Can I buy land with a regular mortgage?
Not bare land, if a regular mortgage means one Fannie Mae will buy. Fannie Mae purchases first-lien mortgages on residential properties with a dwelling of one to four units, and it does not buy mortgages on vacant land, land development properties, or agricultural properties such as farms or ranches. Ground without a house goes to lenders and programs with their own terms, such as Farm Service Agency farm ownership loans.
Start with the parcel: is a dwelling of one to four units standing on it?
Before rates, down payments or credit, one fact about the ground sorts a land purchase into one of two piles. Either a residential dwelling of one to four units stands on the parcel, or it does not.
The clearest published version of that line is Fannie Mae's. Fannie Mae purchases and securitizes mortgages, and its Selling Guide states which properties it will take, in one sentence:
Fannie Mae purchases or securitizes first-lien mortgages that are secured by residential properties when the dwelling consists of one to four units.
Fannie Mae Selling Guide, B2-3-01
The same section then lists what it does not purchase or securitize. Vacant land and land development properties are on that list. So are agricultural properties such as farms or ranches. A wooded tract with no house and a working cattle farm both fall outside what Fannie Mae buys, whatever the buyer's credit looks like.
| What is being bought | Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, B2-3-01 | Who answers for the loan |
|---|---|---|
| A residential property with a house of one to four units | Inside the property type it purchases, unless another listed exclusion applies, such as agricultural use or a road that misses local standards | The lender, against the rest of the guide |
| Vacant land with no dwelling | Listed among the mortgages it does not purchase | A lender with its own land terms |
| Land held for development | Listed among the mortgages it does not purchase | A lender with its own terms |
| A farm or ranch | Listed among the mortgages it does not purchase | A lender, or a farm program such as the Farm Service Agency's |
A house on a road that misses local standards can fall outside the line as well
The dwelling is not the only property fact on the list. A house can stand on the land and the property can still sit outside what Fannie Mae buys because of how it is reached.
Among the exclusions in B2-3-01 are "properties that are not readily accessible by roads that meet local standards." The mechanism is simple. A lender lending against a property is lending against something a later buyer has to be able to reach, so the road is part of the collateral question, not a side issue.
That is a physical and a legal question at once. Whether a parcel has a recorded right to the road it uses is its own subject, worked through in how to know if land has legal access. Whether the road meets local standards for a particular loan is the lender's call.
Farm ground has a federal loan program aimed at it, with eligibility of its own
A farm is on Fannie Mae's exclusion list, but a farm purchase is not left without a published path. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency runs Farm Ownership Loans for farmers and ranchers who aim to purchase, develop or expand an agricultural operation.
Those loans come with conditions the agency states plainly on its program page:
Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, have sufficient education, training, or experience in managing a farm, and demonstrate an ability to repay the loan.
USDA Farm Service Agency, Farm Ownership Loans
- Who the program is for. Farmers and ranchers buying, developing or expanding an agricultural operation, not every buyer of rural acreage.
- Who makes the guaranteed version. Guaranteed Farm Ownership Loans are issued by commercial lenders and guaranteed by the Farm Service Agency, so a buyer may meet the program at a lender's desk.
- Where the details live. The agency says specific eligibility requirements may vary by the type of ownership loan. Loan limits, rates and whether a given buyer qualifies go to the local FSA office.
What the credit is for decides which federal disclosure rules follow the loan
A buyer used to a house purchase expects a Loan Estimate a few days after applying. On land, that expectation depends on who is borrowing and why.
On a closed-end consumer loan secured by real property, federal rules require those estimates, and when they are due is on the calendar in how long closing takes on land. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says lenders must summarize a mortgage's closing costs in the Loan Estimate; what the term covers is set out in the definition of closing costs.
Regulation Z carves out two cases that matter on land. Under 12 CFR 1026.3(a), it does not apply to credit extended primarily for a business, commercial or agricultural purpose, or to credit extended to anyone other than a natural person. Credit to buy a farm for farming, or credit to a company buying a development tract, can sit outside the disclosure schedule a homebuyer knows. Which side a particular loan falls on is a question for the lender.
Four answers to have from a lender before an offer on ground
The diagnosis above tells you which pile a parcel is in. It does not tell you whether a loan exists for it, and the lender is the only one who can. These are the questions that turn the diagnosis into an answer.
Does this parcel fit the loan you are describing?
Name the acreage, whether a dwelling stands on it, whether it is farmed, and the road it is reached from. The dwelling, the farm use and the road are the facts Fannie Mae's line turns on.
What does the lender require on value?
Whether the loan needs an appraisal, and what the lender does with the number, is the lender's side of the file. What happens to a deal when that number is short is covered in what happens if the buyer's appraisal comes in low.
Does the loan depend on another sale?
If the plan counts on money from a house you still own, the order of the two transactions is its own decision, worked through in whether to sell your house before buying land.
Is the seller open to carrying part of the price?
Some land sales are financed by the owner rather than a bank. What that arrangement is, and how the seller holds the security, is on what seller financing on land is.
Financing a land purchase and not sure which pile the parcel is in?
Send the county and the parcel. Lowell can pull the record on the dwelling, the acreage and the road, the property facts a lender's answer turns on, while the loan itself stays with your lender. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Does a house on the lot put the property inside Fannie Mae's line?
It puts the property inside the type Fannie Mae describes, a residential property with a dwelling of one to four units. That is a property test, not a loan approval. The same Selling Guide section excludes properties not readily accessible by roads that meet local standards and agricultural properties such as farms or ranches, and the lender decides whether a particular property and borrower qualify.
Will a loan to buy farm ground come with a Loan Estimate?
Not necessarily. Regulation Z, which carries the Loan Estimate rule, does not apply to credit extended primarily for a business, commercial or agricultural purpose, or to credit extended to anyone other than a natural person, under 12 CFR 1026.3(a). Whether a particular farm loan is consumer credit or agricultural credit is a question for the lender making it.
Who decides whether a buyer qualifies for a Farm Ownership Loan?
The local FSA office answers that for a given buyer. The agency's program page says applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with sufficient education, training or experience in managing a farm and an ability to repay, and that specific requirements may vary by the type of ownership loan. Guaranteed Farm Ownership Loans are made by commercial lenders, so that version also runs through the lender making it.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Selling Guide B2-3-01, General Property Eligibility (version dated 09/03/2025) Fannie Mae
- Farm Ownership Loans USDA Farm Service Agency
- Mortgage key terms: closing costs and the Loan Estimate Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- 12 CFR 1026.19(e), good faith estimates and delivery timing Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (eCFR)
- 12 CFR 1026.3(a), exempt transactions under Regulation Z Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (eCFR)
- Va. Code 6.2-1600, definitions for mortgage lenders and brokers Virginia General Assembly