Land Appraisal

The appraisal of Vacant Land pretty much defines itself. This could include any size or type of vacant land. Some vacant land parcels must remain vacant to be utilized for their proposed purposes, such as open areas, parks, agricultural, sand and gravel operations, etc. Vacant land appraisal can be of a single family lot or of a square mile of vacant land (640 acres).

Typically in the market, a vacant land appraisal is completed by a Commercial Appraiser in a written narrative format. This is due to the fact that a vacant property will likely be complex in its potential and underlying factors that are not readily available without extensive research on its background. A narrative format refers to a written document of 25 to 100 pages and is bound more like a book for easier reading and reference. It includes numerous photographs, maps and other exhibits to help the reader to better understand the numerous traits of the property being appraised, often referred to as, “the Subject Property.”

Most land appraisals have a proposed use or the appraiser will research and analyze the property in order to determine its most probable use based on its development potential, taking into account its physical, legal and maximally productive attributes in order to assist the property owner or user of the appraisal with the best market potential for the property.

Sales data of comparable property is typically utilized for the valuation of the vacant parcel of land, along with analysis of the market and verifications of data and market opinions collected by the appraiser. Vacant land can be very speculative and typically has a high degree of risk of which the appraiser can assess during the valuation process.

Mr. Hulet has appraised vacant parcels as small as 50 square feet to over 1,500 acres in size, and ranging in value from $60 for a small parcel to over $10 Million. Vacant property types that Mr. Hulet has appraised include: vacant lots, raw land, proposed city parks, ground leases, easements, land acquisitions, subdivision properties, RV and mobile home parks, agricultural farms, sand and gravel pits, land-locked properties, unmarketable properties, floodplains and floodways, land areas for road widenings, new freeways and highways, water channels and canals, sloped drainage areas, proposed parcels for commercial and industrial buildings, etc.