One thing I've noticed after spending way too much time looking at land deals

[Harveer Singh]

I've noticed something that surprised me.

The properties that make me the most nervous usually aren't the ones with obvious problems.

If a listing says "no legal access" or "floodplain," at least you know what you're dealing with.

The ones that keep me digging are the properties that look completely normal.

Good price.

Good location.

Nothing immediately stands out.

Those are the ones where I end up opening county records, old aerials, parcel maps, zoning, ownership history... just trying to figure out what I'm missing.

Sometimes there's nothing.

Sometimes there is.

Curious how everyone else approaches it.

Have you ever found something during due diligence that completely changed your opinion of a deal?

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @David Krulac:

We looked at 2 tracts adjoining each other totalling 10 acres all wooded with frontage on a dirt road but no recorded right of way or easement.  The seemed to be more that just a logging road.  It appeared to me, it was older and more used than just an occasional logging road.  It was not a private road and was not a public road.  It was mystery. Through extensive record search found a 1931 court case where the township government petioned the court to abandon this then public road. In rendering the decision the court held that while the road could be abandoned that it would still remain as access to the property owners that adjoined the.  Neighors and township officials were unaware of this old court case until I provided them with written court verdict.  That one sentence in a verdict almost 100 years ago was the difference between access and no access.               

I spent a decade logging in the North west and have done my fair share of land developing the money is made in ability to research courthouse.. most of the issues are being landlocked . the other one out west at least is infill lots were they were platted 100 years ago and the orignal lots were 25x100 and as folks bought them up the assessor would combine them on the assessors plat maps.. well if you go to the original subdivision map that was filed you can find these lots and many cities have a pretty standard over the counter process to recreate the original lot lines and create multiple lots which in the city can mean big bucks.