How Do You Find Land/Lots For Sale?

Comments(6)

• 
  fauche6529th September, 2003

  I go to the city planning department. (Ask about zoning while you are here) They will be able to tell you who owns it. If not, than they will be able to give you the numeric name of the parcel of land so you can do a title search.

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  woodsong30th September, 2003

  99.9% of quality land deals never make it to MLS. To be honest, if it has to go to MLS, one of two things are happening...1) the seller is not connected with building community and has no idea who to market their property to, or 2) the property is not that good and thus it has to be listed to increase odds of finding a buyer.
  
  I have not bought a single listed property in quite a few years. I research the ownership via tax records and contact owners directly and get the deal to work, or if not, I keep looking. This works for me all the way from $20,000 in-fill lots to $4,000,000+ large residential/commercial development lands. If you do not know how to do this research you may want to consider hiring a real estate broker/agent to help you get started and find property for investments.

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  NancyChadwick16th October, 2003

  In my area (PA), there are several ways of finding land or parcels with development potential without using the MLS: start with the current zoning ordinance and zoning map to identify zoning districts -- this identifies type of zoning (residential v. commercial, etc), sub-type (if residential, single-family detached v. single-family attached, etc.) minimum lot size, lot width, setbacks, permitted density, etc; if public utilities are important, review sewer and water maps; request a list of properties currently in subdivision proceedings in a municipality, and then schedule an appointment with municipal office to review the files and plans of the properties you want to investigate further (property owners going through subdivision often are thinking about selling); use tax maps or tax plats compiled for each municipality and available either at the municipality, the county courthouse, or rent databases from vendors; the databases will also provide tax assessor info (who owns, mailing address, etc.); do drive-by's and then mailings to owners; network with people like appraisers, real estate attorneys and civil engineers.

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  Leo_Investor16th October, 2003

  Nancy,
  
  Appreciate your reply. These zoning maps, tax maps, and list of properties in subdivision proceedings. You mentioned municipality and rent databases from vendors. Are these all located at the county courthouse? If so, what exact office/department? TIA.

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  NancyChadwick17th October, 2003

  Leo,
  Zoning map is maintained by the particular municipality. You should be able to just walk into the muncipal office and ask to see the current zoning map (and/or zoning ordinance). You can buy it or review it there. The list of properties in subdivision should be available through the municipal manager or code enforcement, or development offices (each township is different). Suggest you call the muncipality and ask who/what dept. maintains the list and files of properties going through subdivision and then take it from there. Tax maps are available in several places, including the municipality. There are private vendors of tax assessor info & mapping nationwide. Contact me and I'll give you some website addresses. They're not cheap.

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  Birddog118th October, 2003

  When ever i look for land, i just drive around, I live in a small town, witha lot of land, so I find a large piece that i think im interested in, then I go to the town hall and ask for a book and page, to find out who owns it. Once i have this info, i send a friendly letter or post card, explaining who i am, and offer to buy a piece of land, I include, that "by selling parcel to me, it will relieve you of some taxes you may be paying on the unused land" some bite, some don't, then ill usually follow up in 3 or 4 months with another, just incase they change their mind or lose my 1st card
  [addsig]