How To “Lock Up” a Large Acreage Land Tract in North Carolina

So there’s a large piece of land out there for sale, or you know somebody who wants to sell it, large acreage is incredibly difficult to buy. It will either be a cash deal or land loan, and there aren’t very many land loans. There are several different ways of doing this.

You want the seller to exclusively sell the property to you and it will no longer be available on the free market. One of the first ways is to enter into an option contract. For example, you might give the seller $100,000 for that exclusive right to buy within one year, and then pay the seller the $1 million purchase price within that year. The seller is free to do whatever he wishes with that $100,000. To be legitimate, you want that option agreement recorded with the Chatham County Recorder of Deeds. A second way of tying up a large piece of land is to enter into a contract to purchase it on or before a date certain. You’ll probably want to record that contract too. A third way of tying the property up isn’t commonly used is by way of a JVP or Joint Venture Project. With that, seller puts up his land as collateral, and the buyer has the connections to get the land rezoned for whatever purpose. When buyer has the land rezoned, he begins selling parcels. Seller is paid a large commission on each parcel sold. Seller ultimately gets his purchase price and likely more with a JVP. Then, there’s owner financing of the property. The owner takes a downpayment from the buyer, and the buyer makes monthly payments on the property until such time as it’s paid off. There might be a 30-year amortization, but with a five year balloon. Buyer can do whatever he wishes with the property during those five years, and after five years, the property belongs to him.