What are you doing in the bushes, you ask?
Buying land is exciting, but a lot different than purchasing a house or condo.
If you are thinking of purchasing land, here are some qualities that will benefit you in the process.
1. Vision. Building a home is a creative and inspiring undertaking, but one that requires vision.
2. Comfort with the unknown. Many lots are treed, lack driveways or aren’t cleared in the location where your future home might go, making it challenging to be sure of what exactly you are buying. Being comfortable with uncertainty will help as you move through the steps from purchasing to building your home.
The due diligence you do on the purchase of a lot will only take you so far. It is common to purchase a lot and still need to do a septic plan, an archeological study, consult ministry of transportation and highways, determine where services will go, have final survey to determine set backs for development permit areas, etc,. There are a lot of things that won’t be known before you remove conditions or the sale completes, that you will only be able to determine once the site prep and build process starts.
3. Have a solid down payment or cash. Lenders generally lend 35-50% of the value of the lot. The risk for the lender is higher on a lot mortgage than a property with a dwelling, so it’s important to have either a longer time horizon for building, while you save money, or a solid sum of money to start with. Talk to your lender about construction loans, leveraging other equity and what the realistic cost of building could be, so that you are in the best position you can be in, before you buy land to build.
4. Rigid Flexibly – this is a term my Dad has imparted to me after building many homes, it might be the single best quality required when buying land to build a home. There will be any number of changes, tweaks and surprises along the way that you will need to be both clear on your boundaries about (budget, design etc) and also flexible about.
So why are you still in the bushes, you ask? Because building and developing you’re own piece of property is incredibly rewarding and for the creatives out there’s, which I like to believe we all are, what a joy to design and build your own home, considering values like sustainable materials and systems that you can’t always find in a re-sale home.
Happy Land hunting!
If you truly are looking for a great lot, consider 4951 Flagship, building site is ready to go, house plans are available upon request and there is already water and power to the lot! On this one, you can almost skip number 2!
4951 Flagship, Pender Harbour