There is a plot of 72 acres down the road from the family land I grew up on. It has been for sale for close to 15 years. About the time in went up for sale, the original owner had it clearcut, then zoned industrial. As it turns out, these were both mistakes. The agricultural land that had timber in the area sold for a good prices in the years leading up to the bubble pop 10 years ago.

The original owner died a number of years ago. It is now owned by his widow. She, like him, is very wealthy and lives out of town.

About a year go, they got the zoning changed back to agriculture, except to a high use agriculture with plenty of development potential.

So a few months after the zoning change, I contacted a realtor friend and we took a look. The seller's agent met us out there. He has been the agent for about 4 years, and there were 2 or 3 others on the property over the years since it went on the market. I am the first person that has viewed since he took it over. They had a hard time finding the plat. At one point he made the comment "we just need to sell this place."

The property is being marketed for development. I just want it as additional hunting ground close to the family place. I have considered what I am willing to pay, and it is about 35-40% of asking price. My realtor was thinking I might get it for 80% if I'm lucky. But it has been on the market 15 years without an offer...lol. And the owner has another tract for sale across the road twice the size in the same boat.

After viewing the property, I decided if I came in too fast after the zoning change, it might give them false hope that more interest may be out there with the rezoning, and they would be less likely to come down to my price. So I decided to wait a year before making the offer. That year is almost up.

I am afraid they may decide to put it to auction before taking a low offer. I would be out altogether in that case. Not sure the best way to negotiate the offer. It is low, but there is no interest in the property. Also, the property is now a 15 year clear cut that is years away from marketable timber. Viewing the plat there is an encroachment of a vacant trailer straddling one border. It does have highway and river frontage, but it is generally not a place people will want to put a dream home do to surrounding land uses (industry, modest income homes, etc)

Any suggestions on the best way to make it happen much appreciated.

Make your best offer as a best and final. Understand that you will own this for many years and that it will be difficult to sell. Doesn't sound like someplace I would buy. Owner being wealthy is not a plus, she can wait and doesn't need the money.

dam... I would go ask the lady ....would not be the 1st time someone with grit/balls(what were HIS interests)...a honest approach may touch a heart string ....

Probably not for me given that it hasn't even had an offer yet.

Sounds like an interesting one to follow, good luck!!

If the old lady is that rich, snuggle up to her and make a different kind of offer. You may get to hunt that land and get some rich old lady ass.

Remind them of all the taxes they are paying with no offsetting revenue.

I will pray for you and your family if you let me hunt it.




Travis

You do not know until you ask.

I went to northern Arizona and looked at a piece of property.
They were going for around $40,000 per parcel.
When I told the Real estate agent I had $20,000 CASH.
That was all it took. Signed the papers on the hood of his truck and never looked back.

$20,000 equity the second I signed.

Go for it the only thing they can say is yes or no.

This sounds like a very long shot because it doesn't sound like she wants to sell unless she gets an outrageous price. She probably figures that she's going to lose most of it to capital gains taxes and she would. Try putting a land contract offer together showing her that selling it you over "X" number of years will actually net her more $ than selling it for more cash now. If done right it could by-pass her estate and probate.

Otherwise, she can't live forever...

Best of luck in the quest!

Don't overthink it. If hasn't had an offer in 15 years, then the asking price is too high. YOUR realtor isn't helping. How would he know that 80% is the tipping point. Remember, the higher it sells for, the higher his percentage.

Make your best offer. If you think it's 40% and that's all you're willing to pay, so be it. All they can say is no.

I got the ball rolling on this a few days ago by calling my realtor and letting him know I would like to put an offer in this week.

He got back to me today having runs some comps. I spoke to him again 45 minutes later and he had emailed back and forth with the selling agent. He asked if the property is still available, and the selling agent replied "yes but I have 2 showings this weekend."

I am tempted to think this is BS. This agent is the 3rd or 4th since the property went on the market, and he has had it for 5 years or so. Last summer when I viewed it, it was 3 months after the heavily advertized zoning change. At the time I was the first to have viewed it since this agent took over...he told us that. And it took his office 3 days to retrieve the plat from the court house since they had never showed it before and didn't have it in their file.

But, when he showed it to me last summer he dropped that he had somebody else coming out to look at it a few days later. Seems like a hell of a coincidence that all these showings turn up around the times that I am interested.

At any rate, in the case that he is not bluffing, I told my agent that we will hold off until next week to put my offer in. I do not want him using my low ball offer to entice somebody else in to the table.

I know the guy that currently has the hunting lease to the place. He mows it and keeps the gate key in exchange for hunting privileges. He does not know that I am interested. I will call him Sunday night on some pretense and find out if he opened the gate for anybody lately.

They are hoping to sell it for development. I just want it for recreation. I will waive any inspection contingencies and pay cash at closing. Hopefully those factors will encourage them to meet me at my price.

The only thing I am still unsure of is whether I want to make the offer non-negotiable and come in closer to my max price, or come in lower with room to haggle depending on how they react. I've got the weekend to think about it.

Sounds like they have your number. 15 years and you really think there's hot buyers just now?

i think them having more viewings in the coming week is bs, I know how they play the game and you're playing it the right way. And I'd drop your agent since he doesn't really seem have your best interest in mind.

I'd wait a bit longer then go ahead and make a low offer and go from there.

Highly likely it's the typical realtor BS on additional showings happening. I'd make my offer and be prepared to walk away if they don't want to come to the table.

Tell the realities he's full of bs. If you know the owner, ask for a deal without the realtors. You'll both probably get a better deal.

Whether you can do that depends on the seller's contract with the realtor. They might have to pull it off the market then wait 6 mo. before they can sell without paying the realtor.

I never made an offer on this. Days after I posted this I was in the process of putting and offer together with realtor. It was Thurs day and we decided to wait til Monday to send it. I was going to sell my stock off the next day, Friday. The prices of my stocks tanked that day and didn't rebound until after Trump was elected. By that time I had other obligations and couldn't consider buying this place. It sold last summer for about 100k more than I would have paid, 80% of the asking price for a property on the market for 20 years.

Then a month later a larger track from the same owner, this one right across the road from and twice as large, sold after also being on the market. They paid $3000 and acre, but the last year the land has been cleared and roads put in prep for a development. Now the neighbor on my side has a 160 acres also in rough shape asking 10k/acre. I would like it for 4/5k an acre but don't have that to put up right now.

I guess if you sit on land long enough these days eventually you get close to what your asking, ask more people compete for less and less undeveloped land.

The owner dont loose or wont most of the time. It dont eat anything and dont need anything. Taxes on vacant land are not that bad. I get all the small places I can cause one day somebody is going to want them,besides inlaws.

You want it at 40% of asking price.
Either it’s way over priced or you are unrealistic.