Land & development site acquisitions • Virginia & West Virginia

Buying commercial land in Virginia and West Virginia.

On raw land, the rights are the asset. Access, easements, restrictions, minerals, and the legal description decide what the ground can become. Prime Title & Escrow provides independent, attorney-led title and settlement for land and development site acquisitions across Virginia and West Virginia.

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Ready to start?

Have these ready

Your signed contract or letter of intent
Your entity's formation documents
Your lender's contact information
Any existing survey or title policy

Buying as an LLC, partnership, or out-of-state entity? Tell us and we will confirm what each structure needs.

What is your role in the transaction?

Tell us where you sit in the deal.

Select your role to see the closing risks, responsibilities, and outcomes that matter most to your team. The rest of the page applies to every land acquisition.

Before the building, the ground has to be buildable.

You are buying land so your company can build on it, and the record decides whether that plan works: legal access to a public road, utility easements that can actually reach the site, covenants that allow the use, and a legal description that matches the survey. Prime reads the record with your project in mind, and flags what it finds in plain language.

What matters to you

Legal access and frontage of record
Utility easements that can reach the site
Recorded covenants against the intended use
Rollback taxes settled at the closing table
Boundary and legal description tied to the survey
A closing sequenced with your construction lender

Confirm the Ground Before You Build

The record decides the yield.

On land, value is what can be approved and built, and the record moves the pro forma more than the dirt does. Recorded proffers, covenants, easements crossing the site, severed minerals, and access gaps decide what the ground can become. Prime surfaces what the record carries, and what it blocks, before your diligence period ends.

What matters to you

Development rights and recorded proffers
Access, frontage, and road dedication of record
Easements crossing or serving the site
Severed mineral and timber rights
Rollback taxes and who pays them
1031 exchange timing

Clear the Record Before Capital Commits

Land programs need repeatable closings.

Institutional land runs on options, phased takedowns, and entity structures, with fund approvals and reporting layered on top of the title work. Prime runs entity authority, escrow, exceptions, and documentation through one repeatable process, parcel after parcel, so the program keeps moving toward each takedown date.

What matters to you

Repeatable closing controls across parcels
Entity and fund authority
Option and phased takedown closings
Large escrow with verified wires
Multi-parcel and multi-county recording
Closing and post-closing documentation

Build Prime Into the Acquisition Process

The ground has to transfer with the company.

When land moves inside a company or platform acquisition, the deeds, assignments, lender consents, and change-of-control steps have to track the corporate closing. The structure decides the paperwork, and Prime coordinates the real estate side with deal counsel so the real estate keeps pace with the deal.

What matters to you

Asset versus equity transfer mechanics
Parcel schedules across the portfolio
Lender and third-party consents
Change-of-control provisions
Debt releases timed to the corporate close
Coordinated closing dates

Align the Land With the M&A Closing

Material risks, surfaced before the wire.

The diligence stack on a land acquisition runs deep: title, survey, access, entitlement dependencies. What should reach you is the short list that moves money and dates: unresolved title matters, the funding requirement, the deadlines, and the honest state of closing readiness. Prime provides that view, with named principals accountable for it.

What matters to you

Closing certainty
Capital exposure and the final cash requirement
Material title risks in plain language
Fraud-protected funding
Named accountability
Escalation before deadlines slip

Get an Executive View of Closing Readiness

Access, minerals, proffers, liens. One tracked list.

Prime works alongside deal counsel, land use counsel, engineers, lenders, and brokers without duplicating their work. We run the title commitment, ALTA survey coordination, access and easement review, curative items, escrow instructions, funding, recording, and policy issuance on one open-items list everyone can see.

What matters to you

Title exceptions and curative items
ALTA survey and Table A coordination
Access, easement, and severed estate review
Recorded proffers and zoning conditions
Entity authority and resolutions
Escrow instructions and conditions
Final policy issuance

Coordinate the Land Closing

The rights are the asset

On raw land, the record is the product.

There is no building to inspect. Everything that decides whether the project works, legal access, utility routes, covenants, proffers, minerals, and boundaries, lives in the county land records and on the survey. A missing access easement or a covenant recorded decades ago can settle feasibility before the first plan is drawn.

Zoning approvals, engineering, soils, and environmental work sit with your land use counsel, engineers, and consultants. Our lane is the record, the escrow, and the closing, and we run that lane end to end, so what you believe you are buying and what the deed says match.

