If you own land in the UK and are wondering ‘how do I sell this land myself?’, there are a few options for you.
We’ll talk you through the choices you have and how to decide which is best for you.
Do you have planning permission?
Land is more likely to sell if you have planning permission for it already and it will sell for more. And you can understand why, it’s a much bigger risk for the buyer. Imagine buying a plot of land and then finding out you can’t get the planning permission to do what you wanted with it.
You can still sell your land without planning permission, but it will sell for less.
Another option is to sell pending planning permission. This is called a ‘conditional contract’. It means the buyer is under no obligation to buy your land until they have the planning permission they need. This gives them a guarantee that they can buy the land for what they intended, and it saves you having to go through the hassle of doing it just to sell it on.
Selling via an estate agent
The most common choice that land sellers have is to sell through a real estate agent. Agents will list your property and find buyers for it, much like you would sell a house. They’ll then negotiate all the details on your behalf and help you with the paperwork.
If a real estate agent can find a buyer for you, you will have to pay a commission to that agent, again, the same way you would selling a house. And that can get expensive.
Many property owners discover very quickly that there aren’t actually a lot of land buyers, and very few real estate agents are true “experts” in buying and selling land.
Selling land yourself
Another choice is for sellers to sell the land yourself. You do the same work as the estate agent do would for you, which means you don’t have to pay a commission to anyone, and you pocket a little more cash than if you sold the traditional way.
But many of the same problems exist here, too: Land sellers who choose to sell their land themselves soon find that there aren’t a lot of vacant land buyers out there. The average person doesn’t buy vacant land.
Selling to a land buyer
The third option, and the option that most people aren’t even aware of, selling to a land buyer. Instead of listing your property (either through an agent or on your own) you can simply sell your property directly to a land-buying company (like what we do here at SM Land Buyers). Selling this way means you can quickly sell your land, putting money in your pocket and you can avoid paying commission.
The advantages of selling to a land-buying company are:
- It’s faster – a land buying company that buys land directly from a seller will know right away if the land is right for them, and a good land company can usually get the funding quickly. There’s no listing and no showing the land to prospective buyers.
- It costs less – an agent will charge commission, but most land buying companies won’t charge anything.
- It’s far less work – listing your property can be a lot of work, even if an agent does it. But selling your vacant land directly to a land-buying company can give you a rapid close so you can walk away from the land when you want to.
Many of the sites we purchase are vacant, disrepair or without planning permission, making them hard to sell through traditional methods. However, we are interested in all types of sites. We will make an offer on almost any lot, helping you to get the funds you need for other investments or personal plans.
SM Land Buyers have offices in the West Midlands and the North East which means we are perfectly placed to purchase sites throughout England.