until you make a decision to the contrary. Knowing your asset will continue to exist unchanged creates a sense of well-being, peace, and contentment that goes a long way in a stressful world.

Often an argument against investing in vacant land is the fact that it doesn’t produce income. This is only a half-truth. There are plenty of ways to make your land work for you and start putting money in your pocket. Whether it’s leasing the property to a hunter, harvesting the timber, or developing it into residential units, there are a lot of income-producing avenues available. To find out more about land uses, take a look at our blog shedding light on various land uses and property types.

Many people choose to live an off-the-grid lifestyle where the land essentially provides everything they use. To learn more check out our blog with details on how to live off the grid.

Farms and ranches are examples of income-producing land types as well. A fun fact is there are a lot of people out there that don't know the difference between these 2 types of properties. If you're looking at investing in land, it's helpful to know about different land types like the difference between a farm and ranch. More and more people are investing specifically in agricultural land. You can not only generate returns from the land appreciating, but also from selling the harvested crops. To learn more check out our investing in farmland article.

Boring and mundane are bad words for kids. As you get older, these words tend to change and become a lot more attractive since life tends to be busy and chaotic at times. One of the great things about land as an investment is you have to do very little to maintain it compared to other types of real estate. It just sits there without expensive fixtures and appliances breaking or tenants constantly complaining, and you rarely even have to visit the property if you don’t want to. Sometimes simpler is better, and while you’re relaxing, your land investment is appreciating in value.

Since lenders treat land loans significantly differently than traditional housing loans, an opportunity is created to offer owner financing. Typically, it’s difficult to get approved for land financing especially through traditional lenders, so land buyers are more apt to go through with a deal where you become the bank and lend them the money for the purchase, even at a higher interest rate. Depending on the terms you agree to, this can result in a large down payment. Some people even prefer the installment method over receiving a large lump sum payment.

If you're interested in learning more about owner financing, take a look at our post discussing whether or not owner financing makes sense in a land purchase. If you happen to be shopping for land, head over to our owner-financed land for sale and explore our land payment calculator.

As a rule, vacant land will have a lower price tag than traditional real estate. You're not shelling out cash for structures or developments. This is a serious plus for small-time investors or people just starting their real estate business. It takes money to make money, and with land, it takes less money to start making money. If this piques your interest, check out our cheap land for sale. There are ways to find properties that are delinquent, where the current owner is extremely motivated to sell or simply doesn’t care, which can result in deals for pennies on the dollar. If you do your research, you can find incredible deals on appealing undeveloped properties starting at a cost in the low thousands and sometimes even in the hundreds. If you're curious about where cheap land is located, check out our article discussing locations with the cheapest land in the U.S.

The majority of articles you read about investing in land call it a long-term investment, and it seems like people just accept it. Here’s another example of a half-truth. Sure, vacant land can be a long-term investment, especially depending on the purchase price, but it can be a great short-term investment as well. You can find example after example of well-informed savvy investors making 300% returns in as little as a few days on a land deal.

The bottom line is there’s “a land of opportunity” available when it comes to investing in land. It takes the right person, the right time, and the right properties. There are some clear-cut mistakes to avoid and detailed research required in order to be successful, just like there is with any business. But there are a lot of people out there who have become wildly successful through buying and selling land and you could be the next. If you're considering a land purchase, take a look at our step-by-step guide discussing how to buy land, or browse land for sale to begin investing.

A different market, a different buyer mindset, and a different sales approach. These are just a few of the ways that selling land differs from selling houses. Many people are successful selling homes but this doesn’t necessarily translate into automatic success when it comes to selling vacant land. Sellers who are aware of these distinctive differences and adapt to them can be extremely successful and turn what seems like obstacles into strategic advantages.

Everyone needs a place to rest their head at night. Not everyone is looking for a vacant lot to flip or develop. The land market is simply less active than the housing market because there are fewer potential buyers looking to purchase land in its raw form. In other words, less demand. As a result, a piece of vacant land will generally take longer to sell than a home.

Homebuyers and land buyers look to purchase properties with completely different objectives in mind. The goal of a homebuyer is to find a place to live and usually where a relatively low amount of work is needed to live there (a move-in ready house). In many cases, they’re willing to sacrifice personal customization for time and convenience. In 2016, there were 5.54 million existing homes sold and 738,400 homes built. Check out this article to learn more about the pros and cons of building versus buying a new home.

Land buyers bring a different perspective to the real estate market, and this can vary depending on whether it’s an individual or a group of developers. An individual, for example, may be looking for residential property to build on or land to use for recreation. Developers are looking for the right location and land type to make money off the land. It could be the land would be best used for farming or ranching so your buyer could be an individual or a group. It may be a land investor looking at buying cheap land. You'll need to know this and be able to market and communicate it. By the way, if you're not sure about the distinction between these 2 land types, check out our article on the difference between a ranch vs farm.

If you're a potential land buyer, take advantage of our land buying guide discussing how to purchase land.

In both cases, the aim of their purchase is to customize the land to fit their needs and wants, even though it will take more time, more decision making, and end up being less convenient. To learn more, take a look at our blog discussing different land uses and land types.

A logical conclusion to draw from a smaller market size, a different buyer mentality, and a product that’s different in its nature, is that a different sales technique may be required. Conventional sales strategies for selling homes include a whole lot of detailed pictures, open houses, and many other visual, hands-on features. Visualization isn’t hard for an interested buyer when they can literally walk through the house and have a personal experience with it. It doesn’t have to become what they want, it already is, and they can see their family living there.

Selling vacant land is different - a buyer needs to be able to envision the property’s potential. If you're selling land you can get a head start by getting a geological survey. Detailed data about the property can help the buyer understand what it can be used for. A skilled seller will guide the buyer into looking beyond what the land is presently, towards what the land can become in the future.

The most important goal when selling real estate is being able to find buyers. Here are a few key areas where marketing land is different from marketing homes. After all, the objective is to be as effective as possible.

When we’re talking about a completely different audience with different motives and goals, an obvious conclusion to draw is you’ll need to advertise your property on different platforms. To get your land in front of actual land buyers, why not advertise your land on a website that’s dominated by people you already know will be visiting the site for the purpose of finding land? Although it won’t hurt to put it on traditional real estate sites, it’s a fact that most of the users using these platforms are searching for a home. This is why LandSearch is such a great resource. You almost have a guarantee the person scrolling through listings is looking for land, a guarantee you don’t have with many other popular real estate platforms.

This may seem glaringly obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people treat their vacant land descriptions like a home description, write generic, regurgitated descriptions, or throw down a 6-word description that tells buyers nothing about their land listings (or don’t write a description at all). As mentioned above, a vacant land description should take readers on a journey where they have no choice but to envision all the possibilities and ways they could use the property, along with the fact that it’s the deal of a lifetime.

Keeping with a similar idea as the property description, different qualities and features should be showcased when marketing land for sale. One consideration that's important to take a look at is what the property’s highest and best use is. Knowing this vital piece of information will not only give you insight into what features to highlight, but will also help you determine the type of buyer and specific target market to go after. This is not an issue with homes since the highest and best use is predetermined for you. The type of photography and videography will change as well. With land, you’ll be going after more of a landscape type photography style along with making use of aerial drone footage. To learn more about this, check out our blog post explaining how important high-quality photography is when it comes to land marketing.

Here's a great example of a land marketing video from the team at Hall & Hall.

Although this certainly doesn’t have to be the case, many real estate agents specialize in buying and selling specific property types. If you decide to hire an agent to help you sell your land, it may make sense to find one that specializes in land. An Accredited Land Consultant is a designation offered by the Realtors Land Institute for brokers and agents who have demonstrated and possess expertise in the land market. This is opposed to a realtor who normally always deals with traditional, residential homes. It’s not that residential agents haven’t had a lot of success selling land, but if vacant land is their bread and butter it could make a difference. To search real estate agents near you, head over to our agent directory.

Typically, it turns out to be more challenging to secure financing for vacant land than it is for homes. Another change in the way you might market your land is to offer owner financing (if the right conditions are met of course). This will allow a bigger pool of buyers to have the capability of purchasing your property. There are times when a traditional institution is just not going to lend the money, and the only reason a buyer might be able to pull the trigger on a deal is because you're willing to work with them through owner financing. If you're on the other end of the spectrum and are looking for land, check out our land for sale with owner financing.

