7 Tips for Buying Land

Finding land on which to build a home is always a complex task that deserves special attention. For this reason, in today’s post we bring you essential tips for buying land organized into 7 key steps that will help you carry out the comparison and evaluation of land from a technical and legal perspective.

This is advice we routinely provide to all our new clients at the studio, and today we wanted to summarize it in 7 tips for buying land.

Let’s begin!

1. Evaluate areas via Google

2. Search for land via the Internet, agencies, and car visits

3. Visit the land

4. Review building regulations

5. Check the status of encumbrances, debts, or easements on the land

6. Sign a deposit agreement

7. Sign the purchase agreement

At Slow Studio, we accompany clients from the land search to the signing of the land contract at no cost, as it is very important to us that you reach the project phase with land in proper condition without any technical or legal issues that, in the worst case, could make building a house unfeasible.

In fact, this has happened with clients who come to the studio with land purchased before meeting us or with land inherited from family, and on more than one occasion we have encountered serious problems—either because the subsoil was not suitable for construction, resulting in excessive construction cost overruns, or because there was a legal issue with the municipality preventing building permits from being granted.

For this reason, it is highly recommended that before purchasing land, you come see us so we can evaluate the viability of the investment together. To do so, you can schedule an appointment without any obligation.

That said, let’s go into detail on the land evaluation step by step:

1. Evaluate areas via Google

The first of the tips for buying land is to evaluate the areas that interest us using Google Maps and Street View.

Google is a preliminary step before on-site visits and even before the online search, as the satellite view allows us to detect sunny mountain slopes, developments with mountains in front that could block the sun, or even evaluate the slope of a particular development.

Detecting mountain slopes that are well oriented is another aspect that can be verified through Google. Keep in mind that good orientations are slopes facing south, southwest, or southeast. In fact, once this verification is done, there are applications like the Idealista APP that allow us to mark a specific area in which to search for land, either via web or mobile.

It is also a good method for evaluating proximity to the urban center. Living in a development has its advantages, such as tranquility and a more natural environment, but it is also necessary to evaluate proximity to the center and necessary services such as shops, schools, or medical centers, as well as public transportation options.

Once we locate land that interests us, if it has a slope, it is worth checking whether access is from the upper or lower part of the plot.

If access is from the lower part, you will have to climb stairs to enter, and if you are carrying items, it is always better to go down. There will also be less privacy due to greater contact with the street.

If, on the other hand, the plot is accessed from the upper part, you will have to go down stairs from the car and you will achieve greater privacy.

Check the date of the images

However, one of the weak points of these platforms is that the images they offer are not always recent. A street or neighborhood may not change over a 10-year period, but it is always necessary to check when the photos were taken and, if they are not recent, consider an actual visit to the location.

2. Search for land via the Internet, agencies, and car visits

Touring the areas that interest us is always worthwhile to get to know the place and evaluate whether there is land for sale. It is important to note the phone numbers of the land we find, as for various reasons it may not be advertised on websites or through agencies.

The search, in any of its methods, is also suitable for evaluating land characteristics such as square meters, the areas in which they are located, or even prices.

Via the Internet

As a reference, the most widely used websites, and therefore those with the largest inventory, are likely Idealista, Fotocasa, and Habitaclia. You can also search smaller online agencies, although their listings are often already found on better-known sites.

Agencies

The option of real estate agencies is a more traditional way to search for land. While they conduct the search for us, which is more convenient, keep in mind that they will only offer land within their portfolio. For this reason, it is advisable to contact more than one local agency in the area where we are searching for land in order to evaluate a greater number of options.

When hiring an agency, you should know that you must pay a purchase commission, which typically ranges between 3% and 6% of the land price. It is important to know the terms of the intermediation contract in detail before beginning the search.

Searching for land through intermediary agencies, however, is not always a guarantee of purchasing land in suitable condition for construction. The agent handling the land portfolio does not necessarily have technical training to provide adequate advice regarding the technical and legal conditions of the land.

For this reason, at Slow Studio we always recommend that before purchasing land, you contact us so we can conduct a thorough evaluation of the legal and regulatory status as well as the land conditions for building a house—a service we provide at no cost and which is essential for purchasing land with the guarantee that we will be able to build without problems.

Car visits

Visiting land is key to getting to know the place, its surroundings, the access it has, and what type of houses are in the neighborhood. The general atmosphere of the area will likely be one of the factors we evaluate.

3. Visit the land

The third tip for buying land is to visit the plot you are considering purchasing. This will be a very important step, which is why at Slow Studio we often accompany clients on the preliminary visit to the land. During the visit, we verify the factors to consider before buying land that help us decide whether building an eco-friendly home is viable.

Among others, we should evaluate:

Orientation

Orientation will be one of the first things to check given its importance for the home’s performance. The best option is to have a south-facing façade to capture light and solar radiation, but this is not always the case.

Southeast and southwest orientations are also suitable as long as they do not have obstacles that interfere with the plot’s sun exposure, such as neighboring buildings or nearby mountains.

Slope

Another tip for buying land is to consider whether the land has a steep slope.

The slope of the land will increase construction costs due to earth movement and retaining walls. On the other hand, sloped land is usually more affordable. For this reason, it is necessary to evaluate each case with a professional to verify that the savings on the land purchase do not translate into a much higher subsequent cost overrun.

Orientation of the slope

The fundamental aspect of sloped land is to see in which direction the slope faces. The best orientation will be south, an orientation that allows us to create a large façade to capture solar radiation and heat and illuminate the home.

Furthermore, since earth has high thermal mass—the capacity to store heat—placing a house on a south-facing slope allows us to protect ourselves from the north using the land itself. Even so, it is also possible to work with slopes in other orientations and achieve good results. As we mentioned, southeast and southwest orientations are equally suitable. From there, we must work on the project to adapt to each orientation.

At the studio, we have worked with north-facing slopes where the project adapts through courtyards to capture solar radiation. All factors must always be evaluated, keeping in mind that generally, the better the orientation, the higher the price per square meter of land.

In the image, the model of the Vallromanes project, in which the slope orientation is completely west. This led us to propose a house that takes full advantage of the slope to capture maximum sun. As you can see, the house opens to the south orientation (in the direction perpendicular to the slope).

Immediate surroundings

The immediate surroundings will be another issue to check during the land visit. It will be important to locate obstacles that could prevent solar incidence.

No matter how well oriented the land is, if there is a neighboring building, vegetation, or a mountain in front that prevents the sun from directly hitting the land. In this regard, it is important to visit the land at unfavorable times, preferably in winter in the morning or afternoon, never at midday when the sun is vertical and more likely to reach the land.

Other conditions to note include the distance from neighboring buildings—if any—and the presence of boundary walls between neighbors. Sometimes these can be very high or have direct views onto our garden. This does not necessarily pose a problem, but it is necessary to take it into account.

We will also check the access possibilities to the land on foot and by car, as if the land has a steep slope, the options may become complicated.

4. Review building regulations

The fourth tip for buying land is to review the building regulations that affect the specific plot.

For example, we start with a 1,000 m² plot with 20% coverage and 0.4 buildability. This means that, at most, 200 m² of the total land can be covered and that, on these 200 m², we can build a second floor of 200 m² until we exhaust the 400 meters of buildability.