It depends on the loan program, your plans, and how the parcels are titled; the cleanest structure is often cash for the lot and financing only the house. Raw land usually carries far less value than an improved property, so paying cash for the vacant parcel and financing the parcel with the house on it tends to beat trying to wrap both into one loan. Combining two separate parcels in a single transaction is possible in some cases, but the financing gets complicated fast, so the structure matters. On building a second home on land that already has one, the answer comes down to local zoning: whether the lot is single-family or multi-family, and whether the rules treat the new structure as an accessory dwelling unit. Those definitions drive what you can finance. One real example: on family land in Idaho that had only a shop building, the initial answer was no ADU, because there was no primary house yet. Building the smaller unit first and designating it as the future ADU, once a larger home goes up later, cleared the path. Start with your local planning department on zoning, then match the loan program to the plan.