How Does One Sell Your Land By Owner in Arizona?
Selling land in Arizona doesn’t have to be as difficult as you think it is. This article will cover everything from property taxes to land financing to selling agricultural land. After you read this informative article about how to sell Arizona land, call us and sell land fast.
If you own land in Arizona and you’re looking to sell it, you’ve come to the right place! While there are thousands of people looking to sell their land each year, the fact is that less than 3% of them know the best strategies for selling their land fast. So, in this article, I want to answer all of your questions about how to sell your piece of property for top dollar quickly – by revealing my secrets for getting land sold fast.
Maybe you inherited land from a relative.
- Maybe you bought it and couldn’t find a buyer.
- Or perhaps you simply have too much land for which you have no use.
- This guide will go over a strategy to sell land fast.
What Are the Procedures to Sell Arizona Land Fast (Or Any State, Really)
With a bit of time and effort, you can take steps to prepare your land for sale. Here are some of the things you can do to get your land ready for listing.
People Want to Buy Land That Has Roads That Are Fixed Up and Cleared
Perhaps one of the best investments you can make when preparing your land for sale is to improve the roads on your property. This will make it easier for potential buyers to see all of the property. Plus, it will also help them to envision living there. Many people who buy land want to drive around their property. So having good roads makes it more attractive. Fixing up your roads could include grading, widening, or resurfacing them if they are not in great shape.
Get Rid of Trash and Debris When You Want to Sell Land Fast
I can never understand why this isn’t completely obvious to everyone, but you’d probably be shocked by how few people don’t clean their property.
If you have a lot of junk lying around your property, get rid of it before you begin showing your land. You should also clean up any trash that might have been left by previous owners or even by yourself. You may want to clean up the brush and clear out any areas that might be hazardous for walking through as well.
And clear the view from the home site to the water or mountain view if applicable
If you have one site where someone could build a home with a great view, consider clearing brush from this area so that people can better imagine what they’ll be seeing every morning when they wake up. A large percentage of people are not very creative when imagining how a piece of land can look when it has a beautiful view.
Before You Sell Your Land In Arizona Pay Off the Property Taxes If You Can Afford To
Now maybe you’re selling the property because you own back taxes. But if you can afford to pay them off, you can save money and retain more profit. Here’s why…
- First of all, if you can pay off the taxes in one lump sum, you can often negotiate a lower deal.
- Second, you’ll be able to say that it’s free of back taxes.
- Third, when investors see that back taxes are owed, they usually request a reduced price equal to 150% of the tax amount. Mainly, it’s because they don’t want to deal with the hassle of paying off the taxes, but it’s also because they know they have leverage.
So, would you rather save 10-20% (or more) on your taxes or make 50% less in profit?
Should You Sell Your Arizona Land Yourself?
Could you? Yes.
Should you? Probably not.
Selling your land yourself is an option, but it’s a time-consuming process that generally requires a lot of upfront work as well as recurring costs for advertising and potentially a dedicated website. It’s usually only worth the effort when the value of your property is relatively high, and you’re able to devote the time and resources to effectively advertise it.
And the sad fact is that most For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) sell for an average of 25% less than what an agent will get for a property.
So, even though an agent’s commission when selling land in Arizona is 10%, you’ll still walk away with about 15% more because they know what they’re doing and you don’t.
But if you really want to sell land fast on your own, then the more clearly you define your target buyers, the easier it will be to sell your property.
For example, suppose you have a 10-acre parcel zoned for residential use near a growing city. In that case, your best bet is probably to sell it to a developer or builder who can evaluate whether the site is suitable for a high-rise, condo, or townhouse complex. If your land is in a residential area and zoned for single-family homes, you might consider selling it to a home builder or individual looking for an investment property.
And if you own rural acreage, then you’ll want to find an investor that will buy land in your area.
Again, there are many additional benefits to hiring local real estate agents with experience selling land, too. But primarily, you’ll make more money.
Setting the Price of Your Vacant Land
Here are some things you should consider when pricing your vacant land.
The economy. Is this a good time to sell? If prices are falling in your area, you should definitely consider selling your vacant land. There’s no point in owning a depreciating asset.
But how do you know if prices in your area are going up, down, or sideways?
Well, when I’m looking for new areas to buy land, I use a tool called HousingAlerts.com. This tool shows you how your area — all the way down to a zip code if you like — compares to the rest of the country.
So, if I’m in a hot area, I’ll probably hold on to the land unless I really need the money from something else. But if it’s in a cooling or cold market, I’ll definitely sell my vacant land.
Your goals and motivation
Are you selling your vacant land to raise money for something else or just want to get rid of the property?
Fair enough, I’ve sold properties just because I got bored with them.
