Start looking at new spec homes. Find a builder who's product you like, and talk to them. You might be able to get in early enough to get what you want. We got lucky in the NW burbs and found a teardown we were able to snap up. Good luck!

When I was a builder, I built mostly in rural areas, but the process was the same. Find old farmland, see what it could be cut up into, figure out the price, then make an offer. Same thing applies. Look for land that isn't for sale. Yet.

Our builder was happy to look at various lots with us and help find the one that suited us best. I am also in the NW Chicagoland area...happy to pass along the name of our builder if you want to message me.

Thanks all for the quick feedback!

@poolroom - first, awesome username. We've added teardowns to our search, but thanks for the advice.

@ichabod - Interesting idea. We're somewhat constrained to some school districts around where we live, but that's a really interesting idea. Is there some sort of approach that works well with folks, to convince them to do a little carve-out?

@alley - Would love the intro. Don't know how to message anyone, though...I'm new to Houzz! Please advise.

I'd like to know how to message too!

I grew up NW of Chicago and now live north. When DH and I failed to find what we wanted in existing RE we zeroed in on the neighborhood we wanted and found a teardown. What we eventually bought had been listed, but we also sent letters to homeowners asking if they would be interested in selling. We got a few decent responses, although some were 'just fishing'.

Once we had the lot, we interviewed about six builders. Found our own architect. Fought with the town's building review committee and...finally built!

Location is the most important factor. You can always find a builder.

@DLM, I updated my setting to allow you to message me. I'd appreciate the referral. thanks in advance!

David Gimpel that wasn't me with the referral, that was alley2007 - click on his/her user name and on the profile page you'll see the option to message him/her on the right side of the cover photo.

We did a similar thing in our area- kept close watch on
zoning and what was going on the area, and developed close relationships
through our real estate agent with two developers in areas we were interested
in. All these guys have "handshake deals" with builders to grab the
land as soon as it's platted, but after nearly 2 years, we were able to get what we
wanted for an exteremely good price- he wanted to move that land, and didn't mark it up (it should have been quite a bit more, but he was "done" with this development, and I think he just wanted it finished out). It took a builder backing out of several lots (bankruptcy),
but the dev. called us and told us we had 24hrs if we wanted one of them.
Again...we'd been in contact with him for nearly two years, but it paid off in
our very "hot" market here.

Patience, patience, patience.

Chisue, I wonder if we got one of your letters lol! That's how we sold our last house (though we were enormously surprised when they didn't tear it down but did just a kitchen remodel). And it's what's happening right now to the house I grew up in; the current owners finally got an offer they couldn't refuse, at the right time in their lives, and the house is going to come down (architect custom-designed, custom built, but it's not a two-story and doesn't have an open floor plan or an island kitchen. Sigh. They want the school district.) All north of CHI.

Teardowns are your friend. You're already in a high COL area, with a high cost to do anything. What's a little more cash up front expenditure for demo?

bpathome -- Waving hello! We lived in the Avoca school district when our DS was young. The traffic -- road and air -- got to us. We moved another 16 miles north once DH retired and didn't need to commute daily.

When we bought here, we actually thought we would remodel the very ordinary ranch from the 1950's. Nah! Then we'd have a mismatch with some new and some old, and who-knows-what cropping up all the time. Very glad we are 'all new' -- well...new in 2001.

The forum seldom talks about Building Review Boards...but our OP should be aware of them. I lost 30 pounds and we lost half a year due to those fine citizens. Stay away from any 'Historic' areas if you plan to tear down!

I'm having a similar problem looking for a building lot in Philadelphia. Everything decent gets snapped up by developers, and real estate agents don't seem very interested in selling lots. This despite the fact that the city is full of vacant land. I don't get it.

David, did you ever find a lot to build on? Where?