When looking to build on lots for sale, it is seldom wise to choose a lot in a section where most of the houses are twenty or thirty years old. A vacant lot in such a section that was somehow missed when the rest of the houses were built is usually cheap enough that there is a temptation to buy it and build on it. Unless the older houses are unusually well kept and in really first class condition, the neighborhood will become obsolete as a high grade residential district before your house has served a normal life span.

How Much Should One Pay for a Lot?

How much can we afford to pay for a lot? Don't buy a cheap lot for an expensive house. If the lot costs about one fourth as much as the house, you won't go far wrong. Much depends on what you consider important. If your finances are so limited that you must build a very inexpensive house, by all means find a cheap lot.

On the other hand, an un­usually large lot, with a perfect view and close to where you want to live, might be worth half as much as the house, or even more, if you can manage the financing.

The cost of the lot is the cost of everything nec­essary to pay for before the building of the house can start. This is mentioned because, although one lot may seem less expensive than some other lot, when the leveling is considered and the utilities that may be in and paid for in one place may have to be add­ed in another place, the price picture may change. Consider all the cost.

The Soil and Land Structure

Another thing to remember when looking at lots for sale, is the quality of the soil to make sure it will raise shrubs, a good lawn, and also a garden if you wish to raise one. Of course, you can have soil hauled in, but this cost must be added to the cost of the lot.

Sometimes the substructure is such that it is difficult to get a good foundation for your house. Beware of a lot that has been filled to a depth of several feet within the last twenty years. Your foun­dation must extend below the fill to make it satis­factory.

Be sure that you have the right lot, because if you build on someone else's lot, you have built the house for him. The house belongs to the one who owns the lot. In many foreign countries this is not so; people lease the land and build their houses on it, and are free to move them if they wish, but in America the house and the land belong together.

Exact Boundaries Important

In newly laid out subdivisions where the stakes are all in place, it is easy to find the lot lines, whereas in places that have been surveyed some years previ­ously so many stakes will be missing that it may be hard to locate the exact corners.

The neighbors are just as anxious to find the correct lot lines as you are. If a stake is missing, sometimes a little digging in the area where the corner is thought to be will locate the point of the stake. Often if one is careful, the hole where the stake has been can be found by a different color of earth or the decayed remains of part of the stake.

It is always well to have the neighbor concerned help you locate the corner so he can be more assured that the work has been done correctly. If he helps you, he will see the evidence you uncover and will not later be inclined to argue so much about it.

Land that has never been exactly surveyed, or a piece that is being divided, will require a survey to locate the new corners and lot lines, which should be permanently marked so they will never become lost.

Consider these guidelines when making the all important selection of one of the available lots for sale.

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