Monetizing 80 acres of good commercial property

[Charley C.]

Hello Everybody. Love to hear some feed back from anyone that can point out some facts, give opinions or advice, it would greatly be appreciated.

 I am working as the point man on about 80 acres. Its rectangle and mostly frontage on a populated highway in South Texas. Sort of rural but busy local car counts along with some commuters. Still gathering car counts. I see water and sewer across a smaller street with the adjacent land being in the city limits. City officials seem very helpful and easy to get hold of. Happy to be on this deal.

I am looking for comparable land sales to know what sell it for but find none like this tract. I can see selling raw vacant land is not the thing to do there. I figured why not develop the property get it leased, then sell it to a more national REIT that would appreciate the income.

The property is 350 miles from my office.  I would rather not develop and then build with sticks and bricks from that distance. I have to maximize my limited my time there when I make the trips. I am thinking perhaps lease the land and help the local tenants out with finding the financing, planning, permits and utilities. There is a demand there for every kind of tenant you can think of. This is a South Texas and that local economy is always on fire. Lot of babies have been born there for the last 25 -30 years. Now, they are actually many well educated young local people that would rather keep living in that area. The spot is hot for all types of business! but the local appetite for raw land is not hot at all.

Can some one tell me what I can sell a 15 year land lease for with $4,000 (or any number) a month coming in? what is cap rate on that kind of thing

Also if anyone has any tricks on finding tenants?

Any advice on any subject at all would greatly be appreciated  

[Andy Bauman]

Here are a few thoughts:

1.  Contact your local county planning and zoning folks and see what THEY would like there.  This will make it easier to get it approved and sold to a developer.

2.  Do some market research to see what is missing in the area, and approach companies that would like that area.  E.g. If you see there are no or limited self-storage, maybe you could target franchises looking to expand or developers that specialize in building these types of properties.

3.  Subdivide the acreage, keep most of it, and partner with a developer on a smaller piece.  Hopefully a sale to a developer or partnership would cover the original purchase price.

Sounds like a nice problem to have!  Good luck.