Pricing Your Land - Ins and Outs
by: Christine Macguire
“Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish”; this saying carries a lot of importance for prospective land sellers. Selling a land is probably one of the largest real estate transactions a person ever undertakes in a lifetime. Any buyer or seller should carefully consider the practical and legal complications of such a transaction before proceeding.
While acquiring a piece of land, buyers often seek other requirements such as clean air, water, accessibility, and electricity and sewage disposal. Most often flat land is the least expensive to develop and most desired for building purposes, but quite expensive to acquire. Land has the potential to experience tremendous appreciation if bought in the way of growth, or if a higher and better use can be achieved.
When establishing a list price for a saleable lot, it's important to take into consideration the reasons for selling the land in the first place. The rule of thumb is the higher the price, the slower the sale. Higher priced lots are less competitive in their respective markets. Higher priced lands are usually limited to buyers with higher than average incomes.
Land sellers often make the mistake of wanting to price their property high at the start, with the assumption that they can always reduce the price to a more realistic level later. However, trends show that the chances of the land getting sold is higher when it is new in the market and it dramatically diminishes with time.
Land buyers tend to gravitate towards certain price ranges, with the percentage of prospective buyers who will look at the property increasing dramatically the closer the price is to "fair market value", thereby increasing the probability of sale. Successful selling is a matter of sorting things out systematically and fitting the pieces together-until a proper plan designed for the entire transaction takes shape. The average seller wastes a lot of time running after real estate agents, and gets caught up in the excitement over choosing a sales price. Unfortunately, misinformed sellers often choose the agent who suggests the highest list price, which is the worst mistake a seller can make.
Eventually the person whose opinion matters the most is the buyer who makes an offer for the land. Pricing a property is part art and part science. It involves comparing similar properties, making adjustments for the differences among them, tracking market movements and taking stock of present inventory, all in an attempt to come up with a range of value, an educated opinion.
Proper marketing of the property is an important task to be undertaken. Property is often advertised through newspaper ads, real estate brokers, Land For Sale by Owner signs, flyers, bulletin boards, the Internet, etc. It is always advisable to keep away from glossy brochures or a big real estate development company as it leads to overpricing of the property to cover large overhead costs, advertising and profit. It is ideal to sell your property or land when the building boom is on, as the land prices appreciate during that time. The final word of caution is to make a proper estimate and never overprice the property. Offering a fair market value based on the research of recent sales of comparable properties increases the chances of the property getting sold easily.
About The Author:
Christine is an expert Internet market professional with years of experience in various industries such as: Business, Finance, Real Estate, Web-Design and many more.
US Land Buyers Site: http://www.uslandbuyers.com/
September 2006
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