First Land Wholesale

[Rileigh Heller]

I just did my first land deal, went to the builder for advice due to not understanding the process and how to price in that area. He helped me out, made an offer & we had it locked up in 2 days, closed in 3 weeks. He messaged me 3 days after close telling me the parcel is not what he thought, and the land is locked. His assistant called me today & at first, we had a decent conversation which switched quickly when I mentioned the negligence on their end. she asked if can & i also offered to then try to resell it for them then she got demanding on what I "WILL" do. I work with integrity and never would have this mistake when it comes to actual properties. I had/have no issue trying to resell the land just not sure how to promote land unbuildable especially with the expectations & price the buyer FIRMLY wants. 

Any advice would be very appreciated, thank you all in advance. 

[Bryant Brislin]

I've been a land broker for many years with a background as a title officer before that. Here are my thoughts/questions:

-When you say "builder" please give some more background...is this someone who builds a handful of spec homes a year in the area? The more experienced they are, the harder it is for them to blame other people.  And if they are a hobbyist/part-time builder, then they should engage the proper professionals, i.e. a title officer, civil engineer, architect, contractor et al to assist in reviewing the project's feasibility.

-Do you have the title report/commitment/policy? Often times, if title notices there is no obvious access, they will note that as an exception on Schedule B.  If it's there, then the buyer should have noticed that. This is your silver bullet.

-This technically isn't your problem. A real builder is supposed to do their own diligence and be savvy enough to know that access (legal access, not just does it abut a street) should be the number one thing they check first. Often times when a builder/buyer moves too fast, or is too busy and overlooks a key piece of due diligence, the unethical ones will try the "scorched earth" method and blame everyone but themselves, even when they know it was their own mistake, and they'll see if they can scare you, the seller, the title company et al into paying damages/fixing their problem.  Also, real builders/experienced developers will often have a true technician, i.e. a civil engineer, architect, real estate attorney et al at least glance at the property info to make sure there are no major red flags.

-As far as trying to sell land with no access, sometimes I've sold those to neighbors who want to increase their acreage, or utility companies, cities or other public entities who could use the piece for whatever reason. If it can't be sold off market, then technically a licensed agent should list it on the MLS and disclose that it doesn't have legal access. You'd be surprised, sometimes there are buyers who just want to own a piece of land, even if it's not the most desirable and of course price is a factor. Also, agents will use lots of disclosures for the buyer to sign to acknowledge what the constraints are.

-Also, if it could have access if they get an easement from a neighbor, maybe there is a mutually beneficial situation where the neighbor would give an easement for access. And says who that it doesn't have access? I need details. 

-At the end of the day, if it were me and I was a wholesaler (as opposed to a broker/agent) in this scenario, I would say that "as a courtesy", you can try to help and see if you can sell it to someone else off market, but you should not be expected to do a due diligence for the buyer, that's their responsibility, and you said from the beginning that you are not knowledgeable on land.