What You Need To Know Before Selling Your Land

If you’ve got a piece of land that you want to sell, the process is relatively simple. Unlike selling homes and developed property, selling land is a much less involved process and can be done in far fewer steps. That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t anything you need to know before you sell your land to an interested buyer.

On the contrary, there are at least a handful of tips that you can prevent potential problems and make the whole thing go a lot smoother. In case you want to sell your land in the most efficient, profitable manner possible, here’s what you need to know before beginning the process.

1. Zoning Laws

Zoning laws are huge when it comes to buying or selling land. Especially if your buyer wants to alter the land in any way by drilling a well, building structures, or harvesting resources, zoning laws could come into play.

Rural land does tend to have lax zoning laws but there could still be restrictions on any of the actions listed above. Be sure to visit your local county clerk for all the details about your property if your real estate agent isn’t up-to-speed on them, or if you’re selling independently.

2. How to Take Your Payment

Selling land differs from other types of real estate in that banks are generally unwilling to finance the purchase of land for sale. They have a hard time determining the potential value of raw land and are reluctant to hand out loans for it.

This means the market for land is a lot smaller than other types of real estate. So, if you want to play it like a typical real estate sale, with a big down-payment or only accepting payment in full, you could be limiting yourself.

You can also offer seller-financing, which is where you act as a bank for the seller. By accepting a smaller down-payment and agreeing to long-term payments with a reasonable interest rate, you’ll find a lot more buyers are able to agree to those terms, especially if they’ve already been denied for financing by a bank.

Holding them to their agreement is easier than it may seem as well, you won’t have to show up and personally boot them off your property or seize their assets if they renege on your agreement.

3. Environmental Concerns

You need to be aware of damage concerns so you can inform the buyer and enable them to get the right type of insurance on the land if they buy it. This refers to flooding and wildfires in most cases but can apply to earthquakes, mudslides, and pest infestations or invasive species as well. This is something every buyer will want to know before purchasing the land, so it’s best if you can give that information right upfront.

4. Tax Breaks

This applies in cases where the land can be used for farming or other tax-deductible purposes related to agriculture or conservation. If your buyer intends to farm the land or use it for conservation, be aware of what kind of tax breaks they can get on this particular plot. Having this information at the ready can help you sell land fast to someone who otherwise couldn’t be bothered to sift through tax filing classifications beforehand.

Knowing this Info Will Make Selling Your Land a Breeze

Seeing as how the market for land is smaller, you need to know every piece of critical information buyers might want to know. Being able to present potential buyers with all of the info we’ve laid out here for you could make the difference between finalizing a fruitful sale quickly or waiting months or years on end to get lucky.