Many people hire an agent, list their home on a few websites, quickly start attracting interested buyers, and sell it in no time. Since you already know the land market is smaller and the statistics say it’s going to take longer to sell, a solid land marketing strategy can be to create a buyers list. A buyers list is basically what it sounds like. It’s a strategically targeted list of active real estate investors that may be interested in buying the type of property you’re selling. This is done in all types of real estate, but hopefully, you can see why it would be a good fit with vacant land.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the differences between posting land for sale versus selling homes, but it should give you a good overview of the high-level distinctions. Ideally, looking at the differences can provide you with some practical insight on how to shape your personal approach and become a more effective land seller. Trying to sell dirt can be challenging, but then again, you could be selling one of the most precious resources we have… the very essence and source of our food, the location where our money is made, the infrastructure where we live and have fun, and one of the needed elements to sustain life.

When the Europeans began to colonize North America around 1630, it’s estimated that the land that would become the United States was made up of over 1 billion acres of forest, or about 46% of the total land area. By 1907, forest land in the U.S. had declined to around 758 million acres or 34% of the total land area. In 2012, forest land area rose to around 766 million acres. Since the 17th century, about 257 million acres of forest land has been converted to other uses. Fortunately, since the beginning of the 20th century, the total forest area in the United States has been relatively stable compared to earlier centuries, but it’s still in a steady decline.

What’s behind the moderation in deforestation rates? Sustainable forest management. The solution is to find a balance between society’s increasing demand for forestry products and preservation of forest health and diversity. With demand constantly increasing, this isn't an easy balance to find.

Forests are vital for life on this planet and inherently linked to the health of plants, wildlife, water quality, humans, a variety of ecosystems, and the economy. Not only do trees produce food, seeds, timber, and the products that can be made from them, but they transfer energy and nutrients as well. They essentially breathe life into the earth, inhaling carbon dioxide and exhaling the precious oxygen we need to live. Forests can also act as “carbon sinks” that help to absorb carbon emissions from fossil fuels to help regulate the climate and protect the environment.

Forests are home to almost 80% of terrestrial biodiversity, provide livelihoods for 1.6 billion people in the world, and supply a portion of our drinking water. National forests and rainforests are some of our nation’s most treasured land. While humans live on the earth, there will always be a demand for forest products. The need for wood for making paper, lumber for building houses and furniture, bark and other resources for medicine, as well as recreational opportunities are not likely to go away anytime soon.

Sustainable forestry management is a process to meet specific environmental, economic, social, and cultural objectives. It’s also to skillfully and intelligently manage a forest area by replacing every felled tree with a seedling that will eventually grow into a mature tree. In a sense, it’s practicing what many parents teach their children when they say “leave it like you found it.” When you take one tree away, add one in its place. This concept seems simple but it’s more complex than it sounds and requires in-depth knowledge and expertise. Care should be taken to preserve the natural environment, ensure the safety of wildlife, as well as be consciously aware of the age and species of the trees present in the forest.

People on average use 6 trees worth of paper every year. Thinking the answer to stopping the disappearance of the forest is to cut down or even stop using its products is delusional. It’s not going to happen. A more realistic solution is to implement sustainable forestry practices. It’s so important the United Nations met in recent years to discuss forestry management financing options in an effort to make sure that resources are going towards this initiative and the world has what it needs to sustain its forests.

Specific sustainable forestry practices can vary depending on the location, type of forest, environment, and the objectives that are trying to be achieved. Not only that but the techniques change as research and science advances and we learn more about forests and the ecosystem surrounding them. Check out this list of ways you can practice sustainable forestry.

Just because things are going well right now doesn’t mean they always will be in the future. The word sustain means to continuously undergo. It means standing up to the test of time. How much forest will be left for future generations and will it be enough? The decline has slowed down but it’s still declining. Each minute, 85 acres of the world’s forest land is destroyed. If you're looking to grab some up while you still can, browse our timberland for sale. Although there’s not one concrete definition, it’s critical to implement sustainable forestry right here right now. Forests must be a renewable resource and are central to the economy while enriching the lives of all living things on the earth.

Oil is a fascinating resource that takes millions of years to form while only taking seconds to burn. Wars have been waged as a result of conflicts over its production and consumption. Certain aspects of it continue to be a mystery for scientists today and are still being researched and debated.

Significant amounts of this “black gold” can be found throughout mineral properties in the United States especially in Texas, North Dakota, Alaska, California, and New Mexico, each of which has billions of barrels worth of proven oil reserves. Offshore drilling also accounts for a substantial portion of U.S. oil. Petroleum is used for everything from gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel, to plastics, chemical products, and even some household items.

Because it’s the world’s most important source of energy, oil is very valuable. It’s the lifeblood of industrialized nations. Knowing there are large amounts of oil in the United States poses the question… could there be oil on my land? How do I find out?

To best answer these questions it’s beneficial to understand how oil is created. When you know how it’s created, you can better discern where it might be located.

The reason oil is described as a fossil fuel is because it's a derivative of fossilized organic materials. Many scientists believe crude oil is the result of the burial of dead microorganisms in an environment where oxygen does not exist or is so scarce that the organisms don’t decompose. Lack of oxygen is significant because it allows the organisms to keep their hydrogen-carbon bonds, which seems to be an indispensable ingredient in the formation of oil and gas.

As more layers settle on top of the already buried organisms, intense heat and pressure build up causing the organic material caught in sedimentary rock areas to be chemically altered into a waxy substance known as kerogen and eventually into the yellow to black liquid we know as oil.

Since a lot of hydrocarbons are less dense than rock and water, they tend to travel upward through adjoining rock layers until they hit the surface or become trapped by rock in what’s known as a reservoir. The land types that account for the majority of large hydrocarbon reserves are deserts, arctic areas, river deltas, and continental margins offshore.

The obvious and least expensive way to find oil is to observe signs of oil it seeping to the surface of your property. Another word for this type of sign is luck. Before drilling techniques were used, oil was collected when it surfaced above ground.

It also only makes sense to be aware of where your property is located. Is it located in a state or region that’s known to produce oil? The U.S. Energy Information Administration has built a U.S. oil and gas map available with several different options that help identify the oil and gas fields that exist.

The U.S. accounted for 18% of the world’s oil production in 2018 and these were the top 10 oil-producing U.S. states by barrels according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Is your land close to an oil well? If not, it doesn’t mean there’s not crude oil on your property, it just seems more likely if you’re in close proximity to known oil production sites. FracTracker Alliance compiles data and posts their analysis each year. They reported there were 1.18 million U.S. oil wells in 2016 and have a useful breakdown by state.

Experts believe the presence of certain rock types can be an indication of oil. Examining the types of rocks on your property or even in your area can be helpful in determining if there could be oil close by. Shale, sandstone, coals, and carbonates such as coarse-grained limestone are porous sedimentary rock that has been known to be source rock types for oil and gas.

We like to think of oil reservoirs like large pools, but it’s more accurately like water in a sponge, the sponge, in this case, being a porous rock. “Petra" means “rock" and “oleum” means “oil.” If you’re not an expert, this method is still hit-or-miss and will more than likely still require consultation and more in-depth research.

Without visible evidence, it’s nearly impossible for the average person to have the technical skills and equipment to find out if there is oil below the surface of their land. Since geologists are experts on earth processes, they can be consulted as a means of discovering if there’s oil in the ground. They have the ability to examine the rock types and presence of hydrocarbons that exist. Petroleum geology is not only the study of all aspects of hydrocarbon fuels, but the development of disciplines to aid in oil exploration as well.

Similar but more in depth is the option to hire a geophysicist. A geophysicist, in general, is an expert in finding mineral deposits created by the earth’s movement and compression of materials. The advantage of a geophysicist team is they use sophisticated technology that can perform seismic studies, or “see underground.” The equipment sends shock waves below the earth’s surface.

Certain kinds of structures tend to trap oil. How the signal reacts can provide evidence of the underground structures and ultimately the likelihood of oil. This data will be collected and used to determine whether drilling is worth the cost and should be performed or not.

Last but not least, especially when it comes to expenses, is drilling into the ground. Ideally, you’ve seen evidence of oil from one or all of the above options before drilling is started. This is the “surgery”, or the surefire way to find out once and for all if oil is present. Drilling is significant not only because of the required equipment but the sheer depth at which oil wells tend to be. The U.S. Energy Information Administration provides data on the average depth of U.S. oil and natural gas wells.

An initial step to take is to make sure you own the mineral rights to your property. If you don’t, whether or not there’s oil on your property is not your concern, at least at the present moment. To learn more, check out our article about the basics of mineral rights. It’s worth noting that just because you do find oil on your land doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve become rich overnight.

Many variables need to be ironed out that will ultimately determine what size check you’ll be receiving. This is often negotiated by a landman. To find out more, head over to our post answering the question of what is a landman?

