Hi, I’m Beth with TB Properties Buys Land. Last week, we talked about some of those aggravating things that can push your closing date back when you’re selling your rural vacant land.
The first thing we talked about was that it could be the title company holding up the date. Maybe the title company is really busy; it’s summertime, everyone’s buying and selling homes and land, and could push your closing date back. With that, there’s not much you can do about that.
The second thing we talked about was if the buyer of your land is needing a source of funding. If they’re getting a loan in order to purchase your land, that could delay your closing tremendously. If they’re waiting on an appraiser to get out there, if the loan falls through, if the land doesn’t appraise the first time for exactly what you think it’s worth and they have to get a second appraiser out there. What if your property needs a survey? These are all things that could delay your closing.
Another thing that could delay your closing, that we didn’t talk about last week, would be any inheritance issues or chain of title issues. Let’s say the land was passed down to you from a family member. Maybe the land is in your spouse’s name and they’re deceased now. Depending on how that works, that could delay closing if title needs to send out affidavits of heirship, or if there are many heirs to the property. Maybe a death certificate original is required to be filed in the county where the land is located and that could take extra time. If that’s taking a little bit longer to process the paperwork, that too could delay your closing.
Another thing that could delay your closing is needing a survey. If your buyer is needing a loan, the lender may want a survey of that property. It could even be the title company that says, hey, it’s been a long time since this property has been surveyed and in order to provide title insurance, we needed an updated survey for this land. It all depends on the county and it depends on the title company who you’re using.
If that’s the case and you weren’t banking on that, that too could delay the sale of your land. One thing is for sure: surveyors are in short, short supply, even shorter supply than appraisers it seems. With that said, you have to find a good surveyor and get on their schedule or backlog.
If the surveyor has a short backlog, you may only be looking at an additional two to three weeks. Some are out months, depending on how busy they are and the time of year that you’re selling your land. On top of this, you’ve got to factor in the cost of the survey. If you had not planned on needing a survey for your property, you have to decide who’s paying for that. A lot of buyers are going to want that to be on the seller to pay for that survey. So how large is your properties? Where are you located? Again, all of these things could add to the cost of your survey. It could be $1,500; it could be several thousand dollars. You must decide, are you just marking corners or are you doing more than that? These are all factors that could cost you before you’re able to sell your property.
Perhaps you’re able to split that cost, but there’s still some out of pocket costs in trying to get that survey. The survey itself could delay closing. We had a situation where we were ready to go, we were buying a property, I think it was like 11 acres or so in Texas. The county had everything mapped out on their GIS maps. Everything was pretty standard. It was kind of a weird looking ‘L’ shaped kind of a property, but we were good with that. Well, then a title company says, hey, you need to survey in order to purchase it. We got the survey going, we got it scheduled 4 weeks out and once the surveyor gets out there and they come back and the property looked totally different. It was a square instead of an L shape. Fortunately, the acreage didn’t change, but sometimes that even happens.
If the acreage changes, whether you lose acreage or even if you gain acreage, you find out once the survey is complete. These are all examples of some of the crazy things that could happen when it comes to getting a survey or closing on your property. Depending on what the survey’s findings are, that too could cause delay. If you find out that you’ve got less acreage, maybe you have to renegotiate the price. You’ve got more acreage maybe you renegotiate the price too. That was something that really happened with us. And I’ve got more stories to tell you about crazy survey findings but today, and last week, we’re only talking about those things that can delay the closing of your property. If you’re looking at selling your land and you’re concerned about closing, a date being delayed, or if you’re looking for your payout to be faster and you don’t want to put this on the MLS and risk it sitting on the market for months, or even risk a 60 plus day closing date once that property finally goes under contract, then consider working with a company like TB Properties Buys Land. We are real estate investors. We will give you a price on what we will pay for your rural vacant land. We close through a title company, that way there’s protection for both you and for us. And we pay in cash, so there’s no pesky lenders or appraisers that have to get in the middle of everything.
If the survey’s needed, we can’t control that delay or any possible title company delay, but we will pay for it. And we will pay for all closing costs. So whatever price that we quote you is the dollar value you’re going to receive. Also note that the title company that is being used will be the source of funding. What this means is that we’re going to pay the title company, but they’re going to be the ones that write you the check or wire you the funds from them. It is structured so that they receive certified funds from us and they in turn give you certified funds so that everyone’s safe and everything works out that way.
If you have any questions about closing dates or how we work at TB Properties Buys Land, you’re welcome to give us a shout. We’re real people who answer the phone so call us at 214-699-4455 or shoot us an email at service@TBPropertiesBuysLand or even reach out to us across our website, www.TBPropertiesBuysLand.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks.