Before you talk price, know exactly what is for sale: the parcel ID, the legal description, the acreage, the zoning and the future land use. Price per acre only means something once those five agree with each other.
Parcel ID, legal description and acreage
- Parcel ID. Every parcel has a number assigned by the county property appraiser. Search it on the appraiser's website for the owner, the size on the tax roll, the tax district and the assessed value.
- Legal description. This is the text in the deed: a lot and block in a recorded plat, or a metes-and-bounds description. It controls what you are buying. The listing, the mailbox and the fence line do not.
- Acreage. One acre is 43,560 square feet. The acreage in a listing usually comes from the tax roll. Only a survey gives the measured figure.
Check the jurisdiction while you are there. A mailing address does not tell you whether land is inside a city. The City of Apopka itself tells residents to confirm city limits on the Orange County Property Appraiser's site. The tax rate (16.0079 mills inside Apopka for 2026, 15.9798 in the base unincorporated code) and the building rules both depend on the answer.
Zoning and future land use are two layers
Zoning is the rulebook that applies today: permitted uses, minimum lot size, setbacks. Future land use is the category on the local comprehensive plan, and it sets the range of density the plan will support. A project has to fit both.
A Lake County planning staff report dated June 4, 2025 shows the two layers side by side. It describes the county's R-6 Urban Residential zoning as allowing six dwelling units per net acre, on land whose Urban High Density future land use category allows four to twelve per net buildable acre.
Ask the planning office for both designations in writing, by parcel ID.
Price per acre
Divide the price by the acres. Then ask why the answer is what it is.
| Parcel | Price | Closed | Per acre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 74 acres, Center Hill, Sumter County | $825,000 | March 2023 | $11,149 |
| 10 acres, Umatilla, Lake County | $800,000 | June 2026 | $80,000 |
The math: $825,000 divided by 74 is $11,148.65, and $800,000 divided by 10 is $80,000. Robert represented the seller on the first and the buyer on the second. Nearly the same money bought 74 acres in one place and 10 in another.
The gap has causes you can list:
- Size. Large tracts usually sell for less per acre than small ones.
- Location and road frontage.
- What the zoning and land use allow.
- Water, sewer and power at the boundary, or a mile away.
- Improvements included in the price: a house, a barn, a well, fencing, a cleared pad.
- How much of the acreage is wetland or flood zone. Lesson 3 covers that.
So compare a parcel only with sales that match it on those points.
Acreage, zoning and "buildable" in a listing are the seller's description. The deed, the survey and the county's written answer are the evidence.
Before the next lesson
- Look up a parcel you like on the county property appraiser's site and save the record.
- Email the county or city planning office for the zoning and future land use, by parcel ID.
- Work out price per acre and per square foot in the land calculator.
- Read the guide to buying land and acreage in Central Florida.
Sources: Lake County rezoning staff report, June 4, 2025, City of Apopka on confirming city limits, Orange County final 2026 millage. Sale figures are from Robert Moore's public sales record. Checked November 2026.
An acre is 43,560 square feet. The legal description in the deed defines the property, and a survey shows where it falls on the ground.
