10 things to consider when buying land before making an offer

Under Kansas law, a water right that goes five successive years without lawful, beneficial use can be terminated as abandoned unless there was due and sufficient cause for the nonuse. Nothing visible in the field shows whether that clock is running. When you are buying land, the answer sits in the seller’s water use reports and the state’s water records. Access, taxes, minerals, and boundaries work the same way, because they are documented in the county deed records, the county appraiser’s office, and the title commitment.

Checking those records before making an offer lets you price what you find and write contingencies for anything you have not confirmed. The ten checks below apply to rural land in any state. Where a rule comes from state law, Kansas is the worked example, because Red Cedar Land Company is based in St. John, Kansas. If you are buying elsewhere, ask the same questions of that state’s water, wildlife, and tax agencies.

1. Know why you are buying land

Write down how you plan to use the land before you tour anything, whether that is hunting, crops, cattle, or a homesite. Your intended use decides which counties fit and which problems would end a deal. It also tells you which of the checks below deserve the most time.

For a nonresident who plans to hunt, acreage can decide whether a landowner permit is available at all. Under the Kansas big game permit statute, K.S.A. 32-937, a nonresident who owns 80 acres or more of Kansas farm or ranch land counts as a nonresident landowner. Any deer permit issued on that basis is restricted to hunting only on land the nonresident owns. If a landowner permit is part of why you are buying, a 76-acre tract and an 80-acre tract are different purchases.

Senate Bill 80, introduced in 2025, proposed eliminating the nonresident landowner deer permit. The Kansas Legislature lists the bill’s status as died, with its progress ending in committee, and the published statute still contains the authorization. Confirm current permit rules with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks before you count on one. If hunting is the goal, browse current hunting land for sale.

2. Check legal property access

Being able to drive to a parcel today does not prove you have a legal right to reach it. Before you offer, confirm that the tract has deeded frontage on a public road or a recorded easement across neighboring land. Ask the title company to show that access in the title commitment, and drive the full route in during the season you plan to use it.

A K-State agricultural law publication explains that when a parcel is landlocked, the law can imply an easement from prior use or necessity, or recognize one by prescription. In Kansas, a prescriptive easement requires use that is open, continuous, and adverse to the owner for 15 years. These claims are decided in court. In Pyle v. Gall, the landowner claiming access sued in March 2017, and the Kansas Supreme Court ruled on the prescriptive easement in 2023. Price a tract without recorded access with that timeline in mind.

3. Understand water rights

Water rights have their own records, so start by finding the agency that keeps them where you are buying. In Kansas, the Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources administers the Kansas Water Appropriation Act. The right to use water follows the principle of first in time, first in right. In a shortage, the holders of the earliest rights and permits use water first.

Using water in Kansas without a vested right or a permit is illegal, with one exception. Domestic use needs no permit, and it covers water used mainly for the household, for watering livestock on pasture, and for watering up to two acres of lawn and garden. A homesite well used for household purposes falls under that exemption. Crop irrigation does not, so on irrigated ground you are buying the water right itself, and you need its priority date and use history.

Use history matters because Kansas water rights can be lost through nonuse. Under K.S.A. 82a-718, a water right that goes five successive years with no lawful, beneficial use is deemed abandoned and terminates, unless there was due and sufficient cause for the nonuse. The chief engineer must hold a hearing before declaring a right abandoned, with notice served at least 30 days ahead. The statute also requires a certified-mail warning once three successive years pass with no reported use.

The statute exempts one group of groundwater rights from abandonment. A right whose local supply is an aquifer area closed to new appropriations is treated as having due and sufficient cause for nonuse. Whether the five-year clock applies to you therefore depends on where the well sits. Ask the seller for the annual water use reports, which the Division of Water Resources uses to show a right has not been abandoned. Ask for the certificate of appropriation as well, which is filed with the register of deeds in the county where the point of diversion is located.

Frontage on a creek or river raises a separate question about who owns the streambed. The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks notes that most Kansas streams and rivers are privately owned and that the Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri rivers are the public ones. When a listing describes a boundary as following a creek, read the legal description and the survey to see where the line actually runs.

4. Review soil and flood conditions

You can check a tract’s soils at no cost before you offer. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Web Soil Survey lets you define an area of interest around a tract and pull soil maps and reports for it, which makes it easy to compare tracts as you browse farms for sale. For anything near a creek or river, look the tract up in FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center. FEMA describes the center as the official public source for flood hazard information produced for the National Flood Insurance Program, and it notes that flood maps are updated over time, so check the current map close to your offer date.

5. Check local land restrictions

Before you offer, call the county planning or zoning office with your intended use, especially if you plan to build a house or split the tract. Ask which subdivision rules, septic requirements, and building setbacks apply to that parcel. Then read every recorded easement and lease listed in the title commitment, including any conservation easement, wind energy lease, or pipeline easement.

6. Check for CRP contracts

If part of the tract is enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program, the contract affects both the income and what you can do with that ground. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service says CRP provides a yearly rental payment to farmers who take environmentally sensitive land out of production. According to the USDA Farm Service Agency, which administers the program, contracts typically run 10 to 15 years.

