NEVER Buy This Type of Land 

I bought a 5.9 acre property from the previous owner who happened to live next door and owned multiple homes in the area. Well that was her claim. After 10 years of arguing with her about the property lines I finally just paid the $890 survey fee and it's a damn good thing to do. Turns out the rental home and pasture behind her place is my property along with the large field that she had been claiming was hers that separates her home and my side yard. The property line is actually 9 ft inside the bar / man cave type room they added onto their home about 5 years ago. Without permits I might add. She has been collecting rent from the house that's clearly mentioned on my property record as a 2nd dwelling. I had assumed that the 2nd dwelling recorded on my place was the shop. Turns out the shop was never recorded and she knew I owned the home she had been renting out the entire 11 years I've owned my place. She just lost the civil suit and I learn of the judgement amount in another week. She is also facing criminal charges for fraud and a few other related charges.

I bought county land, it was a dump. For 40 years everyone used it as a place to dump car parts, appliances, trash, and it was massively over grown, used for gang meetings, camping, homeless, etc. I could only use Google Maps to look at it. So the county got rid of it, and I was the only bidder. $4,000. for an acre. So I rented a skid steer and 3 helpers and worked for two months... a LOT of work. Now, it looks like a city park, 80 huge firs, fenced in, stunning beautiful, and appraised for $1.7 million. Sometimes the BAD, turns out GOOD.

As a surveyor, realtors are generally our sworn enemies. It's good to see there are some that care enough to consider flood zones and appurtenances and encroachments.

Yeah, my Dad was shown 2 acres near Tallahassee that he bought and years later when he went to build on it he found out he actually bought the 2 acres behind it, with no access easement. He paid 2k for it, he paid taxes on it for years. When he passed I inherited it so went to find owners of the front piece, who live on the 5 acres next door to see about getting an access easement and they told yes, for 20k. Realtor long since dead but his daughter still doing people dirty in Aucilla County Florida. I donated it to the State as a bird santuary.

Mom had a survey in the 1970's. A bit afterward, some people thought they were buying land from a seller/owner, but actually they bought part of Mom's land. Mom visited them and told them and had a lawyer mail them to my knowledge. Fast Forward to 2022/23 and we are surveying/dividing inheritance. The people who encroached years ago wanted to know why they weren't informed as our surveyor was on their property. ( So they disregarded Mom and her lawyer) I think they thought they could pull something over on us...but the tax maps and deeds and images prove them wrong.

When it comes to flooding, be mindful that flooding can happen multiple ways. It's not always "The river came to your house", sometimes it's "The water table rose and infiltrated your basement".

Buying a property or land without doing a survey is crazy to me

You touched on timber rights. I advise people to always get their timber rights. You may buy land that was once a tree farm and was clearcut, but company A still owns the timber rights for the next fifty years. Twenty-five years from now your family's apple trees will become part of "apple wood smoked bacon" and they owe you nothing along with you have to allow them access.

This is pure wisdom. One can be anywhere in the world, watch your videos, and still be able to ask the right questions when buying property!

After living in St. Tammany we moved to Hancock County. We found out the hard way during Hurricane Katrina about velocity zones. That deserves a tutorial itself.

My husband and I are looking to buy land. I am so happy that I started watching your videos. Learning so much, will be prepared.

I work in residential HVAC. After seeing what floods can do to a house I'm never buying anything in a flood area!! I want the entire property to be at least 40 feet up from any river or lake. Floods absolutely destroy homes and you will spend a year or two fighting with your insurance company to rebuild. It's just not worth it.

I would add 3 things: 1) if you’re planning on grazing animals to do a soil test to make sure it’s not contaminated. 2) check with the EPA and your State environmental agency for the presence of Superfund or other environmental remediation sites. 3) unless the property has a land patent, you’ll probably not get mineral or air rights.

Also don't buy a hazardous waste site. Land aling a railway, old lode gold mine, gas station with underground tank, dry cleaner, or industrial land that may have had chemicals on it might be suspect.

Good contact and information. It’s like a 101 course and chapter for real estate. And these are the type of things that should be taught in the schools for people who want to buy homes.

