Everything about buying this land on terms, written down in one place, plus exactly what happens between here and the closing table. Read it, and tell me what you want changed before anything is signed.
The land itself, with the soil report, the well records and the comps: the tract page
Nothing here is a surprise and nothing is buried. If a line does not match what you understood, say so now rather than at the closing table.
| Purchase price on terms | $40,000 | The cash price is $34,900. On terms the price is $40,000, so carrying it costs $5,100 more than writing a cheque. That is the whole of the premium and it is stated here rather than hidden in the rate: there is no bank, no application, no income verification and no appraisal, and this is what that is worth. If you are paying cash, ignore this page and take the $34,900. |
| Down payment | $12,000 | 30% of the terms price, due at closing, wired from your own account. It does not have to be in hand today. If you are still assembling it we set the closing date for when it is ready, rather than shrinking the down payment and raising the note. |
| Amount financed | $28,000 | The balance, carried on a promissory note secured by a deed of trust on the land. |
| Interest rate | 11% | Fixed for the life of the note. It never adjusts. |
| Term | 72 months | Six years, fully amortized. There is no balloon payment and nothing comes due in a lump at the end. The last payment clears the balance to zero. |
| Monthly payment | $532.95 | Principal and interest. The same figure every month for 72 months. |
| First payment | 30 days | Due 30 days after closing, then the same day each month. |
| Prepayment | No penalty | Ever. Pay extra any month, or pay it off entirely, and you owe only the interest that has accrued through that day. On a six-year note that is worth knowing: the interest is front-loaded, so early extra principal takes real money off the total. |
| Document fee | $200 | One time, at closing. It covers preparing the note and the deed of trust. |
| Note servicing | $25/mo | Each month for the life of the note. It covers the third-party servicer that collects the payment, keeps the ledger and sends you statements. See step 6. |
| Total monthly | $557.95 | What actually leaves your account each month: the $532.95 note payment plus the $25 servicing fee. One payment, one place. |
| Late fee | $25 | Charged only if a payment is more than 10 days late. Nothing is charged inside the grace period. |
| Property taxes | You pay direct | The county bills you once the deed is in your name. The 2025 bill on this tract was $135. There is no tax escrow on the note, so it is your bill to pay and to keep current. |
| Closing costs | Buyer | Title company fee, title work and recording. Broken out line by line in the next section, and materially cheaper than the same closing would be in Georgia, because Missouri has no transfer tax and no tax on the note. |
| Earnest money | $1,000 | Paid to the closing agent when we go under contract, held in their escrow account, not ours, and credited back to you at closing as part of your down payment. |
| Closing date | to set | Set in the agreement, for a date that clears the credit report in step 1 and gives you time to have the full down payment in your account. |
On the rate. The note rate is 11% fixed. If you fold in the one-time $200 document fee, the effective rate across the six years works out to about 11.3%. Counting the $25 monthly servicing fee on top of that, about 13.0%. We would rather show you that arithmetic than have you find it yourself later. Carried to term, 72 payments of $532.95 total $38,372.40, of which $10,372.40 is interest.
Who you actually pay. The financing here is arranged through a private investor, and the note is assigned to them at closing, so your monthly payment goes to their servicer rather than to us. Nothing about your side changes: the price, the rate, the term, the payment and the deed are all exactly as written on this page, and they are written into the note you sign. But it is your money and you should know where it goes, so it is on the page rather than in the small print.
This is financing on the land only. A home, a well or a septic system is a separate conversation with a dealer, a driller or a lender, and it is worth asking them early how a seller-financed note on the land sits with anything they would write. Some will want to be in first position, which is a solvable problem, but it is much easier solved before you order anything than after.
