Every so often I get fed up with having sellers play “hide the ball” with buyers, including me. Since, unlike residential housing, so few state disclosure requirements apply to land, sellers and their brokers may decide that their best marketing tactic is to disclose as little as possible. That approach may have worked in the champagne days of the past, but I think it’s self-defeating in times like these.

I emailed an inquiry to a seller of some 15,000 acres in the Southeast not long ago. The seller’s “marsh” was pitched as a timber tract. The seller’s property manager emailed me a “map” and excerpts from a timber cruise done more than a decade ago, about the time when the current owner bought it. Let’s say the price was $2,500 an acre.

The tract was part of a very large swamp. Some of it may have been marshy, but my guess was that most of it was very swampy.

A reputable outfit had done the timber cruise. But it appeared that the cruise was done for the current owner in advance of the tract being purchased. I could not tell from the materials whether the tract had or had not been cut after the cruise date. My guess is that it had been.

I suspected that some portion of the merchantable timber counted in the cruise would be on ground too wet to actually harvest. Such timber should not be counted as merchantable, because it’s either economically or technologically out of reach. No definition of operability was provided. I could not determine whether merchantable timber on inoperable ground was counted in this cruise.

I asked whether the seller owned the minerals. The property manager said he didn’t know! He said he would find out and get back to me, which he never did.

A fee-simple sale — where the seller owns and conveys all surface, subsurface and air rights in the property, less only recorded restrictions — is vitally important to a buyer. Subsurface minerals can be a source of lease and royalty income. If the surface owner doesn’t want mineral development because of its surface impacts, he should stay away from property where the subsurface minerals have been split from the surface, either by lease or sale.

There’s another reason why fee-simple is important, which has to do with a conservation easement. Mineral ownership is almost always required for any conservation easement applying to the surface, except when the applicant can show either that minerals aren’t present or that they are of no commercial significance. A conservation-minded buyer would not be interested in this tract if an easement could not be arranged.

The seller’s email contained what was represented to be a “timber type map” that stated in very small print: “Property lines…drawn from a combination of survey plats and aerial photos and are not guaranteed to be exact.” A state-registered forester drew the map.  A buyer could easily mistake this map for a survey. When I asked how the seller’s acreage figure had been calculated, I received no answer. I also received no answer to my question as to whether boundaries were marked on the ground.

The property manager informed me that no boundary survey existed, and the “price could be adjusted based on final acreage as determined by a survey.” Getting boundaries settled and fixed in the field is a seller responsibility in my opinion. When a seller doesn’t have a recorded survey, the least that can be offered to a buyer is a computer-generated deed-mapper printout on a topographical map that follows the calls in the seller’s deed. When a seller proposes to me that we split the cost of a survey, I am always inclined to answer, “Sure, as long as we lower the asking price by my share of the survey’s cost.”

The “timber type map” showed two parcels, amounting to several hundred acres, with disputed ownership. I asked the property manager whether any boundary disputes still existed. He chose not to answer this question.

I asked whether any federal endangered, threatened or sensitive (ETS) species — or their habitats — were found on the property. He replied: “To our knowledge, there are no ETS on the property.” I spent five minutes on Internet research looking up the website for that state’s natural-heritage division and discovered three endangered species and more than a dozen threatened and sensitive species were present in this county, likely in this area and probable on this tract. Maybe the seller’s representative actually did not know this readily obtained information. Maybe, he chose not to know. Maybe he knew and preferred not to say.

Was the seller conveying with a general warranty deed or something less? The answer—“The deed structure is to be determined.”

I asked what the tax-assessed value and annual tax hit were. No answers.

I asked whether any zoning or land-use restrictions applied. No answer.

I asked whether the seller had a mortgage on the property. No answer.

I asked whether the tract joined public land. No answer.

I asked whether the property would convey with any encumbrances or reservations of interest. No answers.

Sellers have three ways of dealing with due-diligence questions from buyers: 1) stonewall and provide as little information as possible; 2) provide all information in the seller’s possession and identify items that require additional research; and 3) some middle ground between providing almost no information and providing everything.

When I run into a seller playing hide the ball with me, alarms go off very loudly. Something is being hidden—maybe a lot of things. Non-answers of the type above discredit a seller in my eyes. I trust nothing after that kind of response. And, generally, I don’t waste time with sellers who play this game.

