How buying works
We sell vacant land directly. There is no agent on our side and no commission built into the price. That also means there is nobody between you and the facts, so this page is the part most land listings leave out.
Start by assuming we are not telling you everything
We publish what the county records say, and we say when we have not checked something. On the 232 parcels listed right now, 225 have road access we have not verified, and electric, water and sewer are unverified on nearly all of them. Those fields say Not checked rather than No, because we do not know and we are not going to guess on your behalf.
The same goes the other way. 84 parcels are in a mapped FEMA flood zone and 21 are classified by the state as submerged land, marsh or waste land. Those are on the listings too. We would rather you walk away early than find out at closing.
Most of this land came from tax deeds
171 of the 232 parcels were acquired at county tax deed sale. A Florida tax deed conveys the county's interest in the land, and it is a real and ordinary way to own property. But title insurers commonly will not write an owner's policy on a tax-deed title until a quiet title action has been brought, and without a title policy most lenders will not lend.
That work is ours, not yours. We bring the quiet title action and pay for it, and on a tax deed four years old or older — which 77 of these 171 are — we record the affidavit of possession a title underwriter asks for instead, under Florida Statutes 95.191 and 95.192. Either way what you buy is title a company will insure, and the cost of getting there is already in the asking price.
What is left to you is the title policy itself: place it through your own title agent, or ask and we will suggest one. We take no referral fee either way. Every affected listing names the deed, the date it was recorded and its OR book and page, so a Florida title company can check our work before you offer.
We are not lawyers and nothing here is legal advice. If title is important to your plans, talk to a Florida real estate attorney or title company before you make an offer, not after.
What we suggest you check
- Stand on it. Every listing has coordinates and a Google Maps and Street View link. Go, or send someone. A map cannot tell you the lot is six feet below the road.
- Call the planning department that actually governs the parcel. Every listing names it, because the county cannot answer for a parcel inside a city. Ask what you may build, not what the zoning is called.
- Ask the utility for a written estimate to bring power and water, if they are not already at the road. A quarter mile of new line runs into five figures.
- Ask the health department about septic if there is no sewer. On wet ground they can refuse a permit outright, which ends the idea of a house.
- Order a title search. Especially on the tax-deed parcels.
- Get a survey before you build or fence. The boundaries we draw come from the county's GIS and are indicative, not surveyed. On 40 parcels the recorded acreage and the mapped boundary disagree by more than ten percent, and we say so on those listings.
Making an offer
Use the form on any listing, or email [email protected]. Tell us the listing ID, what you want to pay and how you want to pay it. We will tell you yes, no, or what would work. There is no bidding system and no deadline pressure.
Closing is through a Florida title company or real estate attorney, with the costs agreed up front. Where a parcel is marked as owner financed, the down payment, monthly payment and term are stated on the listing.
Holding costs are small, mostly
103 of these parcels are taxed under $25 a year. That is one of the genuine advantages of raw land. Watch the non-ad-valorem line though: stormwater, garbage and fire assessments are charged per parcel rather than on value, so on a cheap lot they can be most of the bill. Where a parcel carries one, the listing shows it and names the assessment.
Taxes usually rise after a sale, because the sale resets the assessed value to roughly what you paid. Budget for more than the figure shown.
What we will not do
We will not tell you a parcel is buildable. That is the county's call and it depends on access, soil, utilities and the rules on the day you apply. We will not provide a survey, clear title, or an opinion on what the land will be worth. And we will not take a listing down because the facts on it are unflattering.