So you have land for sale.  Either one tract or a hundred.  Are you advertising your property on the Internet?  Surely you know that at least 90% of all land buyers start their search on the Internet these days…at least those that start without prodding from a persistent agent.  So, if you are reading this, and not marketing your land on the Net, please take this as your wake-up call.  It’s time to move on to the new-fangled Internet gizmo to help sell your property.  But maybe that’s not you.  Maybe you are “listing” your property for sale through sites like LANDFLIP.com.  Are you marketing land on the Net or just “listing” it?  Ahh HA!  What’s the difference?  Maybe that’s why it’s not working for you?  Assuming that your goal is to use your online advertising to help sell the property, let’s take a brief look at the bare-bones of marketing land on the Internet.

The first step in Internet marketing your property does not start on the Internet.  It starts with buying a decent digital camera.

Camera. You can buy a perfectly functional camera for $100.  Learn how to use it.  When you go to a property that you will be selling, take lots and lots of photos.  It costs you nothing to take more photos than you need.  Think about it.  What does a professional photographer do to sell you a few photos?…thats right, lots of photos.  You want to take 5-10 pictures for every photo you think you need to use.   Try to get all aspects of the property.  You may not post all of these photos to the listing, but you will get inquiries asking for more photos at times.  It helps to have them available.  That makes you look like a professional marketer.

Scanner. On the assumption you have a computer and are at least semi-proficient in it’s use, the next thing you need is a scanner.  You need to be able to scan documents, maps, and plats into an electronic format that can easily be posted to websites, or emailed to prospective buyers.  Your land listing on the Net needs to have a clear map indicating the boundaries.  Topographical and Aerial Maps are also very helpful in helping a buyer understand the property…which is the product you are marketing.  Today’s buyer wants to understand these things prior to making a buying decision.  The easier it is for them to get that info, the better.  Good marketing helps them accomplish this.  If the land listing website does not provide a way to mark the property on a Google or Bing map, you need a location map scanned in and available as well…and you need to be on the lookout for a different land listing portal.

Descriptions. You need an accurate and thorough description.  This is not a thorough description, however accurate it might be: ”84 Acres of Land For Sale on Smith Drive”.

A description like that shows the potential buyer that you did not care enough about the property to spend any time there.  Why should they?  Describing a livestock watering tank as a fishing pond runs out of the lines on the other side.  You loose credibility with the potential buyer very quickly.  Thorough and accurate.  Does it have road frontage? Timber? Pasture? A Stream? A Lake? Utilities?…all the aspects that you know that people want to know about it.  It’s OK to sell the good aspects of a property.  Any good marketer and salesman will certainly do so.  However, do not overfluff the goods and create an unreal expectation.  Different properties require different information in the description.  Make sure yours is up to the task of helping the prospective buyer have a good understanding of the property.  Make sure you are marketing it.

Directions. What is the most important aspect in real estate? Location, Location, Location.  You need directions on the online land listing.  People like to know where something is before they actually buy it.  Again, on the assumption your goal is to sell the property, put directions on the listing.

Email. You need an email address that you check on a daily basis.  More often would be preferable.  You need to respond either by email or telephone to those people that have expressed interest in the property, and you need to do it QUICK!  There are many properties out there competing for that buyer.  The quicker you respond, the less properties you are competing with.

You are a marketer. Know your product.  The better you know your product, the more professional you come across to potential purchasers.  The more professional they perceive you, the more likely they are to trust you.  The more they trust you, the more likely they are to negotiate a transaction with you.

Qualify. It’s very easy for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to respond to your online ad.  You have to take a little of the bad with the good.  You must become proficient at figuring out who to spend your time with, and who not to.  Sometimes you will miss.  I know I have.  Nevertheless, you need to pay attention to this step if you are going to leverage Internet technology in your marketing efforts.

