Last time I bought land, I was just out of college and dirt poor. I saved every penny, hoping to achieve $10,000 within the next decade and buy a 10-acre farm with cash. But when I was $2,000 in, a very kind friend jumped into the breach and offered me an interest-free Loan on a larger amount. I bought the largest ugly-duckling property I could comfortably afford, paid the friend back several years later when that property allowed us to live off our microbusiness, and was endlessly grateful for the jumpstart.

This time around, Mark and I are being more conventional. We've calculated the likely selling price for this place based on recent sales in the region, and we're looking for properties in that same range. Rather than selling before Buying, though, and being entirely debt-free, we decided to get pre-approved for a mortgage so we could spend a little more money up front but do things in the easy order --- move before we put this place up for sale.

In the process, I've learned a lot about land buying that I thought the conventional among you (probably everyone except younger me!) might benefit from. First of all, by using a site like Lending Tree to compare rates, you're asking to join masses of email and phone lists --- beware! None of those potential lenders will answer a simple question --- they all want every ounce of your personal and financial data so they can take you all the way to preapproval. Meanwhile, if you're self-employed, the data those intaker officers need dives all the way down to your tax returns from the previous three years. Wow, that's a lot of information to share with looky-loos.

And yet, after extensive research, I learned that rates aren't even set at the preapproval stage and that most lenders will give you approximately the same rate as all the others, with that amount depending on your financial portfolio and credit history. So you might as well instead select a lender based on reviews and other factors, such as those I discuss below.

The next hurdle to bridge is the difference between buying a house and buying an acreage. 10 acres seems to be the dividing line between the two, but it also matters whether the dwelling passes muster (many owner-built homes and old farm houses won't) and whether your home-to-be is on wheels (a higher interest rate) or on a permanent foundation. Keep in mind, also, that if you buy a home instead of land, you'll need to pay home owner's insurance as a mandatory part of your mortgage agreement.

The trick if you want to buy a farm rather than a house with a few acres appears to be going with a local bank rather than with a big company. By contacting a bank in the community we plan to move to, we were given the option of choosing a non-federally-approved loan that will cover unimproved land or a federally-approved loan that won't. The former has a lower interest rate...but one that will change over time (a problem for us only if we don't manage to sell this property within the first fixed term of three to five years). Improvement level also makes a difference on properties that lack domiciles, so pay attention to the presence or absence of developed water, electric, and septic on potential properties. Finally, the percent you're expected to pay yourself will vary depending on which type of property and type of loan you choose to pursue.

Phew! Learning what I just put into this post took about a week and a half of phone calls, web searching, and emails to ferret out. On the plus side...youthful me's anti-debt ways means our credit is excellent so we just got preapproved. Now we're ready to really get serious about this move.