-
Step 1
Decide what you want. Before you make a purchase of a vacant lot, you should determine what you want to do with the lot. It could range from building a home to farming to building a restaurant.
-
Step 2
Pick out a vacant lot that you believe fits your needs. You can do this by driving around in the area in which you would like to own a vacant lot and checking out what is available. It might be wise to make a list of a few prospective vacant lots that you might like to own.
-
Step 3
Look at the zoning rules. Contact the zoning office in the city or county in which the land rests and ask to see how the property is zoned. If you are wanting to build a home on a piece of property, you want to make sure it is zoned for residential use. You don't want to buy a vacant lot only later to discover that you can only farm on that land. If the piece of property you want is not zoned to your satisfaction, talk with your local governing board about the potential of having the property rezoned.
-
Step 4
Inspect transportation records for the area. Ask to see the traffic counts for the area in which you want to purchase a vacant lot. Determine how many cars pass by there each month compared with other areas. Also, check out the long-term usage plans by your transportation departments. You want to verify that plans are not in the works to build a six-lane highway over that piece of property on which you were hoping to build your dream home.
-
Step 5
Identify the location of the actual property. Your local assessor's office should be able to tell you exactly where the boundaries are for the property.
-
Step 6
Make an offer to the current owner to purchase the property in much the same way you would if you were purchasing a home.
