What's up with raw land and building on it?

 In California, certainly in the Bay Area, buying a home on acreage is hugely expensive. The value of a house built on lots of property is very high. However, a way around that big ole price tag can be buying raw land and choosing to build your own home. Not to say that building your own home is cheap, but homes built on large property lots are listing at very steep prices. It is possible to build your own home, to the specificities that work best for you and your family size or lifestyle on a raw plot of land for a lower dollar amount, but it takes some work!

California has lots of conditions that would apply to building on raw land, its important to do your due diligence, and get on that site specific research. It’s definitely advisable to hire a local agent for your vacant lot purchase, they can help walk you through a lot of these important steps.

First off you gotta check that zoning. Your lot could be zoned for residential, commercial, or industrial, historical, rural or environmental. These are all very different positions to be in, with a lot of very specific restrictions and rules that you have to be well versed on, before going down that road. Even with in a specific type of zoning there are sub zoning groups. Residential 1 might allow the building of a single-family home, while residential 2 could allow for a triplex.

If this property is your absolute dream, but not currently zoned for what you would like to build, it is possible to file for zoning variance or exceptions.  However, you would have to be prepared to get into it for the long haul, as this process can be long and involve lots of fees and tons of paperwork. This can get complicated, but if you are going hard and are committed to the process it might be wise to hire an attorney to file stuff for you. It’s worth it in the end not to have a simple mistake send you right back to the beginning.

Other things to consider might be development standards. For instance, if you wanted to build a tiny house, there could be minimum lot and home size requirements. You might also have to find out what the building safety standard requirements are for construction. You can always contact your local planning department to answer these questions.

It is definitely worth your time to be very certain about all the specific allotments on your raw land before buying to build. If you ignore or bypass anything to build outside of the ordinance, neighbors or adjacent property owners can report you and get your entire build project halted and removed if you are caught.

That being said, a beautiful home on five acres of gorgeous California river will likely list for millions of dollars in a lot of areas. If you buy raw land and are zoned to build your vision, you can totally get in on that river home for hundreds of thousands of dollars less. Or if you're vision is a whole ass mansion- you might still be dishing out that big money- but every detail can be tailored to what you'd like best. Folks can homestead, have hella horses, build energy efficient, go full mud hut, the options are endless!

A Monday Team agent is waiting to hook you up with the possibility of building something special on land with all the beauty and potential you could hope for, its an exciting endeavor, don’t be scared to look into it!