On a land file, we review

Legal access and frontage of record
Recorded proffers and zoning conditions
Covenants, restrictions, and declarations
Easements crossing or serving the site
Severed mineral and timber estates of record
Land use assessment and rollback tax status
Boundary and legal description against the survey
Mechanic's lien exposure from prior site work

The market you are buying into

Growth needs ground. Here is the picture.

Virginia keeps adding people, and most of its land is still field and forest. Here is the demand picture, and what recording the deed will actually cost.

Mostly still green

Share of Virginia land that is forestland

About 62% of Virginia is forestland, so development concentrates where the rights already work.

Virginia Department of Forestry

More people, same ground

Virginia population by decennial census

Virginia added about 1.6 million residents in two decades, and growth needs ground.

U.S. Census Bureau

What recording the deed costs

Virginia recording taxes, per $100 of price

On a $10,000,000 purchase: about $25,000 state (buyer), about $8,300 local, and $10,000 grantor's tax (seller). Northern Virginia localities add regional fees on top.

Code of Virginia 58.1-801, 58.1-814, 58.1-802

Challenges, and how we clear them

What land buyers run into, and what we do about it.

Legal access and frontage

A parcel without recorded access is a project that cannot start. The driveway everyone has always used is not the same thing as a right of record.

How we help: we verify recorded access and frontage and review the ALTA survey for gaps before you commit.

Recorded proffers and zoning conditions

Virginia's conditional zoning writes proffers into the record, and they run with the land, binding density, use, and timing long after the original rezoning.

How we help: we surface every recorded proffer and condition early. The approvals themselves run through your land use counsel and the county, and we coordinate with them.

Severed minerals and timber

In Virginia and West Virginia, mineral and timber estates were often severed and sold generations ago, so the surface deed may not carry what you assume.

How we help: we review the chain for severances and the exceptions they leave behind, and flag what the record shows for your counsel.

Rollback taxes from land use assessment

Land taxed at use value triggers rollback taxes when the use changes, reaching back up to five years plus the current year, with interest.

How we help: we confirm the status and figures with the locality and build the agreed split into the settlement statement.

Easements crossing the site

Pipelines, transmission lines, drainage, and old farm easements cross rural parcels, and any one of them can sterilize the acreage you planned to build on.

How we help: we map each recorded easement against the survey so the buildable area is known before closing.

Boundaries and legal descriptions

Old metes and bounds, missing plats, and acreage that does not match the tax card are common on land, and the deed controls what you actually get.

How we help: we tie the legal description to the ALTA survey and the contract, and flag gaps and overlaps before you sign.

The risk we manage

The work that happens before your capital is at the table.

$600B+

in risk the title industry clears for buyers and lenders each year

ALTA, 2026

Nearly 60%

of transactions need three to five title issues resolved before closing

ALTA, 2026

1 in 3

real estate deals face an attempted wire fraud

ALTA survey

$150K to $200K

average wire fraud loss, and commercial deals run higher

ALTA / Stewart

On a commercial purchase, this is the difference between a clean closing and an expensive surprise.

What Prime handles

Commercial title and settlement, from opening through recording.

Title search and commitment
ALTA survey coordination
Exception and requirement tracking
Easement and access review
Entity and signing authority
Escrow deposit management
Lender coordination
Payoff and release coordination
Closing statements
Secure funding
Document recording
Final title-policy issuance

How your purchase closes

Five steps, handled with care from open to record.

1

Open and order

Send us your contract or LOI and entity documents. We open the file and order the title search and survey.

2

Commitment and survey

We issue the title commitment and review the ALTA survey and recorded easements, access, frontage, and crossing easements included, for encroachments and gaps.

3

Diligence and curative

We clear liens and judgments, confirm entity authority, and check for mechanic's lien exposure.

4

Coordinate the close

We align your lender, counsel, and any intermediary, and confirm the figures and Virginia recordation taxes.

5

Fund and record

We protect and disburse the funds, record the documents, and deliver your insured title.

Personalized to your seat

What this means for your team.

Operational confidence:

Know the ground can legally support the facility before you commit to build.

Better risk visibility:

Understand the recorded rights and restrictions that decide what the ground can become.

Controlled execution:

Maintain consistent title, escrow, approval, and reporting procedures across every parcel in the program.

Transaction alignment:

Sequence the land transfer with the wider platform or company acquisition.

Decision-ready information:

See material risks, costs, deadlines, and funding requirements without the document dump.

Cleaner coordination:

Track title, survey, access, mineral, lender, escrow, and recording items on one list.

Why buyers choose Prime

Local knowledge, legal judgment, and no divided loyalty.

