Advice on buying undeveloped land - Virginia

Roundlitefan · 09-28-2010, 06:57 PM

Hi all,

I am seriously looking at about 15 acres in Amherst Co., but have no clue about what it takes to get services out to raw land, or who to even talk to about it.

There is no electricity to it yet, and I am told that the power company will install lines at their cost, but no idea if this is true. Not to mention, do I have to have a house built before the Utility company will run lines?

What about drilling a well? Any advice on how to get a well drilled without having the driller take me to the bank and end up costing $10k just to get water?

Any advice about buying raw land in Virginia would be appreciated, thanks!

saintlouligan · 10-01-2010, 03:36 PM

I badly want to try this on a piece of undeveloped land I just purchased: How to Drill a Well. I figure if you can set-up a gas-powered air compressor and can haul-out plenty of water, that it's certainly possible.

No answer on the power issue in VA.

Motorcharge · 10-02-2010, 02:35 PM

Call Dominion up and ask. It's more than likely true that they do it at cost since they're the only power company in the state.

You shouldn't need a house, they run temporary lines for construction sites all the time, something like this picture.

daurwid · 10-06-2010, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Motorcharge

Call Dominion up and ask. It's more than likely true that they do it at cost since they're the only power company in the state.

You shouldn't need a house, they run temporary lines for construction sites all the time, something like this picture.

Dominion is not the only one in the state. We have Rappahannock Electric Cooperative. Residential - REC

l1ranger · 11-23-2010, 09:40 AM

there is also appalachian power, unless they've been taken in under one of the recent mergers. I'm not 100% sure. there are alos other elec. co-ops in the state.
Call Domionion Power and if they serve your area, they'll get you the information you need or let you know who will serve it.

as for the well, its hard to tell what is going to cost. I do know that there are a fair amount of shallow wells in that area. these may or may not be acceptable at this time. I'd suggest talking with some others locally to see if they have any recommendations.

also, keep in mind that if you are planning on building a residence, you'll need septic. depending on the soils on the property, this may limit your building sites. I'd see if you could get someone out there before buying, and get a perc test.