Beth:
Hi, I’m Beth with TB Properties Buys Land. We get an overwhelming number of emails every week from land sellers that are asking us to vet other land buyers in order to see if they’re legit or not. They have, what they believe to be, scam offers in the mail, and while they may wish to sell their land, they are worried about being scammed by some of these land buyers. The big question is: is what they are receiving legit or are they indeed “scam offer letters?”
Here at TB Properties Buys land, we are land investors. We purchase 10 plus acre lots all over the country, but we don’t have a service of vetting other land buyers, which may or may not be our competitors, so we would not be able to let you know whether they’re legit or not. Even so, I’m hoping this post can help. First, since we are land buyers, you’re welcome to submit your property in our online form and let us know the state, the county where your property’s located, as well as its assessor’s parcel number, its APN, and we’ll try to get you a quote. If you’ve got 10 plus acres around the country, we’re happy to take a look at it and see what we can do for you.
If you don’t want to work with us, that’s fine. I’m happy to give you some tips on due diligence. This is not legal advice; however, here are some thoughts when you’re looking at vetting a land buyer for your property. For one, I’d try to see if you can request referrals of previous land sellers or maybe even Title Agents they have worked with. Who have they worked with in the past? I would also ask what does their purchase agreement look like? Can you get a copy of that? The purchase agreement should call out everything that’s going on in the transaction. It should be simple; it should be clear. You should be able to understand every part of it. Make sure that it’s your property that’s on there. Make sure that you’re getting paid right away. When’s the closing date? Do they intend to string you along and market your property instead of buying it and then once they have a buyer lined up, they’ll finally buy it from you and pay you, stringing you along for months on end? What’s the story there?
Do they intend to buy it in cash or are they going to need to get a loan for this? Are you waiting on them getting approved for a loan, and then the time it takes to get an appraiser out there and then starting all over if it does not appraise, or the loan not being funded and you have to start all over again too? What’s the story there? If they pay in cash, it’s going to go faster because you bypass these other steps; it allows you to be done with the transaction faster and to be paid faster.
Next, I would check to see if they using a title company or do they intend to self-close? When it comes to self-closing, there’s a lot of trust there for you as the seller. You have to trust that when you sign that deed over to them that they’re actually going to pay you and that the check isn’t going to bounce, and that the paperwork’s done correctly. That is a lot of trust for someone you do not know.
Additionally, I might ask: Who is paying the closing costs? When it comes to closing costs, what exactly is involved there? Someone has to pay the title insurance and that is normally you, the seller. Someone must pay the title fees for the buyer and the seller, someone’s got to pay the recording fees, and someone’s got to pay the excise taxes if those are required in your state. Those are just a few things that I would check into if I were vetting a land investor, someone who’s going to buy my property.
Here at TB Properties Buys Land, we pay for all of those closing costs and we make sure the verbiage is clear in our contract by specifically mentioning each of the closing costs and that we are paying for them. When it comes to the purchase agreement, we have a very simple one-page purchase agreement. It calls out all of the information on there and we try to make it very clear and understandable.
For safety of the transaction, TB Properties Buys Land always closes through a title company. First, that protects you since you know that your property cannot be legally transferred from you to us until the Title Company has received our certified funds in their own account. Until then, we do not receive the property and you do not receive funding. They are the third party intermediary and to me, I feel they are a safer way to avoid being scammed when it comes to selling your property.
You get paid faster when working with TB Properties Buys Land since we pay in cash, which means you’re not waiting on us to get a loan and go through the loan approval and appraisal process. That is really important to know. In sum we pay closing costs, we work through a title company, our purchase agreement is simple, we buy right away without being contingent on finding another buyer for your lot and we pay in cash. At TB Properties Buys Land, we like transparency, so when we send that signed purchase agreement over to the title company, we’ll copy you so that you have the name of the title agent. You’ll be able to email them or call them with any questions or say, “You know what? I’m not going to be able to make closing in person. Can you just wire the funds to me?” Or, “You know what? I’d like to show up to close. I’d like to get a check while I’m there. Can we do that?”
We like that transparency part. We want to make sure that you are involved, that you feel in control. So, if you’ve got 10 plus acres of land here across the U.S., we’d love to get you a quote. As for the other land buyers, there’s a lot of great ones out there, I’m sure. There are also some scammers. If you’re getting these scam offer letters in the mail, do your due diligence and look around, get some referrals, and make the best decision that you can. I hope that answers some of your questions. We appreciate you reaching out to us, and I look forward to working with you.