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, oil use dates back 4,000 years ago when asphalt was used in the construction of structures in Babylon. We’re still using it today and every year the amount we consume increases. How long will it be until we run out? Hopefully, you'll find black gold on your land, get rich quick, and extend the period of time it’s available for use.

The days of sending a primitive, old-fashioned letter in the mail are over… right?

In the modern age, where technology and automation reign supreme, just a couple clicks of the mouse can gain access to data all over the world or send a satellite to Mars. Physical mail seems ancient and outdated, like something more fitting for your great-grandparents like a telegraph, cassette tape, or pager.

Well, contrary to what you might think, statistics tell a different story. Not only does the data say direct mail is alive and well, it points to the fact that it’s a highly effective marketing strategy that gets tangible results.

When it’s all said and done, selling real estate comes down to one important skill—marketing.

A strong marketing strategy is critical for real estate success. It may seem obvious, but to sell your land, you have to reach buyers with the desire and means to buy it. The question is… how do I get my property in front of the right audience?

Believe it or not, direct mail is an extremely valuable and effective form of land marketing. It’s a great way to reach the right audience and connect with them on a personal level.

Not convinced? Check out these statistics that are proof the direct mail approach may very well be the missing ingredient in your land marketing strategy.

According to the Association of National Advertising (ANA), in 2018, the direct mail customer response rate was 9% and the prospect response rate was 4.9%. The customer response rate for email and paid search marketing was 1%. The response rate for social media was 1% and believe it or not, digital marketing came in last at a rate of 0.3%.

While the total number of mail pieces have been declining, the response rates from direct mail have been on the rise. From 2015 to 2016 the direct mail prospect response rate increased by 190% and the customer response rate increased by 43%.

Coming in all shapes and sizes, direct mail is the only marketing channel that allows you to place your message in your customers' hands. Where an email can get deleted instantaneously and a digital ad can disappear with one click, a letter takes up physical space and is somewhat unavoidable.

According to data from the U.S. Postal Service, 98% of consumers bring in their mail the day it’s delivered, 72% bring it in as soon as possible, and 77% sort through it immediately.

The fact that direct mail is becoming less common may seem like a bad thing. After all, marketers always do what works… isn’t that right? Actually, that’s not always the case. People naturally gravitate towards the easiest method in their effort to accomplish a task. It’s human nature. According to USPS postal facts, from 2016 to 2017, there was a 3.1% decrease in total mail volume and a 3.2% decrease in marketing mail volume.

In ways, digital and email marketing are easier than direct mail. It’s easier to get started with an email campaign and much less time-consuming. You can also get away with being less creative. Since physical mail is not nearly as congested as the Internet is, an opportunity to stand out is created. Think about the difference in the average number of emails in your inbox and the volume of Google search results compared to the average number of letters in your mailbox. Less competition can sometimes be an advantage.

As of June 2017, the average ROI for direct mail was 29%, which is good enough to beat out paid search at 23% and online display ads at 16% according to DMA data compiled by Marketing Charts. Email marketing topped the list at 124% and social media was next at 30%.

Are you interested in finding out what your ROI might be for an upcoming campaign? USPS offers a free ROI calculator that can help you quantify how well your campaign will pay off.

Although you can get creative with any marketing channel, direct mail creates unique opportunities for creativity. Hopefully, the approach you take will result in each piece of mail being personal to each individual it’s being sent to. From using their first name or hand-writing the address to adding your signature to a written letter, you can make it about as intimate as you want.

According to a Royal Mail MarketReach research project, 57% of respondents said that receiving a postcard made them feel more valued and created a more authentic relationship with the brand. In a survey conducted by Small Business Trends, 70% of Americans said mail is more personal than the Internet. A USPS Study found that 67% of people feel mail is more personal than the Internet.

A great marketing campaign will utilize every channel that makes sense. Integrating direct mail with email, social media, tv, digital and even phone calls into a campaign can make for a powerful combination. Direct mail is drastically different than the other marketing channels, so it could be the missing piece of the advertising puzzle that takes your business to another level.

One of the greatest aspects of direct mail is that you can get extremely specific with your target audience. You have complete control over who will be on the receiving end. So it basically comes down to building a great buyer’s list. If you’re interested in learning how to do this, Seth Williams at REtipster lays out a great guide to building a buyer's list. Once you’re confident you’ve got the right audience, you can rest assured you’re mail will be sent to them. After all, the letters will only go where you tell them to.

Buyers have recently started to have serious trust issues when it comes to online display advertising. This can be attributed to several factors. One is because of the sheer volume of ads people see every day. The average American consumer is exposed to thousands of advertisements per day. There’s a ton of competition and as you know all too well, the more the same people say the same thing, the less meaning it has to you. To stay sane, you become skilled at tuning things out.

The 2nd reason is pure deception, at least from the user's point of view. Ads are created for the specific purpose of driving the consumer to click, which is great, as long as a misleading tactic is not used. Advertisements that mimic computer actions or that take them to a landing page that seems unrelated to the ad are a quick way to create distrust not only in your company but in display advertising in general.

If people feel like they’re in control, they feel safe, secure, and ultimately are more likely to trust the situation. There’s a 100% chance of not having your identity stolen or downloading a virus as a result of opening a piece of direct mail. Approximately 56% of customers find print marketing to be the most trustworthy type of marketing.

Any seasoned marketer knows when it comes to advertising, you need to have the ability to measure your results. The boss wants to know how well his dollars are being spent. In addition to that, you need to know what’s working and what’s not working to find out where to put future money. At the very least you want to be able to track whether your mail reached its destination.

Although tracking direct mail is different than digital, it can be done. Companies like Lob offer customer checks with comprehensive per-piece mail tracking and analytics. You can also create phone numbers and landing pages that are unique to your direct mail to track leads.

When it comes to our 5 senses—touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell—is it even possible to appeal to more than 2 digitally (sight and hearing)? Some might argue it is, but either way, it’s extremely difficult.

Senses are how people understand and experience the world around them. Have you ever heard a song, ate a certain food, or smelled an aroma that immediately took you back in time to an experience you had years ago? The more senses you can stimulate and appeal to the better because it creates a deeper and more memorable experience.

When you send a piece of mail, it’s much easier to hit on more of the senses, the most obvious being touch. But depending on your strategy and budget, you have the opportunity to appeal to all 5 senses, even smell and taste. A survey conducted by Millward Brown revealed that physical media left a ‘deeper footprint’ in the brain. In other words, if you can touch and feel it, you're more likely to engage with it and remember it.

One of the common myths out there is that younger generations wouldn’t engage with direct mail. The numbers say different. A Gallup News poll reported 95% of Americans ages 18-29 say they have positive feelings towards personal mail. 75% of millennials said they believe the direct mail they receive is valuable and 92% are influenced to make a purchasing decision as a result of mail they received in an article from National Mortgage Professional Magazine.

When you combine these statistics with the fact that only 59% of people between ages 65 and 69 own a smartphone, 67% of people between ages 65 and 80 have the Internet, and 34% of people between those same ages use social media, direct mail is sounding better and better.

Why is it so dangerous to text and drive (or to do anything and drive for that matter)? Have you ever been trying to spend time with your kids but can’t enjoy it because a work problem is eating at you? Your consciousness is split between multiple things. If 25% of your focus is on texting, that's 25% that’s taken away from driving.

In a Rakuten report, 83% of people polled found online ads to be disruptive. On average, a piece of mail from your mailbox will come a lot closer to getting your undivided attention than a digital ad popping up while you’re busy trying to accomplish some other task.

A study published by the Canada Post on the neuroscience behind the power of direct mail found direct mail requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than messages coming through digital platforms and participants' recall was 70% higher when they were exposed to a direct mail piece versus a digital ad. The study also suggests direct mail is visually processed quicker than digital media. A buyer using less brainpower to comprehend your message quicker is a winning combination.

The same U.S. Postal Service study referenced above reported that consumers spend a whopping average of 30 minutes reading their mail on any given occasion. People reserve time each day to sit down with their mail and many find it to be a relaxing and enjoyable experience.

Why not save the best for last? One of the most compelling reasons direct mail is effective in land marketing is because according to the data, people prefer it over other marketing channels. Although you discover as you get older that life isn’t about getting your way, let's face it, what you want is still extremely important.

An article by Scientific American shows there is still a strong preference for reading on paper, driven by the physical properties of printed information as opposed to screens. Royal Mail RocketReach agrees this does translate into a preference for direct mail over email and digital advertising.

The USPS revealed 56% of people say receiving mail is a “real pleasure" and 55% look forward to discovering the mail they receive.

