Rumors can kill you (financially speaking). Chances of your neighbors telling you EXACTLY what they sold or paid for his land are pretty slim. Third and fourth hand information tends to get highly inflated. You can’t go to the court house and look up what someone paid for land in Mississippi because Mississippi is a non-disclosure state.

Beware of the “Stale Bread Syndrome!" When a property is first put on the market, it’s got the market’s attention. If the property is priced way above market, it’s ignored. Even subsequent price reductions are ignored. The property in now “stale bread.” The property usually ends up selling at a substantially lower price than it would have had it been priced correctly at the start.

What if you go to contract on an overpriced property? If you can get a contract on property over priced for the market, can you convince the buyer's bank's appraiser of its value? If an overprice property actually makes it to closing, and the buyer discovers he overpaid, he or she and their attorney may find a reason take you to court. And in the sale of land, there’s no shortage of rationale for a law suit. Liability for misrepresentation, negligence or fraud has increased to the point most states have eliminated the doctrine of caveat emptor, or “buyer beware.” (Property Disclosures, MJ Russell, Dearborn, 2003)

How do you determine what your income generating property is worth from an income prospective? If the property has a history of tenants, that's fairly easy. Email me and I'll send you a very easy to use spread sheet that should give you an idea of what your property bring at a sale..from a income and expense stand point. I'll even walk you through it if you've got questions.

How do you determine what your land is worth? Odds are…you can’t. A real estate agent’s Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) or appraisal, using their training, market experience, and MLS SOLD comparables, can at least put you in the ball park. Depending on the size of the land, an appraisal can cost anywhere from $400 to $4,000. A real estate agent, by law, must provide a CMA at no cost, however, the agent will be expecting you to list your property with him or her. Is an appraisal more accurate than a CMA? That depends on the experience and skill level of the agent and the appraiser. Getting the right appraiser or agent is like getting the right airline pilot…you like to see a lot of gray hair when you first meet them.