Buying land not listed for sale..

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eric

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Mar 27, 2018
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Hi all, new here from New York and I have a question about buying land not listed for sale.

So the story is I’m interested in land that has been vacant for quite some time. It is up the road from my house now, and I live next door to my parents so I’ve been around the area my whole life.

The land I’m interested in is 90 acres (I’m only interested in about 6.) The husband passed away and the mother and son moved to Virginia years ago, all the other siblings are around the country. There house sits on part of it and is badly condemned, the land is wide open and clear and just sits there. The only use the land gets I think is a man who lets a few of his cows eat on it in the summer.

So I think I found the number for the son who is listed as the owner with the mother but I can’t get ahold of them, I’ve left a nice message and I don’t want to be pushy but I’m overly interested in this spot.


What should I do?
 
Contact a real estate lawyer and have them draft a letter stating your intent. They may not take a random phone call seriously but a letter from a lawyer maybe get more of a response.
 
eric said:
Should the letter include an offer?
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That would be up to you and your lawyer to decide. A real estate lawyer would also be able to help verify who the true owner of the land is should it have been sold at some point or if it was seized due to failure to pay back taxes.
 
eric said:
Gotcha! Thank you. I have looked up the property on the tax rolls to find the owner, I find it interesting in 2017 the mother and deceased father were listed as the owners, 2018 shows that the son has been added to the owner list.
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That is not uncommon. The last place we rented was still listed as the husband's property even though he had passed a year before we moved in. The deed was rewritten to say the wife owned it right before she listed it for sale last year.

My grandmother's house in Florida was still in my grandfather's name until the day it sold. He died in 1974 and the house was sold in 1998.
 
Grimm said:
That is not uncommon. The last place we rented was still listed as the husband's property even though he had passed a year before we moved in. The deed was rewritten to say the wife owned it right before she listed it for sale last year.

My grandmother's house in Florida was still in my grandfather's name until the day it sold. He died in 1974 and the house was sold in 1998.
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Wow, interesting! I guess my only concern with the lawyer thing is coming off too strong and scaring them off ya know? I actually had the idea of handwriting a letter and envelope if I can’t get ahold of em by phone. I’m just so dead set on having this piece of land that I won’t give up. I would even let the man who lets his cows eat on it still do this.
 
Let the lawyer handle it. Never make an offer - not even a low offer. Let the seller make an offer and you can go from there. I don't make counter offers, I let the owner drop the price himself. The lawyer will know what the land is worth on the market and he gets his money whether it sells or not. He is also working for you, not like a real estate broker who works for the seller. Every piece of property I have bought, I was represented by a lawyer. In this case it is always best and less expensive to have a lawyer working for you. I have always saved at least twice what the lawyer cost.
 
SheepDog said:
Let the lawyer handle it. Never make an offer - not even a low offer. Let the seller make an offer and you can go from there. I don't make counter offers, I let the owner drop the price himself. The lawyer will know what the land is worth on the market and he gets his money whether it sells or not. He is also working for you, not like a real estate broker who works for the seller. Every piece of property I have bought, I was represented by a lawyer. In this case it is always best and less expensive to have a lawyer working for you. I have always saved at least twice what the lawyer cost.
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Great advice! Have you ever encountered a situation like mine?
 
eric said:
Should the letter include an offer?
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NO! Never let the Seller know what your top dollar is! And don’t act desperate either.

Car Dealership had a used car I was mildly interested in. Salesman told me their “asking price”. From their oil change sticker on the windshield the car had been on their lot for 7 months and driven less then 50 miles.

His response to me asking for their “selling price” he gave me the same price as their “asking price”. My response was to reach for my hat as I stood up and thank him for his time. My willingness to walkout got his attention. An hour later and several trips by the Salesman to talk to his manger we agreed on a price. Turns out their final “selling price” was close to $3,000 less then their “asking price”. And no I didn’t buy an extended warranty. On the way home I started to smile, I just bought a vehicle I been wanting since I was a preteen.

Eric. From your post I get the impression you are eager and in a hurry to buy. Don’t leave the same impression with the potential Seller.

