Should I Buy Land Now?

In the past 6 months land sales have come to a screeching halt because of the Oct. 2016 Hirst Decision and the local fallout from that definitive Supreme Court decision. Soon after that decision was announced publicly, Spokane County Building Department placed a moratorium on building permits on any property in the county that would require a well. Shortly thereafter they modified that moratorium with an emergency interim resolution, with another change following that. The result in a nutshell was that most land owners were not able to sell their property to anyone who wanted to build a home (or anything requiring a building permit) because the county would not issue one unless certain strict requirements were met concerning water availability. The budding land sales market became like an old west ghost town almost overnight! That development brought many distraught and irate landowners out of the wood work!

Under that pressure, Spokane County officials have worked diligently to find a viable solution that would work for landowners and still keep themselves out of legal jeopardy. They have purchased a large water right in northern Spokane County (and are searching for more) that will be divided up into saleable slivers. Once they sort out the rules of engagement for their new water selling enterprise, they will be able to offer packages of water rights to the public. That means that a land owner can (by the end of this year) go to the County’s Water Resource Department and purchase a package of water rights for domestic use, and once in place, that property may be issued a building permit.

So, that begs the question, “Should I buy land now?” My answer to this is a definitive “Yes!” But…you should probably take some precautions. One strategy might be to put a long closing date on the purchase so that you can tie up the property but wait until the water rights are available to close. Combined with that strategy, a buyer should consider placing feasibility contingency or more exact phraseology that says you don’t have to close the deal if the water right is not available or if you are not able to secure written assurance from the building department that you will be able to build in the time frame that you wish. Most land owners would be happy to agree to that strategy since the alternative is a standstill.