Selling nearly worthless land

[Human]

Do any of you fine folks have experience selling nearly worthless land?

Background
An elderly relative fell for one of those desert land scams in the 1970s. It's going to eventually complicate probate (sadly, perhaps soon), as the land is not in their state of residence.

NOT Interested In

• Walking Away (from my understanding it would take a couple of years for the county to take over after stopping property tax payments)
• Maximizing Sell Price
• Buying it myself, or having a relative buy it

One Offer
They received an offer in the mail recently, offering to buy the land for a few hundred dollars. Far as I can tell, it's from a guy that flips this type of land. Or is this some type of scam?

EDIT - land info
It’s a little over 2 acres.
Located in Antelope Valley region of California's Mojave Desert, one hour+ to nearby towns.
Kern County.
No services. Some dirt roads.

EDIT: Tax info
“Your Proposition 13 (base value) is $3,555 and your current market is $800 for the January 1st 2017 lien date. You are currently receiving a decline in value reduction of $2,755.”

 

[pb4uski]

Hard to tell without more information. What is the property tax appraisal? Not definitive but a place to start. Also, look at zillow, trulia, etc for any land nearby. If it is truly out in the middle of nowhere then it might not be worth much.

Could you remove the probate complication by you or the heris buying it from them for some token amount before they pass so it will not be part of probate? Sounds like they would walk away if it could be done right away so anything that they get from you or the heirs would be gravy.

Another possibility might be to donate it to the county or some charitable organization.

 

[Sunset]

OP - we really need more info to give a good answer, plus it adds interest.

Where is this land, what are the yearly taxes ?
Why do you think it was a 1970's desert land scam ?

 

[Human]

OP here. I updated the original post with more info.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

If it weren't in California I might make you an offer. Nothing like being in the middle of nowhere away from people.

 

[Human]

Could you remove the probate complication by you or the heris buying it from them for some token amount before they pass so it will not be part of probate? Sounds like they would walk away if it could be done right away so anything that they get from you or the heirs would be gravy..

I thought of that, but I’d just be moving the monkey to my back.

Another possibility might be to donate it to the county or some charitable organization.

This is interesting. Any ideas on where to begin?

 

[pb4uski]

I thought of that, but I’d just be moving the monkey to my back.



This is interesting. Any ideas on where to begin?

True, but it sounds like the monkey is sort of already on your back... it would just you all more time to deal with it.

On the second part, perhaps a call to the county.

Or perhaps either accept the offer on the table or counter a little higher.

 

[Human]

OP - we really need more info to give a good answer, plus it adds interest.

Where is this land, what are the yearly taxes ?
Why do you think it was a 1970's desert land scam ?

Updated my original post with more info.

99% sure it was a scam. Followed the formula to a T: Company buys up a bunch of worthless desert land. Subdivides into plots. Sells suckers on the promise of building a great new city that will make their investment worth zillions. Company cashes our.

 

[HFWR]

Updated my original post with more info.



99% sure it was a scam. Followed the formula to a T: Company buys up a bunch of worthless desert land. Subdivides into plots. Sells suckers on the promise of building a great new city that will make their investment worth zillions. Company cashes our.

Not a real estate expert, but many of these deals/scams only provide a quitclaim deed, meaning no one actually bothered to see who really owned it, i.e. title search, but sold it anyway.

Granted, doesn’t sound like there’s anyone contesting it...

 

[meierlde]

Not a real estate expert, but many of these deals/scams only provide a quitclaim deed, meaning no one actually bothered to see who really owned it, i.e. title search, but sold it anyway.

Granted, doesn’t sound like there’s anyone contesting it...

This post does suggest checking online to see using the parcel id how the property was transferred. Do you have access to the title insurance policy? If some one else is claiming it you could of course just relinquish the your claim.

 

[RunningBum]

Why not take the offer of a few hundred? Your relative can write off the loss, which I'm not sure could be done if it's sold to a relative--though if it can't, and the basis remains high, it would be a tax break for you. And it doesn't sound like you could get much more than that, so take the no hassle deal rather than mess around with trying to find a buyer. You can check out the potential buyer to make sure they are legit, but as long as you get a cashier's check or go through a legit escrow service you should be good. What's the worst that can happen? You lose nearly worthless land. Can't see how they'd be able to suck money out of you.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Hope this helps!
https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Kern-County-CA/fsba_lt/land_type/204_rid/36.363798,-116.567688,34.216344,-121.247864_rect/7_zm/

 

[cathy63]

If they're really paying property tax on $800 worth of value, that's going to be about $12/year, so it might take a lot longer than a couple of years before the county would even try to take it for unpaid taxes. They have much more lucrative property to go after.

If you look at a satellite view on google maps, is it surrounded by other similarly sized lots? What's been done with those? Any chance of selling to the neighbors?

Also, maybe you'd be able to donate it to an open space preservation group. The CA State Poppy Reserve is out there and there's also open space in the Tehachapi Mountains. Even if you're not adjacent to an existing preserve, I know that sometimes the Sierra Club and similar groups will acquire property in one place and then use it to trade for the place they really want to preserve. I've no idea how to find groups that might want it, but maybe Google can help.

 

[CaptTom]

99% sure it was a scam. Followed the formula to a T: Company buys up a bunch of worthless desert land. Subdivides into plots. Sells suckers on the promise of building a great new city that will make their investment worth zillions. Company cashes our.

Well, then it's not a scam to your relative. They're just selling it back to where they got it from; a questionable land developer. The scam is if the developer misrepresent its value to the next buyer. Harder to do now, with Zillow and all.