I’m learning a lot from you… I can see how your channel is going to continue to grow… You’re a great speaker, you get right to the point, you’re easy to listen to and you offer a wealth of information. I can tell you’re very good at what you do! I’m not even looking for a property. I just like watching your videos! 😂

@7:45 The correct term for the letter you speak of is Certified with a return receipt. Now here are a couple of caveats about them. 1. The customer does not have to sign for the letter; they can refuse it and you get it back marked 'refused'. 2. They can just let the time limit on the Post office holding onto the letter run out (15 days from 1st attempt). When the storage time runs out (they will get a second notice after 5 days), you get the letter back as 'Unclaimed'. Another way to send a letter to someone and have proof that you mailed it is to use 'Certificate of mailing'. You prepare the letter you want to mail, then go to the Post Office and ask for a certificate of mailing; once you have the certificate filled out the window clerk affixes the fee to the certificate, round dates it and gives it back to you and your letter goes on its way. One thing I will tell people is if you are getting into any type of dispute; keep copious notes and records because he who is better prepared usually wins in court. Retired Window clerk

my friend was talking about mineral rights yesterday. about how a local lord of the manor here in england is having to pay to *not* have gravel extracted from this chunk of land he re-purchased because somehow someone overlooked the fact the mineral rights were sold separately by the original purchaser.

In south Florida, the cities love to hammer people$$ about code/building violations. People buy homes where the prior homeowner has done something w/o a city permit. This could be as simple as replacing an outside faucet or installing a window on the porch. It could have been done 30 years ago but the city doesn't care because they're so hungry for money. They will levy fines and attach your property if you don't pay up. They hit the people who can't afford it the hardest. Best do lots of research.

In most countries you do not own the land, you only get a certificate of title/deed, you pay property taxes, and you file for permits and licenses for anything you do on it...We are all slaves until we outright own the property, mineral, air, and water rights completely. Most of us are just glorified renters, let's be honest.

You talk about doing due diligence in every video. Can you please explain to everyone exactly how to do the proper due diligence? As a fairly new land and real estate investor with a few deals under my belt, I absolutely love your videos! Thank you for the content!

The Base Flood Elevation is important and it needs to be done with the NAVD 1988 NOT NGVD 1929, which is used to determine elevation of the property. The 1988 is about 1.1 feet lower then the 1929 and FEMA uses the 1988 version.

In Texas the seller is obligated to provide the buyer with a survey and description of the property after being given earnest money towards the purchase. That allows to buyer to compare what's shown on the older survey to what's currently present on the property. If there's an easement for utility lines or dirt road leading to different properties then those will be shown and mentioned in the property description. Roads leading to other properties need to be maintained so it should mention that cost being shared between the users. Sometimes it's an access road for the utilities to reach the ROW so they'll spend a dime to keep it in repair. Sometimes the road is being used by an adjacent property owner or the seller to access a far section of their property. That should be included in the property description and why they need access to it. The property they need access to must be producing income for the property owner to have access, such as raising row crops. If that's not shown on the survey or description then it's a private road on that property. The description will give you the boundary coordinates. You can use those online to have Google Earth mark those so you can get a bird's eye view of the marked property lines to see if any structures and fencing are encroaching onto that or neighboring properties or if the land you're buying is a long stretch of unusable land on a hillside. The property deed listed on the county tax office data base should show if it has any water wells and septic systems along with how much is taxed as residential and agricultural. It's hard to find property being sold with the mineral rights where oil & gas is being produced or coal being mined. Those were usually sold long ago when property owners were hard up for cash then had wildcatters coming around offering to buy the mineral rights for $10 per acre since nobody believed there were oil deposits in that region. Once oil was discovered, the rest of the property owners kept their mineral rights to collect production royalties then moved away after selling the property. The ptoperty deeds on the county tax data base should show if a property comes with the mineral rights. The county data base also should have a flood zone map that was drawn up by FEMA using a county supplied topographical map that shows the streams, creeks, rivers, drainage ditches, streets and highways. FEMA will have lines and dashes showing what got flooded during 100 year rain events and typical flooding of low laying areas after unusually heavy rains that tend to occur each year. The Army Corps of Engineers should have their own county maps showing protected wetlands and adjoining uplands that send runoff into the wet areas.

This is so helpful! Can you make a video on the best land for homesteading/farming?

It's NEVER "your" property if you need "permission" to do anything on it! 😂😂😂

I live in New Jersey, retired and looking to purchase land for my hobbies, a small farm. I must say that this video and a few others that you produced are very very informative. Hands down I will be watching more of your videos !! Thank you. Well done.

