Buying Land and Acreage in Snohomish County

Every land listing in this county says some version of the same sentence: buyer to verify access, boundaries, zoning, utilities, well and septic feasibility and suitability for intended use. Mine say it too. What the sentence does not tell you is how to verify any of it, which is what this guide is for.

Read it before you drive out, because the parcel that looks best from the road is not always the one the county will let you build on. If you want the short version of everything here plus real examples, the Acreage and Land page has it.

Start with the zone, not the listing

Almost every rural parcel in unincorporated Snohomish County carries a zone from Title 30 of the county code, and you can look it up yourself on the county's zoning map viewer before you call anyone. The ones you will see most around Arlington:

• R-5, Rural 5-Acre. The county describes its purpose as keeping rural character in areas without urban services. It is the everyday rural residential zone.
• RRT-10, Rural Resource Transition 10-Acre. Rural land with forestry value, set up as a transition between rural homes and designated forest land. Expect working timber nearby.
• RD, Rural Diversification. Meant for the most outlying rural parts of the county, with enough flexibility that traditional rural uses can carry on.
• A-10, Agriculture 10-Acre, and F, Forestry. Resource zones. They exist to protect farming and long-term forestry, so the land's first job is the farm or the timber. Snohomish County has a Right to Farm disclosure for this reason, and it is worth reading before you buy next to a working farm.

The zone starts to answer the first three questions most land buyers have: can I build a house, can I divide this, and can I keep animals or run a business here. If any of those matters to you, get the answer from the county's Planning and Development Services, not from a listing or a broker, me included. The county code sets out the purpose of each zone if you want to read the source.

Two more things to find on the same map. The first is lot status, because a parcel number on a tax statement is not the same thing as a legal building lot. The second is the urban growth area boundary. Inside it, sewer and city services are planned. Outside the UGA, generally plan on onsite septic. Water may come from a private well or an approved public water system, depending on what is available to the parcel.

Water: three possible answers

Before the county issues a building permit on rural land it wants to know where the water comes from, and the answer comes out one of three ways.

A water system can serve the land

In the Stillaguamish basin, which takes in Arlington, the county's rule is that if an approved water purveyor can serve the site in a timely and reasonable way, you connect to it rather than drill. A connection fee is a known number. A new well is not.

There is already a well

Ask for the well report, which the state Department of Ecology keeps for drilled wells, and read the depth and the recorded yield. Then pay for a current flow test and a water quality test, because the report tells you what the well did the day it was drilled, not what it does now. If the well is shared, there should be a recorded shared well agreement saying who maintains it and who pays. The NWMLS has a Well Addendum for exactly this part of the offer.

You will need a new well

This is where the map matters, because the rules depend on the river basin, and basin lines do not follow city limits. From the county's exempt well information:

• Stillaguamish basin. Household use is generally limited to less than 5,000 gallons a day on an annual average, and the county wants a letter from an approved water purveyor saying it cannot serve the site.
• Snohomish basin, which takes in Lake Stevens, Snohomish and Monroe. A new permit-exempt well is limited to 950 gallons a day on an annual average, which can be cut to 350 in a declared drought. You also record a document on the title setting out the water use conditions, and pay a $500 fee on top of the other permit fees.

Neither limit is a problem for one household. Both are a problem if you assumed you could water ten acres of pasture from a domestic well.

Do not assume a domestic permit-exempt well gives you the right to irrigate acreage. Outdoor-use limits can be much tighter than the household water limit.

And what a new well costs depends on how deep the driller has to go, which nobody knows until the rig is on site, so budget for the worst case the local drillers give you, not the best.

Septic: proof, not promises

Bare land needs a site evaluation before anyone can say a septic system will work on it. A licensed onsite wastewater designer or professional engineer evaluates the soil, the Health Department reviews the work, and what comes back is an approved design for a standard system, a design for a more involved and more expensive system, or a no. That takes time and real money, which is why it belongs inside your feasibility contingency if the seller has not done it already.

If there is already a home on the land, the system has a file you can look up in the Health Department's online septic records, and beginning November 1, 2026, properties sold with septic systems generally need a qualifying inspection completed within the prior 12 months before closing. A system installed within the prior 12 months is exempt from the inspection requirement. Read the inspection report, not only the result. A system can pass and still be near the end of its service life. The NWMLS Septic Addendum is where that goes in the offer, and the septic rule piece has the details of the new requirement.

Access: the road has to exist on paper

A gravel drive across the neighbour's field can work for thirty years, right up until the neighbour sells to someone who puts a gate across it. Verify that the parcel has legally established access, typically directly from a public road or through a deeded or recorded access easement. Your lender and title company will want to know what gives the parcel the legal right to get to the road.

If several homes share a private road, look for a road maintenance agreement too, because without one the cost of the next load of gravel is a negotiation among neighbours.

While you are at it, ask Snohomish County PUD how far power has to come and what it will cost. Electricity at the property line and electricity at the building site are two different things on a long parcel.