The above are the minimum requirements for marketing your property on the Internet.  Anything less is a shot in the dark.  It might hit, and it might not.  Take these steps to make sure you are in line with your target.  You can do much more that will increase your professionalism and  your property’s exposure on the Net.  An example would be a property video posted on YouTube.  Most land sites now offer a way to either host that video itself or enable you to embed a video from a site like YouTube.  Another good suggestion is making sure your on-site property sign has a web address where prospects can find out more about the property.  You don’t want to miss those people because they did not have the info they crave readily available.

You are in control of how the property is presented, not the customer and their reaction to it.  Make sure you do your best to present the property thoroughly and accurately.  That consistently gets the best reaction from a public that is accustomed to ultra-professional marketing.

The time has come and you are ready to sell your land.  You might wonder if listing with a real estate land agent really makes a difference.  You can certainly go it alone but of those that do (about 85%) end up eventually listing the property for sale with an agent. It is generally said by most real estate folks that properties do not sell for two reasons either price or exposure.  Let’s look at price.

The LandOwner newsletter recently reported that discrepancies as high of $1000 to $1500 per acre were being found when doing appraisals on land. Why such a difference in price?

We did an informal analysis of some land sales over the last few years. It showed that of all the land sales that we found that were sold directly from owner to owner – the sold price yielded was approximately 25% less than similar sales that had been listed with a land broker.  Taking into account that most likely at least half of those were sales to family members and discounts can be expected in family exchanges that it is still a surprising number of sales that were substantially less than going market rates at the time. The lower priced properties maybe were not exposed to the market via a listing or auction.

So how could listing with a broker get you so much more money?  First and foremost is market knowledge.  Land agents and brokers work with land values every single day.  We are reading land reports, real estate market reports, land analysis surveys, following farmland and commodity markets, plus following all the ins and outs of the real estate on top of all the land information.  It can be overwhelming at times the amount of data and information that is spilling out daily even for those of us in the business.  All of that information helps to price a property in the right range.

The land market is changing rapidly …. probably faster than any other time in recent history.  Farmland prices are skyrocketing, recreational land sales seem stagnant and development land sales are nearly non-existent in most areas. However, each of those markets has changed almost overnight when local, national and international events cause the local price values to fluctuate. As an individual selling a single piece of property it can be challenging to find current land market information and know how to price the property. This might be why so many of the non-listed land sales are lower.

Another issue that comes up with pricing is the news cycle. Media stories tend to focus on one news breaking story when it comes to real estate sales.  They want the WOW factor and they report the sensational facts of one abnormal sales price that usually that happens at an auction and then it goes through all the news outlets over and over again until most people think that is reality on property sales.  Unfortunately, most of the time it is not reality or normal and sellers are faced with disappointment when they see the real market values and averages.

So how do you know what to do?  Unless you are committed to spending an enormous amount of time following the markets (not just a few sales here and there) and spending at least several hours a day marketing your property then you might want to consider hiring a professional.  Almost all land agents we know live, eat and breathe the land market just like we do and that is what you need to bring you the higher price for your property. Find a land specialist, list it, and then relax.

If you were going to sell your car, in all likelihood you would wash it, probably vacuum it out, and maybe even wax it. If you go to a car lot where professionals are selling cars, most likely they have not only done these things, but have went through the vehicle thoroughly and made it look it’s best in a process that the industry calls “detailing”. In this process, everything in the car is cleaned, shined, and cosmetic faults are repaired. They do this because they know this helps to sell the vehicle for more money. More than the cost of doing the work. If you go to buy a car, do you pick out the shiny one that appears to have been cared for or the beat-up, dirty looking one because it looks cheap? Chances are you pick out the shiny one that appears to have been cared for.

When you go to WalMart and take an item off the shelf and the box is damaged, you know that the product in the box is probably OK and WalMart will guarantee the product. However if you see one whose box is not damaged, you’ll put the imperfect one back on the shelf and grab the undamaged one. This decision saves you the hassle that might ensue from the damaged good. Many times that damaged looking box is the very last one left and is only purchased when there are no other alternatives.

