Selling a home, include all your acerage?

[Paddy]

As in the last post we are selling our $350k home soon. The house sits on ten ac but it is really two seperate lots via the county reccords. So no deviding issues via the planning dpt. The ten ac is about 330' by 1500'. It is devided such that there is a 4 ac pc at the road and a 6 ac pc at the back. When we built, we built towards the back so the house is nearly centered on the 6ac. Any buildable lot in this location, close to shopping/schools, is worth say $50k. I would need to make an easement or give the back lot a 15' road. I would just hold the front pc for a few years and when I was ready to sell, I'd bet the new back lot guy would pay top doller to get it.

So the question is does this make sence? Or do you think the lack of big road frontage would lower the price about the same as the slit would generate? The trees are so thick you can't see the road, even in the winter. At night you can see the head lights at the road. I might add, The houses next door have the same arrangment, the people in the front of 10 ac sold off the back 6 ac. been that way for 25 years.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bird]

I have no idea what things are like in your part of the country, but around here, I think you'd have a hard time selling that house unless the buyer was getting the property all the way to the road. If the land were situated the opposite direction; i.e., 1500' road frontage so each lot had road frontage, you'd be OK.

 

[AndyM]

Sell it whichever way will bring more money.

 

[goaliedad]

It sounds like we live in a similar kind of area. I would think that listing it as one piece would make it more favorable- if the new owner wants to split and sell he can- otherwise you may eliminate alot of buyers. Who wants to buy a house "with acerage"- even tho it is 6, with the threat of a new neighbor "that close"
We are on a similar 10- the neighbors have recently had a split laid out. I can tell you my wife was hot as a wet hen when we found out.
I think a potential buyer of a $350K house on 10 acres would really not like the idea that some day you could sell their front yard and have a new neighbor. Now, if they sell it and see the money, they may feel differently.
my 2 pennies!

 

[jwstewar]

I say sell it as one but market it as two. That way maybe you could lure some buyers into thinking they could lower their cost and maybe make some money by selling the front lot - though in reality they never will.

When we were looking at property we found lost of "back" lots, but we never really looked at any of them because we didn't want to live behind of someone. Now our neighbor bought 2 back lots one. One behind us and one behind the lot next door. They then later purchased the lot next to us. So they have a "back" lot, but they are now just have corn in front of them.

 

[JJT]

I'm betting the 4 acres at the road will sell well before the house and 6 acres in the back. I'm also betting the house and 10 acres has a higher value than the house and 6 acres + a 4 acre sub-divided lot. Around here we look for a 2 acre min for lot size and 200' of road frontage. Check your zoning regulations, chances are you cannot sub-divide the 10 acres, 1) you cannot landlock the house, 2) you need to meet certain minimums on road frontage and lot size.

 

[JoeR]

I have a similar situation and just recently had my property appraised. The appraiser told me, "The some of the parts is greater than the sum of the whole." Meaning the land is worth more if sold in pieces. Although, he said I should list the property with the house and its lot, then put in an option for buyer to purchase remaining adjacent lots. My wife and I thought about this, and decided if we sell, we would do one listing for all of it. I do not want to be stuck paying taxes on the land just for possible future investment. Land is not always a good investment in my opinion unless you are really in the know with real estate and county decisions. The other thing is are you pricing to sell or pricing to make lots of money. This will affect the time it takes to sell.

Good luck,

Joe

 

[LarryRB]

In New England, you wouldn't get away with a 15 ft right of way to a rear lot... My town in CT. has a 300 ft minimum road frontage requirement. You would have to build a 20 ft road with 50 ft overall right of way, down one side of your lot. to access a "new" lot with required road frontage. Of course, I am talking CT and not Ind... If I was looking at your lot and you broke it off that way, I would walk away from your sale...

 

[rswyan]

In New England, you wouldn't get away with a 15 ft right of way to a rear lot...

Where I live in Ohio (New Franklin, Summit County) you wouldn't either. Locally there is a requirement for any buildable lot to have at least a 50' frontage on a public road or street - no private roads allowed.

If you want to put in private road, it must be built to ODOT public road specs (an expensive proposition) and then deeded over to the local governmental entity so that it becomes a public road.

 

[texbaylea]

In our area the 3-5 ac lots sell faster and at higher per acre value than larger parcels. The rural real estate agent I was talking to said it was because of the gross price and the fact that, if the potential buyer really analyzed it, more expensive equipment was needed to take care of the larger parcels.

At the time he was trying to get me to sell a separate 10ac. piece I have but was trying to knock the price. Hmm, I wonder?

Vernon