With markets the way they are, sellers should consider leaning far more toward full disclosure and away from hide the ball.

And if a buyer wants to test a seller, he should ask what the seller paid for the property. Some states require that this figure be made part of the public record. It’s a required due-diligence question, whether or not a seller chooses to answer. When a seller does answer, I’m encouraged to go forward. It’s a sign that the seller wants to sell.

People write books for different reasons—money, prestige, money, self-validation, score-settling, money, ego and money. And sometimes it’s not about money. It’s about positioning, about building a platform from which to move up.

David Sokol heads MidAmerican Energy, an important 80-percent-owned subsidiary of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway. He’s rumored to be one of the leading candidates to succeed Buffet. Sokol has led MidAmerican into lowering the utility’s carbon profile and into wind. As long as the regulators approve rate hikes, returns are guaranteed. Buffet moved into utilities after years of shunning them, because their returns are safer than almost all alternative equities in a bad market.

While Sokol, too, is from Omaha, he seems cast from a different mold. He recommends books about Attila the Hun. He ranks employees each month according to those he thinks he would fire first. Buffet is no pussy cat, but management that is inspired by aggression and fear doesn’t seem to be his style.

Sokol self-published Pleased But Not Satisfied, which is available from The Bookworm, 8702 Pacific St., Omaha, NE 68114, 402-392-2877. He sets out six business guidelines: Customer Commitment, Employee Commitment, Financial Strength, Integrity, Environmental Respect, and Operational Excellence. Nothing wrong with these ideas; also nothing about Attila.

He writes about his approach to mergers and acquisitions: “In the case of acquisitions, failure often revolves around overly aggressive assumptions, inadequate diligence or failure to consider the culture of the acquired company.”

Land investors might consider these three points as well.

Overly aggressive assumptions. Land and timberland always make money for patient money. Buy and hold works better for land investments than stocks.

When, however, buyers go into a deal aggressively assuming a quick flip, or a rapid doubling of their invested capital, or a 15 percent annual appreciation rate, or that everything will work out just right and on time, or that future interest rates will favor their time-sensitive plans for the property, or that stumpage prices will rise, or…they get in trouble. Aggressive assumptions in business deals or land deals rarely work out perfectly across the board.

The pinch generally comes with either an under-capitalized buyer who can’t ride out the turbulence or one who is counting on a sequence of things to happen by certain dates.

Every land investment should carry two or three back-up plans that lay out a damage-control path, or even a total escape, if the unexpected occurs or when hopeful assumptions don’t play ball. If an investment works when you assume a certain amount of things not working out quite right, then it’s likely to be a lot better deal than one where your money rests on all assumptions coming true, in full and on time.

The only way I’ve seen aggressive assumptions work consistently is when they’re packaged with going-into-it flexibility and ride-it-out capital.

Diligence. Deep research can be done on land. Hidden information can be excavated. Buyers can base decisions on reasonably reliable facts.

Land deals get in tangles when the buyer doesn’t invest the necessary time and money in digging deep. Adequate scoping usually reveals booby traps in land purchases. Inadequate scoping, however, endangers a buyer, as Sokol points out.

Need to consider the culture of the acquisition. Land does not exist as an island. It’s part of a topographical and human community. It’s subject to its own personality, owner expectations, zoning and community norms. A new owner usually can’t do just whatever he feels like with a parcel he just bought, and there’s trouble if he tries.

Of the three, diligence can protect a buyer against overly aggressive assumptions and failure to consider the culture of the property.

Sokol is pleased with himself, but not satisfied. That’s a pretty good place to be these days.

What do you do if circumstances make you a “crash” seller?

First, don’t panic and don’t despair. You must keep your head, which is the body part most likely to minimize the pain you will inevitably experience. Don’t give up. If self-pity would improve your situation, I’d say, “Wallow away!” But self-pity simply wastes time and energy. Beating yourself up doesn’t improve your prospects. You may get beaten down, but don’t be beaten.

Try to consider your particular mess as a problem that needs to be solved with the best options available to you at the moment. As my father-in-law told me: “You eat an elephant one bite at a time.”

The one benefit of being in a very tight pinch that I discovered was that very hard decisions become easy when other choices are worse. You do unpalatable things because they have to be done.