The story the numbers tell is not only is direct mail thriving from a results perspective, but it’s one of the most powerful forms of advertising out there. If you’re marketing land for sale, adding direct mail to your strategy to reach buyers could be a game-changer. The results speak for themselves. You can use it to convey the right message to the right person at the right time.

Mailing a letter, if done right, can leave the reader walking away with a feeling of "I like these guys and the way they do business." It's a way to create a personal connection where they feel like you're real and you really care about helping them. In other words, direct mail allows you to be transparent, create a personal connection, and start building a trustworthy relationship.

Simply creating a listing is not enough. In business and in life it’s easy to settle. Everyone has experience managing or working with people who take initiative and are constantly trying to improve versus others who do the bare minimum, enough not to lose their job. Although there’s certainly something to be said for the quality of contentedness and “being where you are right now,” there are certain circumstances where half measures are not enough.

The real estate market is extremely competitive, and the advances in technology have made it even more so. To optimize your chances of selling your land, you’ll need to strategically create a listing with the right format, for the right audience, that will make the right impression.

Although there are many different land types such as recreational versus commercial that may consist of a set of various and diverse features, there are some universal principles that can guide you through the process of creating a great land listing. Implementing these best practices specifically geared towards land buyers may be the difference between your property selling or continuing to sit on the market.

The best way to be effective with your audience is to get to know them and try to approach the situation how they might approach it. Your ability to sell real estate essentially translates into your ability to market a product. Any good marketer knows one of the most important factors to start with is getting to know the people you’re trying to appeal to.

In a lot of industries, the battle of quality versus quantity often occurs. Usually producing more of a product causes a natural decline in the quality of the product. This is not the case when it comes to photography in land marketing. There should be plenty of photos taken to tell a story about the property and give buyers a comprehensive overview of what’s going on. At the same time, all the photos that are included in the listing should be quality, high-resolution images. To learn more, check out our article highlighting the important role played by photography in land marketing. It may be wise or just more convenient to hire a professional.

When it comes to telling a story, it doesn’t get much better than a great video. If you look at your photos like pieces of a puzzle, a video is putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. Videography is a great marketing tool and is the closest thing to giving a land buyer a complete picture of the property short of actually putting their feet in the dirt.

Property descriptions are important in every type of real estate but can be especially crucial when it comes to land. Vacant land sounds boring to a lot of people, and if you couldn’t do anything with it, they would probably be right. As a seller, it’s your job to paint a picture of what a buyer can tangibly do with the property and help them envision the opportunities it has to offer. The idea is to be aware of the fact that words are powerful and a great property description can be a game-changer in making a sale. The goal is to use compelling language yet be clear and precise at the same time.

Data is one of the major driving forces behind innovation in business, advancing technology, and modern shopping. When it comes to listing a piece of land for sale, the more information you can provide to a potential buyer, the better. Ideally, you could find everything you could possibly want to know about a property all while sitting in your living room.

Many properties are bought today by people who never set foot on the property. Do your research and provide details like total acreage, comps, property history, the condition of the property, taxes, timber types, local weather, utilities, deeded access, and recreational opportunities for starters. Or if you're selling a farm or ranch, provide details like the yield history, income opportunities, and conservation value. Ever been curious about the difference between and farm and a ranch? Check out our blog to learn the answer to the commonly asked question... what's the difference between a ranch and a farm?

This suggestion coincides directly with the previous one. A great way to offer a buyer a more comprehensive collection of information about the property is to include any relevant documents that pertain to it. This could include property surveys, topographic maps, the seller’s deed, release notices, tax records, appraisal papers, and more. Get as many as you can legally get your hands on and be willing to go out of your way to do it.

Directions detailing how to get to the property may seem insignificant, but you might be surprised at how important many buyers feel this small addition is. This is particularly true in the land market since a lot of the rural properties for sale are in the “sticks.” Most buyers want to experience the property for themselves before they’ll ever make an offer, so providing a detailed set of directions can go a long way in helping them get there.

It’s really simple. Land buyers want to see the properties they’re interested in on a map. Even though mapping may be dictated significantly by the platform you’re listing the property on, make sure to include the attributes that will allow it to be mappable such as a valid address, parcel ID, or latitude/longitude. Displaying the property on a map is an essential piece of the puzzle that can instantly put it in perspective for the buyer as well as provide a lot of geographic details.

The asking price is one of the two most common reasons why you’re land isn’t selling (the other being your marketing efforts are not reaching the right audience). Obviously, every seller wants to get the highest price possible. Unfortunately, sometimes they take it too far and ask for an outrageous amount of money resulting in a lack of interest from buyers. The question is how do you make sure you price your land fairly?

The answer… data. Although it’s fine to use what you’d like to get as a factor in determining your asking price, use local market research and comparables as well. An acre is an acre when it comes to size, but not when it comes to price. An acre of land on one side of a county can be significantly less expensive than an acre on the other side. To learn more about cheap land, find out where is the cheapest place to buy land.

If you're interested in finding out more about how to price your land, take a look at our post on determining the market value of land. And to learn more about different property types, check out our article on understanding land uses and land types. On the other side of the coin, if this isn’t the problem, it’s that you’re failing to communicate why your property is worth what you’re asking in the other components of the listing.

It’s true. When it comes to getting people’s attention, there are gimmicks that work. But what happens after you get their attention? Do you have something that has real value and substance to offer them? Will they be attracted or repelled? There are certain gimmicks and tricks to avoid that can have a negative effect like writing text in all capital letters (which is grammatically incorrect), displaying the down payment as the asking price, or leaving the listing status as active when it’s actually sold.

If you’ve participated in life at all you know that a lot of peoples' actions don’t match up with their words. The argument could be made that a seller that provides inaccurate information about a property isn’t that serious about selling it. Everyone makes mistakes, but when it comes to massive transactions and large sums of money, accuracy is critical. Make sure, especially when it comes to the fundamental details like the address, lot size, city, county, parcel id, latitude and longitude, and contact information, that you represent them accurately. Errors and strange formatting not only can turn people off but can cause the listing to be rejected in listing feeds. For more details, check out this blog post on the 10 most common real estate listing errors.

Marketing is at its best when strategies are used to capture peoples’ attention through innovation and creativity, not by scams, shady tactics, or anything that can be interpreted as deceptive. Dishonesty is defined as “the intent to deceive.” Make sure you stay on the “up-and-up” when creating a listing and never mislead buyers on purpose. When they find out they were “tricked,” you can bet on the fact that in their mind you will be branded as untrustworthy and will probably spread the word.

Albert Einstein once said, “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” A land listing is simply this… an objective, fact-based presentation of the property’s features.

People all over the world get paid a lot of money to write and design presentations. One of the most valuable skills you can have in real estate is the ability to create a compelling property listing honestly communicating why it’s an offer any buyer would be crazy to refuse. Remember to think outside the box without sacrificing clarity. These simple suggestions will ultimately allow buyers to realize why your property is exactly what they’ve been looking for. If you've got great land listings that you need to get in front of land buyers, don't wait any longer to post your land on LandSearch.

The prospect of building your own home is extremely exciting. Creating the environment you and your family will spend much of the future and customizing it exactly the way you want, as opposed to the way somebody else wants, sounds great. And often times it is, but there’s a very important point to remember… don’t put the cart before the horse, or your dream may turn into a nightmare.

Choosing the right piece of land is quite possibly the most important decision you’ll make throughout the entire buying, decision-making, and construction process. Sound crazy? It may seem silly until you realize if you get that wrong, you essentially get the rest of the process wrong. It’s much easier to do the appropriate research, start with a solid foundation, and get it right the first time than to make a mistake leading to damages, compromises, delays, and expenses in the future.

Although the concept of buying dirt sounds simple enough, it can turn out to be a little more tricky and complex than you might think. The technological advancements in real estate allow you to have access to properties for sale throughout the U.S. all while sitting in your recliner, but they also grant access to everyone else whom you’ll have to compete with. There are a considerable number of development companies and local governments buying up large quantities of land to build houses, businesses, and parks. Nowadays there are all sorts of restrictions such as zoning, building codes, and environmental issues. Combining these elements together can result in a challenging land buying process.

There’s no need to get discouraged, though. Buying the land yourself before you build will provide you with more options. As long as you're willing to address these considerations and do your homework, you’ll be in good shape to turn your dream home into a reality.

Before anything else, you’ll want to select the general area where you want to live. Once you nail down the town, city, or county you want to live in, think about whether or not you want to live in an urban, populated area, or if you’d prefer more of a rural, countryside lifestyle. Some people don’t mind their home being 10 feet away from the neighbor’s house, while others would rather live in a secluded location with more privacy like you'll see in our rural properties for sale.

