All Forum Posts by: Kyle Conrad

@steve haight no - there's no relationship to speak of - he's an absentee owner but he's VERY motivated to sell. Normally, I'd purchase the property outright and sell it myself but in this case there are too many red flags to for me to post my own funds. For example, the land is on a private drive (that is currently being used by other neighbors), the neighboring landowner appears to have 'adopted' the property as his own, and there are no utilities available. All that being said, it's a quality chunk of land that's assessed at around $30k. I think I could finance it to someone for $10k-$15k but  there's a slight chance that a) the neighbor could be a hassle and/or B) I can't access my own land because it's not connected to a public ROW and the private drive is 'reclaimed' by the rightful owner.

Me neither, Steve. Do you pay the original owner a stipend up front or do you just agree to pay them for a portion of the sale? Also, what's to stop someone from finding your ad, researching the current owner and bypassing you to make the purchase? 

Thanks, 

@Aaron Montague - the only issue with using this contract is that I'm not a realtor - I guess I could have my attorney revise the language? The only reason I'd pay him is for the incentive to use me as his representation. Also - what's to stop someone from finding the property through my ad and bypassing me to buy directly from the owner? Or would he just be in breach of contract?

Thanks, @Adam Schneider. That's great information. I'd most likely be providing the financing myself, but it certainly appears the neighbor has 'adopted' the land as his own, so that could obviously pose a problem. I'll call tomorrow and see what classification of private drive it is. Let me know if you have any more advice. 

Curious as to whether anyone's ever signed an exclusive marketing contract with a potential buyer. Essentially, I'd like to pay the seller a fee for granting me the right to marketing his property. I'd pay him $500, market his land to my buyer's list, and take care of the transaction and closing costs once it sells, possibly giving him a portion of the profit. 

This would be for a piece of raw land that has a couple of 'question marks', e.g., an adjoining landowner has built a fence through it, it can only be accessed via a private drive. It does have value and I do think it will sell (eventually.)  

Obviously, the point of this would be to mitigate my own risk so I wouldn't have to invest my own cash to purchase the property. Has anyone ever heard of this type of agreement?

So long story short - I've agreed to terms from the seller to purchase a parcel of land in a rural area. The land itself is fine - wooded but flat, zoned for residential building, etc. However, the only way to access the parcel is through a private access road - a road the several other residents are also using. I've called the county and they don't know who's name the access road is in, but I'm wondering what kind of issues this could pose in the future.

Theoretically, since the road is private, could I effectively be unable to access my land if the owner of the private road decides to restrict access? I'm in North Carolina, FWIW.

I financed a piece of vacant property on a 2-year note a few weeks ago. My understanding is that the buyers hold the responsibility of ownership, thus, if they were to injure themselves on the property, I would not be liable for damages. Does anyone have experience with this type of thing? 

Thanks all - very helpful. @seth williams, I actually emailed you about this a couple of months ago. You responded similarly; I just wanted to glean a little more info before I pull the trigger yet. I'd  certainly pay a company to conduct the title search (although I've heard it's not ALWAYS 100% effective.) So, would I just mail a cashiers check to the landowner or would I actually need to meet them in person? Would there need to be a notary present?

Thanks David and Jerry - sounds like the best option is to just suck it up. 

Hi all - 

Wondering if anyone has any experience closing their own cash deal without an attorney. I've come across a couple of vacant land parcels that the owner is essentially willing to give away. In this case, the closing fees would actually cost MORE than the title purchase price from the current landowner. 

Does anyone have experience doing their own closings with vacant land?