The Rural Land Due Diligence Checklist

This is the list we work through ourselves before buying a parcel, reorganized for a buyer. Nothing here requires a professional. Almost all of it is free, and the whole list is a couple of hours of phone calls spread across a few days.

Work top to bottom. The early items are the ones that kill a deal outright, and there is no reason to research septic feasibility on a parcel you have no legal right to reach.

Before anything else: get the APN

The assessor parcel number is the county’s identifier for the property, and it is the key that unlocks every other record. Every conversation below starts with “I’m looking at APN 703-15-284 in your county.”

The APN is on the listing. Confirm it resolves to the parcel you think it does in the county assessor’s own search — not just in the listing photos.

Access

• Is access deeded, and what is the recorded book and page of the easement?
• Does the parcel front a county-maintained road, and does the county’s road inventory agree?
• What is the road surface, and what is it like in the season you would use it? Gravel that is fine in July is a different road in March.
• If access crosses private land, who owns it and what does the easement actually permit — foot, vehicle, utilities?

Who to call: county recorder for the easement, county road department for maintenance status.

Zoning and permitted use

• What is the zoning designation, and what does that designation permit?
• Can you camp on it? In a tent? In an RV? For how many consecutive nights, and is a permit required?
• What is the minimum dwelling size, if any?
• Are outbuildings, shipping containers, or manufactured homes allowed?
• What are the setbacks from each property line?

Who to call: county planning or land use department. Describe your actual plan in plain language rather than asking whether the parcel is “buildable.”

Water

• Is there a well? If so, is there a permit on record and a well log with depth and yield?
• If not, is a domestic well permit available for this parcel?
• How deep do neighboring wells run?
• Is hauling water normal in this area, and where is the nearest fill station?
• Are there any surface water or irrigation rights, and do they convey?

Who to call: the state water authority — in Colorado, the Division of Water Resources; elsewhere, the state engineer or department of water resources.

Septic and waste

• Has a percolation test ever been performed?
• What system types does the county permit here?
• What does a permit cost, and how long does approval take?
• Is a vault privy or composting toilet permitted as an interim solution?

Who to call: county environmental health department.

Power and utilities

• Where is the nearest utility pole, in feet, and which utility owns it?
• What would a line extension cost? Utilities will quote this, and the number is frequently five figures.
• Is there cell coverage on the parcel? Check with your own carrier’s map, then verify on site if you can.
• Is fixed wireless or satellite internet available at that address?

Who to call: the local rural electric cooperative or utility.

Title, deed, and encumbrances

• What deed type will you receive — general warranty, special warranty, or quitclaim?
• Are there back taxes owed? Ask the treasurer directly rather than relying on the assessor’s page.
• Are there recorded liens, judgments, or mineral reservations?
• Who holds the mineral rights? In much of the West they were severed long ago and do not convey with the surface. That is common and often unavoidable, but you should know it rather than assume it.
• Are there recorded covenants (CC&Rs), and is there an active property owners’ association with dues?

Who to call: county recorder and county treasurer. For anything expensive or unclear, a title company.

Taxes

• What are the current annual property taxes?
• Are they current, and through what year?
• Will the assessment change on sale? In some states a transfer triggers reassessment, and the number on the listing is the seller’s tax bill, not necessarily yours.

Who to call: county treasurer for the balance, assessor for the valuation.

Boundaries and physical condition

• Has the parcel ever been surveyed, and is there a recorded plat?
• Are the corners monumented, and can you find them?
• Is anything encroaching — a fence, a two-track, a neighbor’s outbuilding?
• What is the terrain and slope? A parcel that is 40 percent unusable arroyo is priced as if it were flat unless someone says otherwise.
• Is it in a floodplain? FEMA’s flood map service center is free and public.
• What is the wildfire risk, and can you get insurance?

Who to call: county surveyor or recorder for plats, a licensed surveyor if the answer matters to your build.

Visit it, if you possibly can

Nothing on this list substitutes for standing on the parcel. Terrain reads differently in person, road quality is obvious in thirty seconds, and neighbors are a data source no record captures. Bring the coordinates, a paper map, more water than you think you need, and tell someone where you are going.

If a visit is genuinely impossible, hire someone local to walk it and send photographs and video. It costs a fraction of a bad purchase.

What “deemed reliable but not guaranteed” actually means

Listings — ours included — are assembled from county records. County records are wrong more often than people expect: acreage rounded a century ago, zoning updated but not propagated, GIS lines drawn from a plat that was itself an approximation.

That phrase is not a legal shrug. It is an accurate description of the source data, and it is the reason this checklist exists. Verify anything you are relying on. If you find something we published that is wrong, tell us — we would rather fix the listing than argue about it after closing.