Steve Love interviews Reneé Riker about land investing on HealthyLife.net
Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at
6:02 am
Last week, Steve Love, Director IRCA Los Angeles, interviewed me on his ‘Prosperity Through Real Estate’ show. We discussed all aspects of land investing, how this business works and why I love it so much. You can check out our discussion, courtesy of internet radio www.healthylife.net.
Cheers,
Tagged with: land investing • renee riker • steve love
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Hi Renee
You mention that on your first property you bought it for $3,700,
and have it for sale for $9,000. I was wondering if you overpaid
for the property. It seems you should have paid less for it.Could
you explain.
I just bought Jack’s course, and preparing to send my first set of letters out. Your blog is a big help.
Thanks
Bill
Hi Bill,
Actually I sold that property for $8,500 on terms so I will more than double my money. I initially had it priced at nearly $12k but reduced it so that I could move it more quickly. The good part about buying properties low enough is there is still room to make a nice profit even when you drop your price. I’m always happy to at least double my money
Glad to hear you bought Jack’s course and exciting to hear you will be sending out your first letters. Prepare for your phone to ring! Awesome!
Reneé
Renee
Do you feel you should start in your own area first. I found a area in my same state, but it is a 6 hour drive away. What is your opinion?
Bill
Hi Bill,
That really depends upon your own comfort zone. I started in my area “in case” I wanted to visit the properties; however, I’ve purchased 16 lots now without ever seeing one of them. I did make a trip out to my lots after the purchase (when I was in the area) but there wasn’t any need to. I also wanted to meet my Realtor in person. I think the key is to find an area that has affordable land that’s got some type of sales activity going on and if that’s 6 hours away from you, go for it! Good luck out there!
Renee
How do you determine if there is sales activity going on?
I have talked to several agents, and they tell me land is just not selling. I am worried I can buy land cheap, but can I
sell it in a reasonable time.
To check sales activity, go online to places like realtor.com, landflip.com, and even loopnet.com or ebay.com. These sites will show you what’s listed in specific areas. I had the same experience w/realtors telling me land is not selling. Sometimes it does take time for land to sell but if you buy it cheap enough and sell it cheap enough and combine it with NON-TRADITIONAL “stick a sign in the dirt and hope it sells” marketing, you have a better shot. You will want to get your property in front of as many land buyers as possible so online marketing is key. If you are worried, start w/an inexpensive purchase to test the waters. My first piece of land I bought I told myself, “this is a $3,700 risk I’m willing to take”. Hope that helps.
Renee
I really appreciate you answering my questions. On your
your first property, could you tell me what the accessed
value was and what you guessed the market value to be.
The assessed value in California is meaningless, so if you are working in California you can pretty much disregard that relative to a property’s market value. In California assessed values are established at change of ownership and because of Proposition 13 increases in assessed value are limited to no more than 2% per year. This means if a person has owned their land for 20 years their initial value was established 20 years ago and their assessed value has only been increased 2% per year max (so there is no direct relationship to market value). The market value for my $3,700 property was estimated to be around $11k-$12k. Hope that helps.
Renee
I just send out my first letters(42) and have got back five
calls so far.I have sent out three offers ,but I am trying to be conservative. I do not want to over bid.
Many of the vacant land listing in this county are selling
for much higher than accessed value, and they have been on the market for a long time. I asked the property appraiser what
he considered market value, and he said he guessed it to be
accessed value plus 10 to 15 percent.
The recent actual sales are around accessed value or lower.I was wondering how many letters you send to get a seller, and any advice you could offer on determining a number,
Thanks
Bill
Bill,
Great job on sending out your first batch of letters & offers! If you are not getting a good impression of value from realtor.com I would recommend that you speak with 1-3 realtors that are land specialists and work in the area of the land you will want to sell. They will be able to tell you the “good, bad and ugly” about that location, utilities, and market value. I always ask what they would price the property at for a quick sale (within 90 days). While you are speaking with them get a feel if they are someone you would want to use on the sales side. Being conversational is the best way and you can learn so much. As to the second part of your question, the number of letters to sellers varies greatly per county so I don’t have a statistic to share with you. Good luck out there!