If you’re in the market for a new home, you’ve probably already started to scour listings, attend open houses, and vet potential neighborhoods. Depending on how long you’ve been on the hunt, the search for a perfect home can start to feel like you’ve looked everywhere but to no avail. Whether you have a very specific vision in mind or you and your family require a home that meets your unique needs, having a custom home built from scratch could be the answer!

Once you shift your goal from finding the right home to having the perfect home constructed for you, you’ll need to start searching for a blank canvas to have that house built upon. To find the land that’s right for your dream home, here’s what you need to look for:

• A pro. Hiring a professional to help you find land can be one of the most important things you do! Buying land is no easy feat, so it’s best to have an expert in the field on your side to handle things like negotiations and surveying.
• The right loan. Obtaining the money to buy land is a lot different than getting the money to buy a home. The purchase of empty land can’t be leveraged the same way a home purchase can, which means you can’t apply for a traditional mortgage with the bank. Fortunately, you can apply for a construction loan. Unlike traditional loans, construction loans are based on the structure you’re having built on the land, which will later serve as collateral.
• The neighborhood’s style. Your dream home comes with the freedom to customize it to meets the needs of you and your family. Keep your vision in mind when you’re scouting for a neighborhood – you don’t want your home to stick out like a sore thumb from the other houses on your block. If you’ve found the perfect neighborhood but you fear your home won’t fit in, it may be easier to adjust the specs of your dream home slightly to ensure it’ll align with the homes surrounding it.
• A proper survey. Comparable to having a home inspected before you buy it, you’ll need to have the plot of land surveyed before you make a purchase. Don’t forget to consider access to utilities; underdeveloped areas may not have easy access to things like power and water, which means there will be an added cost for infrastructure. The right tests will ensure that the land is safe to live on and a proper survey of the land will ensure you’re within your boundaries (and your neighbors aren’t!).
• Restrictions on the property. Every plot of land comes with its own unique set of rules and restrictions when it comes to building. Certain rules dictate what kind of siding you can put onto your home while others regulate how tall your roof can be. In certain areas, you must own between five and 40 acres before you can start to build on it. Look into any and all restrictions in the area you want to build before you decide to buy land.

Finding your dream home doesn’t have to be difficult. With Triumph Building Group, a group of Bucks County home builders, you can create a house you’ve always wanted from the ground up.