He's not joking I'm in Brunswick county NC I'm 38 feet above sea level witch is basically a mountain. Half of our county is swamp.

You don't have to be in a flood zone to have water issues! I'm in Michigan and we have 'wetlands'. The wetlands have their own map that you can lookup on the internet, but do you think the realtors or the sellers note this on their listings? Hell no. Buyer beware! At times the wetlands are dry, but when they're not dry, its worthless to build on. I called a local drain commission and the really nice woman on the phone laughed when I told her the parcel# I was looking at. She said, you'll never get a building permit for that area due to wetlands designation.

I’m impressed by the fair and measured approach to a complicated subject. You do a great job of nuancing the info, thank you.

Great advice and well delivered, particularly the small mentions about being a good neighbor while handling legal issues. I trusted the plat map and some previous staking when buying my 20ac, 5 years later doing a survey with two neighbors as they were wanting to do some logging on their properties and discovered a corner marker was about 6 inches from the edge of my driveway, and about 15 feet from their corner of the fence. Fortunately I'd made some effort to maintain pleasant interactions with those neighbors and we agreed to keep everything as is, in writing, and I let their loggers take 3 trees from the back corner of my property to help with the view they were opening up. It could easily have gotten ugly, but sometimes everybody can win.

This guy is awesome. Thank you man . Straight to the point! No bs

I recently discovered your channel and am enjoying your clips so-far. Being 70+ years young and moving around some, I've bought and sold a bunch of properties in several states. I found this clip very interesting due to you touching on easements and encroaching. W/o crossing the line of giving 'legal advice' can you make a video on these subjects sometime if not already? I wonder how some encroaching situations were (easily) handled...simple ones and more complex. I once sold a lot that was contiguous to my home property and my fence encroached on that lot a few inches for a short run. My lawyer created a "Fence letter" for me and the buyer that simply acknowledged the buyer's agreement of the minor encroachment. I think it might have been posted to the county too. This cost a hundred bucks and everybody was happy. One other case was my parents bought a vacation property in early '50s and in '70s they found a utility pole there one day. The pole was just to hold a guy wire, but was an eyesore. Long/short, dad was told there was a utility easement all up the block. He did some checking and learned that there WAS an easement up the block, but that was established well after mom n dad bought their property and none was on their Deed. The pole got removed forthwith...my dad was like that and I learned a lot from him. That was the start of my fascination with RE Law and buying/selling/investing.

A person can be ridiculously cautious too. If you think about it, a great deal of acreage lies in flood zones, along coastal and river areas. You just have to get it for the right price and be willing to take some flooding risk. Floods happen. If the land seems severally undervalued, it probably is for a good reason. Maybe the owner is behind the eight ball financially and needs to unload it.

The information you gave us regarding mineral rights is invaluable! Thanks a million!

I subscribed because of how legit and informational you were in this video, i used to be an appraiser at harris county. Now i have my own property tax consulting firm and you are very knowledgeable. I think you should also tell people the property tax implications when developing certain lots!

I remember those storms in Tennessee a few years back. It was bad everywhere in North Middle TN. They knocked power in the county I live in offline for a few weeks and destroyed a few houses.

Have a deed search included in closing...will discover alot of issues discussed. And if something is missed by the deed serach company, they have to pay to recitify problem.

One thing he DIDN'T mention is beware of a HOA on the house or property you're buying !! Little DICtators will tell you what you can or CAN"T do with your own property !! Run like HELL !!

A friend from the USA had a large area of riverside land that was flood zone land, so he turned it into wet land and he added a large lake. He then put his house boat on the lake and life on it for years Now he used the earth he dug out for lake to create, in effect, a large island with foundations add at time now this island was well above the any flood line. Once his new island had settled, he built a large wooded cabin. and a fish deck.

I’m going to buy a piece of land in Florida, you mentioned some informations I knew since before which I forgot. The video was very informative, and also guided me to things I didn’t realize! Thank you!

I wish the old man would want to explore like you guys and just for it. I am selling my properties in Chicago and looking for the farmland in Georgia. I too have a brand new rv that I was getting rid of but now that I see what you’re doing, shucks, I am keeping my rv and just going to sell the land at the summer getaway spot in seneca il. Now I will be watching youre channel more now that you are going to be rehabbing your new found rv. I can hardly wait until you get started. Hope you give us steps as you go along. I hate it when someone show you the raggedy and then a few videos later they are showing the complete item. Can’t wait

Lol, I’m not buying any property in Louisiana, especially down south.

