Beth:
Hi, I’m Beth with TB Properties Buys Land. In the last two videos, we’ve been discussing the difference between assessed value from your county tax collector and market value. We first discussed the difference between the two; that they could be wildly different or they could be somewhat in line depending on the county and state you are located. We also mentioned several things that could dramatically drop the value of your property and what to look out for regarding that.
If you missed them, you can find the first video here and the second video here.
The next topic that I want to bring up when it comes to the value of your property is when you’re comparing your property to other neighboring properties, especially those currently on the market listed with a realtor. You want to make sure that your property is being compared apples to apples. Often we’ll get someone on the phone, they’ll say, “Well, wait a minute. There’s a property down the road, and they’re listed for twice as much as what you’re offering,” or something of the sort.
After looking at the neighboring “like-kind” comps, some of the things that we come back with are, “Oh, wait a minute. That property down the road that’s listed with the realtor, they’ve got running water, they’ve got a septic system that’s already approved with the local municipality.” Or, “They’ve already got power down in a box, and you don’t have any water and you don’t have a well, and you don’t have any utilities.” Or, “they’ve got telephone line that goes there with high speed cable so people can have internet access.” Or, “wait a minute, they’ve got a concrete pad set up so they can build, they’ve already got a permit…” These are things that add tremendous value to a property, that can be very expensive. Just that permitting process, and the approval, the perk testing, that sort of thing, can bring a lot of value to your property.
Please recognize that’s going to set their property apart from yours if yours doesn’t have all of those attributes. These are important things to see. Also, simply the clearing of trees, clearing out the brush, these kinds of things can make your property a lot more presentable and more valuable than another property down the road. These are some things to consider when it comes to trying to compare your property to someone else’s property. Having utilities is a big thing. Proximity to popular vacation areas, perhaps a body of water or to a city, a city utilities, or maybe sometimes being outside of a city where you’re not having to deal with city taxes and some of the restrictions. Those can be really important.
Being in an HOA… That can either be a good thing or it can be a bad thing, depending on the HOA. Depending on what your HOA fees are, how often they are due, that can also set you apart. If your fees are hundreds of dollars a month, that can greatly take away from people who might want to purchase from you. On another note, they may not like the restrictions. On the other hand, if your HOA is super great and they’ve got, say, a dock to a lake and they’ve got a lot of amenities, and it’s keeping the value of the surrounding properties high, that can have a lot to do with maintaining value for your property.
As you can see, when it comes to assessed value and market value, those can be wildly different or they could be in line when it comes to trying to evaluate your property and compare it to what’s out there. Make sure that you’re trying to evaluate apples to apples in terms of attributes.
Also suggestion when comparing to a like-kind property is to be aware of how long the property’s been on the market. We’ve seen some properties that are listed very high, but they’ve been on the market for six, seven, eight months. We’ve seen some that have been on the market for a year and a half, and you wonder when or is this ever going to sell? And at what price would it really sell at? I’d caution you when you look at some of these higher priced listings, try to see what attributes they have, see how long they’ve been on the market for, and how realistic they are. Hopefully this helps you when it comes to trying to evaluate your property and what you can get for it. Here at TB Properties Buys Land, what we do is we eliminate the time that you have to wait in order to get paid. Putting your property on the market, it could sell pretty quickly or it could take a long time to sell. Working with TB properties Buys Land, we’re a real estate investor, we have cash, so we can close quickly.
You can get your money in as quick as three to four weeks by closing through a title company. You don’t have to play the waiting game, you don’t have to wonder, “How many times do I have to drop the price of my land in order to sell it?” You know right away what you’re going to get, you get cash in hand. It’s safe by closing through a title company, and you can move on. I hope this answers some questions. Thanks again for tuning in for these three videos. We look forward to working with you. Thanks again.