Buying land from a School District | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Thomas Lofft (tloffthotmail.com) | |
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2017 12:21:09 -0700 (PDT) |
On Apr 21, 2017 4:09 AM, <leenaree [at] xmission.com> wrote: Regardless of whether it is a school district or any other entity, key land/site acquisition factors are: What are the Buyer's options for alternate sites for its purpose? This is a consideration for both the Buyer and alternate Sellers. If there are multiple options for the Buyer to consider, Sellers have to be open to not being a first choice alternative and negotiate accordingly, being prepared to make negotiating concessions on price, terms, financing, time to get to settlement, and conceding other Buyer contingencies. What are the Seller's options for getting better prospects to buy the property? If a property has been on the market for a long time, probably the price is too high for its potential use or there are multiple hurdles for getting governmental or appraisal, or environmental clearances, and lender underwriting approval for a particular potential use. Worst Case: Buyer wants to acquire a property that is not on the market, even though to the Buyer it may appear to be surplus to the Owner's needs. Buyer has to induce the Owner first, to want to sell the property; 2nd, to want to accept the Buyer's pricing, terms and conditions. Critical: for the Buyer to be sure it knows absolutely everything about the zoning, subdivision, development, utility and environmental regulations. The more hurdles there are to be cleared, the less value the property has to most prospects. Most real estate brokers do not know this information and are unwilling to do the work to find out. Many owners do not know all the constraints that may exist that create unknown development expenses for the prospects. In the specific case, be sure to know the adjacent property owners' holdings, zoning, and future possibilities. Yes, you can find out, that's what 'Due Diligence' is all about. Compiling as much possible information about the property, the constraints, the adjacencies and the market factors now and for the foreseeable future, making a determination about the related aspects of the property, adjacent properties, and all the principals involved. What can you offer a School District (or any other Owner) in particular: making a commitment to not only solve the Buyer's needs, but also offer to work to resolve some of the Owner's critical needs, like providing an easement in perpetuity through the property for future access or utility extensions to Seller's residual property; providing payments over a period of years to meet current and future capital budget requirements; contribute concurrent improvements to enhance grading, drainage, view protection; provide noise, lighting and traffic controls, or other measures to minimize potential future negative impacts; treat the property as a Heritage Site, giving name recognition as appropriate to a designated party or entity. This means investigating the Owner's vision and mission statement, reviewing its annual reports for strengths and weaknesses, sitting through multiple meeting to observe demeanors of individuals to determine their personal strengths and weaknesses. Best of luck with your search and negotiations. Tom Lofft How can it be used Hello! I don't know if other school districts do it a similar way, but the Everett School District in Washington owns parcels designated either for future construction of schools, possible exchange with the city for park use, or joint use with organizations that support an educational mission. Our start-up cohousing group has as part of its mission statement to offer instruction and hands-on opportunities in growing and preserving food, as well as dyeing, cheesemaking and other "forgotten" crafts. Have any of you successfully negotiated purchasing a parcel from a school district? What advice can you offer in terms of how to explain cohousing, and the benefits of having cohousing as a neighbor to a school? Thanks! Eileen McCabe Tammany Commons
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Buying land from a School District Thomas Lofft, April 23 2017
- Re: Buying land from a School District Sharon Villines, April 24 2017
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