Need some info Building a home.

The property that the house sits on will have to be titled in your name. If you own the land free and clear you can use it as part of your DP. So more land you have titled the more that goes towards your DP. You can get away with less than 20% but its best to have at least 20% to stay away from PMI.


IF you still owe money on the land that becomes a little more complicated. Someone else may need to chime in on it.

You should be in good shape. FYI I wouldn't do an appraisal on it. The bank will do it once you apply for your loan. I am sure you know about what it is worth.

I would also consider subdividing the property your house is on from the remainder of the property. For example you may want to give you and your brother each 1 acre to build on. This would be part of your house loan. The remaining land is free and clear and still yours. This would allow you to sell the house but keep the rest of the land if you wanted. Also, if foreclosure ever came into account the remaining land is protected. Lastly, I know some people with family land may bury a loved one on that land. If the bank has it as collateral you can't do it. I know that's an unusual case but I had a friend with a similar situation and had a sudden death and tried to create a section for a burial and was not allowed to.

A guy directly across the street just bought some land from mine and he paid $8500. An acre for his. Hardly any timber and very un level property. My property has lots of hardwood and pines and level don't know if that will make my properties value be more.?

You can avoid PMI if you're right side up on the appraisal and it sounds like you will be. For instance, you build a house on that 15 acres and it appraises for 300k. If you only have 200k in the build then no PMI.

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One thing to beware of: if you're in a very rural area with few home sales and/or few houses valued at/near the $250/k you mentioned, you may run into problems with the appraisal not being as much as the house will cost to build.

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He owns 31 acres free and clear and guy across street just bought acreage at 8500/ac. Using that as his comp 31 x 8500 puts his land only appraisal at $263500. Anyone building a dwelling under land value owned outright will be fine