Real Estate
Sponsored by

"Abandoned" land - mail owner listed on tax rolls?

5,092 Views | 29 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by normaleagle05
chris1515
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I was poking around on the local appraisal district website in a rural county and found a few parcels of land that are owned by an "estate" and a couple by a trust. I'm familiar with a couple of the places and they look like no one has touched them in a long long time.

I assume someone is paying the property taxes or they would've been sold on the courthouse steps. Although I don't know how long that would take.

I'm thinking about sending a letter to a few of those and asking if they are interested in selling to let me know.

Any experience with this sort of thing? What could go wrong? Assuming I got a response from an interested seller, what type of complications might be waiting for me?
schwack schwack
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
You might find "undivided interest" and that can be tricky if there are lots of heirs. Give it shot - never know.
jagvocate
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I've only sent a few thousand of such letters; a lot of land investors have sent more and are more qualified to answer. But based on my experience of buying rural vacant land, if you are paying near market value you'll be surprised the number of deals you can make. I try to buy good land at $.35-.45 on the dollar, so it obviously takes me a lot longer.

Handwritten letters work best for most situations. Introduce yourself and your wife by name, don't get into your background too much (you can rapport build after they've raised their hand as interested in selling), and tell them you're interested in buying their [describe land] in [County name].

Don't be afraid to change your message, print a letter, etc. and mail them a few times.

As for the land itself, if you are buying anything over $5k close it through a title company and let the seller know that so they know no funny business will be happening. Make sure the land has good access, preferably to a maintained road, and really understand any easements that burden the land. Look up the land on Google Earth to understand terrain features that may not be visible from what you've seen. Look up the land in the FEMA Flood Maps to understand any flood zone issues. For $15 you can get data from Parcel fact . com that'll tell you a lot of this.

Call the county and confirm taxes and assessments and if they are paid up. Look at the value of improvements because you many be trying to buy land with structures you don't know about and you'll be disappointed if this blows your budget, but you can move on to something that fits. You'll want to call and make sure any new uses you may be dreaming up are allowed under zoning. Call utility companies to understand what's in the area as far as electricity, water, etc.

Are you wanting mineral rights and do current owners have them? Too much to cover here but it'll effect your negotiation for sure, so have a game plan. No minerals is simplest and cheapest.

I'm sitting here nursing a little sunburn and not sleeping, so I've surely missed something, but good luck!

CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
I've bought some stuff like that. Its amazing to me how many people will just sit on property like that for decades without ever even stepping foot on it. You hear stuff like "i'm just going to leave it to my children" which is great except the yearly property taxes eat up more than any appreciation.

One thing previous poster missed is make sure you understand utilities. They can be a real wrench in the plans in some of these pipe dream neighborhoods that were chopped up but never had utilities ran. No matter how cheap it is, you don't want to be buying a lot with no utilities that's too small to even install septic and a well.
chris1515
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Do you discuss price in the initial letter?

How many years do the taxes need to go unpaid before the county will sell the property? Some of the places I'm looking at, I can't imagine why anyone would be paying the taxes on it.

jagvocate
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Time before a tax sale? Depends on the county and value of land.

You can call the county tax office and request a delinquent tax list to find properties in distress. Cost will vary as well as quality of data from County to County.

schwack schwack
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Quote:

Do you discuss price in the initial letter?

I wouldn't. Why tip your hand?

CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
jagvocate said:

Time before a tax sale? Depends on the county and value of land.


Yep. Some property in some counties will never go to tax sale.
dudeabides
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
chris1515 said:

Do you discuss price in the initial letter?


FWIW.... On average, I receive about 2 letters of this nature per month. If you want my attention and desire an honest discussion, you better mention some reasonable offer up front. Otherwise, your letter goes into the trash with the rest of my junk mail. Being handwritten doesn't impress me at all. Neither does fancy letterheads or paper.


normaleagle05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I've surveyed a good number of properties that my clients had bought at Sheriff's sales that would've looked attractive on the tax roles for this kind of investment opportunity. The difference of course is the lacking time frame and human resource (the seller) for doing some proper due diligence.

Without fail those Sheriff's sale properties weren't on the ground like the CAD's map showed. There were shortages of all kinds and conflicts with the neighboring deeds or possession.

You need to be careful if it looks long fallow. There are some deals to be had but there are usually reasons why it isn't getting used.
chris1515
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
What do you mean about conflicts with neighboring deeds or possession?

CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
normaleagle05 said:


Without fail those Sheriff's sale properties weren't on the ground like the CAD's map showed.


Another great point. Trust nothing from the cad to be correct. Verify everything yourself. That's either you walking it, an attorney, surveyor, title company, etc. Some rural counties are TERRIBLE!
CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
chris1515 said:

What do you mean about conflicts with neighboring deeds or possession?




Ever seen a property with more than one deed/owner claiming to own the same land? Surveys that contradict? Sometimes the error was made generations back and its never been ran through a title company. Its what happens when nobody spends the time and money to do things right.
normaleagle05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
There's too many ways for this to happen to list. CS78 gave a good gist to it though. You never know what you'll find when you start researching and finding facts in the field.
chris1515
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
If a property has a massive amount of deinquent taxes and penalties and interest, does the county/tax authority ever negotiate that down? I assume not, but wondered about that.
normaleagle05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I don't know the direct answer to this question but I do know that when the deliquent $$ starts to over take the property's value that is definitely tax foreclosure/Sheriff's sale territory. Which will be an auction and could go for cheap.
chris1515
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
So I mailed a letter to "The Estate of XXXX" at the New Jersey address listed on the tax roles with no reply.

After a couple of weeks I looked online and found the obituary of the previous owner and found his only child, also living in New Jersey (he is in his late 70s). Mailed a letter to his address, again with no reply.

That guy has a daughter with a really distinctive name so I looked her up on Facebook and ended up chatting with her.

She said no one from the family had been down to Texas in 25-30 years, but her dad was still paying taxes on that place and didn't want to sell it.

So my assumption that the place looked abandoned was not off base at all.

These people do not seem well off. So I assume at some point this place will be sold. Hopefully at that point, I'll get the first call. But who knows.

It was interesting to track down the story on the property.
CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Like I said, thats surprisingly typical. Keep in touch with the daughter.
nonameag99
How long do you want to ignore this user?
PRO TIP DICK MOVE

If the land has an artificially low appraisal with cad

Someone could let the cad know that the appraisal is artificially low

That may incline them to sell

CS78
How long do you want to ignore this user?
Thats pretty F'ed up. NEVER side with the enemy!!!

nonameag99 said:

PRO TIP DICK MOVE

If the land has an artificially low appraisal with cad

Someone could let the cad know that the appraisal is artificially low

That may incline them to sell


chris1515
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
They are paying ridiculous taxes already since it doesn't have an ag exemption.

I started to tell them it looks like some people have been riding 4 wheelers on the land, which is true. I thought that might raise some aggravation with the owner and prompt them to sell.

I never did mention price. And oddly enough they never asked.

There is a decent comp listed nearby for $4K an acre. I was prepared to offer up to $1200 an acre. By the time someone fences the place, puts in a water well, runs electricity, and then pays to get all the brush and trees cleared (and that would be a huge bill imo) I think that's about where you'd need to buy it in order to make it work out. I think if they compared my offer to the appraisal value, they'll tell me to hit the road already.
jagvocate
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Maybe, maybe not. One thing I've learned is never focus too much on one property (always try to have multiple lines in the water) and never do the seller's thinking for them.

And to the poster above who loves throwing all kinds of land letters away: that's a fine position to be in. But when I'm trying to buy land, I'm not really looking for you...you aren't motivated to sell. I'm trying to send offers to people that have a problem and cash from a land sale will help. Nothing personal, just a numbers game. I have a collection of letters from folks thanking me, so I enjoy this business a lot.
kansas02gt
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Also contact the county appraisal districts and request a file of all their delinquent props. You would be surprised how many don't go to sale, as mentioned above. Some are excel, some are .pdf.

Due diligence is where you make or break your profit.

Also agree on the hand-written notes. Yes your hand may fall off, but it comes across as MUCH more legit. Depending on area, don't count on more than 10% to contact you back.
Foamcows
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
you can also pay companies that will handwrite the letter for you...
Post removed:
by user
phorizt
How long do you want to ignore this user?
So on a somewhat related note... has anyone ever tried finding a hunting lease like this? After a couple of years of looking for a property to lease for my family I've kicked around the idea of sending letters to people listed on the Tax records of properties that look promising.
itsyourboypookie
How long do you want to ignore this user?


I use skip genie dot com. Aggie owner. Great data. Skip trace them and call them. You can even call their kin folk
ag94whoop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
I get letters like that all the time.
I have 3 pieces of land varying in size, location and price.

I literally just got one today. They offered me about 1/3-1/4 market value. Honestly i could put it on market and sell in 30 days for 3x what they offered.

The only time I have ever low balled like that on property has been when the property have been on the market for months or years without selling. And frankly even then it rarely works. Usually just pisses off the seller.

I think if you are out hunting for property, offering a fair price with a reasonable discount like 20-25% is one thing, especially if it's obviously unkept. But remember things aren't always as they seem up front.
normaleagle05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
You're saying you have three pieces of land you haven't seen, rented, leased, payed the taxes on, or maintained in years?
ag94whoop
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
normaleagle05 said:

You're saying you have three pieces of land you haven't seen, rented, leased, payed the taxes on, or maintained in years?


No
I said I get random letters like that all the time.
I actively maintain all three pieces of land But I still get random letters offering to buy them despite them not being for sale
normaleagle05
How long do you want to ignore this user?
AG
Doesn't seem very "abandoned".

I know it seems unthinkable from the standpoint of many active and responsible land owners that there's property out there owned by people who don't even know they own it. But they are out there in droves. The letters you're getting are fishing for a sucker. What the OP is talking about is a different class of owner and a different approach to real estate investing.
Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.