Nobody likes finding these out at the table, so here they are in advance. This is a standard Missouri title-company closing, handled by True Title Company, LLC of O’Fallon, Missouri, on (636) 764-2780. Treat the ranges as an estimate, not a quote. They give you the real numbers before you wire a dollar, and the two lines below that are not set by statute are the only two that can move.
| Line | Who pays | Estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Closing agent feeTrue Title Company, LLC, 830 Waterbury Falls Drive, O’Fallon, MO 63368: escrow, settlement statement, preparing the deed, the note and the deed of trust, and conducting the closing | You | $400 to $700 |
| Owner’s title insuranceOptional, and we think worth it. A one-time premium on a $40,000 policy that covers you for as long as you own the land. The title work is already done: True Title searched the title and issued an ALTA commitment, file OF265917, underwritten by Westcor Land Title Insurance Company, which found no open deeds of trust. That commitment was written on the purchase into our name, so they update the search and reissue it in yours | You | $250 to $400 |
| Recording the deedSet by statute: $5 for the first page and $3 for each page after (RSMo 59.310), plus the $6 user fee every Missouri recorder collects (RSMo 59.319) | You | about $15 |
| Recording the deed of trustThe same statutory rate on a longer instrument | You | about $30 |
| Transfer taxMissouri does not have one. The state constitution forbids the state, counties and any political subdivision from imposing a tax on the sale or transfer of real estate (Mo. Const. art. X, § 25, adopted November 2010) | Neither | none |
| Tax on the noteMissouri has no intangible or mortgage recording tax. The same $28,000 note in Georgia would carry $84 of intangible tax before anyone recorded it | Neither | none |
| Closing protection letterMissouri requires one to be issued to each party to the transaction, at a cost set by statute (RSMo 381.058). It protects you against theft of your settlement funds by the closing agent, or their failure to follow the closing instructions | You | $25 |
| Document feeThe $200 from the terms table, paid at closing | You | $200 |
| 2026 property taxesProrated to the day you close. It can land either way depending on whether the year’s bill has already been paid. The 2025 bill on this tract was $135 | Split | prorated |
| Your closing costs, estimated | $900 to $1,400 |
$12,900 to $13,400What you actually need in your account by closing day, being the $12,000 down payment plus these costs. Budget to the top of that range and be pleasantly surprised. The $1,000 of earnest money is part of the $12,000, not on top of it, so it is money you have already sent rather than money you still need.
Two of those lines are quotes rather than statute and are the only ones that will move: the closing agent fee and the title policy. The recording fees are fixed by Missouri statute and the two biggest lines a Georgia or Tennessee buyer would expect, a transfer tax and a tax on the note, do not exist here at all. If you would rather skip the owner’s title policy that is your call and it takes about $300 off, but the commitment is already written and clear to insure, so it is the cheapest protection on the page and the only line here that pays you back if something is wrong with the title years from now.
Six steps. Two of them are yours to do, the rest are mine and the title company's. Nothing is binding until we both sign the purchase agreement in step 2.
One recent report, with the score on it. You pull it, you send it to me, and it should not cost you a dollar: your bank or credit card app almost certainly shows your FICO score for free, and the full report is free once a year from annualcreditreport.com, which is the federally mandated site and not a trial subscription in disguise.
This is the only qualifying step there is. No bank application, no income verification, no tax returns, no appraisal. Terms need a score above 650. When the down payment is assembled, a bank statement or a screenshot showing it in your own account, and that is the whole of it.
You pull it and you send it, which means the report stays in your hands and I only ever see what you choose to show me.
You · usually the same day
I send a purchase and sale agreement carrying every number on this page, with the earnest money amount and the closing date filled in. You read it, you ask for changes, and we both sign it. Until that is signed, neither of us owes the other anything.
Me, then you
$1,000, to True Title Company, LLC on (636) 764-2780, into their escrow account. It does not come to me and I cannot touch it. It is credited straight back to you at closing as part of your down payment, so it is not an extra cost, it is the first $1,000 of the $12,000.
You · within a few days of signing
This step is mostly done already. True Title has searched the title and issued an ALTA commitment, file OF265917, underwritten by Westcor Land Title Insurance Company, and it found no open deeds of trust against the land. They update the search to the day and reissue the commitment in your name, prepare the deed, the promissory note and the Missouri deed of trust, and quote you the closing costs. If anything turns up on title that you should know about, you hear it from them, not from me.
Two practical things they will ask for. A valid state-issued driver licence is required for every closing they handle, and a non-driver state ID needs a second form of identification alongside it. And every document has to meet the Missouri recording format rules (RSMo 59.005, 59.310 and 59.313); anything that does not carries an extra $25 fee from the Recorder, which is their job to get right rather than yours.
