Finding the Value of a piece of land to flip to builders or build myself

[Robert Pfeiler]

I've been developing a relationship with a homeowner who sits on a piece of land hidden in a very nice residential area in Orange, CA. With a teardown the land could be subdivided into 5 or possibly 6 lots. This is prime flat land surrounded by all the utilities. The home is a very old farm home and the owner is showing interest in selling ... at least a piece of the property. My problem is I don't know how to price the land such that she's motivated to sell but is low enough to attract developers. Actually I don't think it's going to be difficult to find builders. This is a developers dream with a new home selling up to $650k. I just don't know how to go about pricing the land so to get an option on it and flip it (or build myself). The numbers confuse me. I am an active real estate agent and know how to prep comps.

Thank you for any feedback.

[Karen Margrave]

@Robert Pfeiler As a developer/builder it's good to see an agent trying to find out what the actual value of a parcel of land is, rather than going on to MLS seeing what other agents are "listing" for and picking a number out of the sky.

First, what a developer is going to look at is what it costs to get the property to the point of being buildable.  Current zoning. Size of the lot. Are there structures that need torn down?(that's a cost) Are utilities available, etc. Is it flat? What's the neighborhood like? Proximity to freeway, etc.? 

As to the potential of splitting it, once you go over 4 lots, you are doing a subdivision and that requires State approval, it may not make sense, but it may, depending on the size of the lot, location, etc. 

I will be at the next meetup if you'd like to discuss it. My son will be there with me too and he can discuss different things like setbacks, etc. If you'd like to email me more specifics, an address, parcel number or ? I'd be happy to look it up on Google Earth and give you an opinion on whether or not we as builders (or other builders) would find it buildable, etc. I too am an agent, and will keep the information confidential. 

Here's the link for the Meetup. Orange County Meetup - Lake Forest - November