Bare Land in Kissimmee, FL

[Justin Bioc]

Hi! Not sure if this is the right forum to be posting this particular question, but my parents have a plot of land in Kissimmee that they want to make some money off of. They bought it years ago with the intention to eventually move there, but at the end of the day, ended up staying where they are now. This plot of land has been costing them money in taxes, maintenance, and other all kinds of fees. It's essentially been cash sink hole. 

We don't know anything about developing or even how the market is doing there. They are trying to sell it, but no one seems to be biting. The realtor they last hired to help them sell it was asking they pay around $600 to get the land surveyed and assessed to see if it was buildable. Is this normal? 

Any advice would be much appreciated. We wouldn't mine someone who could develop and split the proceeds or just paying a builder and using the land to generating income with a rental. If you need more details, just let me know, and I can get them. Thanks!

[Tommy F.]

@Justin Bioc  if @Keith Courtney and @Devon Garbus may already have provided you with sufficient info, but I'll chime in to say that $600 to survey and assess the land seems reasonable. You have to spend money to make money. Think of it like selling a used car and providing a buyer with all your maintenance receipts, mechanics assessment, and a clean carfax report - the car would sell quickly assuming a reasonable price. For raw land, the survey will assure the proper meets and bounds, and provide accurate size of parcel. The assessment may include a civil engineer looking at the feasibility to gravity feed sewer or need for grinder pumps or a more costly pump station, assessing soil types for building suitability, wetland restrictions or conservation area requirements that may affect the buildable area, assessing zoning and municipality temperament for zoning changes, and maybe at an additional cost a soil test for onsite septic if sewer proves to be unavailable or too costly. All of these things need to be done anyway. If not, a potential buyer may pay for tests and may be willing to put a deposit in escrow with a contingency on these tests yielding positive results. If poor results, they'll have the option to back out of the offer.