Field notes

Land, plainly explained

Guides and honest answers about buying raw land, living on it, and making the most of your acreage. No jargon, no pressure, just what we would tell a friend.

Newest

The Milky Way over a silhouetted desert mesa with a faint glow on the horizon

Camping & Recreation

Dark Skies: Where to Buy Land for the Best Stargazing

Most of the country will never see the Milky Way from home. Here is where the dark still is, and what ground under it costs.

Oct 20, 20269 min read

Aerial view of green field squares divided by dirt tracks, with a forested ridge behind under hazy sky

Owner Financing

Owner Financed Land Down Payments, the Real Numbers

Oct 13, 202612 min read

A buck in velvet antlers grazing head down in tall green grass and clover

Hunting & Fishing

Whitetail Hunting Land for Sale: A Buyer's State-by-State Guide

Sep 22, 20269 min read

A hunter in a blaze orange vest and cap seen from behind, rifle slung over one shoulder, facing an open green field under an overcast sky.

Hunting & Fishing

How Many Acres Do You Actually Need to Hunt Your Own Land?

Most hunting-land buyers need far less acreage than they think. The question isn't how many acres, it's whether your parcel is the camp or the hunt. Ten acres against public land out-hunts fifty ringed by private ranches.

Sep 15, 202613 min read

A grand stone bank building with tall columns on a city corner, an American flag hanging above the empty street.

Owner Financing

Land Loans: Can You Get a Loan to Buy Raw Land?

The bank's no wasn't about you, it was about the dirt. Federal guidance caps raw land at 65 percent loan-to-value, so banks want roughly 35 percent down. Here's who actually lends on land, and the simpler door most buyers use.

Sep 8, 20269 min read

A graded dirt road running dead straight to the horizon across open sage flats, snow-dusted peaks behind and tall cumulus stacked overhead.

Buying Raw Land

Is It Safe to Buy Land Online? An Honest Look

Land is one of the few big purchases you can verify yourself from a kitchen table. Six free county checks, about twenty minutes, and nearly every way an online land deal goes wrong is off the table. Access, not fraud, is what actually bites people.

Sep 1, 202610 min read

A kayaker drifting over a manatee resting just under the surface of a clear spring run

Land Guides by Location

Old Florida: Adventures in the North Florida Backwoods

The Florida nobody stops for: 72-degree springs, blackwater rivers, half a million acres of national forest, and land a working family can carry.

Aug 18, 202610 min read

A folded stack of twenty and hundred dollar bills sitting on a brown envelope on a wooden table.

Owner Financing

Our Land Money-Back Guarantee, Explained

100 days from your down payment to take your principal back or swap parcels, no reason owed. Here's exactly what it covers, the one rule that keeps it alive, and the calls that actually come in.

Aug 11, 20268 min read

A steel ranch gate standing open on a red dirt track running toward a rugged desert mountain range, a stop sign at the roadside.

Land Guides by Location

West Texas Land: Why Buyers Choose Hudspeth & Culberson

Two Trans-Pecos counties with no zoning, some of the darkest skies in the country, and land priced where a weekend place is actually possible. Here's what you can do out there, and the handful of rules that do still apply.

Jul 28, 202611 min read

Two bucks standing in a green summer meadow scattered with purple and yellow wildflowers, dark timber along the upper edge.

Hunting & Fishing

Mule Deer Hunting Land: A DIY Buyer's Guide to the West

An honest read on the six western states where we hold ground, what separates a real mule deer parcel from a cheap piece of dirt, and why most buyers want a five-acre foothold rather than a ranch.

Jul 21, 202611 min read

A hand-lettered roadside sign reading THIS 135 ACRE FARM WILL BE SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION standing in tall grass, with a white farmhouse and a bare tree on the rise behind it.

Owner Financing

Owner Financing vs. Bank Financing for Raw Land: The Honest Comparison

Most banks are not built to lend on small rural vacant land, and the handful that are want terms that defeat the purpose. Here is why, when a bank actually is the right call, and what owner financing costs by comparison.

Jul 14, 20269 min read

A saguaro-dotted desert hillside rising from low grey-green brush under a sky streaked with high cloud.

Owner Financing

Can I Use My Land While I'm Still Paying for It?

Yes, from the day you sign. Here is the framework: what needs no permission, what needs a quick call first, and what waits for the deed. Plus the two rules that catch people, your county clock on camping and the line on commercial use.

Jul 7, 202612 min read

While you are here

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Off-Grid

CHECKOUT TEST - Earthsure Equity 2 - DO NOT PURCHASE

Synthetic property for verifying live checkout and payment routing. Not a real parcel.

CHECKOUT TEST - EPeterson EV Roth - DO NOT PURCHASE

Synthetic property for verifying live checkout and payment routing. Not a real parcel.

CHECKOUT TEST - Earthsure Equity 1 - DO NOT PURCHASE

Synthetic property for verifying live checkout and payment routing. Not a real parcel.

The Buyers List

See new land before it goes public.

New parcels come in all the time, and the good ones move fast. Join the Buyers List and we will send you a note when land that fits hits the site. A short welcome series, then new land as it comes in. Unsubscribe anytime.

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