Land Matrix

Way in the beginning, we had a conversation about what features we would want or not want in a parcel of land. We made a list of these items, below, and created a spreadsheet to track the properties we investigated.

Using a list or something similar gives the shopper a comparison matrix to quickly compare features. You might even use colors or bold highlighting to emphasize categories you find more important than others.  Here are the categories/features we used:

• Property nickname
• Location
• Distance to population centers
• Distance to railroad tracks (known to carry hazardous chemicals and derail)
• Distance to chemical or other factories
• Distance to nuclear power plants
• Distance to airports/military installations
• Access = roads or lack of
• Water (well water or dry area?)
• Total size in acres
• Flatness
• Woods for timbering/firewood
• Utilities: power, sewer, mail, land line, internet, cell signal, trash
• Natural gas
• Mineral rights
• Possible building sites
• Drive time from present house
• Preexisting structures
• Fence
• Survey
• Appraisal
• Right of way and encumbrances
• Neighborhood/neighbors
• Crime statistics for the county
• Price