All Forum Posts by: John Becker

Daren, I can help.

My business is buying and selling vacant land across the USA and I'm currently working in Collin County and have also owned property in Ft. Worth.

Email me at [email protected] and I can at least show you how to determine the approximate value of these properties and if they are worth pursuing.

john

I have spent considerable time in Brazil and without knowing the specifics about your investment can only generalize but I would agree with James. Brazilians have a lot of good intentions but the execution is often lacking. And Brazil has also just fallen into recession too.

Also, what is the money raised going to be used for and what is the "agricultural land" going to grow or is it just land banking for the future. Land is often a good investment, especially agricultural land, but where is the return coming from.

You may not realize it but Brazil was a military dictatorship just a few decades ago and its current democratic form is still evolving. Corruption is rampant and usually regarded as just the way things are so buyer beware. Why do you think wealthy Brazilians are putting all of their money into Miami real estate?

I'm new to BP but I've been buying and selling vacant land across the US for the last few years and here's what I do.

I would first go to the County Assessor's website and see what they have the value assessed at and then call them to find out the relationship between their value and market price. Many assessors will have a lower value than market. Especially in a rising market like we are in. This will give you a ballpark idea.

Then I go to a website like realtor.com or, if you are a licensed agent you could just use the MLS, and search for recent sales in the area. If there are enough then this will give you a pretty good idea what the market values the property at. If there aren't enough sales then you can see if there are any listings and discount those listing prices 10% to 15% to get a rough value.

Obviously, improved property with utilities in place has more value but how much is subject to many factors. Like what are the impact fees or costs to connect to those utilities when you build.

There are macro issues as well like the surrounding neighborhood, future development, zoning, easements, condition of the property, etc. that all can nudge the value one way or another.

And once you've done all that then take a quick look at the type of deed the property has, whether there are any liens on it, any special or upcoming assessments and are the taxes current. This should all be available on the county website as well. After all this, you should have a pretty good idea of what the property is worth.

Mike,

I'm new to BP but I've been buying and selling vacant land across the US for the last few years and here's what I do.

I would first go to the Maricopa County Assessor's website and see what they have the value assessed at and then call them to find out the relationship between their value and market price. Many assessors will have a lower value than market. Especially in a rising market like we are in. This will give you a ballpark idea.

Then I go to a website like realtor.com, or since you are a licensed agent you could just use the MLS, and search for recent sales in the area. If there are enough then this will give you a pretty good idea what the market values the property at. If there aren't enough sales then you can see if there are any listings and discount those listing prices 10% to 15% to get a rough value.

Obviously, improved property with utilities in place has more value but how much is subject to many factors. Like what are the impact fees or costs to connect to those utilities when you build.

And as an agent you already know that there are macro issues as well like the surrounding neighborhood, future development, zoning, easements, condition of the property, etc. that all can nudge the value one way or another.

And once you've done all that then take a quick look at the type of deed the property has, whether there are any liens on it, any special or upcoming assessments and are the taxes current. After all this, you should have a pretty good idea of what the property is worth and then price accordingly.