Posted by JoeSoCal on August 16, 2003 at 02:27:54:
First of all, if its agricultural land, and there is nothing but agricultural land surrounding this particular piece of parcel, you may have some problems getting it rezoned for residential building.
You would need to go down to your city or county (depending upon the jurisdiction) planning or land uses department. They will give you the zoning info, fees and permits, etc.
You might also inquire as to their overall attitude towards rezoning (if applicable), etc. If the area is in a high growth phase, then the city/county might be very accomodating. However, it is possible that they might be hostile to growth/sprawl, etc.
I would do a search online for your city or county department to see if they had anything online. Then learn more about it so that you can actually have a fairly broad understanding of the process when you go down to their offices.
This is just city/county stuff.
From an economic standpoint you also are gonna need to figure out if such an undertaking makes economic sense. What will the costs be to build the infrastructure and the actual building? Will you have an exit plan (sale or rental)? Or do you plan to reside there for many years?