Hello Everybody,

It's me, Brian from Cincinnati again. Still not having much luck finding our little place to homestead in South East Indiana. Can anyone tell me what the best way is to find land or just property OUTSIDE OF the regular real estate ads? I guess I'm talking about stuff for sale by owner or auctions or whatever else there is. How do you FIND this stuff? I've been to a few FSBO websites, but they're not turning up much.

Oh, and by the way, we're still looking mostly in Franklin, Dearborn, and Ohio counties (maybe eastern Ripley, too). So, if you've seen anything, please let me know.

Brian

-- Brian from Cincinnati (bdmetz@altavista.com), January 22, 2002

Answers

Have you tried looking at HUD and VA repos (usually handled through real estate agents, but they do have a website somewhere). Sometimes the local newspapers (like local weeklies) carry ads the county papers don't.

Hate to say, but you might want to hook up with the agent with the best reputation in the areas you mentioned (i.e. long time in area, best sales record, etc.). A lot of it is just driving around, weeding out areas you don't want to live in. It could be that it is not a good buyer's market in the area you're looking in, right now. In some areas of the country, with people being laid off, there are lots of places for sale. Just something to think of.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 22, 2002.

Hey Brian - Why go OUTSIDE of the regular ads? In most areas, including rural areas, local realtors and the multiple listing service are the best ways to find the most real estate for sale. Don't get me wrong, I am not a realtor myself. But I found our lovely little 18 acres in the country in East Texas through an MLS real estate listing, and would never have run across it otherwise. And it was a bargain, IMHO. Another method - check with your local taxing authority; sometimes ownership/tax rolls are available to the public and/or on the internet. Look for vacant land tracts and esp. for out of state owners. Sometimes they just haven't gone to the trouble of selling their unwanted acreage. You can always write to them and find out.

-- Steve (smdann@swbell.net), January 22, 2002.

Check with the county court house for postings of property for sale and the county tax office for properties. Buying property at tax sales/auctions is not for the newbie. Post an ad in the local paper stating what you are looking for.

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.

Hi Brian..

Realtor.com has all the MLS listings. It's an easy and fun site to use.

-- pc (pc@nowhere.com), January 22, 2002.

How about a day trip or a weekend trip and just drive around! I see so many places for sale that arn't advertised anywhere. Usually for sale by owner but some are listed with realitors who have had the listing for awhile with no nibbles so they stop advertising. Get one of those good topographical maps of the area or state and go for it. Venture out and take the back roads, it can be a lot of fun and you can maybe meet the neighbors too!

-- Susan nrothern MN (nanaboo@paulbunyan.net), January 22, 2002.

Have you tried calling the aurioneers in the areas you are interested in to be sure you are notified if what you want comes up. Sometimes the trowaway weekies also have adds that aren't anywhere else. I would also suggest driving through the areas you are intested in and stop at the family owned country stores if any in your area and ask. You also might try contacting churches in the areas of interest. And in all probability it will end up being dumb luck that finds you a spot. Don't forget if you see an area you really like is talk to your neighbors as they may know of someone who has thought of selling some land but just haven't listed it yet. good luck in your search

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef@getgoin.net), January 22, 2002.

I agree with the weekend "road trip". Sometimes you might find the little "Mom and Pop" real estate broker that does not use the MLS system. You'll happen upon a realtor sign that you've never heard of before, and their listings aren't in the MLS system. You'll also get the "For Sale by Owners" that are just a sign picked up at Wal Mart and put in the front yard. The two casino boats will be very close to you in SE IN (Belterra in Switzerland Co. and Grand Victoria in Dearborn Co.?). Beautiful country out that way, but you don't know how the boats affect the surrounding communities. Might be worth a trip to see how things are going.

-- Campfool (campfool@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.

By the way, I'm in South Central IN, and just recently visited Switzerland Co.

-- Campfool - SC IN (campfool@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.

Hey Brian, You could also try the newspaper The Thrifty Nickle...It is a free paper. I live in Morgan county, and we use that one alot...Hope you find your dream spot...we are looking for ours too...LOL...in Minnesota...think we might have found one...crossing my fingers, Kristean

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), January 22, 2002.

