Certified Buildable Lots in Georgia: Taking the Guesswork out of a Land Purchase

One issue when selecting a residential lot in Georgia on which to build, is ensuring that a given lot is likely to receive county approval for a septic system . . . without which a building permit will not be issued.

Many buyers believe that simply because a lot for sale is in a platted and recorded subdivision, septic approval is assured. Not true! Many of these developments were approved prior to current state, county and city regulations, and may therefore no longer fall within regulatory guidelines, particularly those with smaller lots of 3/4 acres or less.

While there are a number of ways to address this issue (most notably through considerable due diligence on the part of the buyer!), some land sellers are being more proactive in their approach. By obtaining necessary approvals prior to placing the lot or land on the market for sale, these landowners are able to ease the concerns of buyers and make the land more saleable. A noteworthy example of this approach was successfully used in the marketing of lots for sale in The Preserve at Sharp Mountain, and is currently being utilized by Mountain Breeze Properties in the gated community of Bent Tree in Jasper, GA.

Mountain Breeze has a program that offers over 70 lots for sale in Bent Tree GA, each of which is certified as buildable. These lots all have new surveys, level-3 soil tests, and where necessary, smaller lots have been combined into larger ones to ensure compliance with septic requirements. Buyers can buy with confidence and a minimum effort. (Plus they have worked out something with a lender to be able to offer 95% financing on these lots!)

Definitely a great concept, worth checking out for anyone looking to buy or build in a gated North Georgia community.

It wouldn't be surprising to see more sellers utilize this approach in the future, which should make buying a lot or land a little less intimidating for buyers.

For more information on these Bent Tree lots for sale, visit: http://www.benttree.com/.

New Urbanism and Green Development in Georgia: Potential Large Tract Land Usages

One of the growing trends seen here in Georgia, as with other parts of the country, is that of going "green". This focus obviously stems from the personal and ideological beliefs of many individuals (and some corporations) -- who grasp that that healthy living is actually a good thing, and that this earth is pretty much the only one we have -- and has taken hold from there.

This groundswell of opinion is increasingly shaping the decision-making of corporations, politicians, and other big players, who may not have "tree-hugging" as a central platform in their value propositions, but who understand that they need these consumer dollars (or votes) if they are to survive. Some simply "greenwash" their spiel to make it appear that they are environmentally sensitive, while others are actually making fundamental changes for the better.

While this impact is felt at numerous levels, from the food we eat, to the cars we drive and the homes in which we live, one area in which it is likely to have a significant impact, is on the land we use (and since this is a "land blog" after all, is the one I am most interested in here). One element of land use in Georgia that is part of this awakening is within new master planned developments.

We are seeing a growing divergence from the traditional cut-and-clear, pack-and-stack neighborhoods, which jammed cookie-cutter homes together, in an often treeless landscape free of personality, in favor of either large, estate-sized lots that afford individual privacy and personal greenspace, to "New Urbanism" projects, which embrace historic models of the high-density central "village", with some now surrounded by greenspace and/or agricultural land.

Either approach moves away from sprawl and over-population to a more controlled use of available land space. On top of this, these New Urbanism communities in Georgia and elsewhere often incorporate ecological sensitivity and green-building principals into their planning, to further enhance quality of life. Everything from community areas, centralized shopping, elaborate sidewalk systems and walking trails, to organic farms and gardens, work to restore a quality of life often absent in today's pressed urban environs.

While the layout and features of any two neighborhoods will differ, the underlying precepts are basically the same, and if they succeed and thrive, they are bound to reshape the notion of "neighborhood" or subdivision held by many today . . . particularly since the scale on some projects can run to a 1,000 acres or more -- much of which is restricted from further development.

Two examples in Georgia that stand out from a size standpoint is the proposed Potts Mountain @ Big Canoe in Pickens County GA, and existing Serenbe in Palmetto GA, both of which exceed 1,000 acres.

Potts Mountain @ Big Canoe, in the mountainous area just northeast of Jasper GA close to Big Canoe, adheres to all the above principals, incorporating villages, hamlets, vineyards, and a town center in the midst of preserved forest and abundant wildlife. The development has been temporarily placed on hold by the developer due to current slow real estate market conditions, but a revival of real estate activity might see this project regain traction.

