There are a lot of vacant lots for sale in this city for a few thousand dollars, and every few months somebody buys a handful and then finds out why they were cheap. Since I build on them, here's the part that isn't in the listing.

The land is almost never the expensive part. Everything between buying the lot and pouring a slab is.

Utilities. This is the one that surprises people most. A lot that never had a house on it, or hasn't had one in thirty years, may not have a live water tap, a sewer connection, or gas service. Getting those set is not a formality. You're paying tap and connection fees, you may be paying to cut and bore the street, and you're on the utility's schedule, not yours. Where an old service was abandoned you can also end up paying to prove where the sewer lateral actually is, which sometimes means digging to find out. Budget real money and real weeks, and confirm what's live before you buy rather than after.

Whether a house was ever there. A lot with a previous structure can be better, because the services may still be usable. It can also be worse, because you may be buying a slab, a foundation, or a hole full of debris that has to come out before anything else starts. Demolition and haul-off is a line item people forget entirely.

Grade and drainage. We're on clay, and a lot of infill lots are the low spot on the block, which is sometimes exactly why they stayed empty. If water sheets across your lot from three neighbors, you're paying for fill, grading, and possibly a drainage plan.

Soil. Expansive clay again. New construction here may need engineered footings or a specific slab design, and that's determined by a soils report, not by hope. Some lots need more foundation than the house next door has.

Zoning and setbacks. A 40-foot-wide lot does not mean a 40-foot-wide house. Setbacks, lot coverage, and in some areas overlay requirements decide what footprint is legal. Check before you draw plans, because drawing them twice is the expensive way to learn.

Permitting time. Memphis and Shelby County permitting is workable but it isn't fast, and the clock doesn't start until your plans are complete. Every week waiting is a week of carry if you financed the lot.

Comps. This is the one that kills otherwise good projects. You can build a genuinely nice new house on a block where nothing has closed above a certain number, and the appraisal will not care how new it is. Before you buy the lot, pull what has actually closed within a few blocks in the last year. If new construction hasn't sold there, find out why before you volunteer to be the test case.

None of this means don't do it. Infill works in this city and there are pockets where it works well. But the pro forma that starts with "the lot was only $4,000" is usually missing $30,000 to $60,000 of work that happens before a wall goes up, and that gap is where people get hurt.

If you already own lots here, the cheapest thing you can do this week is confirm three facts: is there a live water tap, is there a sewer connection and where is it, and what has actually closed nearby. Those three either save the project or end it early, and ending it early is also a win.

Disclosure, I run a construction company in Memphis and we do new builds, so I'm the guy who eventually gets paid on some of these. I'd still rather you know what's under the lot before you buy it.

Anybody built infill here recently? Curious what your utility timeline actually looked like versus what you were told it would be.