How can I make money on this property?

Question

I own this property outright; it is basically raw land that won't sell. Any ideas on how I can make it produce some income now?  Taxes are horrendous!

Zoned B-1 Commercial  &  located w/ in Stafford County VA Boswell's Corner Redevelopment Area (RDA) designated to include office, retail, hotel  &  mixed use development. Proximate to Quantico Marine Base in major US Rt 1/I-95 transit corridor anticipated to become significant gateway to Stafford from the North. 35 miles south of Washington, DC.  Thanks for any and all thoughts.

Faye

Kyle Kingma · Answer

Billboards would be tough with the screening wall on the Interstate and that there are already two billboards on Rt 1 (there are spacing requirements). The area is obviously multi-family residential with trailer parks and apartments. I advise against clearing it (other than some logging to get an AG exemption on your taxes) since that area doesn't look prime and if you clear, you might as well grade which could get pricey and risky. You'd have to check with the County on what the correct definition of a cell tower is. I found that B-1 allows a broadcasting station as a conditional use. B-1 allows convenience retail like gas stations, however it appears there's one already down the road. Have you approached the neighbor about them expanding?

Joel Owens · Answer

Cell tower is another thing you could possibly place at the back of the property for income.

I have also seen power companies rent out land to place a power grid with fencing around it. You would still have a lot of land leftover.

One key not mentioned is the topography of the land. Depending on how hilly, streams etc. the cost per acre to clear could be 30k an acre or 250k an acre for example. What is costs to clear affects a developers purchase price. If water and sewer is all around it then you have to make sure  it is connectible without surrounding neighbors holding easements hostage to run the line through their land to get to you. Also houses might not have enough capacity for the existing lines for a development project utility demands so everything has to be upgraded at a huge expense.

The more you can do to land such as clearing it, basic zoning approvals, entitlements completed will help you sell for a higher price as less work is needed from the developer. If you are selling in a raw state the developer will offer lower to price in extra work and unknowns.

Bill Florence · Answer

I do not know anything about this property or location so I will not pretend to be an expert here so these are just wild ideas for empty land maybe in that zone category - leases for billboard, restaurant pop-up (temporary), fruit stand, farmers market (seasonal), RV / boat storage, manufactured home park, pay parking lot for bus. You could also improve the property for tap, sewer, sidewalk, foliage, zoning adjustments for certain types of development to make it more attractive to developers...just throwing things out. Fun to think about. Good luck.

Faye Carroll · Answer

Thanks so much everyone for all of your input!  The tract is 7.36 acres. Water and sewer are all around the property, and across the road, but not on it.  Address is 3728 Jefferson Davis Hwy,  Stafford, VA.  It has road frontage on Rt. 1 (Jeff Davis Hwy).

Hard to describe the "type of location." Maybe semi-rural; semi-suburban. There are some townhouses across the road; two grandfathered trailer parks on either side; a couple of old motels nearby, and 3-4 large office buildings about one mile north.

I'm obviously not a RE professional, but  I'll get the road front footage and any other information for anyone who is interested. Thanks again!  Faye

Levi Ostlund · Answer

Whats the Address? I have a few contacts in that area.

Mark Creason · Answer

B-1 can be different depending on the city.  She should give more details about the zoning.  What is the lot size and how many sf can you build on this property?

Mark

Kyle Kingma · Answer

that's if the city would permit temporary uses all year. Like Karen suggested, let's see where this is on a map and maybe something will stick out.

Joel Owens · Answer

Key is if you didn't overpay for it when you acquired the land. Often times people are not fully versed in highest and best use and what the total development costs are for your end purchaser.

If you overpaid then you will be waiting for market rents and build up to catch up to a price where you can sell.

What about a ground lease?? Lease the land for a set price and let someone else spend the cost of building on it. You need to drive your immediate area around the land. If the intended zoning use is office for instance and you drive around and a bunch of office is vacant to 50% vacant then not a great sign for you. If everything is full or at close to 85% etc. then maybe the demand is there for the market to absorb more new construction.

Sounds like you need a local land broker specialist to do an opinion of value. If the area is overbuilt and you can't sell it right now then try to think of offsetting the taxes to be at a neutral position each year. I have seen pumpkin sales, Christmas tree sales, fruit stand, boiled peanuts, eyeglasses stand, carpet truck sales, landscaping storage,etc.

If you put temporary things on the land to offset taxes then make sure it is not things that could environmentally contaminate the land such as a used car lot etc.

Kyle Kingma · Answer

Karen, she said it was B-1 for what I presume to be office/neighborhood retail. How big is the tract? Could it be subdivided to make investment more palatable? Does it have utility services (water and sewer in the street)? Sidewalks built? How are the neighboring properties developed?

Karen Margrave · Answer

@Faye Carroll Welcome to BP! You've come to the right place to get some help. However; you haven't given enough information for anyone to be able to answer. What size is the lot? What is the zoning? What is the area where it is located like? (You might want to list the address and people can go online to Google Earth to see it)

You wrote that it won't sell. Usually if a property won't sell, it's priced too high, or in an area with no demand, or has issues associated with it that will require an investment to develop that doesn't make sense for the price or use.

If you haven't done so yet, you might want to set up keyword alerts for the area where you live, etc. Also, you can do a search of BP to see if there are any Meetups in your area, that's always a great way to meet people in the local area and share ideas, etc.