How to Buy Land Without a Bank.
What I wish somebody had told me before I bought my first acre.
Written by
Sam · Blue Ox Land Co.
Sam · Blue Ox Land Co.
01
What I wish somebody had told me before I bought my first acre.
I'm Sam. I buy and sell land for a living. Mostly rural ground. Hunting tracts, recreational parcels, and the odd inherited forty that a family isn't quite sure what to do with.
Here's something most folks never get told. You don't need a bank to buy land. Banks treat raw ground like a gamble. Big down payments, short terms, and a pile of paperwork for a loan officer who has never once walked a back forty. So a lot of good people decide land just isn't for them. It doesn't have to go that way.
I'll be honest about my side of it, because you'd figure it out anyhow. I sell land with owner financing. That means I'm the bank, and the deal is a conversation instead of an application. I'd love for you to buy a piece from me someday. But I wrote this to be worth your time either way.
What's in here is the stuff I'd tell a friend over coffee before they bought their first piece of ground. How owner financing works. What to look at before you sign. How to walk a property. And the handful of warning signs that have saved people I know a whole lot of money and grief.
Read it. Mark it up. Call me when something comes up.
P.S. Want a second set of eyes on a deal, even one that isn't mine? Call or text me at 651-300-4870. No pitch, I promise.
Read them in order, or skip straight to the part you need. None of them are long.
Land doesn't break. There's no roof to fix, no furnace, no tenant calling you at midnight. You can hunt it, camp on it, build on it someday, or just hold it and let it grow quiet value while you sleep.
In most rural counties the taxes run a few hundred dollars a year. That is less than one month's rent on an average apartment. It is also one of the last things you can still buy with a handshake and a page or two in writing, no bank in the room.
When you buy from a seller who used a bank, the bank runs the show — it decides whether you qualify, what you pay, and how many hoops you jump through. Owner financing skips all of that. The seller becomes the lender, you agree on a price, a down payment, and a monthly amount, and you put it in writing. That's the whole thing.
Five things really matter on raw land. Get these right and you've ruled out almost every bad deal before you ever set foot on it.
Bring good boots and give yourself an hour. You are not measuring every square foot. You are getting a feel for the place.
Walk it slow. Notice where it sits high and dry and where it stays soft after a rain. Find the spot where you would back a camper in. If you cannot picture yourself out there, that tells you something too.
A fella once called me about a cheap twenty acres he found online. Good price, pretty photos, ready to wire a deposit that afternoon. One problem. There was no legal way onto it.
We caught it on the plat in ten minutes and he walked. Access is the first thing I check, every time.
None of these mean run. They mean ask one more question, and watch how the seller answers it.
Whether it's one of mine or one you found down a back road yourself, I'm glad to give it an honest second look.
Rather just listen in first? Office Hours is a free, live Q&A. Bring any question about buying land. blueoxlandco.com/dr-dirt-office-hours