Second, look for a bridge to the future other than selling right now. A costly temporary patch may be better than permanent injury.  Perhaps you can squirm through by refinancing, or selling a part of your property rather than all of it, or selling an interest in it rather than the property itself. An “interest” could include a share in the whole property, or the right to cut timber within a certain number of years, or the right to hunt, or a life estate, or a long-term lease or a right to inherit it.

Third, figure out what you absolutely need to net from a sale and what you will do if the proceeds fall short. Once you face square the worst that can happen, you’ve turned the mess into a problem of managing through.

Fourth, determine how much time you really have. More time may give you opportunities to promote your sale better or find a bridge. You’re likely to lose money in step with how fast you need to sell.

A conventional auction may or may not help. They typically take a couple of months or more to organize and publicize. The auctioneer will want you to sell on an absolute basis. This is a sale at any price, which means you bear all risk of disaster, including winding up worse off than before the auction.

Fifth, do the buyer’s work. Put together a sale packet that provides complete information on your property. Owing to your need for speed, you have to do a buyer’s due diligence better and faster than any buyer. Don’t fudge. Lay out the negatives and all the numbers. In addition to the usual things a listing sheet would provide (photos, description of improvements, etc.), your packet should include:

Your deed, showing legal description and acreage.

ALL other recorded documents relevant to property.

Title certificate at the time you purchased the property or other legal opinion showing that the title was then free of defect.

Copy of title insurance policy, if you have one.

Opinion letter from your lawyer, to include:

• Title is currently free of defect, or set forth exceptions and why.
• Seller holds and will convey merchantable title.
• Seller will convey with a general warranty deed, or lesser alternative if needed.
• Property will be conveyed in fee simple, with no severance of rights or resources, other than those of record. A mineral lease will be recorded.
• To the best of lawyer’s knowledge, no unrecorded docs exist that would negatively affect the buyer’s use, possession and enjoyment of the property. (Make sure this is accurate, of course.)
• To the best of lawyer’s knowledge, property is not burdened with encroachments.
• Seller will reserve no interest or profit in the property.

Opinion letter from surveyor that boundaries as described in deed match boundaries on ground, or set forth the mismatches.

Survey, if available.

Deed-mapper drawing of boundaries on topographical map. Show boundaries and acreage from legal description. Get this from surveyor. Inexpensive.

Current appraisal, or at least a competitive market analysis (CMA) from a broker.

Tax map and tax information:

• Current tax-assessed value (TAV). Previous TAV. Date of last reassessment. Date of next reassessment.
• Ratio of TAV to appraisal or CMA value
• Photocopy of current Land Book page showing property’s TAV, tax rates and annual tax burden.

Price paid when you bought property. Date of purchase.

Mortgage details if you have one–original principal, terms, outstanding balance, contact info for lender, assumable or not.

Zoning status and summary of regulations for division, setback and others that are relevant.

Copy of property’s soil map from the county’s Soil Survey. Include tables that show suitability of your soils for different uses.

Financials if property generates income, such as Schedule F for farm.

Opinion letter from environmental consultant regarding any environmental issues, such as floodplain, natural hazards, wetlands, presence of ETS species.

Consultant report (s) on special assets or liabilities

Letter from you discussing property negatives, responsibilities and idiosyncrasies (e.g., nuisances, boundary disputes, fence ownership, well goes dry in August). Don’t play

hide the ball. The seller must achieve complete credibility with the buyer. Show how you arrived at your asking price, and why you need a quick sale.

Take your property information packet to everyone who might be a buyer or know of a buyer, including CPAs, financial consultants, real-estate brokers who might want to purchase, lending officers, mortgage companies and real-estate lawyers. Publicize in local papers.

Your success will depend on your asking price in terms of how buyers determine your property’s value.

You can consider combining this approach with a sealed-bid auction with a stated reserve price. Allow buyers to make offers before your lawyer opens bids.

If you get no bidders, your reserve price is too high. Lower it and try again. If you have some buyers who contacted you but didn’t bid, ask your lawyer to approach each one.

When selling quickly is more important than getting the best price, do what you have to do because you don’t have other choices.

It was built around 1890 in the boxy three-over-three style common in its area. As originally constructed, it had two stories, six rooms, front porch, short ceilings, no bathroom, no electricity, no closets to speak of, no insulation, wood siding and a standing-seam metal roof. The central heating system was a single flue pipe with six ports, three on each floor, for wood-burning stoves. The house sat on a stone foundation, such that the bottom of the floor joist was about eight inches from the surface of the ground.

