A Client Success Story
A landowner approached The Shipley Co. about selling their overgrown 80 acre property. The property’s road frontage, interior trails and old logging road were choked out in briars, saplings, and deadfalls. There wasn’t a good place to turn off the road and park without parking on the shoulder of the state road. Had The Shipley Co. taken the approach most real estate brokers would’ve taken, such as immediately putting a RE sign in the ground and walking away with an asking price of $300,000, best case scenario, this property would have likely sold for $250,000 after 6 months of being marketed for sale. The seller would’ve ended up taking a low ball offer because all the top paying customers lacked the vision to see that with a few simple improvements, the property would pop. Most agents in brokering land are considerably unaware of the impact simple improvements have on a property’s value. This is where the expertise of The Shipley Co. came into play.
The Shipley Co. advised this client to spend $10,000 up front on recommended improvements (the Shipley Co. was so sure of the value of this recommendation that they offered to cover the $10,000 up front, and be repaid after sale, if necessary). These improvements included:
- $2,000 to build all new trails and improve access to the far reaches of the property. Once the trails were complete, The Shipley Co. used their GPS unit to build an accurate sales map, something The Shipley Co. specializes in. Accurate maps are essential for selling at a fair market value.
- $1,000 to build a gravel driveway, pull off and place culvert pipe at roadside ditch, greatly increasing the value of the property.
- $1,500 for a licensed soils scientist to verify 3 perc sites, one for each lot that was to be subdivided. Without this step, the new buyer would most likely have to verify the soils for a perc site themselves, which slows the closing process and creates the risk of losing the sale altogether.
- $6,500 for a licensed surveyor to survey and subdivide the land into 3 tracts.
With these improvements, The Shipley Co. turned this property from overgrown and high-maintenance to 3 lots that were turn-key. As a result, the buyer’s knew what they were getting, and didn’t have to waste their time and money investigating the land for septic and getting a new survey. With a brand new entrance, newly cleared trails, new and detailed aerial and topographic maps, verified perc site for each tract, and a new survey for each lot, this property ended up netting The Shipley Co.’s client another $250,000 after only 2 months from the initial marketing date.
At The Shipley Co., because of our years of experience in the niche industry of land brokerage, success stories like this happen every day. Contact us today to ensure you get the most value for your property.