Go with Grimm’s recommendation.
 
eric said:
Great advice! Have you ever encountered a situation like mine?
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We have bought all 3 of our pastures by having our realtor contact the owner to see if they would be interested in selling. We now have 75 acres that we paid about $90,000 for. That includes the land my home is on.
 
Personally, I'd just draft a letter and send it. Tell them the truth. Let them know you live next to the property and that you'd like to own it for......whatever reason you have in mind. Tell them you'd be willing to discuss price and the amount of property they'd be willing to part with. Include a self addressed stamped envelope and ask them to please let you know one way or the other if they are interested. Including a SASE will increase your chances of a reply (if they prefer not to call), and even if they don't reply you're only out the price of that stamp. Ask them to keep your information on hand so that if someday they decide to sell, to contact you first so that perhaps you can avoid realtor fees.

We've done this before and we got a reply on one of them. The other 2 letters went unanswered but those taxes are paid up, so the owners clearly did not want to sell. Still, they know we are interested if or when they ever decide to sell and would like to make a deal on the side, so to speak.

You can always contact your county building to see if taxes are all paid up. It is public information so anyone who wants that information can get it for free.

I'm not sure I'd go the lawyer route myself, but we are kind of in the sticks and still do things with a handshake and a smile. I never go the lawyer route unless it is absolutely necessary. For just inquiring about a piece of property, I think going with a lawyer is pretty heavy handed. I'm sure that is different in other parts of the nation though. If I got a letter from a lawyer like that, I don't think I'd appreciate it. I guess I'd have to see the letter itself first, but I would think that anyone who hired a lawyer just to inquire about my land would be flush with cash and really want it BAD......which means if you get a response, the price is likely going to be sky high.
 
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OK.....this is weird.

I just got my mail today and there is a letter in there from a properties company asking us if we'd like to sell a piece of property we own. LOL! The answer is a hard NO! But I will just ignore the letter. Still, I can't blame them for trying. One never knows what the answer will be if they never ask the question. I'll keep it with our will and other 'end of life' papers so that if our kids want to sell it after we're dead, they can contact this company (once they get a fair appraisal of the property) and perhaps make a deal. Perhaps it will save them some money, perhaps not. Things change. Still, extra information (and/or options) is never a bad thing.
 
I have been on both sides of this game.

After purchasing The Ridge I made a point of introducing myself to all of the neighbors. Any time I saw them out I would least smile and wave. One of them had a nice place and I told the owner that if he was ever interested in selling to let me know. After his father died he decided to sell and move in with his mother. That is the property I refer to as the rental property.

I have also been contacted about 3 properties The Princess and own. Two of them we have no desire to sell yet but The Ridge was of interest to a convenience store chain. I turned them over to my financial guy. That deal didn't happen.

So...

It never hurts to ask but I found it helpful to have an experienced negotiator to get a good deal.

Ben
 
My mother and her brothers have decided to sell their farm. 138 acres of prime Iowa farmland, with about 20 acres of brush and CRP. They hired one of the biggest real estate auctioneers in the state. Local land auctions have been going upwards of $13,000 an acre. They want it as publicized as possible, because this could be a million and a half if we get the right bidders. I don't see why anyone wouldn't publicize their real estate, unless they're selling to someone who they want to sell it to...
 
Bacpacker said:
I get somewhat regular texts from land/real estate companies asking if I'd be interested in selling. Thats just started in the last couple years.
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Me too, all the time!
 
Vlenkasuik09 said:
A very unpleasant situation happened to me recently. I was entering into a contract for the purchase and sale of certain land.
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Spam-spam-spam-spam.jpg
 
If you have, I've been right there with ya, lol... do I actually see some sort of Hawaiian Spam? :rolleyes:

Hostile 350-lb. moke in the old days: "STUPID HAOLE, YOU LIKUM BEEF?!?" :oops:

Hostile 350-lb. moke now: "STUPID HAOLE, YOU LIKUM SPAM?!?" :confused:

Somehow it doesn't have the same ring to it, lol... ;)
 
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