Out-of-State Owners A Good Bet For Land Deals
July 19, 2008 by Richard Dale-Mesaros
Before I dive in, I wanted to thank Ryan Folk for inviting me to join the illustrious ranks of the LandThink blog contributors. I have seen some very insightful posts and a great deal of stimulating discussion in the comments sections!
Having started my land investment career basically with fresh air and a hunkering for a good deal, I had to (and still do) employ some out-of-the-box strategies, to get my phone ringing with folks who want to sell their land. One particularly successful technique has been sending letters to out-of-state owners.
I guess there’s a whole mess of theory surrounding how to write effective direct mail letters ( …and we’re not going to get into that here!), but one of the cool things about this type of campaign, is that you can test different versions of your letter, to see which one generates the best response - just use different colored paper, or some other means of identification, to let you know which letter the seller responded to. This way, you can go from complete garbage to something that gets results, without really needing to be a letter-writing genius.
The list of taxpayers for your target town can be found at the tax collectors counter either at the town office or county offices, depending what state you live in and you can usually buy the list for between $25 to $150. Much of this information is available online, too. Larger towns might even be able to provide you with a list of just the out-of-state folks (excluding the locals) and you can choose between the disc or paper version. The list itself will show the taxpayer’s name, address to where the tax bill goes, property map/lot number, value of the land parcel and value of the building, thus allowing you to identify which properties are land only. And so begins your treasure hunt for land…
The idea here, is to find an out-of-state owner who is open to the possibility of selling their property and see if you are able to negotiate a good deal with them. This might be property that the owner rarely visits, received through a family will, or generally has no great emotional attachment to and they are willing to make a creative or below-market deal. We’ve found this to be a reliable source of the type of opportunities that no-one else knows about and often times, you’re not competing with local Realtors, or other investors. Simple strategy, good results and this is a great arena for using options on land or owner financing.
Question: Does anyone else have good stuff to share about working with out-of-state owners?
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Richard is a Land Specialist at Northern Acres (www.NorthernAcres.com) and the creator of Black Widow Network (www.BlackWidowNetwork.com) for the real estate investment community.
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Often out of state owners do not know who to contact to sell the property and put it on the back burner until they have time to research it, a contact from the agent may be just what they were looking for.
Thanks for the comment Jason; the out-of-state owner strategy works for both agents and investors.
For the agents out there, your blog can be a great way to sway sellers in your direction - if you have an insightful blog that focuses on the local real estate market and shows that you’re the best resource for real estate information in the area, you’re more likely to be the agent that sellers turn to. Go check out http://www.RealEstateTomato.com - Jim Cronin is doing a fantastic job of educating Realtors on the art of blogging and having a susseccsful blog machine….. R
Richard@NorthernAcres.com
I like working with out-of-state owners as well. I am an investor, and not a realtor. So when I write, I approach land owners as a private party. If I were to write a letter to inquire whether they wish to sell, I would hand address the envelope. I think many of us are tired of receiving dozens of direct mail inquiries everyday and throw most of them away before they are even opened. If the letter is hand addressed with an individual’s name in the return address (not a business or corporate name) the percentages are higher that they will open the letter.
In my experience, a typical landowner has received a dozen or so inquiries from realtors and investors in the mail about their property. So if you are going to blanket an area of land owners with a direct mail piece it has to look and feel different than what your competitors are doing. So examine what your competition is doing and prepare something that is fresh and eye appealing.
Thanks Russell,
You’re right on with your comments.
Another thing that springs to mind, is I like to mention that I’m usually only selling a few parcels of land at any one time, so I am able to focus my recources on those parcels and get them sold quickly…..
Have fun out there!
Richard
Richard@NorthernAcres.com