While it is quite common for a person to sell a home at some point in their life, it is much rarer to sell land that has no improvements. These differences are important to keep in mind if you need to sell land, because the strategies for selling the two types of properties are quite different, especially if you need to know how to sell land. Quick.
Selling a house is not the same as selling land
Let’s think about some of the main differences between the two:
- Fewer people are looking to buy land than houses Land is not as popular as houses. That’s pretty obvious, since most real estate transactions are done by people looking for a place to live, not an investment or a place to build. This is important to keep in mind, because simply putting up a sign or posting a Craigslist ad won’t cut it – you may never be seen by someone looking for what you have to offer!
- How is the land “displayed”? Everyone knows what it means to show a home, and it’s the basic thing you do at the beginning of the sales process. But what about the land? Showing a piece of land is much less likely to cause a potential buyer to form an emotional connection to the property than if the property were a house, simply because it’s easier to imagine living in the new place if the house actually exists!
- Harder to motivate agents The simple fact is that any given piece of land would almost always be worth more if it had a house sitting on it. Therefore, real estate agents will earn a lower commission on the sale of your land than they will on the sale of nearby properties that have improvements. Now, of course, most agents try to go above and beyond for their clients, but it would be hard for anyone to fully fight the disincentive of a smaller paycheck.
internet is your best friend
It’s no secret that a lot of real estate deals are done online, but how should you use this knowledge to quickly sell your land? Well, as we discussed earlier, the number of people actively looking to buy land is relatively small, so you need to get your property out there to a wide audience. This is easy to do online, with free sites like Zillow and FSBO being great places to submit your property. However, there are also special investor portals online that allow you to get your property in front of the eyes of the people who actually buy and sell land for a living. These people look at properties all the time and make their decisions about whether or not to buy based on specific criteria, so it’s best to provide them with as much information about your property as possible. Often, you can get an investor to place an offer site on you without being seen. Now that’s how to sell the land!
Where do you find these investor portals? You can google terms like “sell land fast” and find plenty of land investors ready to take a look. Look for those who offer to cover closing fees and pay you in cash.
I hope this has been informative, and best of luck selling your property!