Serenbe on the other hand, situated southwest of Atlanta in the Chattahoochee Hill Country, is already well into development stage, with functioning businesses, residents settling in, and social activities on the calendar. The Serenbe community offers an emphasis on the eco-friendly and the "simpler" lifestyle of previous generations.

As they stand today, master planned New Urbanism homes (or most energy-efficient, green, eco-friendly homes for that matter) are still out of the reach of middle-America. The average family looking to spend less than $200,000 for a home in the North Georgia area are unlikely to be able to afford this "lifestyle", which carries a higher price tag.

Perhaps with time and an increase in the number of these master planned communities however, affordability will become less of an issue.

Regardless of price, the presence of these large sustainable communities could possibly assist in reducing congestion, traffic flow, energy use, pollution, and other current issues faced by city dwellers. And from a land perspective, it changes the dynamic of location, making larger tracts slightly outside of major urban areas suddenly more viable (or attractive even), for potential sale and development when competing with higher-priced land within the city.

All it takes is vision . . . (and a whole lot of planning!).

Georgia Land Foreclosures Piling Up...

As promised in my previous post on lot and land foreclosures in Georgia, below is a rough breakdown of the numbers by county. As referenced in that post, there has been a sizable jump in foreclosures of land tracts and developed lots throughout Georgia.

To put these numbers in perspective, an earlier post on the same subject (about seven months ago), suggested that if home sales failed to improve, there was a likelihood that more raw and developed land might begin to encounter some trouble spots as well. At the time, there were 8 parcels of undeveloped land listed in the MLS as "foreclosure" properties, while there were 77 foreclosed residential developed lots (versus 3,090 bank-owned homes).

In that seven months since, foreclosed parcels of land in metro Atlanta and surrounding areas have climbed from 8 to 39, while foreclosures on residential developed lots have soared from 77 to 328 . . . and climbing. (Listed single family home foreclosures in the Atlanta have reached 5,020, as of this writing.)

Hardest hit appears to be Gwinnett County, with 71 foreclosed lots. Other counties with foreclosures of developed lots include:

Banks County (4)
Barrow County (12)
Bartow County (5)
Bibb County (1)
Butts County (1)
Carroll County (1)
Cherokee County (14)
Clayton County (13)
Cobb County (35)
Dawson County (6)
Dekalb County (6)
Douglas County (5)
Forsyth County (6)
Fulton County (40)
Gordon County (2)
Gwinnett County (71)
Hall County (11)
Henry County (5)
Jackson County (17)
Lumpkin County (2)
Newton County (16)
Paulding County (11)
Pickens County (3)
Polk County (1)
Rockdale County (2)
Screven County (4)
Spalding County (8)
Walton County (9)
White County (1)

Active land foreclosure listings by county:

Barrow County (2)
Camden County (1)
Carroll County (1)
Cherokee County (1)
Cobb County (5)
Dawson County (1)
Dekalb County (6)
Douglas County (1)
Forsyth County (3)
Fulton County (4)
Gilmer County (2)
Gwinnett County (1)
Hancock County (1)
Henry County (1)
Jackson County (4)
Paulding County (2)
Polk County (2)
Walton County (1)

[List only includes lots listed in real estate and tagged as "foreclosures". The total number is likely to be somewhat higher.]

Aside from foreclosures, there is also more evidence of "distress sales", with price cuts and requests for "all offers" popping up more often. In some instances it appears that some early stage developments may also be in jeopardy in their entirety, as developers find themselves unable to pre-sell lots to spec builders, or have scaled back on their own proposed new construction projects (as they witness the spectacle of increasing foreclosure activity on new homes still under construction showing up more and more).

Not a pretty picture, but one that wasn't totally unpredictable. Even absent the current real estate downturn, some areas were tossing up developments way in excess of what demand trends suggested were viable -- current conditions have just made an existing problem worse.

As with devalued stocks, sometimes when everyone else has given up . . . it's time to start sifting through the ashes for hidden gems. Land is land -- it has a fundamental value . . . and they aren't making any more of it. The deals are out there . . .