Question about sending a letter to local landowners

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This is my first post on this forum and I am hoping for some input. After several years of talks with the landlord of our small homestead, we were finally told he was unwilling to sell the property. Which kinda threw us for a loop.We are trying to regroup, and see what our options are now.

I have found through a search at our county Auditors office that alot of vacant land in this area is owned by out of area landowners. I have addressed letters of inquiry to several of these land holders. I have included in my letters current address, phone and email address as well as the reason for the inquiry. As well as how much property and the reasons we would like to stay in this area.

So my question is too much info? Not enough? I also told them I would be willing to furnish character refrences.Thanks for any input you can give.

-- Gwendolyn (kayesioux@aol.com), May 04, 2002

Answers

From you comment about character references, I'm concluding that you are wanting to buy with owner financing. I doubt that absentee land owners are going to be receptive to that type of set up, but who knows, it might work.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), May 04, 2002.

I would limit the initial inquiry to finding out if they are interested in selling their property. Once that has been ascertained there is plenty of time to submit other info as the need arises. Don't overwhelm them with too much info. Also, be forewarned, and don't let your feelings be hurt, if the owners do not respond. I get letters all the time, as well as messages on my answering machine, from people wanting to purchase property that I own- I don't begin to have time to respond to all the unsolicited communiques, so I usually just ignore them. It is worth your time to try, though, as someone might just have some property that they are "thinking about" selling, but haven't done anything about getting it on the market yet. Good luck.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), May 04, 2002.

Gwen:

I too believe that you are putting in too much for that first letter.

Why don't you just say that you rent in the area and wish to buy a place of your own. Then say that you have seen the property from the road and like it, Say that you would like to know if they would be willing to sell, and if so, how much would they ask. Then add a sentence to say that you do not know how long it will take you to find a place, so that if they do not wish to sell now but should change their minds later, to please contact you. If you get any replies, then contact first the ones you really want to buy from and start exploring prices and financing.

If you start lining up finances now, be sure and use someone who will not inform your current landlord, or you may be out on your ear before you are ready. Mac

PS: Next time do not go about improving a landlord's property to the point that they no longer wish to sell. Get a contract first, then improve. Rental with option to buy is not all that hard to arrange.

-- Jimmy S (Macrocarpus@gbronline.com), May 04, 2002.


Thank you for your replies. Our current landlord knows that we have been looking to buy for the past 2 years, I feel he dangled the possibility of selling to us, to keep us here renting. The improvements we made he were only basic, lawn mowed and junk hauled out. The roof leaks, and the plumbing and electric is in bad shape.I doubt he'll be able to rent it once we are gone, shame on us for staying this long. Good thing we aren't paying much for rent.

I have revised my letter to include the suggestions I was given.I desperately don't want to have to sell my chickens or other livestock. Looking daily so I don't miss an opportunity has become routine.

-- Gwendolyn (Kayesioux@aol.com), May 04, 2002.


Roof leaking and the plumbing/electric in bad shape? You should have been witholding rent until he fixed the problem--those are health and safety issues.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 04, 2002.


ms. gwendolyn, you might encolse a self addressed stamped envelope to encourage an answer from the landowners. i would also sugest a visit to the platt office to see the taxed value of the land, easements & such.

-- bj pepper ,in central MS. (pepper.pepper@excite.com), May 04, 2002.

Have you thought about checking on properties that are up for tax sales? I don't really know how they work but there's a fellow in our town who buys quite a few then connects the water & electric to the property & sells them. If anyone knows how tax sales work they can probably give you more information, the only thing I know is the listings in our paper show the amount of back taxes,size of the property & location. I saw one that was 43 acres going for $1200 in back taxes!! Hope this might help you stay in an area you love. Blessings, Kathy

-- Kathy Aldridge (beckoningwinds@yahoo.com), May 04, 2002.

Ride up and down all the rural roads in your county and look for small private for sale signs. There are a lot of them out there that many peopl never notice. Go in the little country stores and inquire, but don't do it like you're pushy. Put up an index card with your name and number in those stores saying you're looking for owner financed property. If you are approaching out of town owners and saying you want to buy their land I don't think the price will as low as from a local.

-- Emil in TN (eprisco@usit.net), May 04, 2002.

This is an intersting question and you have some really helpful responses. You don't say where you are. Perhaps if you put on this forum you'd like to buy land in a specific area, you might get some useful response. For example, I have land in Orange County, Virginia and would like to find some homesteaders to share it with me (read, buy some of it so I can build a house!)

Like the other Elizabeth on the forum, from time to time I get inquiries about buying my land. They are canned letters churned out by land speculators. They just get a bunch of tax-payer addresses and fire away, so the first thing I would do if I were you would be to get the tax parcel number and tax value (yes, it's different from the actual sales value) and then actually go and visit some parcels you think you might like. Don't waste time sending out random inquiries.

When you find a parcel you really feel you'd like to own, go to the deed books and do a title search, not just for easements and loans, but to see when the person bought it, or did he/she acquire it by means of a legacy. Are there other owners? Somewhere out there is probably a little old lady in another state who is tired of paying taxes on her land and would like to have a nice steady income from a buyer, instead.

You are right not to want to pay more rent, and to start looking for your very own land! Good luck!

-- Elizabeth (arvon104@cs.com), May 04, 2002.