Over the years, things had been done. Some properly; others might be described as fitting comfortably in the “jack-leg” school of home improvements.

A tight bath-sink-toilet bathroom had been stubbed out on the ground floor. The kitchen had a sink and few other necessities. The rooms were adequately sized, but would become smallish if closets were built in.

The water system was a gravity-fed spring located about 500 yards away, across a river. The small-diameter plastic line’s low point was six feet below the river’s bottom. Water flow in the house depended on vigorous hoping.

An approved septic system had been installed about 20 years ago. It was designed to meet the requirements of a “two-bedroom” permit, which means the house could legally accommodate only four persons. The third upstairs room could not be a bedroom. Further, the approved system barely met the requirements—the holding tank was the smallest allowed, the drain field was the minimum.

Waste water from the kitchen did not go into the septic system, as current regulations require. Rather, it flowed into a hole—an older sewerage design.

The electrical system was a 200-amp box and three-hole outlets, so I assumed it was safe.

The property was two parcels, connected more in theory than practice. The front five acres contained the house with frontage on a public road and several outbuildings that had seen their best days when Herbert Hoover was a pup. The back 35 was separated from the front by the year-round river. No ford had been excavated, so I assumed a ford was not practical. A bridge would cost $30,000.

The back of the orphan parcel had been timbered recently. No commercial timber value would appear there for 20 years.

Most of the front and much of the back was river bottom.

I checked the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM), prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A FIRM shows the floodplain in a small portion of a county. You can buy them at http://msc.fema.gov. The county’s building or zoning office will have them, as will local insurance agents.

The FIRM classified this bottom as Zone A, where the elevations for a Base Flood were not determined in FEMA’s 2008 floodplain update. A Base Flood is an amount of flood water that has a one percent chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year; it’s also called a 100-year flood or a one-percent chance of (this degree) of flooding. This spot has had three Base Floods in the last 25 years, though I don’t know whether water reached the house.

To protect against flooding, the house needed to be jacked up 30 inches or more. (Each jurisdiction has its own floodplain clearance requirement.) That job involves a new footer and probably five courses of block. The added benefit of doing this miserable task is that it would create a useable crawlspace and allow for insulating floor and pipes.

The orphan acreage in the back might be sold to a neighbor. A right-of-way easement might be purchased from a neighbor on either side. Or a bridge could be built. Apart from the expense and effort a bridge involves, any proposal would have to be submitted to and granted a permit by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and possibly other agencies. A bridge would be convenient and increase the value of the property, but

it would be a very expensive investment given the overall value of the property.

Much other work was needed. A new bathroom/utility room. A different water supply system—maybe a holding tank and pump at the house, or a well on the front parcel. Additional electric baseboard heaters. A kitchen makeover. Central heating? An upstairs bathroom? Bigger septic system? Energy-efficient windows?

All such work could be deferred, temporarily or permanently, if the new owner were willing to risk flood damage and put up with the property’s idiosyncrasies. In that case, the property could be a good buy if it were bought for what I thought it was worth as is. That price in my opinion was less than half of the asking price.

If, on the other hand, a new owner determined that everything needed to be made right, $100,000 to $125,000 would pass through his hands very quickly. Given the intrinsic value of the house, I could see doing a few things and letting the others slide.

I would elevate the house, add a water tank/pump, and install electric heaters. The first would prevent predictable damage; the second and third would increase livability.

I would not add a second bathroom upstairs, but I might eventually get around to redoing and enlarging the existing ground-level bathroom. The kitchen could be made more functional cheaply. The bridge, though it is to somewhere, is not worth its cost in dollars and effort. The back acreage is floodplain and woods. I’d forget about trying to upgrade the down-and-outbuildings, and I wouldn’t monkey with the septic system.

As is, this place has worked as a full-time residence. But it does have issues that discount value and make for inconvenience.

I don’t think it’s priced right in today’s market, given its combination of virtues, risks and needs. The buyer’s price is about 50 percent less than the asking price, a little less in my opinion than the owner’s purchase price a decade ago.

It was a sobering visit.

Since all property purchases are different and no Consumer Reports exists to simplify making choices, each buyer must dig out the story of a seller’s dirt.

This research is the responsibility of the buyer—not the buyer’s lawyer, not the agents involved, not the buyer’s lender or appraiser and not the buyer’s third cousin by marriage who was a real-estate agent 20 years ago.

