Land Deal Sourcing
I'm curious about this sub's knowledge and stories around scaring up off market deals.  

What are your techniques for uncovering these deals and approaching owners?  

Do you have a certain method, or approach?  

Do you utilize any tools that help you do this?  

What have you found the most success with?


**From my end**:

I target businesses with land holdings.  Often times end-users of land with a low historical cost basis are unaware of the development potential of their land.  They are content to use it for whatever purpose suits their business needs and they don't think further than that.  If you show them some, but not all, of the upside you can pry a property loose.



I try and find frustrated and distressed situations.  This can range from an out of town landlord to feuding joint venture partners.  If you can discover the reason to sell before the decision has been made, there's sometimes an opportunity to move in quickly. Lawyers, banker, accountants, and other people in the industry can be a source of information on who has a problem.



My last, and least successful is targeting properties from planning documents.  It's a well beaten path, but many municipalities release their neighborhood plans.  I go from plan to plan and place a value on the different zoning districts available in the plan.  I then approach owners through title searches, directors searches, etc with a below market offer.  If you can secure key properties in an assembly, you can make it infeasible for another developer to assemble enough land for a project.  In this way you can gain some semblance of control before you take possession.

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