 

[Teacher Terry]

My DH bought 7 pots of land that is pretty worthless and has never turned into the promised subdivisions. He bought them at a tax sale when people quit paying the property taxes even though they were like 10.00/year. He has had them for 15 years and recently sold them to people that mailed us offers of between 600-800. We sold all but 1. He wants to keep one. We dealt with a few different companies to get the highest price and all paid timely and did the necessary paperwork. It was really easy.

 

[Human]

Why not take the offer of a few hundred? Your relative can write off the loss, which I'm not sure could be done if it's sold to a relative--though if it can't, and the basis remains high, it would be a tax break for you. And it doesn't sound like you could get much more than that, so take the no hassle deal rather than mess around with trying to find a buyer. You can check out the potential buyer to make sure they are legit, but as long as you get a cashier's check or go through a legit escrow service you should be good. What's the worst that can happen? You lose nearly worthless land. Can't see how they'd be able to suck money out of you.

Yeah, that's the direction I'm leaning. Thanks.

 

[Human]

If they're really paying property tax on $800 worth of value, that's going to be about $12/year, so it might take a lot longer than a couple of years before the county would even try to take it for unpaid taxes. They have much more lucrative property to go after.

If you look at a satellite view on google maps, is it surrounded by other similarly sized lots? What's been done with those? Any chance of selling to the neighbors?

Also, maybe you'd be able to donate it to an open space preservation group. The CA State Poppy Reserve is out there and there's also open space in the Tehachapi Mountains. Even if you're not adjacent to an existing preserve, I know that sometimes the Sierra Club and similar groups will acquire property in one place and then use it to trade for the place they really want to preserve. I've no idea how to find groups that might want it, but maybe Google can help.

Good info - thanks!

The satellite view looks like a barren planet on an old Star Trek episode. haha

 

[Human]

Well, then it's not a scam to your relative. They're just selling it back to where they got it from; a questionable land developer. The scam is if the developer misrepresent its value to the next buyer. Harder to do now, with Zillow and all.

Good point

 

[Human]

My DH bought 7 pots of land that is pretty worthless and has never turned into the promised subdivisions. He bought them at a tax sale when people quit paying the property taxes even though they were like 10.00/year. He has had them for 15 years and recently sold them to people that mailed us offers of between 600-800. We sold all but 1. He wants to keep one. We dealt with a few different companies to get the highest price and all paid timely and did the necessary paperwork. It was really easy.

Exactly the type of experience I was hoping to find - thanks! Where did you find the companies to approach about selling the plots?

 

[calico1597]

A deceased husband owned a lot that I guess I inherited. It was in the southern part of our state. I drove down once to look at it. There was a burned out trailer on the lot next door, looked like it had been sitting there a couple years. I do remember calling a realtor, he wouldn't take the listing. I quit paying taxes on it, and eventually I stopped getting tax bills. Guess someone else owns it now. Don't care.

 

[harley]

I'm in a similar position, with a couple of plots in Chesapeake VA that I inherited from my mom. The tax bill has them worth $2500 each, but the one time I drove down there I couldn't even find them. There were no passable roads, and only a few shacks with sketchy looking people nearby. Taxes are ~$24/year.

My question is if I stop paying the taxes and let the property default back does what does that effect? Your credit rating? Anything else? I'd love to get rid of them, but the one realtor I talked to a few years ago wasn't interested in them at all.

 

[CaptTom]

A friend told me a story about how his family, a few generations back, owned a significant portion of an island. Mostly worthless except to the few fishing families who eked out a meager existence clinging to the shoreline. Eventually the family did well enough to move to the mainland, get good jobs and live in proper houses in nice neighborhoods. The family land lay unused for a couple of generations, and eventually it defaulted back to the island town.

The island? Martha's Vineyard.

You just never know.

 

[misshathaway]

Do any of you fine folks have experience selling nearly worthless land?

Yes, inherited a couple of acres that used to be part of a family farm. Whole thing is woods now. Years ago the town ruled the area it is in cannot ever be built on so it's not even saleable except as a woodlot, or for camping, said the appraiser. And yet the town wanted $500 a year property tax.

First I got the property tax lowered to $40 by filing an appeal. Then I looked up all of the abutters and asked them if they wanted to buy it. One of them had an existing house before the no-building rule and my land was behind his back yard. Sold it to him for a whopping $500, which was better than nothing.

I tried giving it to the various conservation places before finding the abutter and even the conservation places didn't want it.

Maybe one of your abutters could be interested.

 

[harley]

I'm in a similar position, with a couple of plots in Chesapeake VA that I inherited from my mom. The tax bill has them worth $2500 each, but the one time I drove down there I couldn't even find them. There were no passable roads, and only a few shacks with sketchy looking people nearby. Taxes are ~$24/year.

My question is if I stop paying the taxes and let the property default back does what does that effect? Your credit rating? Anything else? I'd love to get rid of them, but the one realtor I talked to a few years ago wasn't interested in them at all.

So, I did a little research, and I found a lot of warnings about having your property auctioned out from under you and increasing fines and interest, but nothing about what I would consider serious consequences. Since I would want them to seize and auction off the land, that's not a problem. And I assume that process would negate the money that was owed, although I'm not positive about that. Since my property is so completely worthless, I'm seriously considering this option. But I don't want to do it if I'd become a criminal or my credit rating would get smashed. So if anyone has ever gone through this or has any knowledge, I'd really appreciate the information.

 

[Scrapr]

non serious reply:

Have you thought about listing with Mitch & Murray? First place a brand new Cadillac, 2nd place a set of steak knives, 3rd place you're fired. Hit the bricks pal.

for the uniformed watch Glengarry Glen Ross movie