Consider how close you want to be to your family and friends. How far away are you willing to be from the workplace? If you have kids, how close is the drive to school? Where is the nearest hospital in case someone needs medical attention? You need to have access to the right things. Is the site located in a safe area, or is the crime rate a cause for concern? What do the adjoining properties look like? Last but not least, what kind of view do you have in mind? Where does the sun hit the property? Are you looking for a view out in the open, or possibly hidden in the forest among the trees?

An aspect that gets overlooked in some cases is to envision what the area may be like in 5-10 years and does that picture look how you want. If your goal is to live on off-grid land in a remote, backwoods-type area, make sure the site is not in the path of economic growth. For more insight on off-grid living, check out our article on how to live off the grid. Make a list of what you’d want in a perfect world, and what you can’t do without. These issues don’t necessarily have to be set in stone, but if you go ahead and make some of these decisions before you start your search, it tends to make the process smoother.

When you feel confident about the issues mentioned above, you can begin searching for land. It’s much easier to find property in this day and age with so much information at your fingertips. Our residential land for sale is a great place to start, featuring buildable lots throughout the United States. You can take advantage of our location, size, price, type, and tag features to find exactly what you’re looking for as well as use our map features to view from a terrain, satellite, or 3D perspective. For example, whether it's a dream or a reality, people like to check out our islands for sale when looking for land to build their dream home. It’s worth noting that once you start finding properties that fit the bill, there’s still a lot of work left to do to ensure you choose the right piece of land.

Depending on your level of comfort and experience, it’s usually not a bad idea to enlist the services of an expert. There are a lot of land brokers and agents out there with the Accredited Land Consultant designation from the Realtors Land Institute. There are also many real estate agents out there who simply have a significant amount of experience with land. If you’re looking for an easy way to find a land specialist near you, look no further than our agent directory. One of the main benefits of hiring a land specialist is they may be able to help you identify many of the potential problems that can come with a piece of land that you might have missed on your own.

The natural features, size, and shape of the property are really important factors to take into consideration for a couple reasons. First off, certain elevations, terrain, slopes, and physical features make it virtually impossible to build on. Second, these features may technically be buildable, but increase the construction difficulty level which means increasing your cost. How much site preparation will the land require before building can begin? Third, you’ll need to take the geographic characteristics into account in determining if the land fits your situation. If you have small kids you may not want to choose a property that has cliffs or any dangerous components.

Fourth, the size of the parcel obviously matters in deciding whether or not the property makes sense for you. Make sure it’s big enough to build on, and there’s enough room left over for whatever use you have in mind. Fifth, just because the acreage or square footage is suitable, doesn’t mean the shape of the property is. In most peoples' heads properties are square, but this isn’t reality. Land comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes. If you’re looking for 3 acres to build on, you probably won’t be interested in a long rectangular property that’s 30 feet by 4,356 feet. When taking size into account, it's important to be familiar with the acre. If you need to know more about the size of an acre, check out our blog discussing how big is an acre of land.

One of the themes throughout these considerations is to make sure you can use the land in the way you intend to. Today, there are far more ways a property’s use can be restricted than there used to be. Subdivision regulations, zoning ordinances, easements, building codes, standards, and permits, regulations regarding endangered species, wetlands, water quality, toxic materials, and other more complex environmental issues are examples of potential restrictions that could keep you from building.

Zoning is the obvious factor and can dictate what the highest and best use is. If the land is not zoned residential or commercial as the case may be, it’s possible to get the land rezoned, but it’s not guaranteed. To hear more, make sure to read our piece on what’s involved in the rezoning process. Or to learn about various land uses, take a look at our post digging into different land use and property types. You’d hate to pull the trigger on a sale then find out after the fact the land has a constraint that won’t allow you to build any type of structure. If you want to avoid this altogether, check out our unrestricted land for sale throughout the country.

You may assume when you purchase a property you automatically own all of it. This is only a half-truth. The rights to use the property are called the "bundle of rights" and usually include the ability to own, control, use, dispose of, and sell the property. Some of the specific rights, such as mineral rights, water rights, wind rights, and timber rights, can be separated and sold apart from the rest of the rights. Check out our blog post if you’d like to see more about mineral rights specifically or if you're looking to buy land you can check out our inventory of land for sale with mineral rights. This normally applies only in certain parts of the U.S. In other areas, it’s not something you will likely have to worry about. Nonetheless, an informed buyer is going to make sure he’s clear whether or not the current owner owns all the property rights. Not owning the total bundle of rights is a deal-breaker for some buyers.

The process of buying land, building a home, and moving in is a substantial financial and life-changing investment. Land can contain subtle and deceptive problems. It’s vital that you know exactly what you’re getting. Surveys are a great way to get this done. Ideally, there will have been recent surveys performed, but this isn’t the case in many circumstances. There are several different types of surveys including property/boundary surveys, environmental surveys, topographical surveys, control surveys, and more. These in-depth analyses can provide you with crucial pieces of data that can make or break your decision of whether or not to buy the land such as the exact property dimensions, environmental hazards, wetlands, how well the soil percolates and if it will shift, if it’s located in a flood zone, zoning, if it's conservation land or other easements, notable features, and deed restrictions.

According to thousands of actual cost profiles from Improve.net members, the national average cost of a land survey is $463. If you want to explore land surveys further, make sure you read our article explaining the importance of getting a land survey before buying property.

Accessibility is a crucial element in valuing land and ultimately deciding whether or not to buy it. You might be surprised by how many properties there are with no road access. In other words, the property is landlocked. Does the lot have a way to get to it, and how easy is it? Are there any easements associated with the property? If the answer to these questions is no, you may be able to obtain an easement to access the property by way of the neighbor's property, if the neighbor agrees. Here’s a hint. Depending on the type of neighbor they are, they may need some incentive to grant you access.

Of course, you can have a driveway or some kind of access road put in, if it’s in your budget, but clearing land and adding an access road isn’t cheap. The cost depends on the size, the material, and the slope of the surface. According to HomeAdvisor, the national average cost of a concrete driveway is $3,000, a gravel driveway is $1,500, a heated driveway is $10,000 and installing asphalt paving is $4,600. A property having no legal access may be a legitimate reason to walk away depending on the scope of the project it would require to build access in. A great piece of land won't do you much good if you can't get to it.

There are certain services your average person needs in order to live reasonably and tolerably. These generally include access to water, a sewer system, and electricity. Others may consist of gas, cable, Internet, phone, and whether or not cell service is available. If these utilities are unavailable (especially the first 3), it may be time to walk away and move on to another property. The cost of bringing utilities varies depending on the municipality, but it’s likely to be substantial and time-consuming.

The right piece of land is only the right piece of land if the price is right. Even if you find the perfect property that will allow you to do everything you want, if you can’t afford it and the seller won’t come down on the asking price, it’s not the right property. It’s important to work out a budget that makes sense and stick to it. Our land pricing tool is a great resource to get a feel for the price per acre of land for sale in each state. In addition to making sure you can afford the land, you’ll want to confirm the price is fair. You can verify the price by taking a look at comps (if there are similar properties available), seeking help from a land specialist, or getting the land appraised. If you happen to be interested in learning more, check out our article discussing how to value land. Where's the cheapest land? Head over to our cheapest land in the U.S. blog.

Actually stepping foot on the property and experiencing it for yourself can make a big difference. Shockingly, there are a lot of cases where people felt sure about a property and were convinced buying it was the right move… until they saw it in person. To feel reasonably secure your making the right investment, it’s a good idea to “get dirty” and walk the property to make sure the picture in your head matches the real thing.

If you already have an architect and a builder picked out, it may be worth consulting with them before you purchase the land. They might have some insight and preferences that you would’ve never thought of. It’s not a bad idea to get a civil engineer involved as well to make sure you crossed all your t’s and dotted all your i’s. You can find local professionals like these in our service directory. You should remember during this process that obtaining a land loan is different than obtaining a mortgage for a house. To find out more about this take a look at our post explaining how to obtain financing for a land purchase.

If you address all the appropriate issues and are willing to practice some patience during the due diligence process, it’s almost impossible for you to make a bad investment. If you considering making a land purchase, check out our step-by-step guide on how to buy land and to double-check yourself, take our land buyer checklist with you pointing out 20 questions you need to ask before buying land. The amount of land available in the United States is decreasing every day as structures are going up in the form of houses, offices, and recreation projects, so don't wait any longer. Buy land near you while you still can.

