A dear fellow mama wrote a post on a Facebook page:
‘do any of you know how you would go about buying land? And building a home? Who do you contact?’
A REALTOR!!! Ha.
There’s a lot you can do on your own before getting to the point of writing an offer.
Step 1: location (this is obvious)
Salt lake county or Utah county?
North or south SL county (pushing into Bountiful, as far east as Cottonwood Heights, as far south as Bluffdale, as west as Magna or Herriman)?
North or south UT county (Highland, Alpine, Saratoga, Spanish Fork or more south like Santaquin)?
We moved from Heber City, and wonder often if we should go back.
After 2018 Parade of Homes, we started looking in Lehi. Then Husband's job moved back north and we’ve shifted to south Salt Lake County. Once you’ve narrowed down a location, you need to look at budget.
You'll be able to find lots in all ranges of budget throughout the county, but is West Valley okay vs Draper? There will be give and take. There will also be lots in the lower ends of the budget, but these lots will be smaller. What do you want to spend on a pretty pile of dirt?
Land is a funny thing because it’s one big circle.
You can’t have an architect start on plans until you know your gradations of your lot (think: walk out basements or water levels that won’t allow for a basement).
You want to start looking at lots but what's the total budget?
You need land, but first you need a budget, but then what’s the budget of just the build, well, what’s your floor plan, will that floor plan fit on the right piece of land, well where’s your lot?
And round and round.
As we started looking at lots, I reached out to a few builders for soft budgets. Most in northern UT will quote between $150-$250 a square foot of finished space. An unfinished basement is approximately $40 per square foot and a finished basement is approximately $75 a square foot.
Let’s take my dream home floor plan as an example.
2000 square feet on the main and
2000 square feet in the finished basement
2000 x $150/sft (main finished)
+ 2000 x $75/sft (finished basement)
$450,000 total just to build the house
*and this is $150 is usually basic upgrades - quartz, engineered hardwood, tile bathroom surrounds, 3 car garage... that’s about it.
So we’re at $450,000 just in the build.
Lots in Lehi for .33 acre are going for about $190,000, in south SL County, you're looking more like $230,000.
$450,000 build
+ $190,000 land
$640,000 total loan
Is this what you were thinking?
Have you been pre-approved?
What kind of down payment are you putting down?
What will be the insurance or HOA costs?
STEP 2: the details
You've got your location and budget and now is the time to start seeing what's on the market. Here's 2 ways:
1. Talk to a realtor- this is their job to search for new listings and know the market
2. Browse MLS- download the Utah Real Estate app or the realtor.com app. Set your filters to land and browse the cities you’re thinking of.
You found a lot that peaks your interest! Great! The first I EVER do before even driving to a lot is reaching out to the listing agent and ask for CCR’s and the plat map.
What are CCR's?
Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CC&R's) - are the subdivisions rules.
These will say how much percentage of your home needs to be stone, or cement board, if they allow accessory apartments, pool houses, a side shop, some require a 3rd car garage or a certain pitch of roof and MINIMUM SQUARE FOOTAGE REQUIREMENTS.
This last one is crucial for us and the first information I look for! Our dream house plan is only 2000 square on the main with the master bedroom, living, kitchen and one bedroom. The basement will be finished with 3 bedrooms and an accessory apartment. I’ve seen many CCR’s that require 2500 sq ft on the main floor of a rambler, therefore 2500 in the basement. We don't need anything over 4000 square feet. I’ve also seen them only require 1600 on the main floor, which would work for us too if we got rid of the accessory apartment.
PLAT MAP - this little map of the subdivision has so.much. information on it.
Many times on the apps, you can’t make the plat map bigger and the listing may not clarify which lot they have on the MLS.
One big thing for us is a south or west facing lot. I love to shovel snow, but also appreciate the sun’s help in melting it and with a north facing house, the structure will block the driveway and your driveway may never fully melt through the frigid winters. A west facing house, will give us shade in the summer afternoons and if I can plan to have no windows on the south side, the sun won’t beat into our bedrooms during the summer months causing them to be warmer.
See how many details go into this!!!!?? Other things to think about:
HOA dues?
Flat lot? Sloped? With a view?
Lot size with more grass, will be more to water through the summer, does the lot have agricultural irrigation?
Does the city allow accessory apartments? (Call the planning department of the city. Saratoga Springs, Riverton, Herriman do not allow them. Lehi does. A realtor would know this off the top of their head.)
What are the neighbors like? The streets? Where are fire hydrants?
STEP 3: drive by and walk around
The great thing about lots is that there’s no showings needed! So take a drive!
We (well, I was serious about a lot, Husband was not) but he still drove out there 3 times. #truelove
The first time (around 6pm) just to look at it. He said no. Although, he did agree to meet with the builder for the initial consultation.
The second time (Sunday morning) just for fun :) This time, I had pondered it more; how the floor plan I’ve been drafting would fit, the orientation of the driveway, where the pool and pool house would go, where the garden would go. So we drove out a second time. This time Husband noticed there was a view of the mountains!
I thought I had him!
The third time, we met some friends out there to try to convince them to buy the lot next door, but we went at 4:00 on a weekday... right about when rush hour was starting. The traffic noise was quite loud and, in the end, the traffic noise won and we're still searching for dirt.
WRAPPING UP: so in conclusion...
Narrow down your location and budget
Study the CCR’s and plat maps
Walk the lot and fall in love!
Yes these are things you can do on your own and get a feel for what you really want and need before getting a realtor involved. But a realtor CAN help answer questions, be the liaison between agents and yourself and a realtor is crucial to be your loyal companion through the whole process. You can build a custom home with a builder and they'll walk you through the paperwork, but a realtor FOR YOU that will champion you, is really the best way to go!
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