Best way to approach someone with land purchase offer?

[Cinebar]

Good evening.

First time poster here and I'm going to start with a question.

I bought my hillside homestead four years ago. The guy I purchased it from told me at that time that the acre and a half next door to me might be available. He told me it was part of an estate and that it is not buildable (probably not big enough) and that someone is just sitting on it, paying the taxes.

Now, I don't know how accurate that information is but in the four years I've lived here, I have not once seen anyone set foot on the property.

I can find out who owns it from the County Assessor.

My question(s) are:

Will the owner information I get from the county include an address?

And, what would be the best way to approach a stranger to express an interest in buying this property?

I planned on writing a letter but would it be better to pay an attorney fifty bucks (or more?) to approach the owner via a letter?

Thanks.

 

[big brown horse]

First, welcome to ss!!

My humble opinion: write a hand written letter. Leave lawyers/attorneys out of it in the beginning.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

welcome cinebar!

i found a property i was interested in so i found out who owned it, one of the old timers knew, and i marched in the owners place of business, stuck out my hand and said "hello friend, i'm ohiofarmgirl and i'm interested in that property off ___ road."

he wasnt surprised at all. but then he told me how much he wanted for it.. wow! way too much but at least i asked.

go for it!

 

[Wildsky]

I'd say hand write a letter or call the owner yourself.

I have a similar situation where the land South of us is for sale, but there is a house on one side of it which I'm not interested in, the property is an L shape, and I just want the one side of that, that falls directly in front of us...

They want WAY too much for the place, and I'm thinking they'll want some crazy price if I ask about the 2 acres in front of us.

 

[Cinebar]

Thanks for the welcome.

The reason I thought about going through an attorney is that I thought it might give my interest in the property a little more credibility.

Of course, that might cause the owner to jack up the price.

Anyway, I have no idea what a fair price would be. It's a hilly acre and a half, and if it's not buildable, then someone is paying taxes on a piece of property that's pretty much useless to them. It wouldn't be useless to me, though! I don't need to be able to build on it. I have a house; I just want to add to my existing acreage.

 

[2dream]

Decide on how much you think its worth to you - then either hand write or approach in person.

just my personal thoughts.

Oh - and welcome aboard.

 

[SKR8PN]

Decide on how much you think its worth to you - then either hand write or approach in person.

just my personal thoughts.

Oh - and welcome aboard.

That is what I did. i wanted to buy a couple of acres off the field behind our house. it had been fallow for the 25 years I have lived here. Farm land around here goes for anywhere from 2500 to 4500 per acre. I offered 5000 per acre. He wanted 10,000 per acre.


He still owns it.



Welcome!

 

[MorelCabin]

Your township will have the assessed property value handy and you can ask for it. That way you can also find out how much the taxes are and decide whether you want to pursue it from there. Now, keep in mind that property assessment value is usually less than actual asking price, but it will give you a good idea of whether you want to approach the owner. And you'll have a good idea of what to offer him when you do.
This is all public information, not hard to get, especially if the property is ajoining to your existing one. He may not have enough land to be able to sell on it's own in that area, but if it is ajoining yours it makes things different.

 

[sylvie]

I didn't have time to read all posts so if this replicates, sorry. Will read later.
We were in a similar situation, owned the property for 6 years before we met the primary owner of the adjacent 2 acres. It was actually part of a huge parcel owned by a hunting group who incorporated, which made prior contact impossible.
We got his phone number because he was accompanying our idiot neighbor, whom we didn't want to hear the conversation.
Called him and said that we had heard from the previous owner of our property that they had tried unsuccessfully to sell the small parcel at one time for $3000 and was it still for sale? He said yes. I asked if he would take $3000, and we pay all fees? He jumped on it. We used our lawyer to draw the contract as agreed and took ownership in 30 days.

Be specific what is included in your agreement.
In the gray area time between verbal agreement and signed contract, idiot neighbor hired a logging company to log all his large 3' diameter trunk red oaks. The company cut all those on the property we were buying. Our only legal recourse was to demand restitution from the seller. We decided against pursuing this in case he backed out of the sale. At $1500 per acre it was already a steal, the two acres were easily worth $25,000, and continued the same gorgeous wooded ravine and creek as our property had. We didn't want to risk losing it.

 

[Cinebar]

Thanks for all the replies and the welcomes.

Well, I was in the middle of a long post in response and my power went out. And now I can't find my cell phone - either a dog drug it outside and it's laying in the mud and rain somewhere (I've looked and looked and called it a bunch of times with my land line and I can't find it) or my kid accidentally grabbed it and stuffed it in his backpack or pocket thinking it was his and it's at school with him.

Where's the angry smilie?

Anyway, I lost my original post. I thought when the power came back on I could "restore previous session" but it didn't happen.

I need an angry smilie!

So.....back to the original topic.

I'm going to see if I can find the owner information on-line. It seems I was told at one time I could do that.

I'm wondering which would be better- to call the owner by phone (if the number is available) or to go with the letter? My gut instinct tells me for the first contact, a letter would be better as a means of introduction. And then followed up with a phone call.

Now, keep in mind that property assessment value is usually less than actual asking price

Not always. Within a few days of closing on this place, the assessor called me wanting to know how I was able to buy it for almost $20,000 less than the tax assessed value. He had done the most recent (at that time) assessment and was familiar with it.

I stumbled upon a very motivated out-of-state seller who was tired of years and years of dealing with renters in here. Each time I talked to him on the phone, he knocked another $1,000 off the price (he stopped at $6,000). He sold it to me on an owner contract and pretty much let me name my terms, including a thirty-year contract. Having such a long-term contract made my payments very low (less than it would cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment!) and it has enabled me to be able to pay extra every month. I'm hoping to have it paid off in four or five years.

Within a couple of days of closing, I went to a local bank and assigned the contract collection to them. It cost me $100.00 to set it up and an additional $5.00 or $6.00 a month but I make the payment directly to the bank, they record it, cut and send a check to the seller and they do all the bookkeeping on interest paid and tax info.

I'm still cleaning up messes left by renters. Apparently none of them heard of garbage service or landfills and used various locations around the property as dump sites. Every time I think I've got it taken care of, the goats and chickens expose another pile of garbage. I've hauled a number of appliances out of here, as well as regular household garbage.

So, my little hillside homestead is a "diamond in the rough," that's for sure, but definitely one of my better "deals." It was a no-lose situation for me and tacking on that acre and a half next door would be icing on the cake. The people whose property borders on the other side, though, have already told me the property line is in dispute so I guess a survey would be in order.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Now....has anyone seen my cell phone?