“A gravel drive across the neighbour's field can work for thirty years, right up until the neighbour sells to someone who puts a gate across it.”

Critical areas, flood zones and slopes

The county's maps carry layers for wetlands, streams, steep slopes and landslide hazard areas, and most of them come with buffers where building is restricted. A stream buffer alone can take a big bite out of a small parcel.

Along the Stillaguamish and its forks, significant portions of the valley floor are mapped flood hazard areas. If a building is within a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, a lender may be required to require flood insurance, and additional county development rules apply.

The maps are a screening tool, not a verdict. If a layer touches the parcel, a critical areas study by a qualified professional is the next step, and it is a feasibility expense worth every dollar.

Timber and the tax file

Two things about land here catch buyers who come from town.

First, logging is regulated by the state Department of Natural Resources. When land is logged and then converted to another use without the conversion being handled properly, state law requires the county to refuse permits for non-forestry uses, building permits and subdivisions included, for up to six years. If the land was logged recently, ask under what permit, and get the answer in writing.

Second, a lot of acreage is enrolled in a current use program, taxed as farm and agricultural land, timber land or open space rather than at market value. When it sells, the buyer either signs a notice of continuance and keeps the land in the program, or the classification comes off and the additional tax comes due at the sale, which the law puts on the seller.

For open space and timber land that is the tax difference for the last seven years plus interest. For farm and agricultural land removed on or after September 1, 2025, the look-back is four years. A penalty can apply on top.

Designated forest land is a separate program with rules of its own. Know which program the land is in, and what staying in it commits you to, before the excise tax affidavit is in front of you.

Money: land loans are their own animal

The four common loan types are built to finance a home, not bare ground. Buying land usually means a land loan from a local bank or credit union, a construction loan that covers the build, seller financing, or cash. Land loans generally ask for a bigger down payment and a shorter term than a mortgage, and every lender sets its own rules.

Talk to a lender who does land before you make an offer. A pre-approval for a house is not a pre-approval for acreage.

The offer itself

Bare land goes on the NWMLS Vacant Land Purchase and Sale Agreement. Acreage with a home goes on the residential agreement and can carry the Land and Acreage Addendum, along with the Well Addendum and the Septic Addendum. The term that matters most on either is a feasibility contingency: a set number of days, negotiated up front, to investigate everything on this page and walk away by giving notice in time if you do not like what you find.

Ask for enough days to actually get answers. A soil evaluation, a well test and a conversation with the county do not all happen in a week.

A seller of unimproved land generally owes you a disclosure statement of its own, NWMLS Form 17C, which is different from the one used for a house. Read it, and read the exceptions in the preliminary title report, because that is where easements, covenants and old agreements show up.

If the corners are not marked, the NWMLS Survey Contingency is there for a reason.

“The county decides what you can do with land, the ground decides what it costs to do it, and both are knowable before you close if you use the feasibility contingency the way it is meant to be used.”

Common questions

Can I put a manufactured home on it?

Often, if the zone allows a home at all. State law stops a county from treating a manufactured home differently from a site built one when it comes to placement, though in some circumstances a county can still require a new home on a permanent foundation. Titling, foundations and financing are in Manufactured Homes on Land in Snohomish County.

How long should the feasibility contingency be?

Long enough to get a septic site evaluation, a well test and answers from the county. The right number depends on how busy the designers, drillers and the county are that season, so ask the people doing the work how long they need, then leave some room.

Do I need a survey?

If the corners are not marked and there is no recent survey on record, it is worth serious thought. Fences on rural land are often not on the line, and a lender or title company may want one anyway.

Can I build a second home on the land?

Snohomish County allows accessory dwelling units on many rural lots, subject to the zone, the lot size, the water and the septic capacity, and those rules have changed recently. Check the current code for the specific parcel with Planning and Development Services before you pay for land on the strength of it.

Do you work on land, or just houses?

Both. My land and acreage listings and closings are on the Portfolio page, and how I work on rural property is in Arlington WA Acreage and Land Realtor.

The bottom line

The county decides what you can do with land, the ground decides what it costs to do it, and both are knowable before you close if you use the feasibility contingency the way it is meant to be used.

Buy the parcel the records describe, not the one the photographs suggest.

The property search on this site covers the full Northwest MLS, land included. When you find a parcel worth walking, send me the address and I will pull the records before we go. If you want to know how working with me goes, my Google reviews are written by clients.

Zone purposes from Snohomish County Code 30.21.025. Well limits from Snohomish County's exempt well information. Septic requirement from the Snohomish County Health Department's media release of April 17, 2026. Forest practices moratorium under RCW 76.09.460; current use additional tax under RCW 84.34.108; manufactured home placement under RCW 36.01.225. NWMLS form names are from the current NWMLS forms library. This is general information about buying land, not legal, tax or engineering advice about any particular parcel. Verify everything with the county and your own professionals.