Do nothing to your lot
before you sell it
By Justin Kelly
NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson
Land in South Jersey is typically bought as-is: wooded, rough cleared, with a building still standing, or with approvals already in place. Here is what a landowner does not have to handle first, and the one case where that changes.
At a glance
- Land is typically purchased as-is: wooded, rough cleared, with a building still on it, or with approvals already in place
- No clearing and no demolition first; trees and existing structures are not a deterrent
- Usually no survey and no approvals either, so in most cases nothing has to be in place before you reach out
Guide
One of the most common reasons an owner puts off a call about their land is a list of jobs they think have to come first. Take the trees down. Knock the old building down. Order a survey. Get something approved at the township. If you own a lot or a few acres in South Jersey and that list is what has been stopping you, it is worth knowing that in most cases none of it is needed.
Land is typically purchased as-is. That covers a wooded lot that has never been touched, a parcel that was rough cleared years ago, a property with a house or an outbuilding still standing on it, and a lot that already carries approvals. Each of those is a normal starting condition, not a problem to solve before anyone will look at it.
Clearing and demolition are the two owners worry about most, and they are the two that matter least. Trees are not a deterrent. Neither is an existing structure. Both are ordinary parts of preparing a site, and both sit on the buyer side of the work. Spending money to take down a building before a sale is spending money on something the buyer was going to handle.
A survey and approvals are not needed up front either. In most cases nothing has to be in place before you reach out. On a spot lot in an existing neighborhood and on a minor subdivision, everything from contract forward is handled on the buyer side, which is where the surveying, the engineering and the township applications live.
There is one exception, and it shows up on the largest deals. A major subdivision can come with a requested seller payment toward improvements. That is a bigger and more involved kind of transaction than a single homesite, and when it applies it is spelled out before anything is signed, not discovered later. For everything smaller, the rule holds: the lot can be looked at exactly as it stands today, and the conversation starts from there.
Terms vary deal to deal; this is how a lot purchase usually works, not a promise on any specific property. Written by Justin Kelly, NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson. More at South Jersey New Construction.
Our take
Owners wait to call because they think the lot has to be cleaned up first, and in most cases it does not. If you own a wooded lot or one with an old structure on it, it can be looked at as it stands.