Throughout April and May, we asked land brokers and agents throughout the U.S. to give us some insight into what matters to them and how they feel about the current state of digital land marketing. We’ve spent years researching what works and what doesn’t work, what brokers like and don’t like, and how we can improve the online experience for land buyers. But the truth is there’s been a lot of changes lately in the land market, and we were interested in finding out what you think. Our goal is to solve every problem brokers and agents have been experiencing when it comes to marketing their properties and we’ve found out the best way to do that is to listen to them.

Don't forget if you're interested in land to take LandSearch for a spin. Land sellers can sell your land and land buyers can check out our nationwide inventory of land for sale.

Without further ado…

We asked brokers on a scale from 1-10 how satisfied were they with existing land listings platforms. 60% of participants answered with a 1-3, voicing they’re strongly dissatisfied with the current platforms available. 40% responded with a 7-9, indicating they’re strongly satisfied with existing listing platforms. 0% gave the question a 4-6 or a 10.

To get a little more feedback on what people are struggling with, we asked surveyors what their biggest complaints were about the current platforms. In other words, what are they doing wrong? The best way to portray how the question was answered is to show you some of the responses. Check out a few of the comments agents left. It’s not very difficult to figure out what’s going on here.

“A few of the current options have become crazy expensive.”

“The background interface is difficult. You can't just type in the "Name" of the property and it come up for you to edit... you have to go through the rigamarole Every. Single. Time. and that is super annoying.”

“Pricing and customer service.”

“Exposure can be a problem occasionally. They give preference to some and not others.”

“There are not enough listings to make buyers feel like they’re seeing a thorough representation of land for sale.”

“A few of them send mixed messages and provide a convoluted and cluttered experience. It gives me a headache.”

Next, we asked brokers and agents what they like about existing land sites. In other words, what are they doing right? Not only do we want to improve on what platforms are doing wrong, but it’s important to find out what they’re doing right and what really helps buyers and sellers. Take a look at how they responded.

“I like that they search high in rankings.”

“I like the background interfaces that allow you to search for specific property super easily.”

“Not alot.”

“Lead generation is strong.”

“SEO strength.”

“We enjoy seeing the large number of views our properties get in the dashboard.”

Seeing how the majority of people were unhappy about pricing, we were curious at what successful, experienced land sellers thought was a fair monthly price for unlimited promoted listings. We gave them 3 different categories to choose from: $25-$50, $50-$75, $75-$100. The majority of respondents, 60%, chose $25-$50 as a fair price point for unlimited listings. 20% said $50-$75 is a reasonable price and the remaining 20% said $75-$100 made sense.

If you're looking for more exposure for your listings or just want to see where our promoted options fit in the scale take a look at our land marketing services.

Since brokers and agents are constantly receiving feedback from land buyers, we were excited to ask them a few questions pertaining to buyer’s online experiences. The first question we asked was what general features are most valuable to buyers. Here’s a couple of the responses we received.

“Map-based searching, working well on mobile devices without having to download an app.”

“Listing volume.”

“Able to post video.”

“A clean, responsive, searching experience.”

Next, we asked what advanced search criteria should be available on a platform. We got several helpful replies.

“Keywords would be nice.”

“Drop down filters, map search, and live keyword search. Consumers use all three.”

“Keywords, acreage, place.”

To end the buyer section, we asked participants what listing data is important to them to display. One of our goals in our effort to improve the online land marketing experience is to better help buyers discover if the property they’re looking at fits what they want quickly, so they don’t have to waste time doing their own research (or at least not as much). We want to help them rule out properties that don’t meet their criteria quickly. Check out a couple of the comments.

“Maps, quality pics, video, and all property attributes.”

“Tax data.”

"Acreage, price, parcel boundaries, timber information, 'extras' such as pond or food plots, road frontage."

“Property history and soil data.”

We wanted to hear more about seller’s practical experiences directly from the source, so the next section was dedicated to sellers from a few different perspectives. Real estate professionals who do it right are extremely busy, so efficient and effective management is vital. The first question we asked in this section was what management features should be available. Take a look at a few of the responses.

“Tech support.”

"Any and all analytics, grouping by office."

"None we have other sorts."

"Listing analytics, team management, and multiple office support."

Next, we asked sellers if they were currently feeding to other listing platforms and if so, what obstacles had they been facing with those platforms. Here’s a portion of the comments made.

"Yes. Price and lack of customer service. A toxic, adversarial relationship."

"Yes. It sometimes takes 2-3 days for the secondary platform to recognize changes."

“Yes. None.”

“Yes. Pricing and listing volume too small to attract large consumer interest.”

The last question we asked in the seller section was what strategies have been effective in your own marketing, since selling real estate is really a marketing game. Here’s what a few of the brokers and agents said have been valuable marketing tools in their careers.

“Mailings, networking events.”

“Direct mail, social media.”

“Online marketing, social media, and direct mail.”

“Email marketing, social media, online advertising, and direct mail if done often and thoughtfully.”

We ended the land marketing survey with final thoughts where we allowed all the respondents to leave comments and suggestions. Many of the comments left were extremely useful. Sorry to disappoint, but we’re going to keep those insightful secrets to ourselves and take advantage of them.

After talking with land brokers and agents for years now, these results didn’t surprise us but were helpful nonetheless. We appreciate each person who was willing to take time out of their busy day to take our survey and let your voice be heard. We don’t put out surveys just to make you think we care about what you think. We take input and feedback very seriously and if we can implement it, we will implement it.

We've tried to learn from what works and what's been going wrong in land marketing and built a resource packed with everything you could possibly want from listing volume, a fair pricing model, a map-driven search, not to mention allow people to list for free. All that's contained within a super smooth, innovative site that just feels really good to use. The great thing about LandSearch is it was built in an effort to solve every modern problem that exists in online land marketing and we feel we’ve accomplished that. Explore land for sale to see if you feel the same.

Congress signed an Act establishing Yellowstone National Park “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” on March 1, 1872, and placed it “under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior.” There are certain places in the United States that can take your breath away because of their beauty or unique one-of-a-kind features. Fortunately, many of these exceptional treasures are federally protected by the National Park Service to preserve their natural integrity so people can enjoy them for many years to come. In total, the U.S. national parks cover approximately 52.2 million acres. Take a close look at these ten National Parks you have to see to believe.

Located on the coast of Maine, Acadia National Park offers a variety of activities as well as immaculate scenery, plants, and wildlife. Hiking and biking along the peaceful roads, canoeing at the lake, swimming at the beach, going on a guided tour, and taking a cruise to see seals and possibly whales are among the adventures available at this popular park. It’s home to Cadillac Mountain, the tallest mountain on the U.S. Atlantic Coast (1,530 feet), where crowds gather many mornings to witness the sunrise. Why? You may ask. It’s the first place to view the sunrise in the United States between October 7 and March 6. Jagged mountains on Mount Desert Island, meadows and valleys, soggy woodlands, and picturesque shorelines are part of what make this 47,000-acre playground so attractive.

Situated 11 miles off the southern coast of California, Channel Islands National Park includes 5 of the 8 Channel Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It’s all about serene solitude here where there’s no lodging, restaurants, or stores, and the only way to get there is by boat or plane. People like to put on their hiking boots and take in the natural and cultural resources. A unique way to experience the magical marine life is to kayak the park and witness over 150 plants and animals found nowhere else on earth (such as an island fox). The largest aggregation of blue whales gather here every summer. Camping is available with reservations on National Park Service campgrounds. Nicknamed the “Galapagos of North America,” the islands’ isolation has left them largely undeveloped, making them the perfect 250,000-acre site to go exploring. Does this make you want your very own island? Explore our inventory of islands for sale.

Spanning through Montana in the U.S. and British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, Glacier National Park has some of the most spectacular scenery you’ll ever see. The colossal mountains, vast valleys, and gorgeous lakes were created by 150 glaciers, of which only 25 remain today. Take a boat tour of the beautiful Swiftcurrent Lake, stay at the Many Glacier Hotel with scenic views of mountains and the lake, rent kayaks and motorboats, or take a bike or tour bus ride along the 52-mile Going-to-the-Sun Road. Nicknamed the “Crown of the Continent Ecosystem,” water runs down the Triple Divide Peak and flows in 3 different directions, eventually making its way to the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and Hudson Bay. Stunning waterfalls, vibrant wildflowers, and interesting wildlife including grizzly and black bears, moose, bighorn sheep, and wolves make up this incredible 1 million-acre park.