True Title Company, LLC · O’Fallon, Missouri
$11,000, being the balance of the $12,000 after the $1,000 of earnest money you already sent, plus the closing costs they quote you, which the section above puts at roughly $900 to $1,400 including the $200 document fee. Wired from your own account to their escrow, on their written instructions. You sign the note and the deed of trust, the deed to the land goes into your name, and the deed and deed of trust are recorded in Lawrence County.
It has to be a wire, and Missouri is strict about this. State law requires good funds at the table (RSMo 381.412), meaning a wire, a cashier’s cheque or a certified cheque. True Title does not accept ACH transfers at all, so ask your bank for a wire and not an ACH. A personal cheque only counts if it has been deposited at least ten business days before closing, which in practice means it is not an option.
You · at the closing table
The note is serviced by Terra Notes. They collect the payment, apply it to principal and interest, keep the amortization schedule and send you a statement, so everyone is working from the same ledger instead of a shoebox. You make one payment a month, $557.95, and it is split between the $532.95 that goes against the note and the $25 servicing fee. That is what makes the payoff figure something you can look up rather than something you have to ask for.
You will get a welcome notice from them with your account and payment options. Autopay is the simplest way to run it.
Both of us · at or just after closing
Wire fraud is the one real danger in this process. Criminals watch land closings, spoof the closing agent's email address and send fake wiring instructions, usually the day before you are due to send money. Before you wire a dollar, call True Title on (636) 764-2780 and read the account details back to them out loud. That number is on this page so you have it from us rather than from an email, and it is worth confirming independently anyway. True Title sends their instructions through CertifID rather than by plain email, and those instructions never change mid-deal: if you ever get a message saying they have, it is fake, and the right response is to ring them rather than to reply. I will never email you wiring instructions, and neither of us will ever ask you to send funds by ACH.
Yours, at closing, subject to the deed of trust. You own the land from day one and you can clear it, fence it, drill the well, put the septic in, camp on it or borrow against it. This is not a contract for deed or a rent-to-own, where the seller holds title until the last payment. The deed is recorded in your name at closing.
The servicer shows a zero balance, a deed of release is recorded against the deed of trust in Lawrence County, and the land is yours free and clear. Nothing further is owed and nothing further is signed. On this note that is 72 payments, or sooner if you pay ahead.
Yes. The balance is paid off out of the sale proceeds at the closing table, the same way any mortgage is. There is no penalty for doing it in year two.
$34,900 cash, $40,000 on terms, a $5,100 difference. Carrying paper costs money and ties it up for six years, and that is what the difference pays for. It buys you a purchase with no bank, no application, no income verification and no appraisal, on a credit report and a down payment. If you can write the cheque, write it and take $34,900. This page is for the buyer who would rather put $12,000 down and keep the rest working.
We hold this tract under contract from the owner of record and are selling that position for our own account as principals, not as agents or brokers for anybody. At closing you buy the land from the owner by assignment or novation. Either way you walk out with a recorded deed in your name and the price is the price. The financing is arranged through a private investor and the note is assigned to them at closing, which is why your payment goes to their servicer rather than to us. Every number on this page is written into the note you sign.
The septic permit with the Lawrence County Health Department, who issue it against the soil evaluation already on file, and your own driller and installer on what they charge. The tract page carries our figures and where each one came from, including the signed soil report in full, the 14 neighbouring well records and the written septic quote. Do not take a single one of them from us without checking it.
Once the report from step 1 is in my hands, I can have the purchase agreement to you the same day, with the earnest money amount and a closing date written into it. From signing, a Missouri land closing usually takes a week or two, and on this tract the title search and commitment are already done, which is normally the slowest part.
If any term on this page is not what you want, tell me before you spend money on step 1. The down payment, the term and the payment all move together, and I would rather rework them now than have you order a report against numbers you were never going to sign.
Call or text me. Text gets the fastest answer.
35 closings across 24 counties in five states. Noble Land Partners® is BBB accredited with an A+ rating, 18 customer reviews averaging 5 stars, and no complaints closed in the last three years.
Noble Land Partners