Before we price a parcel,we read land in five passes.
Access, utilities, topography, soil and zoning. What each factor means on the ground in Southwest Virginia, which office holds the record, and the question a buyer's engineer will ask about it.
Five passes over the same ground
A price built from comparable sales alone answers one question: what other ground sold for on other days. It cannot tell you whether this parcel can be legally reached, whether a level pad fits on it, or whether the soil will take a drainfield.
So before we price a parcel we read land the way the person who buys it will. Access, utilities, topography, soil and zoning, in that order, because each factor can cancel the ones after it. Legal access that does not exist makes the grade irrelevant. The five-factor buildability tool on the homepage is the short version. What follows is the long one, a pass at a time, with the rule and the office behind each.
Legal access is not the same as a way in
Access is the first pass because nothing later on the list can repair it. A parcel can have a gravel road running to it and no recorded right to use that road, or front a state route where the entrance VDOT will permit is not the one the plan needs.
The property owner shall obtain an entrance permit and, on shoulder and ditch section roads, shall be responsible for installing the private entrance in accordance with VDOT policies and engineering standards.
24VAC30-73-90, Private entrances
The application goes to VDOT's district administrator's designee for the county where the work will be done, and the permit is picked up at the district or residency office serving that locality. Carroll County's is not in Hillsville. There is no VDOT residency here at all: Carroll sits in the Salem District, served by the Martinsville Residency in Bassett, 276-629-2581. The residency changes with the county line, and the list for all six is on the six counties page.
Sight distance is the quiet cost. VDOT permits reasonably convenient access to a parcel of record, not necessarily the owner's preferred location. For a private entrance, where the minimum intersection sight distance standards in the permit terms cannot be met, the entrance should be placed at the location with the best possible sight distance, and VDOT's Road Design Manual says a private entrance "cannot be denied on the basis of sight distance". The designee may also require the owner to grade slopes, clear brush, remove trees or make other similar efforts "necessary to provide the safest possible means of ingress and egress that can be reasonably achieved"; a commercial entrance has to have at least minimum intersection sight distance. And a drive that will serve more than two houses is no longer a private entrance in VDOT's terms: whether the state will ever maintain it is a separate test under the Secondary Street Acceptance Requirements, and that arithmetic belongs to land development and feasibility.
The question a buyer's engineer asks first: show me the recorded right of way, and show me where an entrance can physically go.
What is at the road, and what it takes to reach it
Utilities look like a yes or no question at the road. At the building site they are a different question, and Virginia's zoning statute treats the two cases as different land.
Va. Code 15.2-2280 lets a locality vary lot sizes according to whether a public or community water supply or sewer system is available and used. A minimum lot size is therefore not one number across a county: it can change where the public line ends. Which system reaches which parcel is a service-area question, and the answer comes from the utility that owns the line.
Where there is no public water the well becomes a permitted structure in its own right. After November 6, 2024 no one may construct, alter, abandon or deepen a private well without a written construction permit, though replacing a pump, replacing a seal or cap with an equivalent one or extending the casing above the ground is not an alteration, and except to test "the mechanical soundness of the system", none may be placed in operation without a written inspection statement. The application goes to the local health department with a site plan that has to locate the sewage systems, the recorded easements and any other contamination source within 100 feet of the well. That is why we read water and septic in one pass, not two.
The question a buyer's engineer asks: who owns the line at the road, and is there room here for both a well site and a drainfield?
The grade decides where the house can go
Slope is the factor people believe they can read from a photograph. What matters is where a level pad can sit, how a drive reaches it, and where the water goes afterwards.
Va. Code 15.2-2241 makes the local subdivision ordinance carry the grade: it has to provide for street location, widths, grades and drainage, and separately for drainage, flood control and identifying soil characteristics. Where any part of the land lies in a mapped dam break inundation zone, Va. Code 15.2-2258 requires that fact on the plat itself.
Opening the ground is a separate permission from the plat. Clearing and grading past a set area needs a land-disturbance approval before any work starts, and which authority issues it, what the triggering area is and what the approval takes are set out on the land development and feasibility page. That area can be lower in one county than in the next, so confirm the number with the county before grading is priced into a tract.
The question a buyer's engineer asks: where is the building pad, at what grade does the drive reach it, and where does the water go?
The soil evaluation first, the perc test second
Start with the words, because two different things get called by one name. A percolation test is not the site evaluation. Under 12VAC5-610-450 the soil evaluation is the primary work.
Soil evaluation for a subsurface soil absorption system shall follow a systematic approach including consideration of physiographic province, topography, available area, degree of slope, and soil profile (thickness of each horizon, color, permeability, and texture).
