Property Dos and Don'ts

BUYING vacation or retirement property can be risky. To help prospective landowners avoid expensive mistakes, here is some advice:

DON'T buy any land without seeing it.

DON'T close any deals on your first visit to the development or while still basking in the rosy glow of a sales talk. Go home and think about it.

DON'T assume that land prices can only rise. Your prospective plot may be overvalued to begin with.

DON'T rely on anything a salesman tells you about planned tennis courts, golf courses, marinas, etc. Such features have a way of being delayed.

DO demand to see a copy of the property report or offering statement that many large developments are required to file with state and federal regulatory agencies, and study it carefully.

DO ascertain who is to pay for installing and maintaining roads and sewers, whether roads will be surfaced and where the water supply will come from.

DO find out what kind of buildings and construction methods are forbidden in the development, whether mobile homes are allowed, whether camping will be permitted and whether anyone has an easement across your land to reach a nearby road or pond.

DO know how far your lot will be from the nearest firehouse, police station, hospital, schools, shopping areas and public transportation.

DO talk to a few people who already own property in the development about the advantages and problems they find in living there.

DO, by all means, make contact with owners who are selling their lots privately. Make an effort to find out why they are selling and whether they will take a loss or make a profit.

DO determine what comparable plots of land are selling for outside the development. You might be able to pick up something much cheaper.

DO find out how populous your subdivision will be when it is fully developed. It may look pristine now, but a few hundred more neighbors could make it unbearably crowded.

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