Local to Data Center Alley

Based in Leesburg, in the heart of Loudoun County, we know Virginia's commercial market and its closings firsthand.

Attorney-led

Real estate attorneys oversee your file, so complex title and structure questions get legal judgment, not guesswork.

Independent and neutral

No affiliated arrangements and no divided loyalty. Our only focus is your transaction and a clean close.

Funds protected

Secure escrow and verified instructions guard the large wires that commercial deals depend on.

Commercial buyer questions

What Virginia commercial buyers ask us.

Who pays Virginia's recordation and transfer taxes on a commercial purchase?

As the buyer, you pay the state recordation tax on the deed, set at $0.25 per $100 of value, plus any local recordation tax and the recordation tax on your deed of trust. The seller generally pays the grantor's tax, and Northern Virginia jurisdictions add regional fees such as the WMATA capital fee and the regional congestion relief fee. We calculate the exact amounts for your jurisdiction and handle the recording.

Do you coordinate ALTA surveys?

Yes. We order and review the ALTA survey for easements, encroachments, and legal access, and we add the title endorsements your lender requires based on what the survey shows.

Can you close a deal held in an LLC, partnership, or out-of-state entity?

Yes. We confirm signing authority, prepare the documents each structure needs, and work through any Virginia registration questions with your counsel so authority is never in doubt at closing.

The land is in land use assessment. Who pays the rollback taxes?

Changing to a non-qualifying use triggers rollback taxes reaching back up to five years plus the current year, with interest, under Virginia Code 58.1-3237. Who pays is a contract term, not a default, so we confirm the figures with the locality and build the agreed split into the settlement statement.

How do I know if the mineral rights come with the land?

The chain of title shows it. We review the record for severed mineral and timber estates and the exceptions they leave behind, and we flag what the record shows. What a severed estate means for your plan is a question for your counsel, and we coordinate with them.

Can you handle a 1031 exchange?

Yes. We coordinate with your qualified intermediary, prepare the closing to fit the exchange, and protect your identification and closing deadlines.

How do you protect a large commercial wire?

We hold funds in secure escrow, use verified wiring instructions, and confirm details with you by phone before anything moves. We will never send new instructions by email, and we ask you to call us before you wire.

Do you work with our lender, broker, and attorneys?

Yes. We coordinate with every party in the deal, keep the title and escrow side on schedule, and make sure each requirement is met before closing day.

Role-specific questions

Questions from your seat at the table.

We are buying land to build our facility. When should Prime start?

At the letter of intent. Title, access, and easement review can start before the contract signs, so the record questions surface while your engineers and land use counsel still have room to work.

Can the closing line up with our construction financing?

Yes. We coordinate the title requirements, the lender's conditions, and the recording so the acquisition and the construction loan close in the sequence your lender requires.

How early should Prime see a land deal?

At the letter of intent. A title order can open before the contract signs, so the commitment, the survey, and the access and proffer review start ahead of your diligence clock instead of inside it.

The county approvals are not final. Should the title work wait?

No. The record work runs in parallel. Recorded proffers, covenants, easements, and access do not change with the hearing calendar, and knowing them early tells your team exactly what the approvals have to solve.

Can you close phased takedowns under one option agreement?

Yes. We track the option terms, close each takedown parcel on its schedule, and keep the title, escrow, and recording consistent across every phase.

How do you manage escrow at this scale?

Deposits are held under written instructions, disbursed only when the stated conditions are met, and documented on the settlement statement, with wire instructions verified by phone before any funds move.

The land transfers inside a company acquisition. What changes?

The structure decides the paperwork. An asset deal moves the parcels by deed; an equity deal moves the entities that own them. Either way, title, liens, and authority still have to be confirmed, and we coordinate that with deal counsel.

Can the property closings track the corporate date?

We sequence title, escrow, funding, and recording to the deal calendar and flag the dependencies, like lender releases and third-party consents, that sit outside our control.

What reaches my desk during the closing?

The short list: the title matters that are actually unresolved, the funding requirement, the dates that move money, and the honest state of closing readiness, from named people you can call.

How is a wire of this size protected?

Instructions are verified by phone with a known contact, never changed on an email alone, and funds move only when the closing conditions are met and documented.

Do you coordinate the ALTA survey and Table A items?

Yes. We order and coordinate the survey, set the Table A scope with you and the lender, and review the result against the commitment so survey matters and exceptions reconcile before closing.

How are severances and curative items tracked?

On one open-items list shared with counsel and the lender, alongside the updated title commitment, so every exception, severed estate question, and curative document has an owner and a status before closing week.