12VAC5-610-450, Soil evaluations
The perc test sits underneath that, not above it. The same section says one may be required as a prerequisite to a permit, and that percolation tests are analyzed as only one of many criteria. Land marketed as perced, with no soil evaluation behind it, has said less than it sounds like. Requests go first to the local health department, which in Carroll County is the Carroll County Health Department at 605-15 Pine Street in Hillsville, 276-730-3180.
For a tract that may be divided, one section ties the soil straight to the plat. Where a local ordinance requires health department review of subdivision plats, 12VAC5-610-360 says no department employee signs approval for onsite sewage disposal on a subdivision plat until a sewage disposal site, including the reserve area where one is required, has been identified and recorded on each lot. What that does to a lot count is worked through on the land development page. The soil work itself belongs to a licensed onsite soil evaluator, defined at Va. Code 32.1-163.
The question a buyer's engineer asks: show me the soil evaluation, and show me the drainfield site and its reserve area on the ground.
Zoning, or its absence, and what is recorded against the parcel
Virginia does not require a county to zone. It does require every locality to control how land is divided. Those two sentences explain most of what surprises a landowner here.
Va. Code 15.2-2240 is written as a duty: the governing body of every locality has to adopt a subdivision ordinance. Va. Code 15.2-2280 is written as an option: a locality may classify its territory into districts. So an unzoned county still has a subdivision ordinance, a plat process, and a designated agent whose approval comes before anything is recorded. No zoning has never meant no rules, and how those rules set lot yield is worked through on the development page.
The rest of what limits a parcel is recorded rather than zoned: covenants, easements, rights of way, mineral conveyances. On a sale of residential property of one to four dwelling units, Virginia's residential property disclosure statement, at Va. Code 55.1-703, is blunt that the owner makes no representations or warranties with regard to any covenants and restrictions, or any conveyances of mineral rights, recorded among the land records affecting the property. Those instruments are in the deed book, and reading them is title work for an attorney; liens of delinquent real estate taxes are recorded in the treasurer's office, and the lien for real estate taxes comes ahead of any other lien or encumbrance and reaches the entire fee simple estate.
Assessment is recorded too, and it is a local option. Where a county has adopted use value assessment, qualifying farm and forest ground is taxed on its use rather than its market value, and Va. Code 58.1-3237 attaches roll-back taxes when that use changes to a nonqualifying use, or when the zoning is changed to a more intensive use "at the request of the owner or his agent" unless a local ordinance under subsection G provides otherwise; in a locality without a sliding scale ordinance they reach back over the five most recent complete tax years, with simple interest at a rate the governing body sets, "no greater than the rate applicable to delinquent taxes in such locality", and the current year's taxes are extended on the basis of fair market value. The office holding that record is the commissioner of the revenue.
The question a buyer's engineer asks: what is recorded against this parcel, and what does this county's ordinance let me do with it?
Five factors, five different offices
A read is only as good as the records behind it, and those records sit in offices that are rarely in one building.
| Factor | Where the record lives | Who holds it. Carroll County in brackets |
|---|---|---|
| Access and the entrance | The recorded right of way; the entrance permit file | VDOT's district designee [Martinsville Residency, 276-629-2581] |
| Utilities and the well | The provider's service map; the well permit | The utility that owns the line [Public Service Authority, 276-730-3170] |
| Topography and clearing | The approved plan; the land-disturbance approval | The locality's erosion and sediment control office [Building Official, 276-730-3016; DEQ administers stormwater in Carroll] |
| Soil and septic | The soil evaluation; construction and operation permits | The local health department [605-15 Pine Street, Hillsville, 276-730-3180] |
| Zoning, plats and assessment | The ordinance; the recorded plat and deed; the assessment record | County planning, the clerk of court, the commissioner of the revenue [Land Use and Planning, 276-730-3008; assessment, 276-730-3030] |
The work has a shape: pull what is recorded, call the offices where the record is thin, walk the ground, then say what it means in plain words. Where an answer is unknown we write unknown. Office by office, county by county, the list is on the six counties we work.
What the read is, and what it is not
A read is not an approval, and a number is not an appraisal. The second of those is written into Virginia law.
Lowell Bowman has held a Virginia professional engineer license since 2011, and he reads a parcel the way an engineer reads one. That is a credential he brings to the table, not a service this brokerage sells. Bowman Real Estate does not design or seal plans, does not practice law, and does not do the survey.
The number at the end of a read is free, and it is an opinion of value from a Virginia real estate licensee. Va. Code 54.1-2010 A 1 exempts from appraiser licensing a licensed salesperson who, "in the ordinary course of business, provides a valuation or analysis of real estate for a fee", and the same subdivision says such a person "shall not hold himself out as a real estate appraiser, and the valuation shall not be referred to as an appraisal and shall not be used in lieu of an appraisal performed by a licensed appraiser." A lender that needs an appraisal orders it, later, from a licensed appraiser. What goes into an opinion of value is on the free valuation page.
