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How To Buy Plots

A field guide for land buyers

Buy land with your eyes open.

Vacant land is the easiest kind of real estate to buy badly. No inspection, few disclosures, and problems you cannot see from the road. These guides show you what to check, what it costs, and how to pay for it.

Start with due diligenceRun the loan numbers

The five stages of buying land

Follow them in order, or jump to the stage you are in now.

  1. 01

    Land Buying 101

    How a land purchase works, start to finish.

    2 guides

  2. 02

    Due Diligence

    What to verify before you commit a dollar.

    9 guides

  3. 03

    Financing

    Land loans, owner financing, and paying cash.

    4 guides

  4. 04

    Closing and Legal

    Contracts, title, and getting to the closing table.

    2 guides

  5. 05

    After You Buy

    Making a raw plot usable, and what it costs.

    7 guides

Latest guides

How we research

Land is a money-and-legal subject. You deserve to know where the information comes from.

Read our editorial policy
Primary sources first
We build each guide from the agencies and statutes that actually govern land: FEMA, the USDA, federal banking regulators, state codes, and county offices. Every guide lists its sources.
Honest about what varies
Land rules change by state, county, and sometimes by parcel. When the real answer is “call your county,” we say so, and tell you which office and what to ask.
Reviewed and dated
Each guide shows when its facts were last checked. Costs are given as dated ranges, never as a single made-up number.