You are not alone if you are asking: How much is my land worth? If you are thinking of selling, or buying, or just wondering what your piece of land is worth, land value can be a tricky question to answer. Unlike homes or buildings, land doesn’t have straight forward price tags since the value of land is dependent on a variety of factors including location and land use potential. In this article we break down how land value is appraised, and offer expert advice on how to get a fair valuation.

Understanding Land Value

Understanding what determines land values is a great place to start before you begin to determine how much your land is worth. While homes are valued on the structures on them, land is valued on a number of factors that can often be affected not only by market but local influences.

Determinants of Land Value

Location: Land value is determined mostly by this. Most important is how close your land is to urban centers, major roads, amenities such as home owners and motorists services, schools, and employment opportunities. The land value will probably be higher the more accessible and desirable the location.

• Size: When you speak of land, if it is yours, then you can talk about its value, but depending on the size of your land which can be in terms of acres or square footage. Usually the larger the parcel the more valuable but there are other factors, the shape and usability of the land for example, which can dictate what a parcel of land is going for on the market.
• Land Use and Zoning: The laws which control how the land can be used – what for, whether for residential, commercial, agricultural or industrial purposes – are known as zoning laws. Zoning regulations often restrict or permit a property’s potential, and, as a result, its market value. Untouched land with zoning for multiple uses (for instance residential and commercial) is, in general, worth more.
• Topography and Soil Quality: The terrain and soil characteristics of your land will determine how it is useful, and its value. Generally, land with higher slope, fertile soil, and good drainage is usually more valuable, in particular, for agricultural purposes.
• Access to Utilities: Such services as water, electricity, and sewer systems can also determine land value. However, land with easy access to utilities may be of greater value than land which would require substantial investment in infrastructure.
• Market Conditions: Land values will be affected by the overall economic climate, as well as the local real estate market. Increase in land values is usually to be expected when supply is low and demand is high. On the other hand, land prices may be going down during economic downturn.

Seven Expert Tips for Evaluating the Value of Your Land

Having an idea of what can impact land value, here are some tips to help you get the most accurate estimate of what your land is worth from professionals:

1. Research of Comparable Sales (Comps)

One of the easiest ways to determine how much your land is worth is to look at sales of similar properties in your area recently. One way to figure out value is to look at comparable sales or ‘comps.’ Pay attention to factors such as:

• Location: Are the places from the same neighbourhood or region?
• Size: Are you comparing apples to apples when it comes to land size?
• Zoning and Land Use: Does zoning or potential for development of the comps resemble the comp at all?
• Land Condition: Has the land been left in similar physical condition?

Online real estate platforms, land sale public records, or, if you want to save time and effort, a local real estate agent who specializes in land sales may be consulted to find comps.

2. Use a Professional Appraiser For advice.

An accurate, unbiased valuation of your land’s worth should be provided by a professional land appraiser. A person known as an appraiser will assess your property using comparable sales, market trends, land condition or zoning laws as criteria. After appraiser has valued the property you will receive a written report with detailed breakdown of the property value.

Hiring an appraiser will run you some money but if you are buying or selling land it is well worth the extra cost. It’s worth noting that appraisers’ fee can be from few hundreds to even thousands of dollars depending on how complex the appraisal is.

3. Talking to a local real estate agent is another way.

Local real estate agents are experts who know their market and can give you great info on current local land values. With up to date sales data, an understanding of trends in a local area, among other things, they will be given the edge. If you’re buying land, a real estate agent can help you determine a reasonable price, suggest how to market the land and ensure you understand the steps you’re taking.

Also, real estate agents usually have a list of potential buyers or investors who want to buy land and this can help you cut down the time you take to sell your land and equally sell your land at a fair price.

4. Asses the degree of potentials of the land for development.

Developmentally, land often holds more value than land without. This will increase the value of a land is situated in an area where there is growth or in the future an area that is planned to be developed (forexample a new road, school or a commercial centre). Specifically, it can be argued, however, that land with poor development potential, such as steep hillsides, locations in flood plain or poor soil composition, may not be as valuable.

To find out if your land can be subdivided or developed for a certain use, hire a land planner or architect for help if you’re not sure about the potential for development. You may also wish to check with local zoning authorities to see if there are plans afoot to change zoning laws that may affect what you are able to do on the land.

5. It’s about evaluating the accessibility of Land.

Is your land easy to get to? Land which is easily accessible by a well maintained road typically will be more valuable than land which is hard to get to or is far removed from the closest public road. This can lower the market value of your property if the property doesn’t have clear access, and buyers of this property would have to invest in constructing an access road.

Sometimes, lack of access can even cause legal problems, so before figuring out a land’s value, it’s important to know what one’s access rights are.

6. Taking into Consideration Environmental Issues

Environmental factors sometimes affect the value of land. This could also affect the market value of your land, say, if your land is situated in a place where flooding, wildfire or any other natural disaster is common. Likewise, environmental contamination like hazardous waste or pollutants can drive the worth of land down amid far too much.

Before setting a price for your land, it’s important to check for any environmental issues or restrictions. In other cases, you may need to do an environmental assessment to look for some potential risks.

7. Online Tools and Resources can be used

You can get a rough idea of what your land is worth through a number of online platforms and resources. For sites such as Zillow, Realtor.com, and LandWatch, they can search your location for listings of similar properties for sale as well as give you some idea of price trends. But these online estimates are only that: estimates, and sometimes, they don’t capture the true value of your land.

As a result, it’s advisable to do online research and at the same time use pro suggestions for more exact assessment.

8. Understand the Tax Assessment

Property taxes are assessed by your local government on the value of the land. Tax assessments are usually lower than market value, but they are a good way to gauge what the local government thinks about how your land is valued. Tax records can also let you know of any existing tax liens or issues pertaining to the property.

Often you can get tax assessment information from your local county or city tax assessor’s office.

Conclusion

But determining what your land is worth isn’t always a simple thing, and by taking into account location, zoning, and accessibility to utilities you can see a clearer picture of its market value. Talking to professionals, like appraisers and real estate agents, they might be able to help you calculate an accurate and realistic valuation. Remember that there are swings in land values, and it’s important to be up to date on what is happening in your area.

Whether you’re planning to sell or just want to see what your land is worth, investing a little time in getting an accurate land evaluation can go a long way to helping you with good decisions and a fair return on your investment.