This episode explains when creeks on land parcels shift from liability to asset based on property size and intended use. For infill lots and sub-5-acre parcels targeting residential development, creeks typically decrease value by limiting buildable area and triggering wetlands concerns, while 10+ acre recreational properties gain value from creek access attracting wildlife.
Key Takeaways:
- Creeks through buildable areas are negative for small parcels. Sub-5-acre properties targeting structural improvements face increased costs from dirt work, potential wetlands restrictions, and septic installation complications even when contour appears manageable.
- Septic viability drops in wet areas regardless of creek size. Flood zones, wetlands overlays, and difficult soils near water features extend far beyond visible creek beds and often prevent conventional septic systems entirely.
- 10+ acre recreational properties benefit from creek access. Wildlife congregates near water sources, making creek-adjacent parcels more valuable for hunting properties when the creek is outside primary buildable areas.
Listen to the full episode for the complete framework on evaluating water features based on parcel size and exit strategy.
(Podcast transcript below)
Hey, Chris Duff over at Serious Land Capital, vacant land funding partner. A quicker one today here. I just wanted to comment on a question we were getting about some specific property characteristics for due diligence on properties, primarily in relation to
just creeks or creek beds on properties and just, you know, at its most basic, you know, is this a pro or a con feature? You know, usually just like kind of blanket statement. I think, oh yeah, a creek on a property, possible wetlands, gotta be a con. So that would be kind of the…
initial rush conclusion and often time is accurate for many types of properties but you know as is usual within land you know each area and each particular property and the specific individual characteristics are going to rule the day when it comes down to actual valuations so
In terms of the, you know, times that a creek is going to be more negative, you know, primarily if it’s running through an anticipated buildable area. So, you know, if you’re in an infill type area or maybe like, you know, a sub five acre size parcel on average.
Rarely will a Creek even if it’s along the property boundary lines like in the back of the property that’s rarely going to be a Positive feature like at best it’ll be neutral If it’s kind of further back And part of the reason there is because again you have fairly limited utility from a
you know, just possible usage for land of that size. Like usually you’re going to default to some type of structural improvement type of setup for an end buyer, oftentimes residential. mean, that’s going to be our typical exit for most buyers, for properties of that size or
below. So, you know, especially if there’s a creek going through the middle of the property, you know, key building area. Even if, you know, the contour is kind of indicating, hey, you know, that there’s a little bit of a gap here to work with to build upon or, you know, have a driveway to access whatever the primary buildable area.
is for that property. You know, you have to look at those other type of overlays. know, does the creek indicate that there is some type of wetlands? You know, it’s not always going to be the case here. Oftentimes there will be or, you know, a flood zone overlay might be indicated. But, you know, sometimes it’s difficult to tell without a site visit, which is always going to be.
You know recommended especially for higher price properties and we won’t buy anything sight unseen so sometimes the contour of the Property based on the aerial can indicate there might be a possible creek bed here or you have like a neighboring parcel where there’s You know some type of wetlands or what appears to be a creek or flood zone that might you know extend onto the property But it’s not 100 % clear
So in cases like those, have to have your antenna up for possible further investigation. And even if that’s not a wet area, you’re going to incur extra costs from an end buyer perspective, anybody who wants to build on it, doing various dirt work and so forth, which depending on the area can get fairly pricey in order to set up the land to be built upon.
That should kind of cover scenarios like that where you can kind of see it’s typically going to be a more negative feature on those smaller types of properties. Where it can change a bit is for those larger rural properties.
you know, again, at minimum five acres plus, you know, ideally you’d like to see probably 10 acres plus, just to account for extra potential from a recreational perspective. That’s usually where we’ll see, you know, 10 acres being more of a minimum there that, know, tweener range of five to 10 acres. really is dependent on the area and how many surrounding neighbors there might be, or, know, is it a budding?
or is the parcel abutting any kind of public land or land that can basically be utilized publicly? I of just repeated that, but whether it is owned federally, at the state level, even community-wise, there can be a whole bunch of different options there. So then all of a sudden, some of those smaller parcels can be more attractive because
You have effectively a larger backyard, even if it’s not directly within those property boundaries. you know, worthwhile distinction included there. But, you know, even so, there is some possibility for, you know, higher level rec potential on, you know, sub 10 acre properties in particular areas of the country. But it’s rare.
Compared to you know, 10 acre plus so in situations like those Yeah, if you’re gonna have a creek bed that is you know much closer to the anticipated road frontage or maybe You know you have easement access to the particular property and it’s still going to be tricky from an anticipated structural improvement side of things to
you know, again, do various dirt work or, you know, potential wetlands that can affect, you know, even the right to build. I completely forgot to mention too, is that even if you had wetlands, flood zone, whatever, you always want to check your soil overlays because in areas that there’s not direct sewer line access, the chance of installing septic, especially a conventional septic system is going to be much higher risk.
in those areas that might be wet or have more difficult soils to work with, especially if they’re tagged with excess water and nearby floods or nearby flood zones or wetlands, which you can see on a lot of mapping softwares, land ID in particular. So that’s just another piece to note where even if a creek is super narrow,
on the actual property and the contour, like the impact on the terrain itself from a structural improvement perspective could be much wider than it might look visually initially. that’s always, it should trigger you to be thinking more carefully about situations like that. So, you know, going back to those larger properties,
Yeah, obviously for kind of the buildable area, it might be impacted. It’s still going to be a negative, but if it’s further back in the property or, you know, particularly closer to the, you know, boundary or, you know, back boundary or side boundary of a property. And, you know, usually with creeks, you’re going to get some type of decline in, in contour. So, uh, you always want to account for that, how that might affect buildability. Uh, it’s well there too.
But especially in areas that yeah, there’s more rec potential particularly hunting is where it usually comes down to Having creek access can be a big plus because it’ll tend to attract wildlife Yeah, I’m I’m not a hunter myself. That’s You know, I can’t really speak from deep levels of experience Personally on that but just having reviewed
a lot of land over the years and a lot of recreational land and ones with creek access, plus talking to tons of brokers who are local to these various areas. We feel like we’ve accumulated enough kind of expertise even outside of personal hunting expertise to realize, when there is a creek in some of these larger parcels that’s outside that buildable area that
is typically going to be a plus because yeah, you just kind of think about it biologically. Animals tend to congregate around where water sources are, the various predator prey scenarios that every organism has to drink water at some point. So it’s the foundation of life. that from a logical perspective, it makes a lot of sense there. And you can just…
Double-check all those assumptions yourself. Look at all the various sold comps or know active comps and you know, what are the properties that tend to be labeled as? You know hunting properties more typically or have game footage Oftentimes will have a creek nearby more more often than not so That’s just something to kind of keep in mind and have you know as a trigger as you’re starting to assess more of these properties so
That is more of the primary situation where I would view a creek as, you know, much, much larger positive. But outside of that type of scenario, usually it’s going to be a negative there. So bottom line sizing and usage of the property. Those are going to be your guidelines for creeks.
impacting your due diligence and anticipated exit price. Again, always ask more questions than you even think necessary. It’s very easy to get fooled in this business, especially if you operate in many different areas like we do. So food for thought. Hopefully this one was helpful. SeriousLand.Capital for any of your funding needs or various land deals. We also cover messy title deals now to post that log in.
Fullmer DPA Summit last weekend here, being a lot of inquiries about those. Land Daily Diligence, zero cost review of your land deals and landpricer.ai for the most simple and accurate way to price land. Already been doing a ton of internal testing with that. So close to launch. With that, take care everybody. Subscribe and share. Bye.
