I am selling off 40 acres of raw land and I started with Craigslist. They are the dregs of society. They seem to fall into a few categories.
(1 most of them) OMG it is perfect. Could you give me some details on …
I provide details
Never heard from again. Not even a no thank you.
(2) What do ya mean your not going to give it to me for $100 and $5000 total?! You must not be serious about selling.
(3) Is it a turn key property meaning you already have it wired for electricity and piped water and gas?
No. It is raw land. Those things are close by but we haven’t actually paid to tie those into the property we use for camping.
And my personal favorite that I got once.
(4) You didn’t put your name, address, phone number and email in the post. No personal details = SCAM!!
So besides Craiglist, how else should I try to sell the land? The realty company in that area is a do-nothing and raw land he lists sit idle for years. Also his way of doing business opens up certain ethical issues. Online there are a ton of buyrawlandnow.com websites but they seem to be the land equivalent of FSBO sites and there are so many of those sites my ad would be lost in the noise.
So any alternatives?
A well constructed sign that is prominently displayed on the property might help. I have had luck with craigslist, but you do have to weed out the scammers and lowballers. There are FSBO websites around but I have never used one.
If this is part of a “Planned Development”, are there any lots with buildings - houses, stores, warehouses, hangars for the drug-running planes using the “streets” for runways*?
If there is a community (was the development given a name?), perhaps there is a chat room for people interested in the area.
Please say this isn’t FL?
in the case of Florida and GDC’s “developments” this is the only known usage of some of the asphalt strips in swamps.
Hells bells, man, develop it yourself … 40 acres is a good 300 residential lots … ball park figure of $100k each … that’s … ummm … errr … $30m gross.
You can figure a way to recoup 50% margins … and in the mean time you can grow pot … are you in one of the States that have already or are likely to legalize recreational pot?
Alternately, go to your nearest Big City and talk to the developers there … and then talk to an actual commercial real estate agent, not some bozo working out of his garage.
I have 15 acres of raw land I want to sell. Two neighbors have told us over the years that if we ever wanted to sell, let them know. We offered it to the one neighbor we know, and they say they intend to buy it. We agree on the price, and I hope they go through with the sale.
Otherwise, local newspapers, online classified/pennysaver type websites, a big sign on the property and local developers all seem like things I would try. Craigslist would be a last resort before I listed it with a real estate broker.
This is what I would look into. The buyers of raw land tend to be older investors, hobby farmers, or real estate agents. The older one’s idea of research is still scouring such publications.
The others probably do search online. I would write up the relevant details in a Word document that specifically tells them how to contact you. Cut and paste that into any inquiries from Craigslist. The one’s that don’t respond as you instruct - (Are they interested or not!!) - will automatically weed themselves out as flakey buyers. And most CR contacts ARE flakes, that’s why you shouldn’t bother retyping details for initial enquiries.
Since this is now in IMHO can I hijack to ask a question? How much should typical farm land cost?
In rural Thailand, land suitable mostly for rice farming sells for about $7000 - $9000 per acre. Think sandy soil, decent but non-special water access, nowhere near a town, easily accessible but not fronting a paved road, lot-size between, say, 6 and 35 acres. No reason to imagine the land will be used for anything but farming in the medium-term future.
I’ve wondered how this price compares with that of other countries. I’m speaking of land with a full-authority land deed.
There’s also land for sale in rural Thailand with no land deed that sells for a small fraction of the above price, but purchase is illegal and subject to confiscation. (Still I’ve wondered if such deedless land is a bargain if the chance that some future government will provide a land deed is as high as 20%. :dubious: — my house is built on deedless land, but we’re proud that our document has been promoted to a confirmed 2nd-class squatter’s right!)
Well… I sell commercial real estate and raw industrial land. We also have a land division that concentrates in farmland and recreational hunting land.
A few points.
You seem surprised that selling raw development land in 2016 might take years. Unless you are in a fairly hot market this timeline is the norm for raw land unless you are pricing it to sell quickly. Do you have a current survey? Do you have an estimate for the sitework costs necessary to serve the property with water and sewer? Cost to deliver utilities? Easements? Development rights? Is it known for certain that you can (or cannot) build a residence or cabin on the property?
To be frank raw land recreational sites like yours are a dime a dozen and generally have relatively low per acre values, and (not to say that you are) raw land sellers are often very unrealistic about time to sell and pricing. If you want to move it quickly you had best be very realistic about market pricing.
The most effective and popular site for raw land sales used by raw land agents and brokers is http://www.landwatch.com but it’s not free.