Technology · San Antonio Texas · Member since 2026 · 3 posts · 0 votes
I'm researching what actually slows down or kills land and new-construction deals in San Antonio and Bexar County, and I'd rather hear real stories than general advice.
Think about the last lot or land deal you bought, or almost bought, to build on here:
1. What did you find out after you were under contract that you wish you'd known before? (Lot not platted, water or sewer too far away, floodway, an easement, a traffic study, trees, aquifer rules, a zoning surprise…)
2. Which step took the longest compared to what you planned, and roughly how much longer? Was the wait on the City, SAWS, the County, or on fixing comments from your own engineer or architect?
3. What did you check before buying, and how? Which websites, who did you pay, and how long did it take?
4. Have you walked away from a deal late in the game? What killed it?
5. Which fee or requirement hit your budget hardest that you didn't see coming?
Even one quick story helps. If you'd rather not post details publicly, feel free to DM me. Thanks!
Ethan, from the transaction side, the post-contract surprises I see most on land and new builds are the unsexy ones: utility tap and impact fees that dwarfed the budget, permitting timelines that doubled, and soil or drainage issues that showed up in the geotech report nobody ordered early. Also watch for HOA or architectural review boards with real veto power, survey surprises (easements, setbacks), and appraisal gaps — new construction appraisals can be tricky when there are few comparable new sales nearby. My advice: get the feasibility homework (survey, soils, utility letters, permit pre-check) done during diligence, not after you're committed. Which part of the San Antonio market are you looking at — infill lots or further out?
Thanks Ametria this is exactly the kind of information I was hoping for.
To answer your question: I'm not buying a specific lot myself. I'm building a map for all of San Antonio and Bexar County, infill and further out, that pulls the public records into one place so buyers can do that feasibility homework before they're committed: zoning, plats, flood, utility and impact fees, permit times, soils.
A few follow-ups if you don't mind, since you see this from the transaction side:
1. On the tap and impact fees that dwarfed the budget, roughly how big was the miss, and how did the buyer find out?
2. With HOAs and architectural review boards, what's the earliest point you've been able to see their rules, and has one ever killed a deal outright?
3. On appraisal gaps for new builds, what do your buyers or lenders do when there are only one or two new sales nearby?