I want to buy a lot from owner without us using agent: tips?

Question

Any pitfalls? Any advise?

David Lee Hall, III · Answer

Just make sure you do a title search. Don’t do any back of the trunk deed signings. You don’t want to buy it for a fixed price only to find liens twice that amount down the road.

Jonathan Greene · Answer

If it's not already listed with an agent, it's just a direct off-market purchase and you use your attorney (if the state requires) and title for vetting.

Sai T. · Answer

Nope, it’s a same process with or without agent Title Company wills do the title search and buy extend owner policy.

Joy James · Answer

@Steve Vaughan i found the fair market value on qpublic and owner sent me the appraisal report....

Steve K. · Answer

@Joy James I think you could probably find a local agent that would be willing to run some comps/perform a Comparative Market Analysis for you for free if you are an active investor and they are looking to build a relationship with you, or perhaps for a small fee. Find one familiar with land as it can be trickier to comp. An appraisal older than 6 months may not be that relevant as markets change fast especially this year. If it appraised for 70k over a year ago I’d think fair market value would be more than that now, but I’m not familiar with the market or the specific property. Agents can be helpful with this sort of thing, and you may be able to find one to push the paperwork as a transaction broker/ dual agent if that’s legal in your state for a reduced fee which could save you some trouble and would probably be both less trouble and less expensive than doing everything yourself and hiring an attorney to look over everything. Title will handle much of it related to transfer of ownership and any title issues, but they won’t advise you on things like pricing and terms or facilitate the transaction like an agent would.

Steve K. · Answer

The biggest mistake I see people make when working directly with a seller is overpaying. At the very least I'd run the deal by a few local agents to get their opinion on pricing, and get an appraisal whether or not it's a lender requirement just to make sure you're not leaving money on the table.

Account Closed · Answer

@Joy James

I’m selling a lot fsbo, and just entered escrow.  I used the same title company that the seller refered me to when purchasing.  I asked the title company for some RE sale documents, printed them out, cut the parts I that didn’t pertain to our land sale out, both parties signed, and we entered escrow all through just the title company and no agent involved.  The title company gave us a breakdown of closing costs for both parties, based on the sale price, and the buyer sent his cashier’s check to the title company for earnest money.  Handling a sale yourself comes down to getting the basic sale documents together, and having a title company do what they always do.  Other than that, I had to field a bunch of emails and calls, and vet the buyers for proof of funds, and making sure they’ve seen the property and weren’t just trying to tie it up.  Buyer will send money to an escrow account, then I’ll collect from there.

I’m also selling a house soon, and I wouldn’t do anything but hire a rockstar agent for that!  I was actually able to sell my land for less Fsbo, because I could afford to drop the price a few thousand more without the commission!  In this market, it might be more harmful to try to use an agent on less desirable properties, as some of them are too busy to care about small sales at this time.

Steve K. · Answer

Do you mean the tax assessed value? That's a percentage of the market value. Assessed value is used for property tax purposes while buyers and sellers need to look to marketplace value, not property tax data.

Steve Vaughan · Answer

Also call your city / county and ask about zoning, your plans for the lot, if there are pending or existing defaults, clean-up required, etc.

Curious why the huge disparity between market value and appraised value.  Thought an appraisal was an estimate of market value.

Do you plan to build on this lot? Or?

Joy James · Answer

@Steve K.will an agent charge $ for doing a little research? Seller had the lot appraised last may 2019 and he gave me the report. In that case, I wonder if i offer in the middle of its market value of 41k and appraised value if 71k.... what do you think?

I want to buy a lot from owner without us using agent: tips?

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