Great advice and information provided. Glad to have stumbled upon this channel.

Thank you for packing so much information into less than 13 minutes! The only thing you could do to improve is do specific breakdown videos on flood zones, mineral rights, etc. Maybe you've already done those and I just haven't found them yet.

In a court of law a return receipt isn't weighted as heavily as you might think. You have to PROVE what was signed for. The neighbor may claim although they signed for the letter, the envelope was empty.

Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge!

Idk why yt suddently started recommending me your videos...but i like it

Thank you for these videos! I'm learning so much! God bless you!

There can also be utility easements. That's often the case when the electrical and telecom lines are on poles along the back property line, and there are underground lines on the street. There will also be underground lines passing in easements connecting those aerial lines to the street to underground part of the network on the street (or if the line needs to cross a street). There may also be oil and gas pipeline easements. They can sometimes be very wide, much wider than the pipe, and are not always obvious because you can often still landscape and use the land. Also, if you plan to build or make major renovations, check the municipal regulations, especially for your zone. You may not be allowed to do build what you want to.

One issue that many never consider after looking at flood zones, easements etc. Is power, There better be power close by, or you can end up paying huge money for something people taking for granted. You pay by the foot to run it to your home site on your property.

why not

0:23 A note for Alabama buyers. In most places you have to disclose adverse facts. Not in Alabama. Alabama is a "buyer beware" state, and sellers there are under no obligation to disclose most things they would have to disclose in other states. So if you're buying in Alabama, you have to be extra careful, and you have to proactively ask questions. Per the AL Real Estate Commission: "Neither the seller nor the seller’s agents, unless asked, are required to disclose defects, except those which might pose an immediate health or safety risk to the buyers."

One thing for sure with that rv in the road, wouldn’t be a bad idea a night to go shopping for replacement parts for your fixer up. I mean, hey!!! Only if it is abandoned and dumped

Remember that your agent is not actually looking out for your best interests; she/he is looking out for their own profit. I'm a first time home buyer and I'm paying cash. My agent was adamantly against me getting an appraisal, survey, soil testing, etc. She made it sound like this was silly and buyers don't do these things. I'm now in the process of closing on this home and I'm very curious to find out how badly I was screwed.

FWI There are states that do not require a survey to be registered (filed) and many are not because it cost a little bit more $. Illinois is one such state.

In case anyone would like to know why it is that the city or perish/county has the authority to tell you what you can and cannot do with your property, I believe it is because of "incorporation." Incorporation is essentially an agreement between the land owner and a civil jurisdiction to provide services like fire, water, garbage, sewage and power to the private property, but you agree to abide by a set of rules to benefit the community. Cutting down a tree on your property may not effect the community BUT without that restriction, EVERYONE could cut down all their trees, which could cause soil erosion for example. This could negatively affect the community as a whole. The original job of government was to manage the commons (see The Tragedy of the Commons. The Commons were pasture land used to graze animals. Without a community dividing up time amongst the citizens, the Commons could be over grazed and effect everyone, so government was created to manage that. That is essentially the root purpose of government, no pun intended), and so you enter into an agreement to abide by those rules. More specifically; at some point in the past and owner of that property entered into that agreement at the time of incorporation, and that's binding across owners.

I just now came across your video channel scrolling through you-tube , very interesting greatly enjoyable to listen and learn of this side of real estate / homes and property's.. I'm trying to learn extra to b able to help my daughter with her do's and don'ts as a first time home buyer with in the next year, so much to b so caution of these days purchasing a new 🏠 Thank you for sharing❤❤❤

Thanks Wayne for this awesome knowledge you provide in your videos, very informative for future real estate investors.

I grew up on the Cheaspeake bay used to be fairly low income area North Beach Chesapeake Beach then in the 90's all the land became super expensive as real estate speculators drove up the prices, then they built Horrible Condominiums right on the Bay blocking everyones view of the water, the town was built on a marsh but they did fix the flooding problem, and the smell it smelled like fermented swamp mud

Thank you for your excellent advice much appreciated

I was in H.S. in Northern Michigan when an acquaintance had an oil company come in and drill for oil and hit some. It'd be easy to think that that 80k (or whatever) is set for life, but they will shut off wells when the market conditions warrant it, so I'd want to know what happens then and do they remove everything if that well dries up or is no longer viable.

one thing i always knew was ALWAYS make sure you own the mineral rights... and in some places the air rights can also be incredibly valuable. but for sure, the mineral rights.

Bought a plot of land without the right to build! the previous owner sold all rights to TDR! Can you please tell us how we can restore the rights to the development of TDR? Who can you recommend on this matter? Or write a possible solution here

Mr. Turner thank you for this education.

I love your videos. Super informative and great attitude towards RE business and life!

Civil engineer, here. Wetlands are very important and need protections. This is often incompatible with RE developements. I'll leave it at this.

why people who live on land that floods never consider building a house boat on the land is a mystery to me. just because the land is dry when you buy it doesn't mean that it will stay dry or that the flood level will be what you expect it to be.

Smart man. This video wasn't made for me but I still found it fascinating

Thank you for this. In OH, not too much flood problems, but Mineral Rites.......ohhhhhh yeah. Yes. I would love an $80k oil check too. 😊

I appreciate you sharing this information💯

I truly appreciate this video. Thanks from Arizona 😊

Since we’ve been looking for a house to buy here in NC, every single seller opted to mark ‘no representation’ on property disclosure statement. Why even require such a form, if they don’t really need to disclosure anything?

I bought land in Oklahoma in a Wilderness area. I was told that no one is given access to the mineral rights. I wanted it for just the raw land. It has no utilities to speak of and even cell phone coverage is non existent. A survey will cost me around $6K-8K but I have found 3 of the original property stakes. Should I be concerned that I don't have the mineral rights? I did ask about drilling a well for water and was told that is not an issue. This is the Kiamichi Wilderness and I own 5 acres in phase 2.

Awesome info, keep going, I’m enjoying all of it!

Good video. Pure info and no weird YT personality b.s. TYVM 👍🏾

Thank you for this wealth of information

Could you do some videos on buying raw land to set up a homestead that is off grid. i.e. no sewer , no water, no electric and no lp gas with the right to have ones own farm animals for the property owners consumption ?

Building in a flood plane is always a risk. I have a photo of my grandmother standing in front of her first home, about a block away from its foundation. That was after 1951 Kansas City flood receded. She had insurance, so it wasn't much of a setback.

Thank you for the videos. I’m thinking of buying property soon and I’m receiving a wealth of knowledge of gotchas from your videos!

9:42 best description of Hurricane Katrina. Ever.

Great video, though it's a bit sad that we never really own our real property; we have to share with the government. Ugh!

Encroachment: Ive always heard that you have to be careful with neighbors using or caring for the property near yours. That if they say mow into your yard or have part of a flower bed or shed on your property that it will become their property after 7 years or something like that. Is there any truth to that?

I bought land and then parceled it out for 70ft lots and made $4M on $100k property in the middle of nowhere due to building homes for migrants

Thank you! Great information.

that bridge is to loud WTH city?

Thank you for the very useful information

Looking to build on land. Great information. Thank you!

Thank you for this helpful information. I Also want to add make sure you have the water rights to. Some places don't even let you collect rainwater or use the creek to water your plants 😢.

Great, informative video. I was intrigued by the comment to keep the mineral rights. I am looking at land in Pennsylvania and not a single one will relinquish or sell mineral rights. What would be the alternative?

Easement on the property is one thing but more importantly be sure it’s not land locked and you have a easement. Live in NC and have seen several people buy land and not realize they have no access to it. Just because there’s a road running to it doesn’t mean you have the right to use it.

Don't buy the land, cause I need to buy it

Sounds like you are near my area. I'm here in Hammond La. Love your videos👍

Hmm, what about "portable housing" with independent utilities?

I like your videos. Useful info although I'm from the north east but there's a lot of similar issues, wetlands, agricultural land, utilities etc. Buying land looks cheap until you figure in all the variables. My concern is all the beurachracy. I can build a house and would general contract that myself. I would pay someone to handle all the red tape with the town. I wish there were more services like that available.

Very informative and useful info Thanks

A good survey of a property that hasn't been surveyed in a while is going to cost 2k *minimum*.

I knew that was Madisonville before you named the river.

Wayne, can you address the importance of discussing your plan for a property with the planning department before closing. Oftentimes what is in the code needs further clarification or they will outright stop you if the use does not conform to their comprehensive plan.

Watching this as if I'll ever own a piece of land.

Great information