These same principals can be applied to selling anything. I grew up in a family of salespeople. I’ve seen my Dad apply these principals to selling cars. I’ve seen both my Dad and PawPaw apply these strategies to marketing cattle. I’ve heard about some of my other grandfather’s escapades in marketing less than legal “shiny” stuff during Prohibition. I guess that makes me a true Alabama redneck, but I digress. I’ve been selling land for over 12 years now and have helped people apply these concepts to marketing land…which is the focus of this forum and the point of this article. When it’s time to market land, you need to make it look it’s very best. Shine like new penny, if you will. So many people do just the opposite though. Land is an asset that is often possessed in a very emotional way. The decision to sell it is often emotional, and once made sellers often distance themselves, on a very personal level, from the property. Often times if this emotional separation is not made, the seller will inadvertently sabotage their marketing efforts and attempts by a buyer to purchase the land, because they have not made the “real” decision to sell. To market the land effectively, you need to detach and detail. I will leave the detachment for another article and briefly focus on detailing.

Land sellers need to do the things that are necessary to make their property shine. Mowing and disposing of the junk on your property are the two biggest things…much like washing and vacuuming the car. Sellers need to dig a little deeper into the details in order to really make the property stand out though. Look at the property through a buyer’s eyes. See the imperfections that they see, and then set about to fix the ones that are economically “fixable.” Often times this is painting, light building repair, or just generally arranging your personal property stored there in an orderly fashion. If you have neatly maintained a portion of the property before deciding to sell, don’t abandon that maintenance once you have made that decision. Often times when I am showing properties, the buyers key on the small imperfections in a property. Things that are easily dealt with, but become an insurmountable mountain when they think about all of those little things together. Not only do sellers need to wash and vacuum the property, but they need to wax it too. Then move on to the other detailing jobs. Repair the fences. Mark the property lines. Clean out the underbrush around special features of the property. Make the property accessible throughout. Grass those bare spots and fertilize the grassy spots. Fill in the mudholes. In timberland sales, this would include thinning the timber when the stand is too thick to walk through. When detailing a car, the professionals take care of the undercarriage of the car as well. Even though it’s not easily seen, upon close inspection it tells a story about the vehicle. Clean up the property’s undercarriage. Take care of those things that are not easily seen, but a careful buyer will notice. (All buyers are cautious and careful in today’s market) This includes title or boundary line issues and a host of other hiddens that you probably know about. Just fix it, and then let them discover that you have repaired a problem that was not easily seen. That will totally change the buyer’s perception of the property and the seller they are dealing with. It will build trust. In a very cautious market, trust translates into dollars.

Make sure that the ready, willing, and able buyer does not set your property back on the shelf because the box is damaged. You may know that the property is perfect, but the buyer only believes what they see. Build their trust by taking care of your product. Wash that land before you try to sell it, and fix the box it came in!

I am sure everyone has heard over and over the saying location, location, location when it comes to real estate.  That may hold especially true for residential and commercial markets, but I think it’s less important for the land market particularly the rural, farmland, and hunting land sectors.  Usefulness, Use, & Best Use are my replacements for location, location, location when it comes to rural land.

Before you list your land there are many factors to consider. Robert King’s recent post here on LandThink covers preparation of the land in detail but one thing that is usually overlooked by sellers is the actual market data.  A quality comparable is data on a property that has SOLD – not on the market for sale. An active property listing may give you an idea of your competition but it gives no indication of actual price sold. If there is any chance the buyer of your property would need financing, then an appraisal will be done and they always use sold data, not active listings or pending contract properties.

Things to look for in the comparables:

Sold Date
The date of the sold transaction is most important right now because of the fast changing market conditions.  Using comparables from a year ago is no longer feasible.  Some areas are so remote you may have to use a full year to even get a few comparables but try to keep it under 6 months if at all possible and take into account the seasons as well.  If several sales were in December they could have been lower prices due to willingness to sell by year end for tax purposes. Take care when looking at a comparable sale because you need to know more about the sale than just acres sold, sold price and the date.