I would pick several pieces of property I really liked then go see the owner in person if at all possible,you will find most people alot easier to deal with this way.Also there are suituations where folks may want to finance and don't want the money all at once.It nevers hurts to ask all they can say is no at the worst.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), May 04, 2002.


Good ideas, Gwen, and I just want to add: be aggressive! Not obnoxious, but persistent & clear. I contacted the owner of our next- door parcel every year for 5 years, and each time he said the land would never be for sale. Each year, I called him just to remind him that we were still interested. Finally, after 5 years, he offered to sell for some ridiculous amount of money. We said no. He went so far as to put a "for sale" sign on the land, and believe me, I was freaking out. But after one week, HE contacted US to offer to sell us the land for the price we had originally offered, 5 years before! So, stay positive, stay persistent, and don't rule out any options. People change, financial situations change, and you could end up with something better than you ever dreamed!

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), May 04, 2002.

I liked Shannon's comments.There are so maney twists and turns to buying and selling real estate,it can confuse you.The buyer has more chips ,so to speak, when there is lots of vacant land around.Never be too quick with offers,make the seller do the first quote.And then don't wait too long,after the terms are to your liking.The buyer has the edge,they can always look,at other land.The owner is stuck with the land he has ,till sold,[This is in a buyers market.I have never bought in a seller's market]

-- jess (jesswagler@hotmail.com), May 04, 2002.

Your question sure has brought back memories for me. Almost 5 years ago my husband and I were fed up with where we were living because of the dirt bikes in the gravel pit next door. It got so bad that they were there almost every day, sometimes all day (and illegally). We couldn't find anything we liked (5 acres and a "meadow") especially the houses. One day we were driving down a road only a few miles away looking for a realtor's sign on a 15 acre piece (we were getting desperate) and couldn't find it so we stopped by a place that seemed next door and discovered an abandoned old farm that I used to look at in my youth while out horseback riding. We fell in love with the old orchard in the front yard and told our real estate lady about the place. She suggested finding the owner and asking them if they would sell and we thought that was pretty nervy but why not, nothing to lose. When the owner was tracked down (he lived in a city about 40 miles away) the real estate lady wrote him a letter and I did too telling him how much we liked the place and how we were professional gardeners and were keen to build gardens and look after the wonderful old orchard. Well, it turned out to be 23 1/2 acres and the owner actually agreed to sell! After dickering over price as per usual, we moved in a few months later. The rest is history! The really interesting part is; some time later when we began to meet people in the area we discovered that quite a number of them had wanted to buy the property (it had been derelict for at least 10 years) but the owner wouldn't sell! I do know that when we finally met the owner and his partner (both elderly gents) we learned that they were very fond of the place, especially the orchard and even though they hadn't lived there for some time, they would faithfully come up twice a week during the summer and tend the orchard and a small vegetable garden and mow the lawn. So maybe our very personal letter expressing our delight with the place did make a difference. Who knows, but it didn't hurt to try!

-- Kathy (homefarmbc@pacificcoast.net), May 05, 2002.

Many times when property is owned 'from a distance' it is for these reasons:

1. The person wants to retire there themselves - they won't sell.

2. They are caught in a tax situation where they will _not_ make anything by selling it. (Capitol gains - OUCH.) There is no reason for them to ever sell this property, they might be making something by renting it. Only reason they will sell is if they are just tired of it - doesn't much matter what you offer, the taxes will get them no matter what.

3. Family property. Someone left the land to them, and often 'them' is more than one person. Often one of them is very willing to sell, one of them will never ever sell, and the rest of them just don't want to get in the middle of it all. The property often has very strong sentimental value to at least one, and you will get different replies depending on which one of them you contact.

I hope you can see the issues in the above when contacting people out of the blue. :)

I would simply ask if there is any interest in selling, and _not_ go into much of any detail at all! Try to figure out 'the story' from the reply you get.

Meeting them in person would be much better than a letter. Calling them would be slightly better than a letter. A letter gets thrown away as junk mail most all the time.

Just my opinion, as I see things. --->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), May 06, 2002.


I would opt for the letter, it is not so "in your face" as other forms of communication. It would really creep me out to have someone call from out of the blue, or show up on my doorstep--just the thought that someone might be stalking perhaps, I guess.

A hand-written letter would be taken more seriously than something that looks like a mass-printed ad from a real estate agent who is prospecting--those I throw away without a second thought.

I would also add to Paul's reasons that some people may be holding on to property in the hopes that 5,10, 20+ years from now it will be worth something (through development, perhaps), or they are waiting for timber to grow back (have to finance that college education somehow), or will be leaving it to children as part of an inheritance.

And, Tenants-in-Common (several siblings, or children of parents who went in together on a property years ago) situations can be very difficult to deal with. Most people do not have the foresight to write into wills or contracts what to do if someone wants out of a property. For example, one option is a provision for the other three to buy out the forth, or the one to buy out the other three at fair market value at the time, and set up an outside loan at that time--you should never have to be tied to a property when you want to get out of it.

Good luck with your homestead-hunting.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 06, 2002.



I meant "children of 2 sets of parents" in the above post, it was not at all uncommon for more than one family to share say a beach house, and everything worked fine when the principals were still alive, but then went bad when it was only the heirs involved.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), May 06, 2002.

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