Rural/Farm Life

While I agree with most if not all of the advice for evaluating land given here, that was not the problem we faced when buying land forty odd years ago. We could not find anything on the market that met our desires. Owners didn’t think to even put it on the market. We didn’t have anything to evaluate.

So, we got in Bella’s airplane (she was a flight instructor) and flew back and forth over the area to make a first cut on what we wanted to buy. One parcel stood out. We contacted a real estate agent, who convinced the owner to sell. We still consider ourselves to be the luckiest buyers in the world.

In today’s world, you don’t need an airplane to do something similar. Scan the desired area on Google earth. Also, there are GIS pictures available for most of the U.S. Look for these sites that cover your area with an internet search. Drone’s may be able to winnow down the first cut to a more manageable number. Drone services are available. Don’t forget you county assessor, USDA and just a plain old internet search.

Good luck out there. -b