How To Market Vacant Land

‍Vacant land can be a challenge to sell - just like any real estate. Let’s talk about how to market a plot off land for the fastest, easiest sale possible.

Marketing a plot of land can be a unique scenario because the buyers of vacant land are not the same as a typical home buyer. Among the best steps to take are preparing the land, getting it listed online, and making it look good while listed. Finally, you might find that a sign is rather effective.

We’ll walk through a few of the steps you should take to effectively market your vacant plot of land. You’ll learn that some steps are similar to selling a home, but others are rather different.

‍How do I market a plot of land?

The Internet

Many buyers of plots of land start online. There are many websites dedicated to general home searches, and a few more primarily targeted at people who want to buy a plot of land. Websites like LandSearch are available for the purpose. Consider looking up local websites for plots of land too, as there are some out there, and their listings can be cheap.

The MLS is also helpful. MLS stands for Multiple Listing Services. This service allows you to upload data about your plot of land and send it off to ther websites, making the process easier on you.

One of the most important parts of making your online listing is knowing what to say about your plot of land. This also means knowing your target customer. Giving some information about how much development has taken place can be key, like discussing whether or not water, sewer, or electrical are available. Tell the future buyer what they would want to know about your plot of land, including nearby education opportunities if its buildable, and information about local water sports if it is near a lake or ocean. You’ll successfully help rule out people who would waste your time, and engage those who are interested.

You might find yourself signing up for multiple websites for the purpose of posting land. This is generally a good idea as some of these sites don’t get a ton of traffic - though land finders are often serious.

Describing your plot of land

Listing some data isn’t quite enough. Tell the potential buyer what to expect to experience on the plot off land, including features you cannot see just by looking at photos. For example, is it surrounded by trees, and private? Is the land near boat landings? Features that you might not think as important to you might be important to someone else!

A realtor

Ok, so this should be obvious: A realtor can help you market a plot of land. The job of a realtor is to connect buyer or sellers with land or homes - in addition to a large variety of other work they do to free up time and brainpower for either side.

A good realtor could find a bury for a plot of land, potentially without having to list the plot at all. Realtors also have lots of resources, from contact information databases to photographers that can make your plot of land stand out in listings, should you use one.

Financing

Financing a plot of land tends to be more difficult than buying a home. Interest rates are higher, down payments need to more, and loan terms are shorter, meaning that the monthly payment will likely be higher. Working out a contract in which the new owner pays you directly (likely with some interest) so they need to worry less about arranging significant financial resources.

To be fair, seller financing isn’t for everyone. You should look up the process before proceeding.

Make a sign

You’ve probably seen hundreds of real estate signs in your life. They often feature the realtor’s company, their name, and maybe just a little bit about the home itself.

The sign for a vacant plot of land should be a little different. Since there isn’t much to say about the home, the sign should include some basics about why the looker would want to seek out that particular property. Does it have some utilities already connected? Is there already some development in place? Does it make great hunting land?

The idea is to make the sign standout. People do often find vacant land by literally driving by the property. Make your sign loud and proud!

Ask around

Ask people in your neighborhood if they are interested in buying a plot of land. A vacant plot of land tends to be surrounded by other lots of similar acreage, and you might be surprised to find a neighbor who wants more land and is willing to buy yours. While this might seem out of custom with modern real estate searches, finding a neighbor to buy your plot of land might be easier than you thought.

Make it market ready

Depending on what you think the next owner will use the plot of land for, you might want to do some maintenance to the land to make it look nice. If your plot of land is intended to be woodsy and wild, feel free to keep it that way. If you don’t have any trees and suspect that the next person might be looking to build a home on the land, consider cutting the grass and making it look like the land is ready for a home.

One of the primary purposes of making your land market ready is to get nice looking photos of the land its and various natural features or up to date utilities.

Be patient when selling land

We’ll be honest here: they are far fewer customers for a plot of land versus for a home. Not everyone has the skills, patience, or in some cases, money to buy and develop the land.

Selling your land can take months while selling a home can be considerably faster. Just because you haven’t received any offers or viewings of the land doesn’t mean you are doing something wrong - it means that the right person hasn’t come along yet. A realtor might also suggest looking at recent real estate data, like local pricing, and adjusting some numbers based on what sold recently - so listen to your realtor!