Held an option on 34 acres for 14 months, assigned it for $17,500, never owned the dirt
Land version, since most of the room is doing houses.
34 acres, mostly cleared pasture, 700 feet of county road frontage, an hour out from a growing small city. Seller was an out of state heir who wanted $96k and wanted it simple. I paid $4,500 for an 18 month option to buy at $96k, assignable, and separately leased the pasture back to the neighbor who was already cutting hay on it for $1,200 a year. That covered the taxes and about half of nothing else, which was fine. The lease and the option were two documents, and the option was written to survive the lease ending.
What I spent the 14 months doing: a perc test on the two spots a house could go, a well log search on the three nearest parcels, a written read from the county on whether the parcel could be split into four under current minimums, and a survey of the road frontage because the deed call was from 1961 and vague. Total out of pocket including the option fee, about $11,900.
What nearly killed it: the heir's sibling. Title work turned up a probate that had been done in a way that left a question about one signature, and it took five months and the seller's attorney to clear. My option had 18 months on it and I used 14, so I had four months of margin left. If that probate question had taken nine months instead of five I'd have been asking for an extension from a party who had every reason to say no.
How it ended: a regional builder who wanted the frontage lots took an assignment of the option for $17,500 and closed at $96k themselves. Net to me about $5,600 plus the hay rent, for 14 months and a lot of phone calls with a county planner.
What I'd keep: the assignability clause written in on day one, which cost nothing and was the entire exit. The separate lease, so ending the grazing arrangement didn't touch my purchase right. And spending money on the split question before spending it on the survey, because a no from the county would have ended it for $600 instead of $4,000.
What I'd change: I'd buy 24 months, not 18. Recording practice for a memorandum of option varies by state and mine allows it, so I recorded, and I'd do that again on rural land where the seller is out of state and the family is complicated.