Max Imus

Have a friend who bought a smaller sized land tract in East TN. 10 acres, paid $200,000. Looks great on paper. But…he didn’t call me for advice first 🤷‍♂️. Started building & at framing stage. Told me he has to stop. Well driller is 1,000 ft deep and STILL no water. I asked him “You didn’t go on TDEC (TN Dept of Enviro) website and look at any surrounding wells and their depths?!? You didn’t call 3-4 well drillers and ask if they’ve ever drilled on your road before and what their experience has been?” He just shook his head and said “Man, I f’ed up with this one.” For those who didn’t know, if you’re ever buying land or a lot to build on, always KNOW these 3 things: 1) What is the composition of the land under that first layer of dirt? More dirt or hidden rock? Dirt - good. Rock - bad. (Way higher clearing and excavation cost, plus major PIA to run conduit, install septic, run septic lines, etc. 2) Will the soil perc? (Percolation test that determines the septic size you can put on the property). Surrounding septic permit issuances can be found on most municipality websites. 3) Can you hit water? Most states provide perc info and well drilling info for surround parcels (if they’ve ever been drilled or perc’d). See these screenshots of wells drilled. RED IS BAD! Stay away from those areas. That means the well driller had to go really deep. What you also don’t see are surrounding lots who also went really deep and couldn’t hit water. Know another guy who paid a driller to drill in 4 different spots on his land. He was desperate because he paid a lot per acre for his land. Hit zero water all 4 times. What he paid for that land probably got cut in half with that info plus the cost he incurred with the driller. Always ask questions of the realtor or the owner (and do deep due diligence) before you sign that contract or those closing docs.