I was looking to buy some land and before I could get to it the owner signed a contract to go to auction. The owner upon hearing of my interest checked on getting out on contract but was advised they can’t. So now I am looking to buy through an auction. I already have a house with equity. I am just looking for tips from people who have gone through this if there is anything I should be doing such a perk testing, or soil samples, or having some one walk it for timber, researching the deed for mineral rights, etc. auction is a little ways out and just looking to do my homework. Can you borrow against your house with equity and is that different than a land loan? Thanks guys.

if you are looking at a loan - go talk to the people that will be giving you the loan, they may have requirements.

if you are planning on timbering and using funds for payment, I'd definitely get that checked out.
I would absolutely check the deed and platwork for the property -bank will likely require a title report which would dig this out as well.

i dont know about PA, but in VA, if you don't perk for a conventional system - there are alternative systems, though they are spendy, typically in the $25K plus range

Why is it going to auction? Is he being foreclosed on?

Land auctions are becoming a more popular way to sell land parcels, especially when prices have been higher as they have the last decade or so. We have several in our area each year.

Bryce

Guess it depends on what you intend to do with the land. If for building a home you should make sure that its possible to run utilities and what the cost might be. We just purchased two properties one by owner and the other through a realtor and the realtor was a huge help. She told us what to look for and what to expect. We also contacted the County Clerk who gave us some insight on what the rules and regs were for a future home build. If you know a realtor by chance maybe they could give you some advice. We also knew a gal at the local Title and Escrow company who walked us through the contract and contingencies when we purchased the land that was for sale by owner. Title company should be able to tell you what you want to know about the deed. We had no inspections or tests before hand because the realtor said it wasnt necessary. Both tracts that we purchased are currently ag, part tillable/hay and some in timber. If purchasing for hunting land then there shouldnt be much to do except make sure its what you want in a hunting property. You may be able to borrow against the home equity but will have to pay closing costs again. We have another hunting property, that has no lien against it, that we were able to borrow a little $ against for a downpayment. We could have borrowed the full amount against the other land but didnt want to tie it up and have a lien against it. Good luck!

My parents recently purchased a home through and auction,
They needed the 10% down and then they had to go through
There bank and do everything like a normal purchas, the auction company
Basically acted as the realtor In there situation. They ended up just using
Savings instead of a loan because they were able to get in there faster that way.
Yes you should be able to buy it with a home equity loan depending on your debt to income
Ratio and credit.

All,of the above including title search and search for any outstanding liens or easements.

I think if you have enough equity in your home you can pull a Heloc loan and purchase it that way. Be careful of the interst rates.

Osky

You can get the legal property description, county property number whatever, and call your local title company and have them do a "track" search on the land. That will show nearly any outstanding issues against the property. Up here it costs about 125.00 dollars. Cheap insuranc

As far as price goes, you need to know what land goes for in your area. Most bidders won’t go over the going rate and most people bidding will be hoping that they get it for under the going rate. I have bought and also sold land at auction. Also does owner have minimum bid. If not start your first bid really low as that will scare some of the other buyers out if they didn’t do all of the research( mineral rights title search ect.) they will think there is a problem and back off. Just saying
Good luck

The people that own it are older and simply don’t use it. It borders state land and is 120 acres. I live about a half hour away and would like to sit on it and work slowly on it until finally moving to it.

My bank required appraisals on the land we just purchased also. So you will want to talk to your bank ASAP and find out if they require it as well. if so, you will have to schedule an appraisal before the auction. If you have enough money down then maybe they wont require the appraisal?