Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the four key parties involved in this process?
1. You
You own the land. It may be valuable to a home builder if properly developed.
2. LandSimple
Our job is to find leads for our developer partners that meet their criteria for development. LandSimple does NOT buy your land; the developer is who you would sell to.
3. Developer
Developers take raw land and develop it so national home builders are interested in buying it. The developer is the party who will actually buy your land from you if there is a successful transaction. (and that developer will normally quickly resell your land to a home builder once they buy it unless they decide to build the homes themselves).
4. Home Builder
Home builders are normally the ultimate buyer of your land and they will build residential homes on your property if they buy it. Our developers prefer to work directly with national builders since they have the deepest pockets and can therefore afford to give land owners the best deal for their land.
How long would it take for me to get paid if I sold my land and this process went ‘all the way’?
Land development can take 12-24 months, with 18 months being about ‘average’
Is LandSimple a licensed real estate agent that represents me?
No, we are not licensed real estate agents. Think of us as matchmakers. We provide highly qualified land development leads to land developers. LandSimple is not your agent, nor are we an agent of any developer.
Does LandSimple work for the developer?
No, we do not represent the developer or work for the developer. We provide property leads to developers. You will talk directly with the developer at some point in the process if you decide selling your land makes sense for you. We are matchmakers.
Not every piece of land is right for development. What might disqualify my land from development?
Excellent question! Here are four common reasons a parcel of land is not a good fit for development:
1. A regulatory problem
If the city or county won’t allow the land to be developed in such a way that both the developer and home builder can profit, the land is much less valuable. IE zoning that requires that only a few homes can be built on a land parcel is not as helpful as zoning that allows for many more homes to be built. Cities and counties have master plans that determine what a home/land owner can do with their property and any development plans must fit into those plans.
2. A physical problem
Maybe the land is too steep and it will be too costly to make it level. Maybe the land has too many protected wetlands on it to affordably develop.
3. An access problem
Maybe the land is ‘land locked’ and you can’t build a road to it. Maybe you don’t have affordable access to electricity or water.
4. A value problem
Home builders are only willing to buy developed land for prices such that they can build homes and sell them at a profit.
Developers are only willing to develop land that has a high chance of being purchased by home builders.
It could be that a home/land owner feels their home/land is more valuable than either a developer or home builder does and in that case, no deal is done because the parties can’t agree on the value of that home/land.
Why don’t I just go around LandSimple directly to the developer and cut out the middleman (my goal would be to save myself some money)?
You could certainly try to go around us. But there are four reasons that likely won’t be worth your time:
1. You won’t save any money
You would not save you any money because the work has to be done by someone, either LandSimple or someone else on developers staff.. The developer is used to LandSimple doing much of the upfront work and if we are not in the transaction, that’s MORE work for them, not less. So any money you would hope to save by going around LandSimple, would need to be paid by the developer internally (since that work has to be done by someone else). The developer knows this and therefore can’t realistically give you a ‘do it yourself’ discount.
2. LandSimple represents many deals to the developer, not just one
Developers need many land development leads to keep their business running. LandSimple provides the developer with many property leads; your land is only one such lead. Maintaining a relationship with LandSimple is better for their business long term. Cutting out LandSimple would be counter to their long term interests.
3. LandSimple is in your corner for all the right reasons
LandSimple only gets paid if your land gets purchased, so we have all the reasons in the world to work hard to present your property in the best possible light and get the developer to develop your land and get you the best possible deal. Our income depends on it!
4. There’s a lot to know and do and you’d have a steep learning curve to DIY this process
The land development process itself is very complex and detail oriented. LandSimple is here to take that complex process and make it easy for YOU. There’s a lot of legwork to be done in this process and if LandSimple doesn’t do it, you’ll need to. But since working with LandSimple doesn't actually cost you a penny, cutting us out of a deal would only create more work for you and you wouldn’t save any money. And do you really want to spend months learning about land development in your free time?
How much will it cost me to determine if my home/land would be valuable to a home builder?
It costs you nothing. We (LandSimple) do the preliminary work to determine if your property would be of interest to a developer, who would be the party who would do the major work on your home/land so that a builder would want to buy your home/land.
LandSimple (us) charge you nothing for our work; we are paid by the developer if they decide to enter into an agreement with you. The developer charges you nothing as well; they are paid by the home builder once the land is developed to the point where a home builder can take over.
How long will it take to determine if my home/land is valuable to a home builder?
Probably 1-2 months.
Why so long? Well, this is not a matter of just ‘searching on Zillow’ for your home/land value. There are some basic fact checking that needs to be done so we are not wasting everyone’s time.
The 1-2 months is how long it will normally take from: (a) when you say “Yes, LandSimple, I’d like to know what my home/land is worth to a developer to get to; (b) your home/land gets prequalified to; (c) I have an offer on my home/land from the developer.
Is there any obligation if I just want to ‘check things out’ without committing?
No obligation. The first part of the process is purely a discovery process for BOTH sides. No one wants their time wasted.
LandSimple will do all the leg work to prequalify you for the developer and make sure that you are a bona fide candidate for development. We charge nothing for this work (the developer will pay us at the same time you get paid if this turns out to be a successful deal that closes)
What is the next step if I’m curious and would like to determine if my home/land is something a developer would be interested in?
You can call us at XXXXXXXX or fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you. Once we chat, we’ll start working on the Phase two of the prequalification process (you’ve already passed Phase one if you are at this page)
