All Forum Posts by: Jason Pachomski

@Kyle Conrad

 I don't pay the seller anything up front when I sign an option agreement with them. If they were really hellbent on getting a deposit, and if I was looking at a nice spread that I didn't want to pass up on, I'd be willing to give them a small deposit. I definitely don't offer one outright though.

The non-exclusive version of the option agreement basically just exists so that the seller doesn't feel "tied down" with me being the only one who is allowed to buy the property from them for the next 6 months. The reality of it is this: these are people who in most cases have owned their land for a long time and have done nothing with it. It's not listed, and they probably didn't even realize they wanted to sell it until they got my letter in the mail. That, coupled with the fact that I've not once run into a competitor on a deal, makes the non-exclusive option a nice little backup plan to offer. The worst that could happen is that it gets sold out from underneath you, but even then the only thing you're out is the time you've spent thus far marketing it. Which, for me at least, is minimal.

This is just my opinion, but personally I turn and run when I come across a landlocked parcel with no legal easement. The only way I would pick one of these up to try and resell would be if I was literally getting it for, like you said, next-to-nothing and even at that I would do an option agreement as opposed to buying it outright. 

Buying on an option, like a lot of things with raw land, is different than it is with SFRs. Typically, on a house you're gonna end up signing a contract that says you'll close within 30 days of execution -- I'm sure that number varies, but that's what I've dealt with. What that means is that you have to do all your due dilligence plus line up a buyer all within that time frame. You could ask the seller for more time, but in my (limited) experience if a seller is willing to sell you their house for enough of a discount that you can flip it to a wholesaler and still make a profit, that seller mostly likely wants to close asap. 

Now, on a land deal, the seller is much much more likely to give you a larger window of time to line up a buyer so you can do your assignment or simultaneous closing. The option agreement I present to a seller whose property I can't or don't want to pay my own cash states very clearly and in an upfront manner that for the next 6 months (sometimes longer) I will market their property and find a buyer who will be willing to pay the price they're after. I have both exclusive (meaning they cannot sell the land to anyone else during the duration of our agreement) and I also have a non-exclusive, just in case they're not comfortable tying themselves down to me. The truth of the matter though is that most of the people I buy from have owned the land since forever and have done nothing with it, so what's another 6 months?

The TL;DR version is this: if you use the proper paperwork (purchase w/ an option) you definitely do not need to close on the land before you market it and line up a buyer. You're right about the neighbors being your best bet, though depending on the location of the parcel, I have heard of some people putting billboards up on their crap pieces of vacant land and renting the billboard space out...

Hope that helps a little

From my understanding you're correct. Dodd-Frank doesn't apply to selling vacant land w/ seller financing. I THINK (though don't quote me on this) it has to do with the language in the actual bill, which refers to "dwellings" (e.g. structures that people can live in). 

Dear North Carolina Wholesalers,

I have a buyer lined up for a property in Wilson, NC I have under contract. It's a cash buyer and it's actually a piece of vacant land, so no repairs or inspections etc etc to deal with. The problem is that this is the first deal I'm doing in North Carolina. Is there anyone on here active in NC that's done simultaneous closings? The parcel I'm flipping is in Wilson, NC which is Wilson County. 

ANY help or ideas or advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Both my seller and my buyer want to move quick and I'd love to be able to hide that fact that I have no clue what I'm doing :-D

Thanks in advance!

Hey Nicole. What part of NC? I'm actually looking for one there too. My properties are in Wilson and Bertie counties.

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to hook up with an agent or broker in or around Windsor, NC to handle selling two land parcels I've recently acquired. Hit me up if your interested in hearing more. 

I'm also looking for a title company (attorney?) in that area if anyone has any recommendations.

Thanks!

Hey Jason,

I'd probably start with the county recorder. Do you have the parcel numbers for all four properties? Some counties will allow you to look up and even view recorded documents online by parcel number. Some counties will only have an index of the document numbers related to that parcel, but you can then take those and request copies of them directly from the recorder's office. 

Nice! I've had an insane response from both my first letter campaign as well as my site. Closing on 3 of them this week and I have one other under contract that I'm gonna try and wholesale.

Agree with Fred. If you've got 8 grand in cash kicking around that you don't mind tying up for a bit AND you're sure this mall is a definite go, then why not. Of course, I'm not as cautious as a lot of people, so, it all depends on your cash sitch and risk aversion.

I could be wrong, but isn't it true that you also have to buy any subsequent yearly liens on the same property in order to still be able to foreclose if it's not redeemed? And how does it work if the property whose lien you own also has a mortgage on it? Does the bank take precedence in the foreclosure process?

Sorry... guess I just added more questions instead of trying to answer OP's question ¯\_(?)_/¯