Selling Part of the Forty

This subject keeps coming up in the aging on the homestead thread.... So, hypothetically...If one had forty acres and a six or seven acre corner that would make a nice little homestead...and was willing to owner finance to like minded folks and had absolutely no money to invest in the sale (survey, access road, closing costs...) what are the possibilities?
I realize some things would be different depending on location but not all.
How to connect with the right buyer without advertising?
How to set up owner financing?
Who pays liability insurance?
How to prevent the buyer from reselling to a nightmare neighbor?
How to set up to offer the rest of the land to them ?
What should the buyer consider?

Without advertising you would need to use word of mouth. Places like this would be a start. Also, just talk to people in your area and let people know you are looking to sell via owner financing and want a personal recommendation as you want someone to homestead it. You can write in any deed restrictions you and the buyer agree to, including the right of first refusal if the buyer decides to sell. You do not need to survey and pay closing costs if you are doing the sale yourself and owner financing it. The buyer may want a survey, but they should pay for it. If this parcel is part of a larger parcel and you would be 'dividing' it, a survey would be good for both of you. You don't even have to record the deed. Recording of a sale is for the buyer's safety. I know in my area, when we record a deed we pay a tax based on the size of the sale. The new owner would be responsible for insurance.

You may also look at libertarian forums, agorist forums, and such to find a buyer.

What state are you in?

Thanks, Penny, good answers...and I have more questions.....

.Would it be a good idea for a potential homesteader to camp out on the land for a year to see if it's what they wanted (I guess with some sort of lease agreement?). I am remembering cheap land here in the seventies that we all were buying that we later found out the realtors were calling "hippie" land...which turned out to be some of the worst, although everyone is so much more informed now.

How much could be written in the deed....like "no guns", "no toxic chemicals", fire restrictions....I assume deed restrictions are broader .

What about going through an abstract and title company...is that necessary? we did that to buy this forty acres and included in the cost were things like a title search. Otherwise where do you get the actual papers to make the sale legal?

If the long term goal was to eventually sell them the whole property, then consider a long lease, with specifics written in of course.
Because your not expecting a down and % financing again a long term lease (life of the buyers, or such) could be enough.

I offer this suggestion of a lease instead of a sale because you mention gun-control, and people usually buy to completely posses all their 'rights'.
You are talking about a sale where you limit some state/fed given rights, just sounds more like a lease to me. Could be a deal breaker for many looking to score a bit of land.

I would start by brainstorming all the things you hope to get out of such a deal (sellers/leasers). Then do the same for the imaginary buyers.
This should give you a nice frame work for who your looking for and how you want the 'deal' to play out over time.

Then do your research on various lease's pros and cons.

Personally - I feel having joint projects/goals would go a long way toward forming a bond and community, which would really help living in peace and harmony with a close neighbor. So consider offering month by month discounts on lease payment for joint labor projects on your part of the land. This would be a win, win, win.

with regards to deed restrictions I meant things which would prevent development, not restrictions on a person's constitutional rights. You could place a restriction that the land not be subdivided or that it contain only one home or that it could only be used for residential and agricultural use.

If you do it through a lease to buy there could be options you could write in which would give you the right to evict during the term of the lease.

Remember though that every time you place a restriction on the deed and what a person can do with the property you are taking away some of it's value.

The gun issue is really to do mostly with hunting/target practicing...which we have never allowed on our forty acres and the six acres we might sell isnt enough to hunt on anyway...but I get the point. It would play a part in who we sold to. I wouldnt worry about the land losing value or losing a sale because of restricting some ones right to carry.
This is the point we end up at...not wanting to restrict someones freedoms but not wanting to cause ourselves a future problem we cant deal with or a change in our lifestyle that we don't want..

OK, let me take back any mention of guns...our goal is to find like minded folks to give a good deal to on some land so it probably would not even come up. I was interested in the series of steps to take to make a sale legal without any cost. We already have "word of mouth" happening, we are working on a land description including measurements.
What makes a sale legally binding? or a lease for that matter? I thought this would be helpful to get some information out here in case anyone else has extra land and no cash to invest in a sale.

You can do contract for deed (owner-financed loan) IF you have a legally platted piece of land.

You can do a lease-to-own with no up front costs, if you can self-survey accurately enough. You can make lease exit terms as binding or as free as you like.

The buyer will have to agree to pay for all the survey and paperwork to convert to a sale--either whenever they want or you both agree thas X% of the rent for an "escrow" to cover those costs.

Thanks for all of the advice...

I am liking the sound of "lease to own". I assume amount and frequency of payments are agreed on between buyer and seller and also the land description and use restrictions. All of this is written on just any piece of paper? maybe standard forms on line? and then notarized? I am still uncertain how to end up with something that will satisfy both buyer and seller for future security.
We own another five acres that has a self-survey done by my husband and the person selling the land. There were landmarks (a creek bed and cave line) along withan existing survey line edge. This piece edges a corner (two sides with fence and already surveyed lines and the other two sides are driveway and right of way road so it has pretty clear bounderies.

Jamie M...I really like what you said about joint projects, etc. as a way to build community and harmony with a neighbor (and to discount land pymts). Originally we were considering WOOFER volunteers but slowly realized we would rather have the corner piece of land used by someone who needed it for a small homestead and we would love to have closer neighbors who were looking at life in a similar way.
In the past we and a small network of friends would take turns having a workday/potluck at each others homesteads. We usually accomplished a lot.

I am looking to buy an acreage in the high elevation Ozarks for permaculture. Where is this land? Thank you.
Shelley

Looks like it's been a while since posting and I am wondering if you've found someone for a land contract.  My husband and I are in the Ozarks for the next few weeks and would love to look at your " parcels".  If you are interested please contact me:  lori.crouch1975@gmail.com

LoriLeigh Crouch wrote:Looks like it's been a while since posting and I am wondering if you've found someone for a land contract.  My husband and I are in the Ozarks for the next few weeks and would love to look at your " parcels".  If you are interested please contact me:  lori.crouch1975@gmail.com

In the end we sold the whole forty acres to a permie minded couple just last fall and moved to the edge of a very small town in the next county over.

It seems like there are folks posting here about this fairly often though, just not about land in the Ozarks maybe.  I still like the idea very much and think it can be a great opportunity for all involved.

Good luck with your search!