The point of spending the time and money doing pre-offer research is to gather reliable information from which to propose a sensible price and terms.

I advise buyers to do most of their due diligence in advance of making an offer rather than propose a 90-day study contingency. Advance research gives the buyer a fact-based offering price, not an approximate stab in a hostile dark.

Deals have a better chance of getting done when the offering price is as hard as the buyer can make it. A study contingency amounts to a free look for the buyer, and sellers are often reluctant to tie up their properties this way.

Due diligence walks through these steps:

Start with what the seller discloses. Different states require sellers to disclose different types of information. These usually cover “material (important) latent (concealed) defects,” which are items not obvious or readily knowable. I often find that sellers do not disclose significant defects, both the concealed kind and those that are observable but not readily understood.

Some states allow sellers to opt out of disclosure. A seller who chooses not to comply with disclosure may have something to hide. A buyer won’t know this until he’s done with his due diligence.

A buyer can write a contingency into a contract offer that makes the sale depend on the seller disclosing all defects in the deed and property of which he is aware.

Where a seller does disclose a defect, the buyer needs to research all of its implications.

Boilerplate inspections. Many standard contracts provide for four inspections. The seller usually pays for three: 1) termite inspection, 2) certificate showing that the house drinking water is safe, and 3) septic inspection that indicates the system is in working order. The fourth is the house inspection that is generally done at the buyer’s expense, although some smart sellers are now providing a current house report as part of their marketing effort.

Buyers should not waive any of these without good reasons.

The termite inspection should include structures in addition to the house, such as detached garages, barns and workshops. Wood-eating bugs don’t confine their dining to the seller’s home.

The water-quality test should screen for heavy metals and chemicals in addition to E. coli bacteria.

The septic inquiry should go beyond determining whether the system is functional. A buyer needs to know whether the house’s grey water goes into the septic system; it may go into a dry well or straight into a creek. Some counties grandfather these non-conforming practices, but more and more are requiring owners, especially new owners, to upgrade to the current standard, which runs both grey and black water into the septic system.

Buyers should also determine whether the current septic permit fits current and future uses. I’ve seen a listing for a four-bedroom farmhouse that only had a two-bedroom septic permit. If the new owner adds square feet or another bedroom, additional septic capacity will be required beginning with the two bedrooms not covered under the existing permit. In the worst case, this can mean installing a completely new septic system at a cost ranging from about $3,000 to more than $20,000.

A routine house inspection generally does not cover asbestos, radon and mold.

Fee ownership. Buyers need to understand exactly what the seller is selling. Buyers want to buy property in fee (also fee simple or fee absolute), which means all the rights the land contains—surface, minerals, water, timber, wind and so on. The buyer needs to know before making an offer whether all rights convey and whether the seller is reserving a right or anything else from the sale.

General warranty deed. This type of deed provides the buyer with the most confidence and security. Special warranty deeds, bargain-and-sale deeds and quitclaims provide the buyer with increasing less security, though circumstances may justify their use. Buyers should determine with their local lawyer what each type of deed means.

Access. Property with an existing vehicle entrance on a state-maintained, all-weather hardtop road is ideal. If no entrance exists on such a road, the buyer needs to check with the state road department to determine whether a new entrance can be put in. A new entrance will require adequate clear sight distance in both directions, which may not be available.

If the seller accesses his property by a road that crosses that of another landowner, the buyer must determine the legality and conditions of this usage. If the seller has a deeded right-of-way easement, the buyer needs to make sure that it’s wide enough for his needs, doesn’t prohibit certain types of uses and sets forth who maintains what and to what degree. Without a deeded access easement, a buyer cannot assume that he has the right to use any particular road into the seller’s property.

If the seller is using his access road on the basis of a landowner’s permission, the buyer needs to understand that he may be denied that permission.

If neither deeded access nor permission is the basis of use, the seller may still have a legal right to drive the road if the history of its use meets certain state-determined tests. Establishing a prescriptive easement against a landowner’s wishes is one of those legal nightmares best left undreamt.

Acreage. Buyers need to determine the acreage a seller can convey based on the deed’s boundary description. A surveyor can run the description through a deed-mapper program which prints out boundary lines and acreage contained within them.

Advertised acreage may or may not be accurate. Buyers cannot rely on acreage figures found on county tax maps and in tax records.

