Do’s and Don’ts For Selling Land by Owner

Do’s and Don’ts For Selling Land by Owner

Landowners have been selling their own properties successfully for a very long time, and so can you. Whether you plan to sell via online auctions, newspaper ads, social media or other means, you can definitely sell land yourself. Selling land by owner if done the right way can save you time and money when selling land on your own. The following some factors to consider when selling your land without a broker.

Don’t Worry if Your Land Isn’t Perfect

Okay, so you’re not exactly selling a mansion in Beverly Hills…….Don’t worry about it.

Somebody wants your land. You’d be amazed at what people will buy, including alleys, flooded land, abandoned houses, and off-grid desert land. Don’t despair if your land seems less than desirable. It doesn’t have to be perfect; it just has to be sold. Instead of concentrating on its negative qualities, promote its positive aspects.

You don’t have a right to be dishonest when selling land, but you absolutely have a right to be creative. If there’s anything nice you can say about your land, then say it proudly.

Do Contact a Land Company

 Here’s an option if you need to sell your unwanted land quickly: Contact a land buyer company that offers fast payments, and also takes care of all the legal filing.

Some companies specialize in acquiring a large portfolio of properties. An online search for “Sell my property fast” or something similar will help you find them. Most of these sites have a form where you describe your land, often including its parcel number, so be sure to have that handy. Fill out the form, send it, and wait for an offer.

Research the Land Your Selling 

It can be both fun and profitable to research your land. If the land has been in your family for a long time, you might already know its history. But, if you bought the property at a tax auction, from a newspaper ad, or even just inherited it from a distant relative, you may be curious about the former owners — and your potential clients might be, too.

Sometimes, at least a few of the former owners can be found online via a search of the county property assessor’s office, and there are records at the county courthouse that can take you back farther than that.

This can make a difference is when selling the property yourself. Land becomes more interesting to everyone when you can relate it to history. You may think your land is no big deal, but there are very few sites that don’t have some kind of historical event that occurred there, or at least close enough to your property to mention it in an ad.

Even if you can’t link it to a historical event, you might ask around for interesting stories about the former owners. The more you know about your land, the more interesting things there are to mention in the ad you’ll be writing.

Don’t Overprice Your Property

 Get real. If you’re asking far beyond the normal market price for land (or anything else), it’ll probably sit there unsold until the end of time.

If you own a nearly useless little strip of land in a cornfield someplace, don’t act like you’re selling an acre of prime real estate in Manhattan.

If you really want to get rid of your property fast, you’ve got to be ready to make a deal. If it’s a problem property, whether due to urban blight, remote location, flooding or other factors, then understand that it might not sell for the price you’d originally hoped.

Do Test the Market

Let’s say that you have a property, and you’re not really sure what it’s worth. Run a free ad on Craigslist, or some other site, and let other people tell you.

Start a bit high. See if you get any responses. If you don’t, then lower the price, and try again.

If you get several responses at a certain price, then you’ll know you’re offering a price that people are interested in discussing. Then, you can either go ahead and make a deal or run the land at that same price on an online auction. Or, try selling it via a newspaper ad.

Do Have the “DIY” Spirit

 DIY: Do it yourself!

You can do nearly anything yourself, including selling your land. You don’t need a middleman to sell your property for you. It just takes some basic research and effort on your part, and you can be selling like a pro.