Brian Maybe you did not get my e-mail the last time you posted . The brookville paper comes out only once a week and that is on wensdays . This will be your best source for realestate in this area. This franklin county indiana . Country friend Jack Bunyard

-- Jack Bunyard (bunyard@cnz.com), January 22, 2002.

Brian, you have to get on the land brokers or auction companies mailing list. By either calling them or going to a farm auction and signing the mailing list. if there is a small town near the area you are looking for land, try stopping in the grocery store or feed store they sometimes have a cork board full of for sale ads or at least look for a classified paper like the greensheets or thrifty nickle. finding land is easier if you concentrate your search to smaller areas like a certain county, that way you can take a sunday drive searching for realtor signs and for sale by owner signs and you become very familar with the area, I must have put 40k on my pickup trunk before I finally found a 40 acre paradise.

Good luck on your search.

-- Brian from oklahoma (gtimospeed@yahoo.com), January 23, 2002.

Hi,

Why do you want to not use a real estate company? At 5% commision, it makes good sense to have someone help you search for just the right place. I understnd being frugile, but sometimes it's better to pay for help ( especially if you are trying to do business from afar). You don't have to accept any proposals if you don't want. Anyway, if you want some ideas of real estate in a certain area, go to " ezmls.com ". I think most real estate agents register their listings with them. If nothing else, you can get an idea of prices in the area. Just my .02 .

-- Jason Kelley (lc79@yahoo.com), January 23, 2002.

Only 5%? That's cheap! I have seen 6 or 7%, and 10% for vacant land. A lot of people do want to avoid commission, and depending on where you live, the agent may do a little or a lot. CA for example, has LOTS of disclosure laws, and agents have to explain that. Other places, it's buyer beware, and the agent doesn't do much except hang a sign on the place.

Other thing is if you're in a hot seller's market, you can hang out your for sale sign yourself, get your own buyer, and maybe negotiate a lower commission for them just running the papers for you, (but that is getting harder to do).

Commissions are not "set in stone", but it is hard to find agents who will work for less than the going rate (at least not openly)--usually what happens is if the sale is really close, but the buyer/seller won't budge any more, the two agents involved will get together and agree to cut their commission on that property only just to make the sale.

I think that the FTC or the states should look at commissions under the anti-trust laws, because, even though it says on the contracts that they're negotiable, in the real world they are NOT.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), January 23, 2002.

Here's something I've done with some success in the past. Look around and find parcels you'd like to have. Get the owners' names and addresses from the county tax rolls (public record) and contact them yourself and ask if they'd be interested in selling. Another thing I'll suggest is telling EVERYONE you know or meet or talk with that you're looking. Sometimes you can come across what you want from what you'd think were the least likely places.

I did that when looking for a tractor recently, too. I'd done all the conventional things and just hadn't found what I wanted (partly because I didn't know what that was, exactly). I told everyone I knew from customers and acquaintences to the pizza delivery kid and the waitress at the local coffee shop. Talk to your insurance guy. Mine put me on to a couple deals that weren't what I wanted, but still worth looking at. I mentioned it to the tow truck driver for a local transmission shop and that was the winner.

His wife is from West Virginia and her brother's father-in-law had just passed away only months after buying a new John Deere. A couple phone calls were made back and forth and within a week my new tractor was delivered on the back of the transmission shop's rollback car hauler from WVA at about half the cost of new with under a hundred hours on it!

Everyone tells me it was 'a fluke' and I was 'lucky.' Both are probably true, but if I hadn't done what I did, it wouldn't have happened, either. I hope you find 'a fluke' and get 'lucky' with it, too. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), January 23, 2002.

Brian, the problem is you are trying to buy "farmland" in the suburbs. 50 miles outside of a city of 2 million is not far enough for reasonabley priced homesteading acreage, you are competing with the yuppies looking for country homes. Go east young man, there's gold in those hills, and you won't spend the rest of your life trying to pay for it either.

-- Rog (rw285@isoc.net), January 24, 2002.