Buying land at auction ???

[murfdog]

I own 86 acres that has no street frontage just an easement for access. An adjoining property may be coming up for auction due to family fueding. The total land is about 25 acres with great frontage and utilities. Any suggestions for buying at auction? I have tried to contact both parties involved in the family to possibly make an offer but no luck. Seems they are set on auctioning. Thanks for any help!

 

[Tollster]

They will typically get more money at auction,particularly if its well advertised in the area as well as out of the area. We closed on a private deal early this year for 2/3rds under the assesed county value. We followed auctions and saw they where more over priced than current values.
Now I have to go round and round to reduce the taxes.
Good luck and be sure to follow it, ya may get lucky.

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Google "How to buy land at auction" and read WikiHow and EHow for general guidlines.

Then, contact the auctioneer to get a copy of the contract you must sign if you are the successful bidder. Take the copy of the contract to your attorney to get advice on the pitfalls of the contract form they are using. Otherwise you might be at risk of losing your down-payment, even if title is bad. Think of an auction as if it is the "girl at the end of the bar at 10:00 o'clock." You might wake up the next morning and find yourself saying "Oh ****."

Also know your top price. Savey auction sellers know that they can sometime run the price way up if they get two neighbors bidding against one another.

 

[ohio farmer04]

i go to owner say please give shot buying be for have pay auctioner taxes
here in ohio gas well land up 200 land sold over $1million

here in buy land one day sign gas well next $4,000

 

[murfdog]

Ok guys thanks! I will definately look over the fine print from the auctioneer. I am hoping that the intrest in the property will be low as it is not tillable and has very little marketable timber. But only time will tell.

 

[forgeblast]

Most of the auction info will tell you what you need.
here are the terms from one I saw in the paper today.
Terms: $5,000 down at conclusion of bidding. Balance on delivery of deed within 45 days. Any other terms or conditions will be announced sale day. A 3% Buyer's Premium will be added to the sale price.

 

[carmedic310]

Do yourself a favor and before you think about buying go to record of deeds and make sure there are no liens on the property.If you buy it and there are leans you could have bought the leans also.All you will lose is a little time checking the deed is free

 

[greasemonkeyok]

Normally the auctioneer will already have the form of the contract they will ask you to sign. If they don't want to give you the form until the day of the sale after you are the successful bidder, you need time to review the contract with an attorney BEFORE you sign it.

Carmedic310 may have the skills to go to the records to check for liens, but I for one would not rely on what some clerk in the courthouse tells you or looking at records I don't understand. Unless the price of the land is an amount you don't mind loosing, I would want title insurance or an attorney's opinion showing no title problems.

 

[txdon]

Title insurance is a must. On the land I bought I checked the courthouse records, but a lien did not show up. I think the lien was in another brother's name when the brother owned the land and quick titled it to his other brother without title insurance. The title insurance found it and would not insure it till the lien was paid. The lien was for over half of the cost of the land and on the land owned by that other brother. At closing one document was the lien being paid off to the third party (lien holder) with the money I was paying for the property. Be careful, you might want to make sure your deposit is returned if title insurance cannot be obtained.

 

[WM75Guy]

The terms probably have a clause about buyer beware or "it's yours now." A title search would be a must for me before buying. Like Carmedic 310 said, once you sign it all belongs to you. As a new owner some grandfathered exemptions may not apply such as a buried tank that must be removed, butane, fuel, etc. Also walking the property to see what is left behind or has been dumped such as a building with asbestos siding, insulation, old tires. The family feud may be over whether to spend money to remedy a problem or sell it to someone else. I have also seen a ringer in the crowd just to run up the price to what the seller thinks the property is worth.