Located in the Coconino and Mohave counties in Arizona, Grand Canyon National Park is possibly the most well-known national park in the U.S. and is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The park’s main attraction is the overwhelmingly massive ravine that measures a mile deep and up to 18 miles wide. At the bottom lies the Colorado River, which is responsible for carving the canyon and its many layers. Around 5 million people visit each year to see the vast view from the South Rim. Far fewer people each year hike or paddle to the bottom of the canyon because it takes a lot of time and effort. Some of the world’s most challenging whitewater rapids are available to raft if you dare. Along with the giant gorge and the intense rapids, cool forests on the North Rim and some of the United State’s cleanest air make this 1.2 million-acre attraction the 2nd most visited National Park (behind the Great Smoky Mountains National Park). If this makes you want to own your own slice of desert, you're not alone. Check out our desert land for sale.

Close to the Hawaiian city of Hilo on the Big Island, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park provides a rare opportunity...to experience active volcanoes and watch new land almost instantaneously form. Kīlauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and Mauna Loa, the world’s largest subaerial volcano are located in the park. Its elevation ranges from sea level to the top of Mauna Loa (13,677 feet). Because of Mauna Loa’s eruptions and lava fields, the volcanic park is a major worldwide geologic research site. Daily updates are provided on lava flow and eruption data. You can travel up to find a glowing crater, or down to the sea to witness lava flowing into the ocean, constantly adding land to the island of Hawaii. By the way, you can explore our land for sale in Hawaii so you can get your own piece of the island not to mention you'll never be very far away from these exciting attractions. Getting a face full of steam at the steam vents, observing the yellow hills of the Sulphur Banks, going to the Halema'uma'u crater and the Jaggar Museum, hiking trails that overlook huge lava caused deserts, and walking through dark lava tubes make this 320,000-acre place something you won’t find anywhere else.

Positioned in central Kentucky near Brownsville, Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the world’s largest cave system. Visiting the cave is to go on a hidden subterranean adventure. 400 miles of the complex maze have been explored, some of which is open to the public, and it’s believed that may only be half of what’s there. Not only can you walk through the limestone and sandstone walls with the aid of stairs and walkways, but if you’re brave you can go on the 6-hour “Wild Cave Tour” that includes trudging through the sections less traveled. The trip is not limited to below ground though. There is a fascinating world above ground with the Green River, the River Styx Spring Trail, and enchanting forests. Crystal-clear pools, stone columns, high-elevation springs, thousands of bats, unimaginable blackness, and stone icicles and waterfalls make 52,000-acre Mammoth Cave a must to visit.

Standing in Washington on the Olympic Peninsula, Olympic National Park has 3 distinct ecosystems, or a little something for everybody. These include temperate rainforest, the Pacific shoreline, and subalpine forest and wildflower meadow. To get you started, inside the park is the glacier-capped Olympic mountain range including Mount Olympus (7,965 feet). The western portion includes the Hoh Rainforest and the Quinault Rainforest, 2 of the last examples of temperate rainforests in the contiguous U.S. If that’s not enough, there’s the impressive 73-mile Pacific coastline of untouched beaches, active tide pools, and captivating wildlife including bald eagles, gulls, sea lions, and seals. This 922,000-acre fantasyland is a special destination that deserves to be the ninth most visited national park in the nation as of 2019.

Extending across the states of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, Yellowstone National Park is the oldest national park in the nation and possibly the world. It’s most famous landmark is Old Faithful, an iconic cone geyser that blasts 3,700 to 8,400 gallons of boiling water every 35-120 minutes. Yellowstone has a wonderful array of thermal features, landscapes, and wildlife. Fumaroles, mudpots, geysers, and boiling hot springs are part of the park’s diversified makeup. Nicknamed the “American Serengeti,” grizzly bears, black bears, elk, moose, eagles, wolves, and swans are just a few of the species of wildlife you'll encounter in the park. Yellowstone has the largest concentration of mammals in the continental United States. Among the landscapes available are the magnificent Rocky Mountains, the extravagant canyon in the Yellowstone, North America’s highest altitude lake Yellowstone Lake, and a gigantic petrified forest. This colorful 2.2 million-acre wilderness is an experience you don’t want to miss.

Located in central-eastern California near Mariposa, Yosemite National Park exhibits splendid scenery for the 14,000 daily summer visitors. This park is designated at almost 95% wilderness, a playground for hikers, bikers, campers, and explorers. Often visitors start their journey by heading to Yosemite Valley, a 7 square mile area exposing incredible mountain cliffs. Also featured is El Capitan, a vertical granite formation extending 3000 feet, and North America’s highest waterfall Yosemite Falls (2,425 feet). Hiking, rock climbing, camping, fishing, and rafting are among the recreational activities available at Yosemite. To get a true sense of the park you can hike to Glacier Point or take a hike on the Panorama Trail overlooking Half Dome, El Capitan, and 2 waterfalls. At Yosemite Village, you can buy souvenirs, eat at a restaurant, and stay at the Ahwahnee Hotel. Along with all this, don’t forget about the sequoia trees and behemoth glaciers that have persuaded some to call Yosemite the crown jewel of national parks.

Found in southwestern Utah near Springdale, Zion National Park is a sandstone paradise with Zion Canyon being the focal point. You’ll find gorgeous reddish-orange sandstone rocks within tropical waterfalls and babbling brooks along with 2,000 foot hanging valleys next to scorching deserts with intriguing wildlife. There are short hikes available to Weeping Rock and Emerald Pools, or a longer trek to Angels Landing providing an awesome view overlooking the canyon. The canyon was carved by the Virgin River over a long period of time. Most of the time the deep gorge is viewed from the bottom up. Vegetation is diverse here and may include willow, cactus, box elder, Douglas fir, juniper, along with over 900 species of plants that can’t be found anywhere else in Utah. Climbing and canyoning are a couple of the activities that make this 146,000-acre wonderland so popular.

These ten national parks are great places to spend your vacation and quite possibly could blow your mind. Although all 63 national parks are extraordinary, this list could help you narrow your search. Enjoy your life to the fullest by experiencing these slices of heaven that are filled with rare beauty, unique landscapes, cultural resources, and have become national treasures. Or better yet, find land for sale near these incredible destinations to explore them year-round.

Maybe you’re a highly motivated seller wondering why you’re not seeing any interest from buyers. You could be seeing a lot of interest and even have buyers who are ready to make the sale happen, but aren’t able to because they can’t get approved for a loan. The shoe could be on the other foot and you could be a buyer that’s excited and ready to pull the trigger on a purchase but you’re having trouble obtaining financing from a conventional lender.

One of the leading obstacles in the real estate transaction process is obtaining financing. Since obtaining a loan for land can be more challenging than a traditional mortgage for a home, this is a real issue that can come up in the land market.

No one wants to feel stuck. A legitimate solution to this problem can be owner financing, aka seller financing, if it’s done right. Owner financing is basically what it sounds like—instead of going to an actual bank for a loan, the property owner becomes the bank. There's no actual money given to the buyer. The seller grants the buyer permanent use of the land in exchange for payments that will eventually add up to the agreed-upon purchase price of the property (plus interest, servicing fees, and closing costs). This agreement frequently takes the form of a promissory note or land contract.

In some cases, owner financing may only cover a portion of the purchase price, while an institutional lender covers the remainder.

When it comes to vacant land, there are likely scenarios where the only way you’ll be able to buy or sell a property is through the option of owner financing. Like with many opportunities in life, if there was no risk involved, everyone would be doing it. Seller financing comes with some risk, but it also comes with the possibility of some big-time rewards.

If you’re the bank, you make the rules (within legal regulations of course). Offering to finance the purchase yourself means not only do you get to name the price, you get to name the down payment amount, interest rate, pay period schedule, the length of the repayment period, and whether or not you will add servicing fees and closing costs.

If you’re the owner and you bought the land for a great price, you can often recoup a large percentage of what you paid just from the down payment. You might try and work with the buyer and charge 5% down. You may feel you need to charge 10-20% down or more if it makes sense.

Since the seller gets to choose, interest rates can vary. Often times they may be double or higher than double what a bank would charge. Where a bank might charge a 4% interest rate, owner financing rates may be as high as 10%. The catch is many buyers are willing to pay it to make the deal happen. In many cases, they just want to know what the monthly payment will be, and if it’s affordable, they’re ready to buy. This works for both parties because the seller gets a higher interest rate and the buyer gets to purchase the land when they otherwise may not have been able to. The same goes for the payment schedule. Hopefully, an agreement can be reached that’s in the best interest of everyone involved.

