All Forum Posts by: Bryan Blancke

Is it okay to accept transfer of a raw land parcel from a seller who obtained it through a quitclaim deed from the county treasurer. A quick google search shows that I am not guaranteed that the seller actually owns the property or that the title is free and clear. How do I verify that I am actually getting ownership of this property and why type of deed transfer should be used? How do I check the title of the parcel is free and clear?

Through direct mail I got a hold of a motivated seller of raw land. He wants to sell seven parcels. They are tax delinquent, but most of them are only a couple hundred dollars in back taxes due. Some look like slivers of a lot that are probably worthless. Some looks like a lot in a subdivision which could support development of a house. How do I figure out what these are worth and what I should I offer for them?

Through direct mail I got a hold of a motivated seller of raw land. He wants to sell seven parcels, which through county records show he is the owner. He said he doesn't have the deeds for these properties. Can I still buy from him? How do I move forward if possible?

So I got the addresses and parcel IDs from the seller on 7 properties. Most of them checked out and two of them actually looked to be nice lots in a subdivision which don't have a house on them, but seem like they could. Same size as the neighbors lots with houses. 

I don't know how the county websites show the seller is the owner of these deeds, but he does not have the deeds available. I want to make an offer on some of the usable land parcels, but how do I close when the seller does not have the deeds?

I also could use any advice related to valuing raw land and figuring out what my offer should be. Delinquent tax on most of the properties he has for sale is a couple hundred bucks on the county websites. All I know other than that is their tax assessed value. How do I value them for my offer amount? 

@Jay Hinrichs thanks for the response. So one of the properties I looked up it does seem he is the owner according to the county. I can't speak for the other 5 he said he wanted to sell, but even so this property looked like a useless lot. Basically the ending sliver of a subdivision block which is too thin to build a house on. The adjacent house seemed to be parking extra cars on it. The actual boundaries of the property on agentpro247.com were not clear. The other properties parcel ID I was provided showed me no hits on agentpro and since he doesn't seem to have deeds for some reason I didn't invest more time. 

Is it worth looking into the other address/parcel IDs I was provided with the county/city or should I just save my time and tell this guy I can't buy his parcels?

I got a lead from a mail campaign from a motivated seller. He wants to sell me six different properties which are raw land. The seller said he doesn't have the deed for these so I am not sure if I should even bother to look into the properties to decide on making an offer. The seller doesn't know how or what to do and I should be able to guide him through the process, but I don't know either. Do I tell him to get a quit claim deed from the actual deed holders before investigating the properties?

@Jay M.

"You still need to definitely do your due diligence though and getting advice from professionals is a great idea. The available courses have detailed sections on how to do due diligence."

Jay, I definitely could use more information on due diligence. What courses are you referring too and which would you most highly recommend?

@Jake Thomas, I think I am leaning towards writing my own purchase agreement that is very simple and easy to understand for my customers. Looking over your contract could help give me ideas for drafting my own.

What podcast featured The Land Barron?

Hey all, I recently started with some direct mail for unimproved raw land. I have some customers who want me to look at their property. I am not totally confident in all of my due diligence as I am new to this, but I am at a point where I need to act and send out some offers to people to see what takes. I talked to a lawyer today for the first time and the rates for them to draft me a purchasing agreement was too much. I am not entirely clear on how to make an offer and actually go to closing on a deal. 

My plan as of now is to pull a general purchase agreement from the internet and modify it for my type of transactions. Then send these out to my customers with offers and for those who agree, I guess I just take the purchase agreement to a title company to get the property transferred to me.

Can anyone help me out here by pointing out steps I need to take to protect myself and how to go from offer to close and property transfer of ownership to me so I can go and resell the property?

Thanks!