Before You Buy The Land For Your Dream House

-Seattle Times

Oh, the horror stories they can tell you down at the local planning department:

— There was the man who bought the property of his dreams and later discovered he had no legal access to it.

— The plot that didn’t percolate, leaving its owners no way to dispose of sewage.

— The retiree who staked her life savings on a piece of property she thought she could develop – only to discover it’s largely wetland.

If you dream of buying five acres in the country and building your own home, you’re in for a long, slow process.

In these days of growth management, environmental sensitivity and endangered-species awareness, expect to jump through a dozen hoops before you can start thinking about hiring a builder or choosing carpet colors.

“It’s getting more and more complicated all the time to build a house,” said Tom Rowe, team leader of the residential site review group for Snohomish County’s Planning and Development Services department.

Before buying land on which to build, experts say, you should spend time learning everything you can about the neighborhood’s future. Visit your city or county development department and learn every restriction that could affect development of the property. And make the sale contingent on approval of a septic system and the availability of drinking water.

Even if you’re buying a small empty lot in a platted subdivision with sewer and water hookups, you’ll still want to understand how the surrounding neighborhoods will be developed in the future. That big, forested tract a half-mile down the road may be slated for a shopping center or dense new housing development, which could affect traffic patterns and the character of your new neighborhood.

Where to start

Let’s say you’ve found your dream property. First, ask the seller for the property’s title report. It should list restrictions and easements.

Next, meet the neighbors. They may already know that adjoining properties are scheduled for development, or that there’s a seasonal stream that runs through the land during the rainy months.

Take a long drive through the area. Look for the 4-foot-high white boards that advise of a change in a proposed land-use designation – a clue that new development is in the wings.

If your dream property is in King County, visit the county’s Web site and learn all you can about the land and everything in the neighborhood.

Next – before you buy – it’s absolutely essential that you visit your county or city’s development department. In King County, that’s the Department of Design and Environmental Services in Renton; in Snohomish County, it’s the Snohomish County Planning and Development Services in Everett. Each city has its own development department. You’ll sign in and wait to talk to a zoning technician; expect to spend several hours in the office.

If you’ve never built a house on a piece of raw land, make that clear to the technician. Otherwise, he or she may assume you’re an old pro.

Start by making sure the land in question is a legal building lot. Just because the lot has its own property tax-account number does not mean it was legally subdivided, or that it is a buildable lot. Illegally subdivided lots are rare in King County, a little more common in Snohomish County.

The zoning technician will walk you through both a zoning atlas and a comprehensive plan for the area. He or she can explain development restrictions on the property and neighboring areas. Ask if there is an application for a rezone, a new subdivision or a variance in the neighborhood. Pay attention to comprehensive plan designations, which are a kind of crystal ball into the area’s future growth patterns.

Make sure you understand every mark and set of initials that appear on the land that interests you. NGPA, for example, means Native Growth Protection Area – a setback of some distance from the trees.

Find out if the property is in a flood plain. You cannot build a house on a hydraulic flood way, the area near a river that commonly floods. If the lot is on the flood plain, you can still build a house, but the site plan may be subject to many conditions. For example, you may have to elevate your home, said Neil Anderson, principal planner for the Snohomish County Development Department.

Wet or dry?

Take a tip from development experts: They would never buy a piece of land in the dry season.

A wetland can masquerade as a dry pasture in the summer. Seasonal streams pop up after a few months of rain. “You cannot just eyeball this stuff,” warned Lisa Pringle, supervising planner for King County’s DDES.

Clues to a wetland include standing water, wetlands plants (such as cattails) and dark, rich organic soil. Many wetlands and other sensitive areas have been mapped by the county – but not all of them. If you have any doubts, hire a wetlands biologist.

If your land contains wetlands, steep slopes, seasonal or year-round streams, “it doesn’t mean you can’t do anything with it, but you may have to do things in certain ways,” Pringle said.

The biggest impact is likely to be required setbacks, which range between 25 and 100 feet. And when those setbacks are taken into account, the floor plan for your dream house may not fit, Pringle said. A taller, skinnier house may be in order.

Setbacks are also required along shorelines, which can be up to 100 feet, and at the edges of working commercial forests, which can be up to 500 feet.

Water and sewer

Water availability and septic-system approval are big potential stumbling blocks. Experts say they would only buy a rural lot if the sale were contingent on the approval of water and septic systems – a process that can take two months or more.

Many suburban and semirural areas get their water from water districts. Occasionally, districts in Western Washington place moratoriums on new water certificates because of concerns about supply. If your property is covered by a water district, make sure it is issuing water certificates.

If you’re not covered by a water district and there is no community well-water system, you will have to drill your own well. State health regulations require a 100-foot protective radius between the well and the septic drain field. “That covers a big chunk of land,” said Bill Heaton, environmental health supervisor for the King County Health Department. Once again, that’s likely to affect the placement of your house on the property.

Don’t assume that you will always strike water when you drill for it, even here in the rainy Northwest, Heaton said. “Dry holes do happen.” And sometimes the quality of the water won’t pass muster with the health department. Arsenic, a poisonous chemical element, is occasionally present at dangerous levels, making the water undrinkable, said Randy Darst, manager of the water and waste-water programs for the Snohomish County Health District. The health department must approve your well system.

If your lot is in a rural area, you’ll have to build a septic system, which also requires county health department approval. Your waste-water has to be able to percolate, or permeate, through the soil on your property. If the soil on your land is too permeable, or shallow, or the water table is high, you may not be able to get septic approval.

“There’s a lot of property out there that’s vacant, and the reason is that it’s not suitable for septic,” Heaton said.

Both King and Snohomish county’s health departments keep lists of approved, licensed septic system designers on file, as well as brochures that can walk you through the process.

All those little details

Finally, here are some other things to consider before you sign on the dotted line:

— If the lot is two acres or larger and was recently cleared of trees, make sure the previous owner received the proper permit from the county or the state Department of Natural Resources, which issues forest practices permits. If the previous owners didn’t get the right permit, or cleared without any permit at all, the state won’t allow any construction for six years.

“We find it’s not unusual for people to buy a five-acre property, and find the previous owner logged it with the wrong permit, or no permit,” said Rowe, with the Snohomish County Development Department. “The six-year moratorium can be lifted, but it’s very time-consuming” to get the needed approval, he said.

— Is the little country road beside your property going to become a four-lane arterial? Call your city or county’s transportation department, and ask about the capital improvements program, a long-range plan that outlines future road improvements.

— If the road to your new property is narrow or steep, making it hard for a fire truck to reach the house, you may be required to install ceiling sprinklers. Zoning technicians at the county office can usually give you a heads-up if the road is too narrow. “More and more homes are being sprinklered right now, because we’re building more and more homes in the forest,” said Kenneth Dinsmore, supervisor of the permit service center at King County’s DDES.

— In many areas, hefty new school impact fees can take a sharp bite out of your budget. In King County, most districts charge about $3,000. The highest rate is in the Issaquah School District, where a new single-family homeowner pays $6,142. Everyone pays – whether or not they have children.

— If there’s a homeowners’ association that governs your property, get a copy of the covenants in advance and make sure you can live with them.

— Know what you own. Before you sign on the dotted line, hire a surveyor to survey the property. (You can probably skip this step if you’re buying a small platted lot in a subdivision.)

— Make sure you have adequate access to your property. If you have to cross a neighbor’s land to get to your home, you should have an easement that says you can do so.

— If you need to connect your new driveway to a state highway, you’ll have to get approval from the state Department of Transportation. Access is limited. Make sure you can get it.