Incentives
A qualified land agent that follows the market will be able to use unpublished data to support documented sold reports from MLS or other services.  Agents out in the market talking with landowners will know if land had been split, or if investors drove up a price in a bidding war or if a seller provided down payment assistance at closing which actually lowers the selling price. Every sold price in the MLS has a story.  The more experienced agents that focus exclusively on land sales will know the stories and can help you interpret the data.

Features
Features do not have nearly the impact on land sales as they do in residential sales. Certain features are inherently appealing though and will usually garner a higher sales price.  For example, in Kansas especially in grassland areas a pond is an excellent feature. All weather roads are a big feature in some areas where dirt roads become impassable during rains. So make a list of features and see how your land compares.

Use
What is the use of the property?  Is it the best use?  Was the land ignored by the seller which caused a lower price?  How can the land be used now?  Did the use change drastically and if so did it affect the price?  These are all things to consider and look at when evaluating comparable sold data.  Pre-development land can cause prices to skyrocket in an area but that does not necessarily mean that all land in that area can bring the same amount.  A qualified land professional can help you interpret the trends.

Distressed Sales
Should REO, foreclosure, short sales or any type of distressed sale be used as a comparable?  It depends. Some short sales actually still sell within market ranges so in that case they should be used. In reality there have been far fewer land foreclosures than residential so the impact of these sales in the land market will not be as drastic.

Competition
Finally you need to know what you are up against in the market.  You should drive by if possible or do online tours of other land for sale that is comparable to yours. Curb appeal is more of a factor now with land than it ever has been before especially with recreational land. If your opening gate is made of barb wire and falling over and the comparables all have solid metal gates with locks or even automatic openers then you need to make improvements or adjust your price accordingly.

After you have evaluated the data then decide your course of action.  If you are adamant on a price that does not coincide with the data then be prepared to have your listing agent say no to your listing.  You could linger on the market for ages and that would be a detriment to your marketing plan.  Instead offer the following solution to your agent.  If your projected listing price is drastically off from the data then sign a Pricing Agreement Addendum to your listing and agree to a sliding price change.  For example if you believe you can list your property at 25% above what the data supports then agree to a 10% price reduction every 60-90 days to keep your listing competitive in the marketplace.  Also re-evaluate any new sold data that comes out after your listing is put on the market.

Using sold data to determine your listing price will provide the best estimate of market value and decrease your marketing time.

1. Pricing your property accurately in the current market. An experienced agent will have the pulse of the current market in the area. They know the comparable sales history, and have a feel for what buyers are looking for and willing to pay. In the current market, I have seen buyers be sensitive within $100 to $200 an acre, so getting the right price is crucial to attracting buyer interest.

2. Marketing the property in media that buyers use. Placing an ad in the local newspaper may garner some interest, but one recent statistic says that over 80% of land buyers search for property online before going to look at land. As a landowner, can you afford to pay the monthly fees to advertise your one listing on land sites, and which ones generate the best activity? A good agent will give your land exposure to buyers in many different forms.

3. Answering phone calls and showing the property. Are you willing to field the phone calls of every person that wants to cut off the front 1 acre of your 120 acre tract? How many times do you have to give up a Saturday or take off work, only to be stood up by someone before that gets old?

4. Negotiating and writing the contract. The realtor’s job really begins once the contract is written and the negotiations begin. Going back and forth with tact and integrity can be taxing on even the most seasoned agent. Navigating emotions and potential hiccups is essential if the deal is to be transacted. Many owners appreciate not having to feel the heat of negotiations and can let attachment to the property or other emotions cloud the business transaction.

5. Professional networks. This past week I had to have a survey performed on a parcel we have under contract. I got 5 quotes from different companies before we were able to select the best price and the fastest service. How much time do you want to devote to getting quotes from surveyors? You need an agent with a network of foresters, surveyors, closing attorneys, builders, home inspectors, appraisers, lenders, bull dozier operators, bushhog operators, and a host of other contacts that service landowners. When you select a good agent, you not only get her, you get her whole network at your disposal. Keeping all of these people motivated and on track so you can meet your closing date requres a great deal of effort and attention on the part of the agent.

