In September a friend of mine asked me to look at her land. She had 2.83 acres of land behind her house. Now I haven't listed land but I am (or at least was (I think there was a time limit on the certification)) in land. I knew basically what needed to be done. So on a beautiful Sunday I drove to Middleton, Idaho, about 30 minutes away and met with my friend and her family. We talked about their needs and the land. They were getting older and didn't want to keep up the land any longer. They also had developed a small garden strip at the edge of the land near the house. My friend wanted to keep her garden strip. The other problem is that a creek runs across the land at the edge. This creates both a flood-way and a flood-zone. I had already looked at the zoning and it is R3. This means that one can build 3 houses per acre. The land also has water, sewer, gas and electric to the property. This makes it valuable! I had called Fema and checked out the flood-way using maps. Being a Realtor I valued their house on 0.48 acres too. I can't help myself :).
Now in my classes we talked about highest and best use. The most money would be on derive the most money. They could sell the land straight up or platt it out. Turns out platting it out included to much money to be laid out on improvements so we chose a straight sale. I talked to my broker, Randy Ware and a friend who did development Craig Groves on price. I wanted to make sure I didn't leave money on the table or priced the land to high. After looking at small acreages in Middleton I thought I could get any ware from $160K to $200K. The market is really hot and there is very little listed so we decided to start at $195K. My friend also said that their was a surveyor who surveyed the land when they purchased the lot 10 years ago and she gave me the info.
On Monday I called the City planner of Middleton and confirmed the zoning, the flood-way, and the process to split the land. Next I called the surveyor and told him of our needs. At this time I thought platting it out or an administrative lot split (to get two parcels (thus increasing the price) was possible without platting. I explained that I needed a lot line adjustment so that my client could keep her garden and that the house would be sheltered. We arranged to meet the planner to discuss the possibilities. Turned out the land had already been split once since 1976 so it couldn't be split again per Middleton code. So we arranged for a survey to change the lot line.
The surveyer met with the us and we scheduled the work for the following Thursday. I came out towards the end of the survey to see how things were going. Meantime my former real estate partner had a client looking for land. I told him about the land. I tested the market and met him and my old partner/ friend at the land. He thought about him but he didn't have the capital to develop the land. He probably needs to start on a smaller piece of land.
I listed the property land listing .
on October 8, 2019. I met a neighbor who asked me to value her house (which wasn't in a flood zone) when I was putting up the sign. I listed it as a building lot but also commented on the development potential or keeping it as a horse property. I then went on a 10 day trip to see my sons. While I was gone we had a good offer. The day after I got back we accepted the offer and we are in the period of discovery (or inspection). So far it has been very interesting!
Some days I love my work! These were the friendliest horses who came up to me and nuzzled me!
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