Hey there, Paul
I visited and walked your property today including hiking all the way to the top where it meets the home in Annandale and then also checked it out down by the lower home on the property as well. Very nice property. I tried to evaluate it from the perspective of a home buyer as well as a developer. One aspect to the property that a developer will take into consideration is the amount of rock in the property because that translates to expense when building the infrastructure and making the lots available to builders. You may already know this, but in many cases the developer will do all the work including planning, zoning, city/county interactions, roads, utilities, etc., and then they sell the lots to builders. Occasionally the developer and builder can be the same if they're big enough have have the resources, but more often they will be different entities. That being said, builders are a great connection to developers, so that's a marketing avenue to be used for sure.
While this is most likely a developer-targeted sale, we cannot rule out the chance that a single home-buyer could choose the property. I don't think it's the most probable buyer, but in real estate it's wise not to completely rule out any possibilities because sometimes it's amazing what can occur.
You asked earlier about a marketing plan. I wanted to see the property first to be sure, but here is how I would target the buyer:
- Focus marketing efforts on developers with the minority of marketing toward the possibility of a single home buyer.
- Design & send professional listing brochures to targeted developers and high-end home builders who work in the caliber homes that would most likely fill this location. We can use the builders as a connection-point to developers (especially for those who have a continued working developer/builder relationship).
- Market property via email blasts and possibly print media (agents tend to toss a lot of print away) to agents most likely working in the level of homes that would fill this location. There's little need in blasting away at agents who have never even been to Brentwood let alone work with developers. I think the efforts need to be targeted.
- Methods of communication: phone, email blasts, brochures, agent network, builder networks
- We'll of course also put the listing in MLS and signage on the property.
- Other options could also include a website and possibly even a drone video. Those things tend to appeal more to consumer-buyers though because they're valuing things like trees, fields, grass, and of course the home. Developers know what do to with the land... which often includes wiping most of it out, so showing them a lot of pretty trees and trying to convince them it's their "dream location" is a little like trying to convince a surgeon how to cut on people. They already know. Developers simply want to work the formula - how much to prep and how much to sell for. In that regard, showing a lot of trees instead could translate into a turn-off due to prep expenses. One exception to that would be the view because they can translate that into their sale, so that could be key.
While thinking about the options for your land, a couple under development come to mind. There's one in Brentwood that will only have about 8 lots. The land needed a LOT of prep work and is hilly. So much that lots will be selling for about $350k which is aggressive. There's another development in Franklin that I'm working with another agent. It has 20 homes - each on 1 acre and homes going in are about $1.5M. Both of those remind me of what your land could become. The developer though has to keep lot costs appealing to builders after absorbing all the prep costs and of course making his profit.
I've attached a link here of several land options currently available in Brentwood ranging from about 10 to 20 acres. These are listed and not yet sold - you can click on photos for more if their agents posted them. As you'll see, the spread in pricing is quite wide. LAND LISTINGS
Additionally, only 1 tract between 10 and 20 acres in Brentwood has sold this year. That includes properties in MLS but does not include any private sales that MLS does not record. The sold one was 19 acres that sold east of the other end of Annandale. Price $1.26M. I think that went to a single home-buyer and not developer (so they do exist). It was also in Williamson County which many see as a plus (schools and taxes). Additionally, when buyers are seeking homes in Annandale, which county it's in can be determining factor whether to consider (the county line runs through Annandale). SOLD LAND LISTING
Thoughts on any of that?
-Shaun