A seller was going to loose their quarter acre building lot in Port St Lucie to the tax auction.
St. Lucie County can auction lots for back taxes after the tax lienholder requests it after a two year holding. It is a slow judicial process, but auctions occur about 2 times a month.
This particular lot was scheduled for auction in 21 days.
Over a 24 month I had tried to reach this seller multiple times by US Mail with no success, but eventually found a family member through some public records research who put me in touch with the owner.
The owner was surprised to hear that an auction was scheduled. We walked through my 5 step process to help her sell her vacant land to me. From contract signature to closing, it was 5 days. It could have been three days, but the seller needed to sign and overnight documents back.
5 Steps to Sell Your Single or Double Lot in Port St Lucie
1. Initial Consultation
In this case, we chatted by text messaging. We talked about the lot, gopher turtles, rapid closing, my price versus listing it with a realtor, and all sorts of other topics to answer questions that were on the seller mind.
The seller could have chosen to list it with an agent and wait an average of 30-90 days to get a contract, and then another 30 days to close. They could have chosen to pay a 10% commission (often charged for vacant land), pay for title (depends), and pay a transaction fee.
Though my price was lower than what an agent might sell it for, I offered a fast close and no fees.
The seller could choose: highest price and longest time, or fast close with no contingencies. I actually encouraged listing the lot with an agent to get the highest price.
2. Establish a fair price between us.
I buy vacant building lots on a regular basis.
Without seeing this lot in person or meeting the seller, we agreed to a price over the telephone.
A fair price is what the seller and myself agree the land is worth to each of us to complete a transaction.
That price was fair to the seller and to me.
Though a little lower than what the seller would net after expenses if an agent was used, the seller chose speed over price.
3. Sign a purchase agreement to sell me your vacant lot.
I prepare and send a purchase agreement I’ve used since I started buying land over 10 years ago.
Since the seller doesn’t live in the area, we could not meet in person.
That’s perfectly fine since electronic signatures are easy to do.
I could have mailed a purchase agreement to sign. We do have a way to handle electronic signatures and this is the option that the seller chose.
I prepared, signed, and emailed the current version of my purchase agreement is 3 pages long.
It simply describes the lot, identifies the buyer and seller, defines the deposit, number of days to close, and where the closing will be held. There is more stuff in the purchase agreement, but this is the core of it.
The seller signed it by following the directions in the email.
4. Allow the title company to do the title work on the vacant building lot.
Once I received the signed electronic purchase agreement, I took it straight to the title company that I use.
They are the ones who research the title, prepare all the final paperwork necessary to complete the transaction, and they handle the money side of the transaction.
In this transaction, the title research was not complex and it was ready to close in 3 days.
5. Sign the final closing documents
The title company prepared all the closing documents necessary.
They emailed closing documents to the seller, who had to then sign them in front of a notary and overnight them back to the title company.
The title company told me the final amount (the purchase price plus closing fees) to wire to them and then come in to sign my side of the documentation.
After all documents were signed, the deed was recorded.
The title company sent the proceeds to the seller that afternoon.
All told, these 5 steps took 5 days to complete.
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