![[DEMO] Road frontage at the entrance](demo/listings/0-yandell-rd-madison-ms-39110-1-800.png)
5 photosLand and acreage
Buy the title, not just the view
Timber, hunting, agricultural, recreational and development land across Mississippi. Most land deals in this state go wrong on four things — minerals, access, water and soil — and none of them are visible from the road.
On the market now
Land on the market now
Pre-filtered from the same MLS mirror the search page uses — acreage, farm and timber records included.
- 5 photos
![[DEMO] Road frontage at the entrance](demo/listings/0-fisher-ferry-rd-vicksburg-ms-39180-1-800.png)
6 photos$392,000
0 Fisher Ferry Rd
Vicksburg, MS 39180
112.0 acres
86 days on marketMinimal flood riskMLS MSD-260126![[DEMO] Road frontage at the entrance](demo/listings/0-springridge-rd-raymond-ms-39154-1-800.png)
6 photos$265,000
0 Springridge Rd
Raymond, MS 39154
48.3 acres
103 days on marketMinimal flood riskMLS MSD-260125
- Things that kill land deals here
- 4
- Typical down payment on a land loan
- 20–30%
- Length of a CRP contract
- 10–15 yrs
- Bedford land sales per year
- Not yet published
Minerals, legal access, flood and wetlands, and soil that will not perc.
Mississippi land lenders, general market practice. Your bank sets its own terms.
USDA Conservation Reserve Program general signup terms.
We publish this once we have a full twelve months of Bedford closings to report. We are not going to invent it.
Mississippi-specific
Severed mineral estates
In Mississippi it is entirely normal for the minerals under a parcel to belong to somebody who has never seen it. A landowner in 1948 sold half the minerals to an oil company; the company was bought twice; the interest has been divided among seventeen heirs. The surface has changed hands five times since. None of that shows up when you walk the property.
It matters because Mississippi treats the mineral estate as dominant. The mineral owner has an implied right to make reasonable use of the surface to develop what they own — roads, a pad, a well. On a hunting tract that may never be exercised. On the five-acre homesite where you are about to build, it is a risk you should price.
What to do: ask the title attorney for a mineral chain, not a generic exception. Ask the seller in writing what mineral interest they own and what they are conveying. If the answer is “I think it all comes with it”, that is not an answer — it is a title opinion nobody has written.
Surface damage agreements, and negotiating a no-surface-occupancy provision where you do own a share, are both possible. They are much easier before closing.
Categories
Six kinds of land, six different questions
Timber tracts
Planted pine and mixed hardwood across the Piney Woods, the Delta fringe and central Mississippi. Value is a function of species, age class, stocking, and how far the nearest mill is. Ask for the last cruise and the last harvest date before you ask the price.
Hunting and recreational
Deer and turkey ground with food plot potential, hardwood bottoms, and creek frontage. Check neighbouring club leases, access during wet months, and whether the "road" is passable in December when you would actually be using it.
Agricultural
Row crop and pasture, in the Delta and along the river bottoms. Soil classification, drainage and irrigation infrastructure carry the value. Existing farm leases transfer with the land and must be reviewed before closing.
Homesites and small acreage
Five to forty acres within commuting distance of the Jackson metro. Perc test, utility availability and legal access decide whether it is a homesite or a very expensive field.
Development tracts
Land in the path of growth in Madison, Rankin and Hinds counties. Zoning, sewer capacity, detention requirements and the entitlement timeline are the whole conversation.
Waterfront acreage
Reservoir, river and coastal land. Different flood, different insurance, different rules — we cover that on the waterfront page.
Timber
What the trees are worth
Standing timber is a separate asset from the dirt, and it is valued by a cruise: species, diameter distribution, volume per acre, age class and haul distance to a mill. Pine pulpwood, chip-n-saw and sawtimber trade at very different prices per ton, and a stand two years from a thinning is worth materially less than one ready to cut.
Ask when it was last harvested and what was taken. A tract cut over the winter before listing looks like forty wooded acres and contains almost no merchantable volume.
Two tax points worth raising with your CPA before you close: timber basis allocation at purchase, which determines what you can deduct on a future harvest, and whether a sale is treated as ordinary income or capital gain. Getting the allocation into the closing statement is far easier than reconstructing it years later.
Water and soil
Perc tests, wetlands and drainage
Where there is no sewer, a septic system decides whether you can build. The county health department evaluates the soil; heavy clay, shallow bedrock or a seasonal high water table can push you to an engineered or aerobic system — several times the cost of a conventional field — or to no approval at all.