Selling runs the same five steps as every listing, on the sell your land page. Buying ground to build on goes on to a builder who works in these counties.
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Good questions, straight answers.
Why read the five factors in that order instead of all at once?
Because each one can cancel the ones after it. With no legal access, the grade, the soil and the zoning do not matter yet. If the soil will not take a drainfield and no public sewer is reachable, the lot count an ordinance would allow is beside the point. Reading in order asks the cheapest deal-killing question first.
Can you read a parcel from records alone, without walking it?
Partly. The recorded plat, the deed, the permit files and the county ordinance answer a great deal, and we pull those first because they are fast. What records will not tell you is where water stands after a rain, where rock ledge comes up, or what sight distance looks like at the one place a drive could physically go.
What happens when the record and the ground disagree?
It happens often enough that we look for it. A deed can describe a right of way that does not follow the gravel everyone actually uses. A plat can predate the culvert. A permit file can describe a system nobody has opened in years. We write down what the record says, what the walk showed, and which office settles the difference.
If a county has no zoning ordinance, is there anything left to check?
Yes, and often more, because people assume the opposite. Virginia requires every locality to adopt a subdivision ordinance even where it has chosen not to zone, so plats, the designated agent and the approval sequence still apply. Recorded covenants, easements and mineral conveyances bind the parcel whichever way the county went.
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.
- Va. Code 15.2-2240: ordinance to assure orderly subdivision of land Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2280: territory that may be regulated by zoning Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2241: mandatory provisions of a subdivision ordinance Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2254: statutory provisions effective after a subdivision ordinance is adopted Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 15.2-2258: the owner submits the plat to the designated agent Virginia General Assembly
- 24VAC30-73-20 and 24VAC30-73-40: entrance permit authority and where an application is filed Virginia Department of Transportation
- 24VAC30-73-90: private entrances, the owner's permit duty and sight distance Virginia Department of Transportation
- 24VAC30-92-20 and 24VAC30-92-60: Secondary Street Acceptance Requirements and sufficient public benefit Virginia Department of Transportation
- Land use permits are obtained at the district or residency office serving the locality Virginia Department of Transportation
- VDOT districts and residencies: Salem District and the Martinsville Residency serving Carroll County Virginia Department of Transportation
- 12VAC5-610-240 and 12VAC5-610-250: construction and operation permits, filed with the local health department Virginia Department of Health
- 12VAC5-610-450: soil evaluations, and the percolation test as one of many criteria Virginia Department of Health
- 12VAC5-610-360: subdivision plat review, the reserve area, and what a signature does not promise Virginia Department of Health
- Va. Code 32.1-163: definitions, including the licensed onsite soil evaluator Virginia General Assembly
- 12VAC5-630-220 and 12VAC5-630-230: private well construction permit, inspection statement and site plan Virginia Department of Health
- 12VAC5-630-320: a well placed in operation before inspection only to test its mechanical soundness Virginia Department of Health
- Mount Rogers Health District locations, including the Carroll County Health Department Virginia Department of Health
- New River Health District locations for Floyd, Montgomery and Pulaski Virginia Department of Health
- 9VAC25-875-70: land disturbance thresholds, and a locality's power to set a lower one Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
- Va. Code 62.1-44.15:34: land-disturbance approval and the Responsible Land Disturber Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3231: use value assessment is adopted locality by locality Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 58.1-3237: roll-back taxes and the report to the commissioner of the revenue Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 55.1-703: what a residential property disclosure does not represent Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2010: the licensee valuation exemption, and why it is not an appraisal Virginia General Assembly
- Erosion and Sediment: the Building Official as program administrator, and the 10,000 square foot plan requirement Carroll County, Virginia
- New dwelling cover sheet: stormwater management in Carroll County is administered and enforced by DEQ Carroll County, Virginia
- 24VAC30-73-10: private entrance (up to two private residences) and low volume commercial entrance defined Virginia Department of Transportation
- 24VAC30-73-60: VDOT will permit reasonably convenient access to a parcel of record Virginia Department of Transportation
- 24VAC30-73-80: minimum sight distance for commercial and low volume commercial entrances Virginia Department of Transportation
- Road Design Manual Appendix F: a private entrance cannot be denied on the basis of sight distance Virginia Department of Transportation
- Land Use and Planning: subdivision and plat review, 605-1 Pine Street, Hillsville Carroll County, Virginia
- Commissioner of the Revenue: assessment, and the special assessment land use program Carroll County, Virginia
- Carroll County Public Service Authority: the county water and sewer utility, 605-2 Pine Street Carroll County, Virginia