Q: I’ve been reading your book, “100 Questions Every First-Time Homebuyer Should Ask.” As my wife and I approach retirement age in around two years, we’re wondering if we’ll ever be able to retire.

I’m a certified organic grower. A piece of property near us has come up for sale. The buyer is in a land contract. He has had trouble making payments to the seller. The seller asked us if we’d be willing to buy it from him. In addition to the land, a house on the property can be lived in.

We’re thinking we would buy out of the land contract, tear down the house and build one for us. We could pay cash for the land but would need financing to build the home. My wife knows little about real estate and doesn’t think we need a real estate attorney to help us out. What do you think?

A: It’s an interesting plan, with a few caveats.

First, the smarter move is to get financing for the purchase of the land, even though you can pay cash. It’s easier to get financing to buy a property with a home on it than to finance vacant land or farmland. However, if your option is to simply take over the land contract, and the seller has offered excellent terms, you may not want to take out a mortgage at today’s interest rates, if they are higher.

Typically, however, the cheapest money you’ll find will be when you buy the home and get financing at that time. If you have enough cash saved up, you can use that cash to build the house you want. Just make sure you have enough cash. When people build their own homes, they almost always underestimate how much it will cost and how long it will take.

Here’s another important consideration: Can you afford to live in your current home and qualify to buy the new property with a mortgage? If you own your home outright, without a mortgage, you should be able to qualify, even though you are nearing retirement age. If you’re renting, that shouldn’t factor into the equation. If you own, you can sell or rent your current home once your new home is ready, providing another stream of retirement income.

Regardless, we think you need a real estate attorney to complete this deal successfully. Here’s why: You’re doing this on your own without a broker. You’ll need someone to draft the contract to purchase the land and house from the seller. You’ve mentioned that the seller has a buyer paying for the land. When the seller cancels that contract with the buyer, you’ll want to make sure that when you buy the property, it’s a clean purchase. You don’t want to get involved with any problems the first buyer had in purchasing the land over time. Or subject to any liens that may exist. You’ll need to make sure you get good title to the land without any issues relating to the prior buyer.

Of course, we recommend that you purchase an owner’s title insurance policy for the property to protect you in case title issues pop up.

No matter where you live, it helps to have an attorney review these documents and make sure the seller is providing whatever information is required by the local municipality, county, state or federal government. Real estate attorneys have the experience to understand what issues come up and what to look for in a title commitment. They can also help you understand any risks involved in the purchase.

Given that you want to tear down the house on the property, you’ll need to understand how that might work with your insurance carrier and the lender that gave you the loan. When you take out a loan to purchase a house, the lender doesn’t expect you to turn around and tear it down.

You’ll also need to know what zoning laws say, what restrictions there are on what you can build. Is the property in a flood zone area? There may be other municipal, wetland, zoning or other issues you’ll need to consider.

Finally, you’ll want to make sure the deeds are filed correctly. Let us know how it goes.

Ilyce Glink is the CEO of Best Money Moves and Samuel J. Tamkin is a real estate attorney. Contact them through the website ThinkGlink.com.