6. Accuracy at closing. Do you know how to read a HUD 1 Settlement Form and make sure that all of the numbers add up? This can lead to costly mistakes or even the loss of a deal in a worst-case scenario. These forms can appear to be written in a different language to the uninitiated. The agent will contact you at least 24 hours ahead of the closing to go over the HUD 1 and also provide you for instructions on what you will need to bring or be prepared for at the closing table.

These are a few of the ways land agents earn their money. Generally a good agent will help you make or retain more money than their commission. If you are on the fence about whether to strike out on your own or to use an agent, give them a call and become more informed. Ask the agent why in the world you should pay them a commission and see what they say. If you’re in Alabama and are considering selling, I would love a chance to earn your business.

Sellers lower their asking prices to move their properties in a market that’s turned against them.

A cut in price will have more impact on buyers if it’s packaged with three trust-building gestures that position them to make a deal.

1. Provide complete property information.

I advise sellers to put together a packet that includes the following:

• Seller’s deed with boundary description. If the seller did a title search when he bought the property, offer it to the buyer. If the seller is offering less than a general warranty deed and fee-simple ownership (all rights, including minerals), explain why and what it means. Sellers can offer warranties as part ofa purchase contract that go beyond their deeds.
• Disclose any easements that run with the land, such as conservation restrictions and provisions for ingress and egress
• Topographical map with drawn boundaries or recorded survey
• Current tax-assessed value and property tax
• Balance on seller’s mortgage, if any; name of lender; assumability
• Original purchase price or seller’s adjusted basis in the property; length of seller’s ownership
• How is the property owned—individual (s), husband/wife, estate, business entity, etc?
• Willingness or not of seller to finance buyer; include conditions and format
• Honest valuation of particular assets, such as agricultural land and facilities, timber, minerals, income-producing activities, etc.
• Cost of current insurance; scope of coverage; insurance vendor
• Environmental issues that affect or limit use of property, such as floodplain, archeological resources, endangered species and their habitat; wetlands; ground issues (earthquake or landslide zone, sinkholes), invasive species, dumps, etc.
• Patterns of trespass, nuisance and annoyance
• Boundary disputes. Encroachments. Fences off survey lines. Unrecorded documents.
• Reason for seller selling.

Some very good country brokers follow this rule of thumb: “The more you tell, the more you sell.”

In this market, sellers have to build trust with their buyers. Full and accurate information is the way to do this.

Don’t exaggerate the value of assets or conceal problems. When the buyer discovers the truth, the trust that the seller has been building evaporates.

2. Explain your price.

Price is the bone that buyers and sellers usually gnaw on. “This is my price,” the seller says. “Too high,” the buyer replies. And it either goes from there, or goes nowhere.

I’ve found that buyers are more receptive to a seller’s price when it’s explained and justified with honest numbers.

3. Sellers: Make yourselves available.

When property is listed with a broker, a wall is erected between seller and buyer. Some think it’s useful to keep the sides apart with no face-to-face communication.

With country property, I’ve found it’s invaluable for the sides to meet, talk things over, build a relationship, find common ground and learn things that only the other knows. The seller has more information about his property than any agent, no matter how diligent.

Sellers can distinguish their properties from others on the market by distinguishing themselves. Providing an opportunity to meet in person, talk on the phone and email is the way to reach a deal in troubled times.

Talk is cheap; trust is dear…and invaluable. Build it…and benefit.

Often, the best tactic for selling anything is to tell the customer: Don’t look at this; look at that. “Sure, this pickup truck only gets eight miles to the gallon, but you won’t find a redder paint job this side of Beijing, and those cupholders…they’re the best in our weight class!”

