Buying Hunting Land Series: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The married couple decided now was the time, and this was the place. They were finally buying that 50-acre parcel with the big creek and swamp. It had everything—hardwoods, swamp, thickets, long ridges and openings for food plots. They had found a great deal and worked through the land lender in their county.

The closing was all set for Thursday, so to surprise Jill, the day before closing, Jack went by and bought a brand-new Dodge pickup truck because the financing was so great. At closing, the attorney went through all the documents getting a few dozen pieces of paperwork signed, then the lender walked in.

“I’m sorry, but I have to ask a question. “Jack, did you just finance a truck yesterday?”

“I sure did, a beautiful Dodge with a big Cummins engine!”

The lender then says, “I’m sorry folks, we cannot go forward with this loan. That purchase puts you over your credit levels, we cannot go forward with the loan on the land.”

The story above is true. It does happen. Someone did not explain the whole process to them—and they goofed.

Mistakes happen on both sides of the deal. Sellers and Buyers may forget to handle something they fully intended to. Sometimes there is an easy fix to the problem, sometimes not. It can be a result of a past mistake related to a will or a survey. It could be the Seller has not gotten the property ready to sell yet—such as the property has not been through probate. Maybe there is an easement on the property, or a deed restriction against hunting, that the Buyer or Seller is not aware of but is very enforceable.

I have had to extend closings on property for all sorts of reasons. I have had Seller’s “forget” to tell me until the last minute about a family member who owns an interest in the property being sold. Other Sellers have forgotten about easements onto their property. One time, we had a deed showing a 10-foot wide easement onto a 100-acre parcel. It was dated around 1910. When we went to look at the property, the 10-foot easement had never been maintained for access. The two farms on either side had farmed to the fence, but this 10-foot wide trail had 100-year-old oak trees nearly as wide as the easement! We couldn’t even cut them without going outside the easement.

The reason a property does not sell is usually price, but it is not always the case. I have had Buyers who were scam artists. I have had Sellers think they knew what they were selling, and when the survey came back it did not include a chunk of what was supposed to be included. In one case, there was about 10 acres more than we had intended to sell or what was even showing on the county tax map. And, unfortunately, I have had to deal with unscrupulous real estate agents. But I dealt with them, my client didn’t have to.

I just saw a post on social media where someone was looking for land to buy. They included the line, “No real estate agents need to respond. All your stuff is way too expensive.” I know this is a common thought, and there may well be some truth that property represented by a Realtor seems more expensive. I think it is time we explore that.

Why does it seem property listed by a Realtor is more expensive than some land you heard Uncle Joe bought in the same neighborhood? Everyone wants to buy at the very best price—for the buyer. Sometimes we do not know the backstory on that trade. Uncle Joe may have done some work for the seller, or maybe the Seller owed Uncle Joe money. Or maybe Uncle Joe took advantage of widow Mary Beth, since he knew she had no idea what her property was worth. Maybe he knew she needed money, and he just happened to have a little.

If your Aunt Mary Beth had consulted a Realtor, maybe she would have improved her situation with the sale of her property. She may have received a price close to the market value. She would have been less likely to feel threatened or scared to make the wrong decision.

Just this week I had a call from a good client of mine. She had received in the mail a complete offer on some property she owned. Her husband passed several years ago. All she had to do was sign on the bottom line, and they would pay for all the closing costs and court costs and she would get X thousands of dollars. Fortunately, she called me. The price offered sounded pretty good—from 1955 when she bought the property with her husband. But in 2021 it was 1/20th of the value today! If they can take advantage of someone, scammers and low-lifes will do it.

I was selling a good-sized tract that was to close just last week. The Buyers were planning a trip, so before they left town all the documents were signed and put together at the closing attorney’s office. All that was left was funding the sale. The wire required the Buyer to go by in-person to sign, since it was a significant amount of money. They did so, and there would be one more step in the process. A phone call as the funds were to be released—the Buyer would have to confirm one more time. As they were somewhere about the middle of the Atlantic on their way to the other side of the world, the bank was calling and no one could answer to confirm. Timing is important. Upon landing, the cell phones took a while to update, and in two days the message came, “Please confirm the intent to wire these funds. You have 15 minutes to call back. After that, you must restart the process in person.”

I was once in a closing where part of the property had been rented. The Seller, my client, states out of the blue, “No need to sign a new lease, I went by and did that for you for two years.” The Buyers about hit the roof wanting to set their own rates and have their lease in place. They were about to walk out and my Seller said, “We need to talk.” Out in the lobby, he says, “I signed her name, it isn’t real, we can go ahead now right?” Please don’t do that.

I had a good-sized cattle farm for sale, and I got a call from someone who did not quite feel right. His questions were not what most people ask about cattle farms, more like shopping center questions. He was all about being acceptable on the price and would send an earnest money check to the closing attorney. He did—$50,000 earnest money check for an agreed $25,000 earnest money agreement. He wrote the attorney saying please send me back the overage by wire. You guessed it, pure scam. The check was even drawn on another attorney’s office and had been washed and re-written. What could possibly go wrong?

I was selling a parcel of land where it appeared there was about a 4-acre parcel inside of the larger 20-acre parcel. The owner explained that the smaller parcel was on the tax map in the wrong place, it should be about a quarter mile down the road. So, I went to the county, explained the issue, and they agreed to move the 4-acre parcel where it belonged. The problem then was they now recorded the 20-acre parcel as 16! The outside hadn’t changed!

That same parcel needed a new survey. The Seller had maintained it was just about 20 acres, which is what I had offered to sell. He had a survey showing that. The Buyer paid for a new survey. As it turned out, the survey crew back when my Seller had done it used a wrong angle to figure one of the legs of the survey. That resulted in a mistake of over an acre of land, off by 5%! We had to agree to a 5% discount of what was being priced on 20 acres, we only had 19 acres!

My point in writing all of this is pretty simple. Know what you are buying. It isn’t hard to do the research in normal times when something like COVID doesn’t keep you out of the courthouse. But even with unusual challenges, your Realtor or your consultant should be able to help confirm just exactly what you are buying. See if there are any deed restrictions recorded for the property. Can you place an RV or camper there temporarily for hunting season? Are you allowed to dump your septic tank from your camper into a latrine or hole, or do you have to have a septic tank field? Can you shoot on your property without a permit? Be honest in buying and selling property. If you don’t know, don’t be afraid to ask whatever you need to.