Question for land aficionados

Don't let the attraction of unexpected cash feed any FOMO. If you know any of the owners of adjacent properties, talk with them to see if they have had offers or know what the purchase attempt may be about (is another line being run? Substation? Horton trying to develop a neighborhood?).

To just show up waving $12.75k/acre as an initial offer for land which is mostly cypress swamp seems like it would be a bit uncommon.

Time is on your side. If they want it badly enough (especially if they've already bought neighboring plots), they'll be back.

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Should I sit and wait or take the money and run? I’m trying to put the puzzle pieces together because I’m thinking (at least hoping) Marathon wants this land for future use and it could possibly be worth a lot more than the current offer.

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so Marathon already has an easement for their pipeline?

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Property is mostly cypress swamp

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So how much of the acreage is actually usable? I looked at the flood map of the area and there’s not much that isn’t in it.

I handle most of the land sales in my office, because frankly most realtors HATE dealing with land, mostly because they don’t understand it. There is probably different than here given how much residential construction I see built already that’s in a flood zone, but here it’s much harder to sell here because of increased costs to develop.

So I tell clients, if it’s in a flood zone I wouldn’t buy it, if someone else wants yours that is? SELL

I agree

It’s definitely all in a flood zone, in 2016 the entire 4 acres was flooded. I will ask the other land owners if they’ve received an offer, most if not all around live on their property, mine is vacant and only used for duck and deer hunting occasionally. I don’t know what cypress lumber is priced at or what the future holds but this could be an angle the land company sees?

I'm not a land aficionado but I am a Scooby Doo aficionado and I feel like I need to warn you to be on the lookout for these guys coming back and making you feel like your land is haunted if you turn them down.

Hahaha, it is haunted!

If a complete stranger or a company from Texas that was previously unknown to you just randomly showed up asking to buy your land that wasn’t even for sale, you can bet that they know something about the future use of your land that you don’t yet know.
This kind of stuff happened all over DeSoto parish a year or so before the Haynesville shale drilling broke loose.

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If a complete stranger or a company from Texas that was previously unknown to you just randomly showed up asking to buy your land that wasn’t even for sale, you can bet that they know something about the future use of your land that you don’t yet know.
This kind of stuff happened all over DeSoto parish a year or so before the Haynesville shale drilling broke loose.

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That's the first thing my mind went to. The description of events screamed of a recently discovered oil or gas field (with the price of NG though, I can't see anyone paying 12k/acre unless it's ridiculously easy to get to). My next response was going to be to ask about signing over just surface rights but maintaining mineral rights and see how the company reacts.

That’s exactly what a realtor told me. She said they’ll never pay what they offered.

Good point. I checked my files relating to two parcels of grazing land in Western Calcasieu Parish. In 2014 our family received an unsolicited offer from a company in Alexandria, LA. We learned "--------has completed its inspection/due diligence at each of the properties under contract. -----is satisfied with the inspection and intends on closing as soon as the title work and any curative work is complete. IT WAS SOLD WITH NO PROBLEMS IN SHORT ORDER.

As to the 160 acre tract in the ---area, ----is not able to utilize the property for its intended use. Accordingly ---terminates the agreement.

IT WAS SOLD A FEW MONTHS LATER TO A LOCAL CATTLEMAN.

In an unrelated matter, about two years later, the owners received yet another unsolicited offer from an investment group from California for some industrial property near Sulphur, LA which seemingly was ridiculously above market value. It escalated to owner groups of sellers and non-sellers from Virginia to Arizona and points in between including an e-patriot in Switzerland. In reading the fine print we (23 owners with undivided interests) learned from an intellectual cousin that their offer excluded the areas that were determined to be wetlands. He additionally was able to hold off an owner meeting at a centralized Sonic location yet to be determined. A Family Group LLC was formed to avoid these kinds of disagreements.

LOOK FOR THE CLAUSE.