As I read the real-estate classifieds on Sunday, I was struck by the number of properties that were awesome, beautiful, breath-taking, charming, elegant, exciting, extraordinary, fabulous, gracious, great, ideal, incredible, lovely, luxurious, magazine-incredible, magnificent, must-see-to-believe, one-of-a-kind, picturesque, pristine, private, spectacular, stunning, superb and terrific.

“Some Pig!” E.B. White would say, even though there’s not a “Humble” in the crowd.

Such adjectives, one hopes, are scrupulously honest.

Sellers use superlatives to pluck a buyer’s heartstring, the one that runs between his happy-ever-after dreams and his wallet.

Each of us carries around a box of emotional crayons that instantly and on their own color in the line drawings these words create. A word like “charming” evokes positive feelings faster than a computer calls up its files.

Words also convey complex messages in shorthand. “Luxurious,” for instance, always means upscale, although how high on the scale of extravagance depends on what we’ve each seen and saved to our hard drives.

The point of using these highly charged words is to get a buyer to visit, then buy quick.

Sellers have to walk a tightrope, however. The seller wants a buyer to fall on the side of love at first sight.

On the other side, a buyer falls into the bottomless crevasse of disappointment. When a buyer visits and finds something less than the advertised “fabulous,” the seller’s credibility is tainted. Nits will be picked. Hopes die. The seller’s exaggerations have done him in.

I’m at the point where I pay little attention to adjectives that flap around like plastic pennants at a used-car lot.

What would catch my eye is an ad like this:

100 confirmed acres. Wooded. Nice spot. Access road needs work. Priced above tax value, but below market. Perc doubtful. Decent neighbors. Have honest appraisal and timber cruise. Can document tax basis. Reasonable. Will help right buyer on financing, etc. Golden-Rule applies. Not crook or idiot; looking for same.

In about 300 ads, I found every property to be like every Lake Wobegonian child—above average. Where have all the stinkers gone?

I found a small handful of ads that offered seller-financing, allowing a buyer to get into a property on decent terms for a few years until the credit market settles down.

I found not a single phrase that indicated a seller was willing to “work with” a buyer, or even be “reasonable.”

I also found some constructions that must have been inspired by our former President who once boasted of the many definitions of “is” he knew, legally speaking.

Woods that were clearcut were “maturing woodland.” To the extent that all trees grow, it can be said that all woodland — even the first spouts on a field of fresh stumps — is “maturing.”

Ads trumpeted “standing timber,” which I much prefer to trees that sit or recline.

A house that had recently burned to the ground was said to have a “foundation in place.”

A 20-acre lot on a hill top had “50-mile views,” which you could see from the middle of the property, from between the steel struts of a massive powerline tower.

An impenetrable swamp of three acres was “invaluable wetlands habitat.”

And then there was a cattle farm with a “stocked tank.” Trout or bass? I wondered.

I found a half-dozen “absolute steals.” A modest steal doesn’t sell, apparently.

One seller begged the public to “steal my lakefront land” with his promise, “No gimmicks!”

A long-time friend recently shared with me the real-estate ad acronym of the year: SEWES. Unfamiliar? It stands for Secondary Emergency Waste Sanitary Elimination System. Still confused? Try outhouse.

I once looked at 500 acres of over-priced woodland that could only be accessed by fording a “bold stream,” which flooded every spring. The 20-something who showed me around, kept asking: “Isn’t that an awesome price?” (It was three times what it was worth.) “Isn’t this an awesome road?” (It would have been had I four hoofs, two horns and answered to, “Billy.”) “Isn’t that awesome timber?” (The trees were among the most stunted I had ever seen.) Finally, I asked if he knew an adjective other than “awesome.” He thought for a moment. “How about really awesome.”

In a market with unwanted softness running through it like streakers at a church social, I tell sellers this: Don’t disappoint a buyer who comes for a look.

It’s better to exceed expectations than to fall short.

Sellers should be pitching themselves as the buyer’s little helper. Buyers should look for sellers who they can both trust and work with.

Sellers may be advertising the wrong images with the wrong words.

Speak truth to buyers—and see what happens.