We have the option to purchase this 5 acre chunk of land, which is wooded. I’m not sure what the value of this land would be and the seller is unsure as of yet. I am meeting with them to discuss soon.
My house is where that blue wedge is and sits on 1 acre. The piece in question is 5.2 acres. There are no easements or right of ways which would allow this land to be sold as a building lot. This would only serve to increase the amount of space we have. I’m wondering what this communities take is on the value of this.
Some things to note:
This land is technically in a different town and so I don’t think I could do a lot line adjustment to make it one big property.
Some of the land is in a flood plane.
The seller can really only sell to me for the three other houses to the north.
We are located in New Hampshire.
The seller wanted to reach out to me already to ask if we were interested in buying. I think they realize they have limited options.
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
by MaPosto
27 Comments
You can look on Zillow for some sold comps around you to get a sense of values per acre.
But land with no access, he talking a couple grand per acre or something substantial?
Depends on where you’re located and what type of land it is. Looks close to water so by all we know its all unbuildable lowland that floods every year. You would need to answer questions before anyone would be able to answer.
Look at bare land comps in your area, take that as a high point in your negotiations.
It’s probably not worth that much the seller because he only has water access.
For you:
If you buy it to keep, what are the outgoings (e.g. property taxes) on the additional land?
Could you subdivide the new land and sell some or all of the blocks if you create a new easement over your existing land? I assume that an easement would increase the value of the new block.
I suggest you talk to a professional land valuer.
Sounds like the value to you would be huge especially because the price will be low. When talking property, don’t mix up price and value. Price is what it is worth in dollars on the open market (not taking into consideration that your property is adjoining) and you can have someone come out to appraise that land.
I asked a real estate agent this a few years ago. Same exact scenario, piece of land that my neighbour owns is land locked by myself and 2 other neighbours, no road access.
I was told $5,000-$7,500 per acre and that’s Canadian dollars.
Your lot is the one numbered 30? Sounds like it has very little value to anyone but you or the neighbors on either side of you.
The property is of little to no value to anyone except you and your other neighbors.
What I’m guessing is happening, is the seller is going to meet with everyone with which their property butts up, and sell to the person who offers the most.
Id say no more than a couple grand per acre.
It’s only accessible to the adjacent land owners, so it’s worth whatever one of you are willing to pay him, but it should not be valued anywhere near something on the open market.
Call your county zoning and ask them to confirm your assumptions. If it could be split (and it may be able to even if it’s in a different town) then I’d reach out to the neighbors and ask if they’d be willing to split it.
I would not look for comps on Zillow. You probably won’t find anything. Finding land comps is super difficult because there are so many variables.
I would offer what you’re willing to pay. As in, the value it has to you. But more really I’d ask him to provide a number first, since he approached you and he’s the one selling.
Lots generally sell at a premium to neighbors, so that’s prolly why he’s reaching out.
Need to check the local laws. For example: In N.C. there’s a lot of landlocked property in the Smokey mountains. By law the adjacent neighbors have to grant you an access through their land to reach your property. This is usually done with an easement to make a driveway or dirt road for yourself.
Not worth much except to you and the other neighbors. If that were next to me I would want it.
BUT check into easements for access, some places require easements so there are not land locked properties.
Technically, if the land was sold to someone else they could get an Easement by Necessity. In other words, it shouldn’t decrease the value because it is landlocked.
Hey I just bought the lot adjacent to me and it’s not worth a ton to developers because it has highly expansive clay and a slope so it’s limited where/what you can build. But to us it was worth a ton as we are lot line adjusting it. So I did a TON of due diligence while we were in escrow as you can always fall out of it if you find something wrong.
I did everything from finding out if it was tribal land, if it’s in a fire hazard zone, what the cost of utilities would be — could I just tie into them? Road access requirements, etc. In our city, you can just walk up to the counter at city hall panning and ask them to pull up the APN on GIS and they help set up an appointment with a pre-planner. See if that’s an option for you and someone can guide you. If you have questions for me, please feel free to ping me.
Check the FEMA flood map for that land. The more flood prone, the less value it has as anything other than pond access or guarantee that nobody else can build there because you own it.
There is always access
Less then they’ll sell it to you for
Whatever your neighbor with ingress and egress is willing to pay for it. The problem with valuing these properties is that there aren’t enough comps to accurately determine value and the buyers market for landlocked property is very limited – typically to your neighbors. A solution would be to approach a neighbor and offer to by an easement across their property for ingress and egress.
Hello OP, near the bottom and right side of this map, the blue water comes to an abrupt end; the heavy black dashed vertical line makes an odd angle there. Is that the site of a dam IRL?
How much will the road easement cost?
Can you harvest the lumber?
Buy it and go fishing
Check to make sure you have a registered egress. Or make sure you can obtain one. Otherwise your resale value is in doubt. I knew a guy who lost his company and all his equipment, when he lost access to the gravel pit he was working. He never recovered his equipment that he still had Loans on. It doesn’t mater to the government, if you can access it. They still want the property taxes. And when you can’t pay, they’ll sell it on the county courthouse steps. The person buying it will be someone on the adjoining property because they can use it.
Talk to a real estate attorney as to an easement to access your property.
If land ever goes for sale next to your house. YOU BUY IT.
Can’t tell what is what. Post a picture of the map more clearly showing.
I’ve got a land.id subscription if you want me to look up sales history and tax assessed value, DM me.
If I were you, I’d consider buying it. Price is another matter, but you hold many of the cards.
It’s hard to say exactly what you’re in for here, as you don’t tell us about a few things
Why is there a line through the property and your neighbors and what is the black and white slotted line to the right of that other line
Town line? County line? State line?