There’s no right or wrong reason for selling your vacant land. However, you should know that land prices don’t move as fast as house prices. Therefore, if you’re in a hot real estate market, the prices for vacant land will likely be trailing the direction of the housing prices. So, if you see housing prices heading down, you might consider selling.
But one man’s real estate solutions aren’t good for others selling vacant land. It’s entirely up to you whether you should sell your raw land on the open market or to buyers like SunnyNest Land.
Land Buyers are Primarily Worried about One Thing: Location. Location. Location
If your land is in an area where land prices have been rising, you may be able to get more than it’s worth on paper from land buyers in your area.
Is it in a city area that developers might be interested in buying land?
Or do you have a land purchase out in the boonies?
The location of where people are purchasing land is the #1 factor in the price you will get for your land.
How Can You Get More Than The Current Value of Your Land?
Offer owner financing to other buyers who want to purchase land.
Essentially, you become the bank and create an offer that might get you a 10-20% down payment and then monthly payments over the next 5-7 years, which earns you 120% of the current going price because of the interest rates.
Accessibility of Land In Arizona and the Other States
If it’s in a convenient area for people who want a rural home site, it will probably bring more than if it’s in an area that’s only convenient for hunting or fishing.
Does it have road access?
Of course, a piece of land that has access to a paved road or highway will be more desirable than land that will be a three-mile drive on a dirt road. And property owners that have cleared gravel roads on their property will find it easier to sell property than land owners that don’t have even a dirt road because they will be limited to selling to only hunters and fishermen.
Does it have utilities?
Many potential property owners won’t even consider buying land in Arizona or the other states if they don’t have access to electricity, water, and sewer. Other land owners might consider properties that don’t have sewer access but has a septic system. And some mortgage companies might not even consider financing home construction if there isn’t access to a sewer system.
In all cases, to get a fair cash offer, you need to let potential buyers know about everything that you can think of. Too much information is better than not enough information.
The Land Itself Will Affect A Fair Cash Offer
Does your land have any special features, such as trees, mountain or water views, or building sites? You really need to spell everything out for people in addition to photos because buyers often search for terms like “lake view” or “river access” or any number of things. So, even if your photo shows this information, you need to list it to show up when they search for it.
Don’t leave anything out when you try to sell land in Arizona or other states. Again, it’s better to provide too much info than not enough.
Don’t Leave Out the Bad Parts About Your Land in Arizona
Too many sellers leave out the bad parts of their properties in their listings because they believe listing the bad factors drives the price down.
That’s true. It does drive the price down.
But omitting the negatives about a property actually causes even lower prices.
Why?
Because all buyers are going to do their due diligence. They will check with the county to see if you have any tax liens. They’re going to research details about the property and run a title search.
Simply put, they will likely discover whatever you don’t want them to know, but when they find out you covered something up, they’ll lose trust in you. And when buyers lose trust, they begin to wonder what else you are hiding.
Personally, when I find that someone tried to hide something, I’ll just back out of the deal. Other buyers making an all-cash offer will probably return with an offer that is even less than whatever it would have cost to fix the problem.
Plus, it’s just a waste of time that will not get you the price you want.
So, be honest and upfront. Tell potential buyers about problems, such as frequently flooded areas or difficult access. Let them know about the stinky cow manure factory nearby. Whatever it is, tell them.
How to Get the Word Out About Your Land Effectively
Having your land on the MLS or land sites is not enough to guarantee a sale. You need to know how to market it effectively — and that’s where many sellers go wrong.
Choosing the Right Asking Price Is Critical to Sell Land in Arizona (Or Anywhere)
First things first. The main reason that a property doesn’t sell, especially if you want to sell the land fast, is that you’re asking for too much for your property.
I always hear sellers say something like, “but my property is worth much more!”
However, if you tell everyone everything there is to know about your property and post on suitable sites, your property is only worth the highest offer.
So why do so many property owners think this way?
Well, for one, they don’t know how to look up comps of the area.
Frankly, doing comps for houses is already tricky enough because you have to match “like to like,” and sometimes there’s just not enough activity in the area to find enough sold properties to compare. Plus, now that the Realtors Association has cut off access to the MLS for non-Realtors, the process has become more complex.
Then, land sales are even more difficult to comp because there are much fewer land sales than houses.
Second, they usually compare their property to a neighbor’s just sold property. Still, they don’t really see all of the minor differences that drive down the desirability of their property.
For example, their property might be on a busy street or highway.
Or it may not have road access at all.
Or it might be in a flood zone.
Or it could be an odd shape.
Or they could have paid too much when they bought the land.
No matter why they overpriced their property, the price must be right.
So, what’s the best way to price your land?