One of the valuable benefits to the owner is owner financing creates streams of revenue. Sure, everybody would love a lump sum of cash to put in the bank, but having consistent money coming in every month isn’t bad either. Most people aren’t opposed to some added peace of mind, and it may not be as risky as it sounds. If a buyer defaults on their payments, you can repossess the property, keep the payments they already made, and start the process over. You can get a sense of your total earnings from the sale with our land loan calculator.

If you list your land for sale with the option of owner financing, you’re instantly increasing your pool of potential buyers. Adding buyers to the mix will usually translate into increasing your chances of selling, especially if you’re flexible. Banks may decide not to lend to buyers whether it’s because they don’t fit the profile they’d like to see, the market conditions don’t support it, or it could be because they rarely give out land loans. When you’re open to owner financing, you give buyers that are victim to those circumstances an opportunity to buy land.

Owner financing is common in the world of land investing, especially when it comes to cheaper land. To find out more about cheap land, check out our article highlighting the cheapest states to buy land.

There are several straightforward reasons owner financing can make sense for buyers, many of which have already been hinted at above. A buyer could be turned down by a lender and get approved by the seller. This could be because the seller needs to sell the land quickly, has had success with owner financing in the past, or simply feels like you're trustworthy. Owner financing may allow you to buy property when otherwise it wouldn’t be an option.

Where an institutional lender will have fixed terms and practices that in many cases are non-negotiable, owner financing leaves it up to the seller. The seller may be willing to seriously negotiate in order to make the deal happen. This allows for the possibility of flexible and more favorable financial terms.

The closing process can be faster and cheaper with owner financing. There’s no waiting for the lender to perform due diligence during the closing period. Hopefully, the seller has already done their homework to get this far in the process, so you can get on your land quicker. Eliminating bank fees and appraisal costs are going to appeal to buyers as well.

There are some obvious reasons why some people don’t offer owner financing. It’s much easier if you own the land free and clear. If there’s still a mortgage on the property, you’ll have to get approval from the lender in order to move forward.

There’s always a possibility, good, bad, or no credit, the buyer will default on the loan payments. While this could have a couple positive implications, it could have a couple negative ones as well. If you have to go through the foreclosure process, this could take a considerable amount of time and incur added fees. These timelines and fees can vary drastically from state to state depending on if the property is in a judicial or nonjudicial foreclosure state.

If the owner financing covers a portion of the purchase price with a second mortgage and the buyer defaults on the payments, the seller will have to keep the loan payments current with the lender or risk foreclosure from the first mortgage.

The other side of the coin to the seller being ultimately responsible for the terms is that you could wind up with a higher interest rate, substantial down payment, or having to make a balloon payment at the end of the life of the loan. If terms are negotiable there’s always a chance they could end up in favor of the seller.

A wise landowner will still check out a buyer before he agrees to an owner financing deal. If your credit is risky enough or the research comes up with something scary, you may still be turned down. At the very least, it may cause them to charge a higher interest rate than if you posed less risk. Credit Karma is a great resource that allows you to check your credit score for free without taking a hit to your score.

As with the seller, a buyer should also make sure the property they're interested in is free and clear. If there is a pre-existing mortgage on the land and the lender finds out it sold, they may demand full payment of what’s left on their loan. If the payment can’t be made, it’s likely they will foreclose on the property.

In the real estate world, a note is a written promise to repay a specific amount of money at a certain interest rate over a stated period of time. Note Investor provided a few owner financing statistics from 2018.

If you’re in the market for land and would be interested in owner financing, take a look at our land for sale with owner financing. Or to learn more about buying land in general, check out our guide discussing how to purchase land.

The bottom line is owner financing can be an extremely powerful tool in real estate as long as the parties involved do their homework to reduce some of the risk. A landowner or buyer that’s inexperienced in owner financing may want to get a real estate attorney involved for protection. Rocket Lawyer is an excellent resource to find legal help and real estate document templates if you need them. If owner financing isn’t available and you're in need of financing options, you can find a lender near you in our lender directory.

For a deal to actually happen, as with most relationships in life, there’s got to be some compromise involved between the buyer and the seller. It’s a viable option whether your goal is to make more money, buy property, help people out, or produce stability in your life. Whether you’re looking to buy or sell land, it may be time to give owner financing some serious consideration.

When ideas are constantly and chaotically running through your head, life can get overwhelming. The process of searching for land for sale in and of itself can be nerve-racking. Knowing in general what you can expect throughout the land buying process will not only help you make a smarter investment, it will also relieve you of some unwanted stress caused by fear of the unknown. Here's a general outline of the land buying process.

The first step for land buyers is to determine what the land will be used for. Why are you buying the land? What is your intent and what are your goals for the property? Are you looking to flip it? Are you planning on building on residential property? Are you interested in farming agricultural land or hunting land? Do you plan on harvesting the timber on forest land? The purpose you've planned for will help answer vital questions like where do you need to be looking for the property? What type of land would be ideal and match up with what you plan on doing?

To find out more about land usage, check out our post on understanding land use and property types. To get even more detailed, many people can't really distinguish between and farm and a ranch. If that sounds interesting to you head over to what's the difference between a ranch and a farm?

To determine what you can pay for the land, you will first need to estimate all the other costs you will have associated with the land.

After you come up with a total for these expenses you will have an idea of what you can spend on the actual land. Be sure to talk to your lender to determine if you qualify for financing if you aren’t paying cash. To find a qualified lender in your area check out our lender directory.

Now is where the real fun begins. It’s time to start looking for available land in your price range that’s ideal for your objective. There are several channels you can take advantage of to help you in your search. One would be to hire a trustworthy real estate agent that specializes in land. Often they are referred to as land specialists. We have an real estate agent directory to locate promoted agents in your area and hundreds of thousands of properties for sale throughout the United States. It can also be advantageous to know where is the cheapest land in the U.S. and why.

A vacant lot may seem simple but there can be a lot of hidden issues. It’s crucial to do research on the property you're interested in before you buy it. Take a look at our blog post on questions to ask when buying land to get more information about what to look for before you make a land purchase. Part of your due diligence might include getting a survey if the seller has not had one recently. Investigating the property boundaries will significantly decrease the amount of risk associated with your investment.

Although you just got done doing homework, it’s time to do some more. You need to find out what the market value of land in the location of the property is. Fortunately, there’s a lot of online resources that can be tremendously helpful with this.

One of the easiest courses of action to take is to use LandSearch to do your research. Find as much land for sale as you can that's similar to the property you’re looking to buy. These are called comparables or “comps.” To help you find comps, you need to be aware of all the factors that play a role in establishing the market value of land. Check out our article discussing how to determine the price per acre of vacant land if you're interested in learning more. Our land price data can be a helpful resource for this, too. Once you’ve got a pretty good idea of a ballpark price per acre value for the area, you can determine what you want to offer for the property you’re interested in.

If your questions are answered to your satisfaction, contact your agent or the seller and make an offer. If your offer is accepted, it’s wise to go ahead and make a down payment and give the seller an earnest money deposit. The down payment for vacant land is generally higher than land with homes. It ranges from 20-50% of the purchase price. Going ahead and making a down payment can help in securing financing.

Some buyers don’t have enough cash on hand to make a land purchase. If this is the case, you'll need to obtain financing to pay for the land. One option is to ask the owner if owner financing is available, an option where the seller takes on the role of the lender. Or there are also properties for sale with owner financing, so you'll know it's an option out of the gate. If not, you will need to go to a lender. As a rule, getting approved for vacant land financing is more difficult than for mortgage financing. The lender may also require title insurance. Title insurance serves as protection from damages or losses because of past events such as liens, easements, encroachments, and inaccurate documents. To learn more about financing a land purchase, check out our article offering insight on securing a land loan.

Once you’ve been approved, it’s wise to review the relevant documents before closing. This should include the loan package (if you went to a lender), the property deed, and any inspection reports and surveys. There should be a contract drafted, signed, and executed, and you’ll receive the property deed transferring the title from the seller to you.

It’s important to note this order of operations is geared more towards a buyer who's looking to do more than simply invest. The steps would be similar but slightly vary for a land investor. For example, knowing the purpose for the purchase is to turn around and sell to make a profit, the next step would be to research and choose a good location (county) to buy land. After the location is nailed down, it’s time to establish what market value in the area is, similar to the process mentioned above, to determine the offer price.

A big part of mental health and success in life, including business, is preparation. Simply considering your plans for the day can drastically reduce anxiety. Hopefully, this guide can point you in a positive direction and give you some insight into what the land buying process looks like, as well as help you to reduce some risk and make a smarter investment. For a step-by-step land buying guide, check out our article discussing how to buy land. One of our goals in creating LandSearch was to make finding land for sale near you easier as well as the whole process of buying land. We hope you agree we've accomplished that.