In these ten tips on how to sell your land, you’re going to discover how the Pro’s do it! Now keep in mind, these tips are just suggestions. And, depending on your property some of these may not apply.
So as you read through this list what I recommend is that you keep an open mind. And please, realize that in your particular situation, some of these tips may be unnecessary. However, if you want to sell your land quickly and turn your Dirt Into Dollars, these ideas could be very helpful.
The main idea behind these ten tips on how to sell your land, is to remove any concerns a buyer may have about your property in advance. Doing this will cause them to make quicker and better offers. You need to take away all of the reasons a buyer may have for not making you an offer. When you do this, you’ll have a better chance of getting more and better offers. And ultimately, selling your land for more money.
The savvy seller knows both sides of the transaction. It’s important to know what a buyer is concerned about when buying land to build on. This will help you make better decisions when preparing your land for the market. And ultimately, help you sell your land at a higher price in less time!
Before You Put Your Land On The Market
Clean Up The Site
The first thing you’ll want to do to sell your land is clean up your property. If you have any trash, old cars, trucks, farm equipment on the property, you’ll want to remove all of it before you put your property on the market. If you have old dilapidated structures on the property that are unusable, you’ll need to remove them as well. To sell you land for the most money you’ll need to make your land builder ready! Don’t expect a buyer to pay you top dollar and remove your stuff for free! A builder ready lot will greatly improve your chances to sell your land at top dollar.
Tip: Remember any thing you leave behind that the buyer has to discard will result in a lower offer.
Get A Survey And Clearly Mark The Property Corners
If you don’t already have one you should get a survey. On the survey you should have the surveyor mark the boundaries, setbacks, any Grand Trees and wetlands. Also…make sure they put stakes with flags on every corner. Any buyer considering a purchase is going to want to be able to walk the property and see the boundaries. By doing this you will allow the buyer to get the best feel for the size of the property. Don’t make a buyer guess. If you want to sell you land for top dollar get a survey and clearly mark the boundries.
Tip: Go out to the property the day it’s surveyed. Or the next day to find the flags and corner pins. Often neighbors will remove them if they don’t agree with the surveyor’s work.
Once you find the corner pin’s remark the corners with PVC pipe. Take a 4′-6′ long piece of white PVC pipe and drive it into the ground on top of the corner pin. This makes it much easier for prospective buyers to see than the typical one foot tall survey stake.
Provide Easy Access To The Property
If a buyer can’t safely or easily park relatively close to the property you have a problem. You want the buyer to be able to park on the property and get out and walk the land. You’ll never sell your land for top dollar if a buyer can’t get on the property easily. They will just drive on by and never stop or look.
Also…if they can’t park on or near the property they may not be able to easily see the information on the sign. Think about, if your driving by at 35, 45 or 55 mph., are you really going to be able to write down the contact information on the sign?
Clear A Path To Sell Your Land
If your property is overgrown with brush, shrubs, trees and vines you need to clean it up. A buyer needs to be able to walk the property without having to bring their own bush hog! At a minimum, cut a path around the exterior boundary and through the middle of the property. This way any prospective buyer can at least get somewhat of a feel for what’s there. My recommendation is to go all the way. If you want to sell your land for the most money, clean it up as completely as you can. Even if it means spending some real money, in the end it will help you sell for more, and faster.
Tip: A buyer needs to be able to safely get to and on the property. Walk the land and see its boundaries.
Get Water & Sewer Availability Letters
Depending on the County, Town or City, you’ll need to contact the untility providers for the area about getting a Water and Sewer Availability Letter. If these services are not available to your property you’ll need to contact DHEC and order a perc test. A perc test will determine what type of septic system your lot will support. Also, if water service is not available to your property, you’ll need to get a quote from a local well contractor.
Tip: Eliminate the buyers concerns about what utilities service your property in advance. It will help you sell faster and for more money!
Again, the idea here when you want to sell your land is to eliminate any potential buyer objections. The main reason we do this is because buyers always over estimate what these costs are. And, when they use unrealistic numbers, it makes their cost to build higher. Which translates into the buyer being more motivated to pay less for your land due to a higher cost of construction.
So if we can give a buyer a breakdown of what the realistic costs to build are, it will help them make a quicker decision. And thus, help you sell your land faster and for more money!
Test The Soil Bearing Capacity
This is probably the most expensive tip I’m going to give you. And this is the one that most people will not do. Frankly, because most people have no idea of its importance. But you can sure bet that the buyers builder does! Since the builder has to warranty the buyers foundation, they want to know the type of foundation the land can support.