Actually, the whole process is straightforward…
Are you listening?
Hire a real estate agent that specializes in land sales!
They know how to price your land to generate enough buzz and interest, plus strike a balance between getting you the most money and selling in a relatively short amount of time.
And when they tell you what price to sell it for, don’t argue with them.
Every seller who chose to price their property higher than what the real estate agent recommended either failed to sell their land or reduced the price to the original recommended price.
Another problem caused by over-pricing a property is that it takes much longer to sell the property. And buyers start seeing that the property has been on the market for 30 days. So, they wonder why? What’s wrong with it?
That can sometimes create a “death spiral” down to much lower sales prices.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a seller over-price their property. Because it’s over-priced, it sits on the market for months with no offers. And they have to keep making mortgage payments. Eventually, they take the property off the market for a while. Then they put it back on the market again for the original price the real estate agent recommended.
So, all they did was waste a bunch of their precious time and spend money covering their mortgage, which means they’ve actually lost money by not taking the expert’s advice.
How Do I Negotiate With Buyers? I Don’t… Never!
Years ago, I used to negotiate with buyers. After reading Freakanomics, I discovered that real estate agents get 10% more for their own properties and, subconsciously, pressure their clients to accept the lower offer to sell faster. It means little difference in their commissions but makes a big difference on my bottom line.
So, when we price the property, it’s “as is,” and I don’t negotiate on the price at all. The one caveat is a foundation or structural problem missed during inspection. But that’s never happened, and if it did, I would probably take the property off the markets, fix it, and then relist it for more because I can claim “it’s got a new whatever.”
If you have told your agent about all the pros and cons of the property, they’ll give you an accurate sale price that you will get if you just hold out.
Numerous times, I’ve had an agent tell me, “You really should take this offer. It’s only $10K less than what you’re asking.” As if $10K is pocket change — maybe to Jeff Bezos but not me.
Nowadays, most of the agents I work with know better than to call me with underpriced offers, but it’s funny that every time an agent has encouraged me to take the offer, the buyer calls back a few days later to buy it at the listing price.
So, Don’t Lower Your Asking Price From the Price That the Agent Recommended
Here’s a video from the book Freakanomics that explains why…
How to Market Your Land Effectively to Sell Land Fast
I will give you the simplest but most effective marketing method first. Then I’ll tell you about some other options.
The super-best-all-time-kick-buttiest method to market your property is…
Drum-roll, please…
Scroll down for the answer…
Hire a real estate agent that specializes in selling land in Arizona!
Are… You… Shocked?
Is your mind blown?
Are you sensing a theme here?
Do you know why I recommend this option, even to sellers who don’t want to work with an agent?
Because marketing is hard even when you have access to all the best tools and opportunities. And it’s challenging for those that have no experience at all.
You’ll Walk Away With Extra Money
But, more than anything else, I recommend hiring a real estate agent because you’ll pocket more money. Even after subtracting your agent’s commission, you’ll make more money. Plus, you won’t have to do all the complex, tedious work like filling out paperwork and answering phone calls with buyers and their agents. Believe me, just the sheer amount of phone calls that come in by people that aren’t really even that interested or offer meager offers (like I do) is ridiculous and worth the agent’s commission alone.
Look, all of the real estate agents that I know work their butts off for too little money. Plus, 99% of the time, they’ll get you much more money than you’ll get on your own. And even if you end up in that 1% that gets less, it won’t be much less, and you’ll still be saving a ton of time and energy.
Trust me. I tried to sell my land myself twice, and it was a nightmare each time that cost me more money.
Added bonus to hiring an agent… You don’t have to deal with dumb****s or a**holes. I’m not very good at keeping my opinions to myself, and I don’t take crap from people. So, when I tried to sell properties myself, I’d get pissed off with people, and that’s not effective.
Option #2: Marketing It Yourself To Sell Land Fast
You know what?
I’m not going to contribute to the delinquency of a land seller by telling you how to advertise your land.
Just save yourself all of the time and aggravation and hire an agent specializing in selling vacant land.
Sell or Buy Land in Arizona to Sunnynest Land Quickly and Easily
Give us a call with your asking price because we buy land in Arizona, and we’ll come up with an accurate purchase price, give you a fair all-cash offer with no obligation whatsoever, pick the closing date, pay the closing costs, and deal with the title company.
Again, you’re under no obligation whatsoever when we send you the offer.
We are very interested in the following Arizona counties:
Cochise County, Coconino County, Gila County, Maricopa County, Mohave County, Navajo County, Pima County, Pinal County, Santa Cruz County, and Yavapai County
We are moderately interested in the following Arizona counties:
Apache County, Graham County, La Paz County, and Yuma County