Cowichan Valley Land for Sale
Serviced Lots, Bare Parcels and the Cost in BetweenCowichan Valley land for sale falls into two very different groups, and the listing price alone will not tell you which one you are looking at. A serviced lot inside a town boundary and a bare parcel up a gravel road can carry the same number and end up hundreds of thousands apart by the time you have a house on them.
Serviced lots in Duncan, Chemainus and Ladysmith are the simpler buy. Municipal water and sewer are at the property line, hydro is close, the road is paved and the zoning is usually straightforward. You are paying more per square foot than you would out of town, and what you get for it is a shorter, more predictable path from purchase to a building permit.
Bare parcels price lower for a reason. Drilling a well, designing and installing a septic system, bringing in hydro, building a driveway and paying the permits and development charges can add well into six figures before anything is framed. I get quotes on those items during the condition period rather than after, because the same five acres can be a fair buy or a bad one depending on what the servicing costs.
Financing works differently too. Lenders generally want a larger down payment on raw land than on a house, often 35 percent or more, and the terms are shorter. Construction financing then comes in stages tied to inspections, so your cash flow has to match the build schedule. I will connect you with a broker who does this regularly before we start looking, so you know your real number.