Buyers beware! Use a real estate professional/Realtor for even the smallest investment!

With the Internet so much a part of every ones lives, personal or business, it is important that when Buyers are surfing the web looking for  a land investment, and they find something FSBO, on a classified website, or  on Craigslist ,or even Ebay, they understand that there are risks in a purchase without the use of a real estate professional/Realtor, and title/escrow services.

An example is Tahitian Village, Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas.  This development has been around for many years, and is enjoying a revival of interest with it's beautiful pines, great location to Bastrop, access to Pine Forest Golf Course ( one of three local courses), and the Colorado River which winds along the subdivision. With approx. 7000 lots total this subdivision, it is much larger than it seems from Highway 71.  I always suggest that Buyers come and pick up a map from my office before heading in.  With all of the Tahitian style road names with LOTS of vowels  ( by the way you should pronounce each individual vowel to say the word....good luck with that! )  the roads can be confusing until you get familiar with the area!

There are lots still available  down by the river, in the pines,  with beautiful views of the Colorado flowing by just past the golf course.   But.......some of these lots actually sit in a flood plain that eliminates the possibility of being developed for residential use. 

So here is a situation that may happen..........thru a tax sale, an investor somewhere other than in Bastrop County Texas, purchases one or two of these lots down by the river, never having seen them,  and has decided to throw them back on the market FSBO.   A Buyer is surfing the web, sees the pictures, communicates directly with the Seller,  and says what the  heck, this sounds like a good investment....... and buys the property.  If that  Buyer has not checked flood status, was not given a plat map, did not negotiate a survey into the deal, and did not receive the proper disclosures from the Seller, much less a  title policy that the Buyer's attorney could review, that Buyer might have bought a lovely spot to picnic on  the Colorado River a couple of times a year for posterity!  

Buyers, using a real estate professional/Realtor even for the smallest dollar purchase ( some of the lots in Tahitian which ARE build-able can be offered for 3-4K each ) can eliminate  nightmares.  And no.........not all the river lots sit in flood.  There are still some great lots for sale in Tahitian Village down by the river, out in the grassland, or up in the pines.  Call a real estate professional/Realtor to help you!