I have a few really dumb questions for all you experts out there -

It seems that a given section (or several sections in a "development") are sold by a particular real estate company. And in most cases, it seems like you are on your own to select and contract with a builder.

1. How do you secure a mortgage for both the section (purchased from one entity) and the house (purchased from another)?

2. One builder I spoke to indicated that it would be cheaper if we had his company buy the section as part of building the house for us (he claimed they could get a discount on the price from the real estate company). Anyone know if that is true?

3. In cases where there is "empty" land surrounding the development/sections, how would you find out if the land right behind/above/under (whatever) your property might be sectioned off at a later time? I'd hate to buy a section with the perfect view only to have an unexpected house appear blocking the view. Does the LIM have info like that? In many cases, it seems that the empty land might still be owned by one party and until they sold it off for a new development, you'd never know ...

4. One development we visited had both "house and land packages" and empty sections for sale. Does a "package" imply that they have preselected the house style/design/layout? Or do you still have the ability to modify everything (which, if you do, what is the advantage to this arrangment v. buying the section yourself and contracting with a company?)?

Sorry for the dumb questions; this is such a different way of doing things.
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I appreciate any pointers or advice.
RoadRunner