Most sellers are happy to let the buyer take care of this during their Due Diligence which is fine. However, if you do get a soil test in advance, it can help a buyer feel more comfortable paying a higher price.
Two Types Of Tests
Most builders will order either a Bearing Capacity Test or a Geotechnical Soil Report. The Bearing Capacity test is a lees expensive test and is somewhat less thorough. The Geotechnical Report is more detailed, more expensive, and it’s the one most builders will want to see. These reports will tell your prospective buyers and their builder whether or not the land can support the home a buyer would want to build.
So, if it’s discovered that the lot has soil challenges, most buyers will want to get a discount on your price. So the question is, wouldn’t it be better to know this up front? That way you can build it into your strategy, disclose what you know, reduce the buyers fear and get a better offer because of it.
Tip: Know your land is “solid ground”!
How To Sell Your Land For Top Dollar!
Know Your Zoning When You Sell Your Land
Wouldn’t you be upset if you sold your lot and later the buyer subdivided it. Then they resold it making a ton of money? Know what can be done with your property so when you sell your land you can price it right. You don’t want to guess at this, it could end up being an expensive mistake!
Tip: Know what can be done on your property. Then you can price it based on its “highest and best use”!
Have Current ARB and HOA Documents Available
Is your property in an HOA? (Home Owners Association) Is there an ARB? (Architectural Review Board) If so, you should have the latest version of these documents available for any prospective buyers. If you make a buyer go find the documents on their own, they may pass on your lot. Or, they may pull the wrong documents that cause them to not move forward. What we do is we upload your documents into the MLS so prospective buyers and their agents can easily find them.
Tip: Save the buyer time so you can close faster! Have all of the HOA and ARB documents available!
Get A Dock Permit
If your property is on the water, get a dock permit! It will go a long way when you want to sell your land. If boating is important to your prospective buyers, it should be important to you! The last thing that you’ll want is to sell your land contingent upon the buyer getting a dock permit. This will cause you to wait a long time to close and get your money! Why does it take so long? The Government is involved!
Tip: Getting the dock permit in advance will help you avoid a long due diligence period. And low offers or the buyer choosing another lot.
Don’t Overprice When You Sell Your Land
Most importantly, don’t overprice your land listing! We can do a market analysis for you and give you a realistic selling price range. So when you’re ready to sell your land you’ll know realistically what to expect. Let us help you discover that.
You have to understand in this digital world, the buyers are armed with lots of information. They see the comps just like we do and the sales data tells us that most buyers are happy to pay a fair price. However, in most cases if they feel a price is too high they will keep looking.
Tip: Pricing accurately reduces market time and creates competition for your property. Creating competition in some cases will cause buyers to pay more than list price for a well priced property!
When you want to sell your land for top dollar you have to understand the concept of overpricing. Overpricing actually extends market time and fewer buyers will even look at the property. Longer market time also causes buyers to overlook your property as it becomes stale on the market. And…that by itself will cause you to have to reduce your price month after month. And then, end up with a much lower price than if you started with the right price in the beginning!
Tip: Contrary to conventional wisdom, people don’t like to negotiate! That is why most overpriced listings on the MLS don’t ever get offers!
Hire A Land Expert! – If You Want To Sell Your Land For The Most Money
Thanks for checking out this post on How To Sell Your Land For The Most Money! Just remember every situation is different. Each one of these tips may or may not apply in your situation, with your property. Or you simply may not have the resources to do all of these things and that’s okay to! Not everyone of my clients does all of these things! In fact some of them don’t do any of them! However, my goal here is to share the best practices to getting your land sold at top dollar.
Keep in mind, depending on the buyer, you may discover most buyers have no idea about how to buy land or Building Their Own Home! This makes the sale of your land potentially highly problematic. Because most people don’t plan, they have to learn as they go and this can create lots of problems along the way. As the man in the Farmers Insurance Commercial say’s, “we know a thing or two, because we’ve seen a thing or two”!
Please feel free to reach out to me with your questions. I’m happy to help and advise!
Bill Byrd has been a licensed realtor since 1986 and one of his specialties has been in working with land. Whether it’s helping land owners sell or buyers find the right property, Bill has handled it all. When you hire Bill, you can feel comfortable and confident that your working with a true real estate expert that has your best interests at heart!
