Buying acreage: the well, the septic and everything else nobody mentions

Water in

The well

A private well is not a utility. Nobody is monitoring it, nobody sends you a bill, and nobody is responsible for it but you. When it stops, you call somebody and you pay whatever it costs.

So find out what you are inheriting before you close, not after.

• Depth and type. A shallow well and a deep well are different assets with different lifespans and different vulnerability to drought and contamination. Ask for the well completion report if one exists.
• Pump and pressure tank age. Both are consumables. A pump replacement is a real bill, and a pressure tank that short-cycles will take the pump with it.
• Flow rate. Have it tested, and be aware that a well that keeps up in a wet February can struggle in a dry May. If the property has irrigation or livestock, say so when you order the test.
• Casing and wellhead condition. A wellhead below grade or in a pit is a contamination path.
• Distance from the septic drain field. Separation distances are regulated. On older parcels they are not always respected, and on a financed purchase it can become a condition.

Waste out

The septic system

The most expensive thing on a rural property that you cannot see. A failed drain field is a five-figure repair, and there is no way to assess one from the driveway.

1. Have the tank pumped and inspected during the inspection period. Pumping is the only way anyone can actually look at the tank, the baffles and the inlet.
2. Have the drain field evaluated. Soggy ground, unusually green grass in a rectangle, or slow drains inside the house are all warnings.
3. Ask the county health department what permits exist. Permit records tell you when the system was installed, how big it is, and how many bedrooms it was sized for.
4. Check the bedroom count against the permit. A three-bedroom system under a house somebody converted to four bedrooms is a permitting problem you inherit.
5. Ask about additions. A room built over a drain field is not a hypothetical out here.

On vacant land the question is different and larger: can a septic system be permitted here at all? That depends on soil type, the seasonal high water table, wetlands and setbacks. Do not buy land to build on without answering it.

Getting there

Access, easements and the road

The single most common unpleasant surprise on rural land, and the one buyers never think to ask about, because in town roads simply exist.

Also worth checking: whether an easement runs across your parcel for somebody else's benefit, and where the utility easements sit. Both affect where you can build.

The parcel itself

Flood, wetlands, soils and survey

• Get a survey. Fence lines are not property lines and around here they disagree more often than they agree. A survey shows boundaries, easements, encroachments and improvements.
• Check the flood zone. Putnam County has a great deal of water in it — the St. Johns, Crescent Lake, Lake George, creeks and low ground everywhere. Flood zone determines whether flood insurance is a loan requirement and drives its cost.
• Ask about wetlands. A wetland delineation is a specialist job. Wetlands limit where you can build and what you can clear, and they are not always obvious in a dry month.
• Soils and the water table. These decide whether a septic system can be permitted and how much fill a build will need. Fill is expensive.
• Zoning and land use. What you may build, how many dwellings, whether livestock is allowed, and whether the parcel can be divided.
• Agricultural classification. A parcel carrying an agricultural exemption has a lower tax bill; the exemption may not survive your purchase or your intended use. Ask the property appraiser rather than assuming.
• Impact fees and permitting costs for a new build, which people routinely leave out of the budget entirely.

Money

What the due diligence costs

On a land purchase the due diligence can run into a couple of thousand dollars. Against the cost of a parcel you cannot build on, it is the cheapest money in the transaction.

Financing

How all of this interacts with the loan

Briefly, because the detail is on our types of home loans page: raw land is not a mortgage, USDA has limits on how much value can sit in the land, manufactured homes have their own rules, and wells and septic add requirements to FHA, VA and USDA files.

The practical consequence is that the lender conversation should happen before the offer, not after. A licensed lender who has closed a rural file in the last year is worth more to you than a slightly better rate from one who has not. There is a factual directory of local lenders, including which ones publish USDA and manufactured-home lending, on our lender page.