A specific acreage number, qualified by “more or less” in the deed, will usually shield a seller who conveys acreage short of that number. A deed-mapper program will pinpoint the exact acreage the deed conveys.

Boundaries on the ground vs. boundaries in the deed. Fence lines and other functional boundaries may or may not align with boundaries in the seller’s deed. Misalignments are not infrequent, and acreage errors can be significant. It may be advisable to hire a surveyor to walk the boundaries to check congruence.

Easements. The seller may have a recorded easement to use his neighbor’s property, and/or a neighbor may have one to use his. The buyer gets both.

Common easements involve utility lines, underground pipes and roads.

States allow a “hostile” party to establish a prescriptive easement to use another’s property against that owner’s wishes by meeting all the statutory tests. These differ from state to state, but usually require adverse use with the owner’s knowledge that has run continuously for a specified number of years. If the owner has given permission to use his property, prescriptive easement cannot be established.

Buyers should have their lawyer draft language in their offers that requires the seller to disclose any unrecorded easement and any claim of adverse use or ownership.

I generally advise buyers to avoid property that is burdened with a conservation easement. I often advise new owners to evaluate whether donating a conservation easement — with its many local, state, federal and estate tax benefits — might work in their circumstances.

Encroachments and boundary disputes. A surveyor’s walk-around can determine whether the fence lines follow the deed. A seller’s operational acreage may fence in a neighbor’s property and/or vice versa. The legality of any encroachment is determined in court. When both parties know that a fence line is off, a buyer can ask the seller and his neighbor to resolve it, subject to his agreement.

A buyer’s contract offer should ask the seller to disclose any known encroachments and boundary disputes.

Orphan parcels. Country property often contains a patch here or there that can’t be accessed or used. A few acres on the far side of a stream that can’t be forded or bridged is one example. Sometimes orphan acreage can be sold to the neighbor who adjoins it; other times, it just hangs out as a tax burden. Inaccessible land should be priced lower than
useable land.

Floodplain. Flat land that borders a stream or river is usually in the floodplain and eventually floods. Structural damage to floodplain property can range from nuisance clean up to complete destruction.

Floodplain maps are available for purchase at http://msc.fema.gov. The free maps on the FEMA site were not useable. The county’s land-use planner should have these maps, and, in my opinion, so should local real-estate brokers. A standard topographical map will show the elevation of water-side land.

Sellers do not appear to be required to disclose floodplain. Since it’s visible, it’s not a latent defect. Floodplain may be indicated on listing information by an abbreviation that incorporates the letter “F.”

Zoning. Determine the zoning status of the seller’s property and the uses that are permitted within that designation. If a buyer’s planned use is not permitted under the current zoning status, the new owner may or may not be able to get a variance or a conditional-use permit. If rezoning is essential to the buyer’s plans, make it a contingency in the contract. Have the seller apply in his name with the buyer paying the costs.

Environmental issues. Buyers need to be aware that the presence of wetlands and endangered species or their habitats can limit or foreclose developmental uses of the seller’s land. The Army Corps of Engineers has jurisdiction over wetlands and surface waters. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has habitat information.

Other environmental issues to look for include climate issues (drought, hurricane and tornado hazards), water pollution; poisonous or nuisance vegetation; neighboring noise, light, odor or unpalatable activities; dumps of hazardous materials; harmful dusts; an aesthetic sore thumb, like a cell tower in a backyard; earthquake and landslide hazards, among others.

Phase I Environmental Assessment. A buyer may hear this term, which refers to a first-cut effort to identify hazardous substance/chemical contamination of soil and water. A Brownfield Site contains a low level of contamination; a Superfund Site is heavily contaminated. Large farm operations may have small patches that are contaminated by petroleum products or chemicals. Most rural property will not need a Phase I analysis.

Archeological/historical resources. The presence of Native American, colonial, Civil War and other sites on the seller’s property will limit its uses, though increase the new owner’s status.

Assets evaluation. In addition to looking for a property’s warts, it’s equally important for a buyer to figure out the market value of the property’s individual assets—timber, cropland, pasture, improvements, minerals, water rights, farm income, lease potential, conservation-easement potential and so on. Sellers usually price multi-asset properties as a whole; smart buyers total up the value of the individual assets and determine which can be sold or leased without diminishing the core property.

Don’t skimp on pre-offer research. It’s your ticket away from risk.

Due diligence deserves doing.