I purchased land

General Real Estate Investing
1

i took the entire day to check all that i could re: a lot in Texas.

and by the end of the day, i actually signed the contract and sent it.

my partners were giving me a hard time and with good reasons, but everyone i talked to indicated that this lot was indeed a very good lot.

most likely, according to local builder down there, the lot will sell for double of what i am paying in less than 60 days. this local builder also told me that - who i was buying it from was one of the many wholesalers that buy up all these single lots in designated areas.

this was an assignment. i called our lawyer, he said, get the original contract sent, call the local tax assessor’s office to verify owner’s name and attach addendum to assignment for assurance of clear title, no encumbrances and tax liens. check check. and i called the tax assessors office - it’s current.

i must have called a dozen numbers. land is not in a flood zone and according to town developer, it is a buildable lot. it has water and sewer and on googleearth, it looked damn good - treed lot with a neighboring house directly across the street and to the direct east (next lot over).

basically it’s 6000 total - this includes closing fees.

yearly taxes - $161

i’m going to put it in the market in New York, Nevada and Cali for 16,490 or something like this.

costs of adverts - for 2 months - i’m guessing - $750 - 1000.

Thoughts…

2

Awesome!

Looks good!

There are people that are looking for land what part of Texas?

3

Your partners probably gave you a hard time because vacant land is usually a very poor investment, unless you have some inside information about local issues. Fortunately, at $6,000 you don’t have much to lose here and may actually learn a good lesson and get the motivated buyer syndrome out of your system.

If this property would easily and quickly sell for twice what you paid for it, why did the seller give it away? They must be really dumb!

Seriously, the problem with vacant land is that it can sit on the market forever. All the time that you hold it, you’re losing money and you’ve tied up money that could be making money (opportunity cost).

I wish you good luck.

Mike

4

well,

I’m training my mind to be more entepenuer-like. so i’m trying not to sell myself or you on how “good” a deal this is.

having said that, i will tell you what i knew BEFORE i signed the assignment contract.

  1. a local developer (not the seller) - BIG developer in the area, told me about the history of the area - (if you’re interested in knowing the area, email me. according to the developer, i was to check two things, utilities and NOT the lot location but the grade of land. they both checked out. the developer told me i had several OPTIONS, which i liked right off the bat regarding how to sell this for double what i’m paying for it with a likelihood of less than 60 day holding time. i am taking her advise. no she will not help me sell it with her realtor and the ideas she presented had nothing in it for her company - i.e. they would not buy a single lot - they’re developing 50acre subdivision currently.

additionally, to add to this, i emailed about a dozen people in the area - a dentist, a county worker, two developers (after i checked their websites), and a half dozen misc businesses in the area.

upon obtaining info from these sources above, this area sounded VERY NICE, and i was quite comfortable, either way, in a short-term or long-term holding and willing to eat the opportunity costs if need be. price is low enough and taxes are of course, very low.

google earth looked quite nice - surrounding area is developing with some good size lots and nice cul de sacs and of course the land is about a mile from the water. Not in a flood zone - currently. rezoning will put it VERY close, which of course would probably cost me some money due to the increased costs to any developer interested in the lot itself.

i also verified with our attorney on the basics of what he wanted me to do, of course free of charge as he is not handling this closing due to it being an assignment and wholesale. his concerns were getting a copy of the original contract, double checking tax records to verify ownership and paid taxes and an addendum to the assignment making it contingent on CLEAR TITLE, NO ENCUMBRANCES OR TAX LIENS OF ANY KIND. i took care of all of this before signing anything.

Additionally, the assignor, according to him, went out of his way to “hand pick” a lot that he believes is a good deal. the reason for him not holding the lot to sell it retail is because his niche is wholesale, period. he made this very clear. the mission of his company is to buy land cheap and assign. they do not like paying realtors or any spokesperson to market their properties. whether that’s a line of BS, we’ll see.

thanks for all of your imput and lack of sugar-coating. keep it coming.

question - do you need any kind of insurance on the property - ie. liability insurance on vacant land?

thanks.

5

T,

You will not be required to carry insurance on the land because it is vacant and short of someone blowing it up it will remain there even in the event of a natural disaster. However you may want to contact your current insurance company and see about a policy rider on your current home that will cover you in case someone gets hurt on the property. Vacant lots seem to have an attraction children looking to play sand lot games. Good luck. I have heard more than once that the best investment on earth is earth. They are not making any more of it, and we are multiplying like rabbits.