As I said before, the surveyor/engineer that you hire to prepare the plat and construction plan should know what is required. The first thing to look at is the contour of the land and if it is feasible to construct the street, drainage, and utilities. The location and elevation of the nearest sanitary sewer is important. The engineer should be able to give you a preliminary estimate. This way you can decide if the engineering and construction cost is worth the return on the lots.
I have an aoption on a piece of land that is 4.1 acres and am interested in dividing it into 10 lots. Good area for it. Anyone ever done this and have any advice? i have no clue.
I haven’t actually done this either but have studied quite a bit about it.
The question is do you want to sub-divide the land into raw lots or develope them to buildable lots?
Regardless of the answer, here’s how I would start:
You need to talk to the city planner/zoning and a engineer. Good enginers know an awful lot about city zoning/requirements so I would go there first and just tell him of your plan and ask for his/her input.
There are a lot of variables and unknowns here and a good engineer combined with a knowlegable person from the zoning office can get you on your way.
I bought several acres, and plan on working them like Sailor mentioned. I have water available but no sewer. I checked with the water company to verify they could service my properties. I’ll use aerobic systems for sewer. Not planning on selling my lots, so no survey for the moment. Last survey I had last year costed $560.
You may not be “biting off more than you can chew”.
I know a lot of people that never take risk or go after something that they don?t have any experience with and most of them are BROKE!
If you are getting a good deal on the land, the worst thing you can do is resell it for what you have in it. The best thing you can do is subdivide it and create its highest and best use based on the market and local regulations (subdivision regs, zoning ordinance)
More information would be helpful. Is it in the City limits, in a municipal or county planning jurisdiction, public sewer or septic, fronting an existing road or new roads required, etc?
Many of the surveyors/engineers that you may hire to prepare your plat are already very familiar with the local regulations. The fee you pay for plat preparation many times includes their handling of the approval process.
I would still recommend verifying all that you can yourself to avoid surprises.
Having no experience at all IMHO your best bet is either:
(A) find you a reputable developer and partner with him to do the work.
(B) Sell it to a developer subject to his getting the work done and the lots approved, etc.
In either case get a good attorney and set up the deal so that you maintain control.
There is an AWFUL lot of work to be done to do this. You have to have the Utilities, (water, sewer, power) brought in, the streets, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, either done or at least the streets and curbs, etc.
I really think you are biting off more than you can chew and seriously advise either (A) or (B) above…you watch and learn…maybe next time you can do it by yourself…this time…no.
Check for local subdivision ordinance, which, if there is one, w/
list the requirements for size, roads, lights, etc. I am doing the
same thing, but since I am self-financing, am doing one @ a time.
If I only subdivide one lot per year I don’t have to adhere to the
ordinance or go through the county board of commissioners. All
it takes is a survey & one (already promised) signature. I figure
one lot per year is plenty for me since I’ll be putting 2 MH’s on
each & doing L/O’s on them, keeping the lots to rent. There w/be
plenty of work for me in that since I am supposed to be mostly
retired. Your situation is different if you need to sell all the lots, &
do it @ the same time. Good luck!
It is in the city limits. Has water, sewer, elect. etc. Fronts an existing road and will have one road installed right down the middle about 500 ft. long.