In super-early stages of looking at a company where the land is driving an outsize part of the asking price. Could nonetheless be attractive but I would need to get the property appraised to determine whether continuing diligence makes sense.
Looking for any info, pointers to guides, etc. on working with appraisers of commercial land (not much improvement on the property). Recommendations of service providers also appreciated but my present focus is on learning how to engage one of these professionals, what good looks like, etc. Thanks for any steer.
Land Appraisers
by a searcher from University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School
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Like William said, micro land is very subjective and understanding the environmental cleanup if any is important. Appraisers can use a methods but most likely will use a sales comparison and direct capitalization approach.
For sales comparison, your best bet is going to scout a few land parcels close by that seem comparable and try to find their sale history on a counties property search GIS website.
For direct capitalization, you’ll need to gather assumptions on how much you can build based on current zoning, whether other developers have been successful in changing zoning, general assumptions of construction costs. Best bet here is engaging a couple commercial brokers for a BOV that incorporates these assumptions so you can get a general sense of worth. They’ll likely do it for free in the hopes you want to sell it later and give them the listing. Then in your diligence you can verify land value with an appraiser.
Hope that helps, happy to expand on anything!
There is a lot of variability by micro location.
If you are looking for industrial, the cost to get pad ready is something you'll want to find out. This can vary depending on your architecture and placement. If not in an existing park, retention /detention may add cost. Yes, get the environmental, find out if sink holes common in your area...
My suggestion, start with the rent that your OpCo wants to pay, estimate out what building costs to build to suit, then rest is what you can pay for land.