Most banks won't finance raw land or want a 50 percent down payment. We have a real vacant land loan that works in all 50 states, with no acreage limit and no prepayment penalty.
Raw land is one of the hardest things to finance with a traditional bank. The reason is simple: there's no house sitting on the land for the bank to lend against. If you stop paying, all the bank can do is take the dirt back, and dirt is harder to sell than a house. So most banks either say no outright or ask for a giant down payment, sometimes 40 or 50 percent, which puts the dream out of reach for most buyers.
Meanwhile, beautiful pieces of land sit on the market in the Upstate and across both Carolinas every day. Buildable lots, hunting tracts, family homesteads, lake parcels. Buyers fall in love, then walk away when financing falls apart, and the seller drops the price, and the cycle repeats. It's a waste of good land and good buyers.
There's a real loan built just for vacant land, and it works for a lot more buyers than people realize.
You found the perfect lot. The house you want to build is still a couple of years away because you're saving, planning, or waiting for your kids to graduate. You don't want to lose the lot to another buyer while you wait. This loan lets you finance the purchase now, hold it, and roll into a construction loan when you're ready, with no prepayment penalty for moving off it early.
Hunting tracts. Recreational land. A homestead with serious acreage where you want livestock and privacy. Most lenders cap acreage at 10, 20, or 40 acres. Here, there's no acreage limit. Whether your dream parcel is 5 acres or 500, the size won't kill the deal.
You see a parcel that's underpriced or sitting in a growth corridor, and you want to hold it. With no prepayment penalty, you can pay off the loan or refinance whenever the timing makes sense. You're not locked in if the right buyer or builder shows up sooner than expected.
Maybe you already own a parcel and you're holding it on a high-interest seller-financed note, or on a private loan that's getting expensive. This program does refinances too, so you can roll that debt into a longer-term loan at a more reasonable rate.
If your lot is well under $100,000 or you've got a smaller parcel where you want to finance only a portion, we have other land programs that can help, including under our broader unique-property loans. Just call and we'll match the program to the property.
If you've ever held back from buying a piece of land because the financing felt out of reach, it's worth a real conversation. A 35 percent down payment is a much smaller hill to climb than 50 percent, and on a buildable lot you'll roll into a construction loan eventually anyway. Lock in the land while you can.
At OpenKey Mortgage Advisors, we work with the buyers most banks won't take a second look at. As an independent mortgage broker shopping 50+ wholesale lenders, we serve Greenville, Spartanburg, Greer, and the broader Upstate of South Carolina, plus the major North Carolina markets including Charlotte, Raleigh, Asheville, Durham, and Wilmington.
Call or text Samantha Payne at (864) 387-8964, email Samantha@openkeymortgage.com, or visit openkeymortgageadvisors.com. OpenKey Mortgage Advisors LLC. NMLS Company ID 2812158. Samantha Payne, NMLS #2743877. Licensed in South Carolina and North Carolina. Equal Housing Opportunity.
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