Jurisdictional wetlands are a separate question from flood zone, and both matter. A wetlands determination tells you what you may fill or build on; the FEMA flood map tells you what your lender and your insurer will require. Bedford pulls the flood zone on every listing automatically — see any property page for the zone, the panel and the effective date.
Walk the property after heavy rain if you possibly can. Mississippi land in August and Mississippi land in February are different properties.
Before you close
The land diligence list
Work every line. On a house you can rely on an inspection; on land the inspection is a stack of documents and two people who know where to look.
- Mineral chain run specifically, not excepted generically
- Recorded legal access, confirmed on the survey — not a neighbour’s permission
- Boundary survey with corners marked; old deed calls and fence lines rarely agree
- Perc or soil evaluation through the county health department, before closing
- FEMA flood zone and any wetlands determination
- Timber cruise by an independent forester, with a harvest history
- Existing leases: hunting, farm, CRP, cell tower, billboard, pipeline
- Every easement of record — pipeline, power line, ingress-egress — plotted on the survey
- Property tax status, including any agricultural or forestry use valuation and its rollback exposure
Insurance for this property. Continental Brokers Inc. quotes wind, hail and flood.
Get Instant Insurance Quote
Powered by Continental Brokers Inc.. Bedford Realty is not an insurance agency.
Looking for something specific
Tell us the county and the acreage
A lot of Mississippi land never gets listed. Tell us what you are after — county, acreage, budget, whether you need road frontage, whether you intend to build — and we will work the county records and call owners directly.
If you own land and are thinking about selling, the same call works in reverse. 601-707-6535.
Land search
FAQ
Land questions people should ask sooner
Do I get the mineral rights when I buy land in Mississippi?
Often not. Mississippi has a long history of severed mineral estates — a previous owner sold or reserved the minerals decades ago, and the surface and mineral estates have been separate ever since. It is common enough that you should assume nothing. Have the title attorney run the mineral chain specifically; a standard title commitment frequently just excepts minerals rather than telling you who owns them.
Why do mineral rights matter if nobody is drilling?
Because in Mississippi the mineral estate is dominant: the mineral owner has the right to make reasonable use of the surface to reach their minerals. That right exists whether or not anyone is exercising it today. On a homesite or a recreational tract it is a genuine risk, not a technicality.
What is legal access, and how is it different from a road?
A road you can drive down is not the same as a right to drive down it. Legal access means a recorded easement or public road frontage that runs with the land. Landlocked parcels in Mississippi are common and are sometimes sold with a handshake understanding from a neighbour that does not survive the neighbour selling. If the survey and the title work do not show recorded access, treat the parcel as landlocked until proven otherwise.
What does a perc test tell me?
Whether the soil will accept a conventional septic system, which decides whether you can build a house where there is no sewer. Mississippi county health departments handle the evaluation. Heavy clay and a high water table — both common here — can mean an engineered or aerobic system costing several times a conventional one, or no approval at all. Make the contract contingent on a passing evaluation before you close, not after.
How is standing timber valued?
By a forester’s cruise: species, volume in tons or board feet, age, stocking and distance to a mill. Pine pulpwood, chip-n-saw and sawtimber are three different products at three different prices, and the difference between them on the same forty acres is substantial. Never take a seller’s timber estimate. A cruise costs a few hundred dollars against a five-figure question.
Should I buy land with a CRP contract on it?
It can be a real income stream, but read the contract. Conservation Reserve Program agreements run ten to fifteen years, carry management obligations, and are transferable to a buyer who agrees to assume them — early termination usually means repaying prior payments with interest. Confirm the remaining term, the annual rate per acre and the practices required with the county FSA office before closing.
What about a Phase I environmental on farmland?
Worth doing where there has been agricultural chemical storage, a fuel tank, an old dump, or a former dip vat. Buried tanks and burn pits are the two most common surprises on rural Mississippi land, and the liability follows the land, not the person who put them there.
How long does raw land take to sell?
Longer than a house, almost always. Land buyers are fewer, financing is harder — expect 20–30% down and shorter amortisation from a land lender — and the diligence period is longer. Price it against actual closed sales per acre in the same county, not against listings.
Also worth reading
Water changes everything
Reservoir, river and coastal land carries a different flood, insurance and building picture. We wrote that out honestly, including the parts that make a sale harder.