Donald Marshall ⋅ Hingham , MA U.S.Treasury ⋅ 45 years experience

Hi Jessica,
If the land is for a business venture
Check out www.sba.gov for their land loan program.
Thanks for your service.
Don Marshall

Hank Pellegrini ⋅ Newport Beach , CA Pellegrini Properties, One Place, LLC, One Property Management, LLC ⋅ 15 years experience

Thank you for your service. Assuming you are looking to put down the least amount of equity you can: much depends on what you are going to do with the land and also the area that it is in. If you are simply buying it to hold it, it will have to be in a up and coming economic development type area for a bank to look at it. If you are planning to build a home or a business on it, then it would be better to try to wrap up the land cost into a construction and business plan. I agree with the other posts that you will likely need to find a local bank and get to know them and get them to know you and your history...or find someone willing to either partner with you or co-sign. Good Luck!

Patricia Sanderlin ⋅ Hempstead , TX HP ⋅ 20 years experience

Thank you for your service, Jessica!

Your best bet is a local lender like a small bank in your town or a credit union. Most land loans by larger banks require 20% down and the actual appraised value of the land may be lower than the selling price, so you will need to make up that difference in cash as well. And that is, if you find a large bank that will actually do a land loan.

Depending on what you are looking for, there are Home & Ranch Mortgage lenders or other land lenders like capitalfarmcredit.com.

Regards,

Patricia

Kenneth Myers ⋅ Springfield , VA Unisys ⋅ 10 years experience

Hi Jessica,

Land loans are difficult to get from national banks because of the risk of you default on the loan and they usually don't offer them. I just went through the situation and you need to find a local bank in your county or city that offer them.

In my situation, I found a local lender in Maryland. They explained land loans are usually shorter term with higher interest rates and down payments. The two local lenders both offered 2 year loans amortized over 10 years (payments based off of it was a 10 year loan) with 30% down at the current average mortgage rate which at the time was 4.5%.

I did a quick search and Saco and Biddeford Savings and Biddeford Savings Bank offer construction loans in your area. You're not looking for a construction loan but they might also offer land loans. Call the local bank branches in your area or real estate agents that sell land and ask if they offer a land loan or if they know of a branch that does. That is how I found ones near me.