How many years can you finance undeveloped land for?

My husband and I are trying to move and want to buy land to buy a home. We have enough for $8000 down but need to finance about $19000. We want to buy it now so that we can build on it at a later date (in around 6 mos to a year). We don%26#039;t want anything with a balloon note or ARM. How long can we finance it for and at what %?

How many years can you finance undeveloped land for?
i think 10 years is the maximum, because it%26#039;s a very high risk to the bank.
Reply:Generally you can%26#039;t finance it at all, and you can%26#039;t get a construction loan unless you own the land (no mortgages) anyway. Land, especially something that inexpensive is usually a cash deal. I don%26#039;t think you will get a bank to loan on it unless you do a personal loan.
Reply:Bank of America has a nice lot loan program, it is pretty generous on what is considered a lot. I don%26#039;t think you can purchase a big chunk of acreage, but the program guidelines are fairly open on what is considered a lot. I%26#039;m working for memory (which can be suspect in my case) but the rate was around 8% and financed up to 5 years.





I am certain other financial institutions have bare land financing, so you may want to call around a bit.
Reply:Most banks won%26#039;t loan on land except as part of a construction loan. The owner will probably carry a contract at a pretty high interest rate 14 years at 9% would give you a payment of 1% per month or 190 per month.


Don%26#039;t use your down payment money for the land you will need that to get the construction loan even if you paid off the land, had the well put in and the septic tank and ran electric to the house site the bank would still demand a down payment to start building.


Be very careful to understand the whole building permit, floor plane, perktest and other things that are different about buying land to build on as well as the loan options. Electric available isn%26#039;t the same as electric on site it can still cost thousands to get it to the site.