Guides

What we have learned buying land.

Five subjects, covered in depth rather than spread thin. Everything here comes out of parcels we have actually researched, priced, or closed.

Selling problem land

How to sell vacant land

The parcels that do not sell through normal channels, and what actually moves them: estates with several heirs, tax delinquency far enough along that the county has a date on the calendar, and ground no agent will put on the MLS.

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What this covers

Inherited land and what probate changes
Selling when several heirs share ownership
Land with back taxes owed
Tax deed and tax lien sales
Landlocked parcels with no legal access
Land nobody will list
Selling vacant land without an agent

What land is worth

How to value vacant land

Why price per acre is not a number you can look up, why the assessor’s figure is not market value, and what a buyer is actually paying for when two identical-looking parcels trade at very different prices.

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What this covers

Price per acre and why it misleads
Pulling comparable sales for vacant land
Assessed value versus market value
What legal access is worth
Mineral rights and severed estates
Appraisal versus a cash offer

Owning land

The cost of owning vacant land

What it costs to hold ground you are not using — the annual bill, the timeline the county follows when you stop paying it, and the constraints that only surface when you finally try to sell or build.

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What this covers

Property taxes on raw land
Delinquency timelines by state
Easements and who holds them
Zoning and permitted use
Perc tests and septic feasibility
Flood zones and what they cost you
Wetlands determinations
What a survey costs and when you need one

Buying land

How to buy vacant land

Diligence for people on the other side of the table. What to verify before wiring money, which title problems are fixable and which are not, and how financing works when there is no structure to lend against.

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What this covers

A due diligence checklist for vacant land
Verifying legal access before you buy
Title on rural parcels
Seller financing, structured properly
Land loans and why banks price them differently
Buying sight unseen without getting burned

Choosing a buyer

How to choose who to sell your land to

Every route to a sale trades something away. An agent gets you closer to retail and costs you a commission and a year. A cash buyer is fast and pays less. Auction is fast and unpredictable. Here is how the options actually compare, including where we are the wrong answer.

What this covers

Cash buyer versus listing with an agent
What to ask a land buying company before you sign
How to tell a legitimate land buyer from a bad one
Auction, FSBO, agent, and direct sale compared
What a land buying company actually pays and why
Red flags in a land purchase agreement
Selling to a neighbor versus selling to a buyer

By land type

Types of land and how they sell

Each category of land has its own buyer, its own diligence, and its own reasons a deal falls apart. What changes when the parcel is cropland rather than a residential lot, or timber rather than waterfront.

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What this covers

Agricultural land and tenant leases
Timberland before and after harvest
Recreational and hunting ground
Waterfront and riparian rights
Commercial land and highway frontage
Industrial parcels and environmental history
Subdivided lots and HOA encumbrances

Articles are researched against primary sources and cite every one of them. Nothing publishes without at least three independent sources and a fact check against what those sources actually say. Read the articles.

Have a question none of this answers?

Call and ask. We would rather explain something over the phone than have you guess from an article that does not quite fit your parcel.

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