Finding unlisted land to buy, with some work.

This is my second post, and hope someone finds it useful.

I just discovered this method tonight, and had to share it with some people. Basically there are tools that exist in today's world that allow you to find cheap unlisted land, but it will require you to put in some work.

I am a 31 year old father of a 1.5 year old baby girl, and I'm sick of this consumer lifestyle. I do not have much money saved up, nor do I have a job right now due to this whole plandemic that is happening. What I do have is unemployment, the majority of my stimulus check, and a small amount of savings from before, and an overwhelming drive to create a better life for my daughter.

I have always managed to find a way to do my thing, whatever that was. Whether it be to hustle up enough money to get my heroin fix or score a place to sleep for a few days, etc. (I'm 2+ years clean now in case your wondering).

I am going to talk to you today about publicly listed tax parcels.

Basically what they are is this.

They are usually available as a map, provided by a particular county or city. You can view the entire area and lookup each individual parcel and see the tax information. You then can determine if the owner is living on the land or if their address is in another location.

Unfortunately in my area, a free tool was not available, so I had to pay up for a tool at landgrid.com (1 year for $100). You can use the site for free, but not all of the features. Keep in mind you can search google for "Lansing Tax Parcel Map" and you can find one thats free, but in my area one didn't exist, maybe you'll be lucky.

In the image below you can see an example of a parcel in my area, that has an owner in another location (All Purple areas).

You can then lookup that owner (by name and location) on another site like voterrecords.com and then you can send them a letter.

A hand written letter would work best here because imagine being a landowner in a cold place, but living in florida for the winter and getting tons of junk mail while your in your vacation spot. You'd most likely open a letter that was handwritten vs some printed out letter that looked like an ad.

I will be starting this hand written letter process within the next couple of days once my girlfriend and I decide on a few locations we'd like to live.

Hope everyone is having a good day, and happy travels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67-M3slkJ18
I discovered this in this youtube video, so I'll leave that here too. I just had to get this out in the open because I am at the end of my rope living this consumer lifestyle and I haven't seen anything like this anywhere else in my quest to homestead.

Helpful stuff Earl.  Thank you.

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Thanks for the info. Congratulations on your sobriety!

Good luck. Please let us know if this method works.

That's good initiative.  I hope something comes of it.

In my area this information is part of the county's GIS system.  Its free to use, so others might verify what's available before a subscription to a service.

There seems to be a whole new industry of private equity buying houses that aren't on the market.  They are very active here, and I get at least two letters a month and I've even gotten phone calls and text messages.  I find them an ominous indicator of eroding economic equality and I reply accordingly.   But the folks in your area might not be targeted for this, and I agree that a hand-written letter and a chance to sell a property without commissions might appeal.

Just found this forum.

Question to the OP or anyone else with experience: Does anyone have a sample unsolicited letter that they've written that they can share? I'm in the process of writing one now, and am really struggling with what to include/exclude and how to write it.

i've also been doing this, i have been looking for a miracle deal in western mass/the berkshires this way.  

mass has the massgis, and its really helpful and some of the towns i am looking in also maintain their own versions, which are usually more accurate and up to date if the land changes hands. you can find out so much information this way. theres deeper layers of such maps that i would like to unlock, where you can really get into some specifics on the land, more than just basics of elevation, water nearby etc...but just the basics are super helpful. you will get the current owners info, the structures, how much they paid and when.

so i got into looking for plots where i couldnt see cars in the aerial views, overgrown lots where you can barely see the driveways...ah idk how to explain but i got a mental list of certain combos of factors that point me to something thats looking uninhabited, where like the owner got it for 0 or 10k or some ridiculously low price (inheritance or just distressed properties) and then even scoping them out and getting current mailing address and contact info.
i can admit though, i have been super shy to actually follow up with hand written letter...although theres some i have a little file of places that i narrowed down to that i think might be worth a try.
but it definitely gave me a deeper look at whats what, going out there and driving around, coming back for a few days and sort of "driving" around virtually on the massgis website...going back and forth is how i spent my summer. i think theres a few i am going to send an unsolicated letter to the worst that can happen is no response, which would be the possible outcome, but hey -- worth a try.

i really dont have much saved but i have been saving for so long, and now its getting much harder to save. but there are many areas in the berkshires with super cheap fixers, lots of abandoned old houses. the real bonus in that is that even if the house is beyond salvage- theres a well, some clearings and more flat/cleared lands. there are actually old fixers out there for 20k-50k and so thats what i have been trying to manifest. or raw land but at least some cleaered - old homesteads and such. and doing the driving around virtually on the mass gis site, and even following up by going to google and looking at that too, i can get a lot of information about places...and you can kinda tell which ones would be in the super cheap rock bottom price category...or at least potentially.

Having gotten several of these, I know I don't appreciate it, but I'm not in the market to sell my land.

If I had to sell, I would not sell to someone who did that. To me it feels invasive of my privacy to know random people are getting my address.

Pearl Sutton wrote:Having gotten several of these, I know I don't appreciate it, but I'm not in the market to sell my land.

If I had to sell, I would not sell to someone who did that. To me it feels invasive of my privacy to know random people are getting my address.

That's exactly my fear, and why I struggle to write such a letter -- it's feels a little 'leech-'y' to me and it's just not in my nature. I feel like I would feel that same sense of invasion if I were to receive such a letter. That being said, once a listing hits the MLS, it becomes that much harder to get -- for financial, competitive, etc. reasons.

In your opinion, is there a more respectful, less invasive way of doing this?

I've seen many people recommend this method, but I've rarely actually seen the results of it. But I'm still kind of holding out hope because otherwise it feels impossible to acquire land through conventional methods.

yes i suppose it may be seen as a bit weird. i havent been able to do it either. mostly i just think they wont likely respond.

i did just hang out, talk to people, try to have some natural meetings, and you know some success in that and did get a couple of good leads on places, but nothing that was the thing.
met some people though and keep putting out feelers when i met people. that probably all is a better strategy, of course you cant plan that out, you just gotta go there and look around and be open to people.

i am not a particularly social person in a lot of ways, so i dont know how much i can schmooze people =P but i just am my little weirdo self and i manage to already make a few networks of connections.  small towns are usually receptive to new people, you know you are pretty noticeable =), and get some more info on like whats the deal with how much they enforce the codes and whats the deal of the local ways.
i do think that could be a way, just keep going there, and maybe my miracle deal is meeting just the right person who knows the right deal.  theres a lot of really old fallen down houses, that were cheap even before they fell down! or whatever. ah idk...i keep looking.

it is a little bit weird to be like internet stalking people. but i am not doing it with any weird intent, just do a little searching the person and that gives me info if like...they dont live there or if it seems like they might sell off something. actually some of the people i looked up seemd interesting, one seemed really neat and like someone i might actually cross paths with, like just an interesting person. but then i just....havent brought myself to try to  write a letter or try to email, where i looked up their emails.

I own several pieces of property and I do get letters, postcards and texts about selling.

Yes, it can be annoying but I deal with the unwanted stuff like I deal with junk mail or email and toss.

Now that we are looking at selling, I look at these differently.

I still toss most as they appear to be looking for homes that can be rented,

Now, if I got a hand addressed envelope and handwritten letter, I will read and respond.
I have, in fact, received this and did this.

Honestly, what have you got to lose? You don't know the other person and they don't know you.
Even when I was irritation, it was a very passing and small emotion.
If it were me, I would tell just a bit of my story - why I am looking to buy land - not much, just
a couple sentences that will make you a person and not a creepy stalker.

Just my 2 cents.