Land deals?

Question

I have an In-law that is trying to sell some land in northern Ca. I want to help but I don't know what, if anything, can be done. Seeing as I am also licensed I would like to possibly profit from the deal. Anyone have any ideas?

Joel Owens · Answer

You have to know how to define the lands highest and best use to extract the maximum amount of money from the best buyer.

Example say you get three buyers:

1. Buyer sees a house off the side of the road run down with some land. They think they want to live in it because it is cheap. They end up offering 200,000 for the junky house and land.

2.  Buyer likes the road frontage for their fruit market. Willing to pay 350,000.

3. Commercial developer comes along and thinks it would be perfect for a strip center and offers 850,000.

As you can see what you sell the land for and it's use impacts the bottom line for the seller.

Hope it helps.

Account Closed · Answer

Hi Tory,

If it's not your area of expertise, refer it to another realtor. They will give you a 25% referral fee. As Joel said above, you might end up hurting your in-law by not knowing the highest and best use of the land.

Where is the land located?  If it's in San Jose, I might be interested.

Ami Saunders · Answer

Tory,

I'm curious, what happened with this land?  Did your relative ever find a way to sell?

Karen Margrave · Answer

Tory Crowder I'd say that you need to get more information and find out if the magnesium causes that to be an environmentally hazardous piece of property. There are companies that buy those types of sites for the clean up, etc. It's a very specialized niche for those with really deep pockets. I'm not sure if it's the money they get for clean up, tax write offs, or what, but I've ran across people looking to purchase them in the past.

In northern California there was a mine, Iron Mountain Mine, it was one of the worst clean up disasters in the country, and part of the Superfund properties. Not sure if your property would fall under the same category.

Jon Klaus · Answer

Wow, that's not really an MLS property with its size and proximity to the Bay Area. I think I'd look at getting a commercial appraisal with a potential usages study.

Tory Crowder · Answer

Minh L. the property is located in Livermore Ca.

OK that helps a little Joel Owens thanks for your input. what would you say about over 600 acres surrounding and abandoned Magnesium mine complete with original structures in various stages of dereliction, 17 miles away from town?

Jon Klaus · Answer

Good advice above. Once you figure out the land's best uses, how to market it will become clearer. Don't forget to put it on LoopNet as well as MLS.

Andrew O. · Answer

List it...? Phone developers in the area. Plenty of options.

Land deals?

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