If you’ve ever bought or sold a home, you’re probably familiar with the concept of “staging” – dressing up your home to make it more appealing for prospective buyers. But while you might be able to toss around some throw pillows and bake some cookies before you show your house, what if you’re selling a piece of land? Believe it or not, you can boost the sale price of your estate or farm property, and entice more buyers, by staging your land with enhancements that will increase the total value and allow it to show better.
Find an Expert: You should find a land expert possibly with an engineering and surveying background who will not be intimidated by problems you will surely encounter. Experience in building roads, permit processes can be a big enhancement in the pre-sale process.
Mark the Boundaries: Make sure you have highlighted the lines and boundaries of your property, making it easy for buyers to see what they’re going to buy. Or, take a look and see if there are ways to subdivide the property to showcase the long-term value of the land.
Identify the highest and best use for your property: Advertising just the home when there are 25 thousand maple taps just does not make sense. Properties may be advertised under two categories in the MLS system so listing under both residential and land can be a big help in getting the right exposure for your property. You will need an expert with extensive market knowledge in both areas to help find the right buyer at the right price.
Get Geophysical: You should have knowledge of soils in general and certainly hydric soils and wetlands are very critical in Vermont. Know your contours and general degree of slope and land features that can make a vital difference in a sale. Land use and laws that may be critical to where your property is situated. In Vermont forests that are considered to be "deer wintering areas" can be an obstruction to future development. Vermont's UVA (land use) can cause a penalty to be instituted if you want early withdrawal from the program.
Clean it Up: The same rule that applies inside will help outside as well. Pick up clutter, and rake sandy or rocky areas. Also, think about clearing a path through your property if it’s overgrown with brush. Also, consider knocking down trees at the point of the best view, or clearing and grading paths for hiking or horses that make the forest seem less intimidating. Another thing many people don’t think about is the installation of drainage pipes or swales to keep the area dry and more useable.
Highlight the Positive: Think about features of your property that might appeal to prospective buyers. Do you have outdoor accents, like a fire pit or a pond? Is there a great place to add some of these features that you can suggest to buyers? Are there any simple improvements you can add that won’t break the bank but could add to the bottom line?
You may not be able to – or need to – do all of these improvements on your specific piece of land. Doing a cost/benefit analysis before sinking money into large improvements will help make sure you’re not cutting into the bottom line or pricing yourself out of the market (one of the biggest mistakes that sellers often make).
My years as a construction estimator gave me a lot of experience in working up prices for large projects, where there were many variables to consider. Sometimes you have to decide between keeping the price low to get the project now, or keep the pricing higher to hold out until the right project finally comes along, and the same goes for selling real estate. Undeveloped land is more difficult to price because there are not as many comparable sales to use and each parcel is very different, but being judicious and focusing on the right improvements to your property can help you get the most money without too much effort.