So here's the dirt on buying dirt—it’s surprisingly complicated, even more so than buying a house.
A piece of land may look perfect but could have hidden issues, such as soil that won’t support a foundation or allow for proper sewage drainage.
If you can't build what you want on it, the land is essentially worthless. So how do you avoid getting stuck with a bad piece of property? Here are some key tips to help you evaluate whether a property can become your perfect log home site.
General Considerations
Before you buy, think about how you plan to use the land.
- Is this your full-time home, a vacation getaway, or a future retirement retreat?
- How close do you need to be to schools, shopping, work, churches, hospitals, and emergency services?
- If it’s a getaway, how far are you willing to drive? Is there recreation nearby?
- If it’s a retirement home, do you want to be near grandkids—or perhaps far enough away from the kids?
- What are the property tax rates? Are there school taxes or levies to consider?
Finding the Right Land
There are several ways to find the ideal land for your log home:
- Work with a realtor who specializes in land sales.
- Check local classifieds and online listings.
- Drive around your desired area looking for "For Sale" signs.
- Attend land auctions.
- Spread the word among friends, family, and community contacts.
- Utilize social media and online forums to find available properties.
Legal Considerations
Ensuring the land is legally buildable is crucial. Here are some key questions to ask:
- Has the site passed a perc test (soil test for septic suitability), and is it still valid?
- Are property boundaries clearly marked?
- Can the seller provide a clear title for the property?
- Is it zoned for residential use and the type of home you want to build?
- Are there restrictions such as setbacks, zoning laws, wetlands, or right-of-way issues that may affect construction?
- Does the property have legal access by road or easement? Who maintains the road?
- Are there any liens, easements, covenants, or deed restrictions?
- Does any part of the property lie in a floodplain?
- Will you own the water and mineral rights?
- Are there any environmental concerns, such as former industrial or farm chemical use?
- Is there a sufficient water source for a well?
Construction Issues to Consider
Even if the land is legally buildable, construction challenges could add unexpected costs. Consider:
- Can construction equipment easily access the property?
- Are there problem soils, such as expansive clay or un-compacted fill?
- Will you need to remove large rock formations or ledge?
- Does the area have high radon levels?
- Are there steep slopes that require special engineered foundations?
- Will major excavation or land grading be necessary?
Design Considerations
The land itself plays a major role in your home’s design and energy efficiency:
- Is the site flat or sloped?
- Is it wooded or open?
- How much sunlight or shade does the site receive?
- What is the solar and wind exposure?
Main Cost Factors
Beyond purchasing the land, there are other expenses to factor into your budget:
- Legal fees (title search, title insurance, zoning applications, right-of-way issues)
- Survey costs
- Water and sewer connection fees (for municipal systems)
- Utility connection fees (phone, electric, cable, gas)
- Septic system installation (if municipal sewer is not available)
- Well drilling (including pump, plumbing, pressure tank, and filtration if needed)
- Land clearing and excavation
- Grading and drainage
- Driveway and road construction
- Building permits and impact fees (varies by state and municipality)
Resources for Researching Land
Before buying, take advantage of these resources to gather important information:
- County Auditor’s Office & Website – Check for liens, taxes, levies, and past ownership records.
- Local Well Drillers – They can provide insight into water table depth and well costs.
- Excavators & Builders – Have professionals visit the site and give their expert opinion.
Additional Considerations
There are some less obvious factors that could affect your enjoyment of the property:
- Are there unwanted noises, smells, or hazards nearby? (Examples: farms, hunting areas, snowmobile trails, firing ranges, or quarries.)
- Who are the neighbors, and do their lifestyles align with yours? (For example, do they collect junk cars?)
- Has a neighbor been granted a zoning variance that could impact your property, like a pig farm or commercial business?
- What school district is the land in, and are there school taxes associated with it?
- What is the fire protection situation in rural areas?
- Are there planned developments, roads, or commercial projects that may impact your property’s value?
- What are insurance rates like in the area? Proximity to water, flood zones, and fire services can affect costs.
Buying land for a log home requires due diligence, but with careful research, you can find the perfect property that meets your needs. By evaluating legal, environmental, and construction factors upfront, you can avoid surprises and ensure your dream log home is built on a solid foundation—both literally and financially.
Helpful Websites to Find Land For Sale
If you are looking for land to purchase and not sure where to look, there are a lot of great resources on the internet. These sites allow users to post their land for sale so that their land advertisement or listing can reach a broader audience of land buyers. This is great news for people who are looking for land.
Most of these sites are very easy to use and sure beat getting out of the house. By narrowing down the search online first, it can dramatically decrease time spent visiting property in person.
Anyone that visits the websites on this list will quickly realize that each of these sites has their own specialty and way of doing things. But each of them sells raw land none the less. Depending on the type of land that a person is looking for, that will determine which one of these sites is best.
LandandFarm.com
Landandfarm.com focuses exclusively on land and farms and not so much on houses or buildings. If the land for sale has buildings on it, then it might be on Land and Farm but it won't be showcasing the buildings. Land and Farm is all about the land. In fact, when a dropdown is clicked that says "Search Land For Sale" these are the menu options:
- Farms For Sale
- Residential Land For Sale
- Commercial Land For Sale
- Ranches For Sale
- Recreational Land For Sale
- Hunting Land For Sale
- Land Auctions
What that should tell us is that land and farm is a marketplace exclusively for land. How do they make money? If a person wants to advertise their land for sale, then they have to pay land and farm a subscription fee. At the time of this writing Land and Farm claims to have 10 million+ acres of all the different types of land mentioned above for sale. At the time of this writing, according to a third party site, landandfarm.com gets about 1 million site visitors per month. This might be useful when comparing each website's relative popularity among land buyers. (Although not all the websites mentioned are purely land sellers like land and farm so take it for what its worth)
Loopnet.com
Loopnet.com is another great place to search for land. Loopnet specializes in commercial property listings. This doesn't mean that the property won't have buildings on it, however, if a person is looking for land to build commercial buildings on top of, then Loopnet will be a a person's best bet. Loopnet has an easy to use interface and offers both a commercial property for sale and commercial property for lease option. It is also a great place to find a commercial broker as they have an extensive list of brokers all over the United States. In order to list a property, a person must subscribe to one of Loopnet's tiered packages.At the time of this writing, Loopnet's home page claims they have 5 million site visitors per month with 800,000 listings and $425 billion in property for sale and 6.3 billion square feet for lease. Those are very overwhelming numbers to say the least.
Landwatch.com
Land Watch is similar to Land and Farm in that they exclusively focus on rural land sales...whether that's for hunting, timber, waterfront, farms & ranches, or homesites, Land Watch is a place to list it and for a land buyer to find it. On Land Watch's home page, they also have a section for international land as well as land auctions. In order to search for land on their site, is free. However, in order to list or advertise, a user will need to subscribe to one of their tiered packages.According to a third party site, Land Watch receives 1.6 million visitors each month.
There's no shortage of resources when it comes to ways to search for land on the internet. With land and real estate prices as high as they are at the moment, it can be imperative that a person search for land at the right price. And by searching in each nook and cranny, it may still be possible to find a good deal. We hope this was an informative and helpful list for your land search.