Ask the seller for a copy of the contract, the enrolled acres, the annual payment, and the expiration date. Then talk with the local FSA office about how a change in ownership affects the contract. Ground coming out of CRP in eighteen months is a different income picture than ground with nine years left.

7. Verify property boundaries

Order a current survey from a licensed land surveyor during the inspection period, so you can still negotiate, object, or walk away if it does not match the listing. Ask the surveyor to mark the corners and show any fence, building, or road that crosses the line, and request quotes early so the work finishes in time. Boundary disputes can turn on whose survey is right. In Pyle v. Gall, the two neighbors’ surveyors reached different conclusions about where the line ran, and one side built a fence 17 feet past the line the other believed was correct.

8. Review the property title

A title search reads the recorded history of the parcel, and the title company’s commitment reports what it found. First American’s guide to title commitments explains that the commitment lists the requirements that must be met before the policy is issued and the exceptions the policy will not cover. A common requirement is paying off the seller’s lender from the purchase funds, and some exceptions can be removed if certain requirements are met. Review the exceptions with the title company or a real estate attorney before closing day, while there is still time to ask the seller to resolve them.

9. Verify mineral rights

The Kansas Geological Survey notes that minerals are often owned by the surface owner, but they can be severed from the surface by a mineral deed or a mineral reservation. Kansas courts have held that the owner of a severed mineral estate has an implied right to enter the surface and make reasonable use of it to explore and develop the minerals, as summarized in the published decision Dick Properties v. Bowman Trust. Ask the title company to report on mineral ownership as part of the commitment. If the tract has production history, factor both the income and any surface activity into your price.

10. Plan for financing and taxes

Financing

Down payments on land loans vary by lender, property, and loan product. Frontier Farm Credit’s Kansas land loan page describes 35 percent down as typical on many new land purchases and says the amount is specific to each credit request. The same page notes that recreational land for hunting and fishing is financed through its Rural 1st program. Ask any lender which product fits your intended use before you build a budget around a published percentage.

Frontier also notes that closing can take as little as 10 to 15 days, or 45 to 60 days or more, after an offer is accepted. It adds that some or all of the down money at a land auction or sale may be non-refundable. If you are watching land auctions, line up financing before you bid.

Property taxes

Check how the land is classified for property tax before you buy, because classification can change your carrying cost. The Kansas Department of Revenue explains that Kansas appraises agricultural land on its productive potential, not its fair market value. Cultivated land is valued from an eight-year average of the landlord’s share of net income, and grassland from an eight-year average of net rental income. That average is then divided by a capitalization rate to set the appraised value.

That valuation applies to land devoted to agricultural use. The county appraiser is responsible for listing each parcel’s current use and acreage. Ask the appraiser’s office how your intended use will be classified before you assume the current tax bill will carry over.

Frequently asked questions

What does a title commitment show?

It shows the requirements that must be met before the title policy is issued and the exceptions the policy will not cover. Review both before closing, because some exceptions can be removed once the related requirements are met.

Do I need a water permit for a house well in Kansas?

No, as long as the water is used for domestic purposes. The Kansas Department of Agriculture defines that as household use, watering livestock on pasture, and watering up to two acres of lawn and garden. Crop irrigation requires a water right or permit.

Can a Kansas water right be lost if it is not used?

Yes, under K.S.A. 82a-718 a right is deemed abandoned after five successive years without lawful, beneficial use, absent due and sufficient cause. The chief engineer must hold a hearing before terminating it. Groundwater rights supplied by an aquifer area closed to new appropriations are not deemed abandoned for nonuse.

How much do I need to put down on a land loan?

It depends on the lender, the property, and the loan product. Frontier Farm Credit describes 35 percent down as typical on many new land purchases, and it finances recreational land through its separate Rural 1st program.

Can I get access to a landlocked parcel in Kansas?

Sometimes, but usually only through a court. Kansas law can recognize an easement implied from prior use or necessity, or a prescriptive easement after 15 years of open, continuous, adverse use. Each one has to be proven, so a recorded easement in place before you buy is the cleaner answer.

Sources

• Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, K.S.A. 32-937, big game permits
• Kansas Legislature, Senate Bill 80, 2025-26 session
• Current Developments and Issues in Agricultural Law and Taxation, September 2023
• Kansas Department of Agriculture, Division of Water Resources, Water law basics
• Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes, K.S.A. 82a-718, abandonment of water rights
• Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, Rivers and streams access
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Web Soil Survey
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Web Soil Survey fact sheet
• FEMA, Flood Map Service Center
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Conservation Reserve Program overview
• USDA Farm Service Agency, Conservation Reserve Program
• First American, Understanding your title commitment
• Kansas Geological Survey, Petroleum primer: minerals, mineral rights, and leasing
• Kansas Judicial Branch, Dick Properties, LLC v. Bowman Trust
• Frontier Farm Credit, Kansas land loans
• Kansas Department of Revenue, Answers to commonly asked questions about agricultural land value

Every check on this list goes faster with someone who already knows the county offices, lenders, and water records involved. Browse current Kansas land for sale, and when a tract looks right, contact Red Cedar Land Company. Our agents can walk the ground with you and help you sort out what to confirm before you write an offer.