Polk County Florida property

[ACORN]

My MIL and late FIL bought a 3+ acre parcel of land in Polk County back in the 60s. It’s undeveloped, and I don’t think she’s ever even seen it.
It is near the Avon Park Air Force range.
She has been receiving offers occasionally through the mail to buy her property.
Offers started at $3K and are now up to about $10K.
Just wondering if that sounds reasonable?
Not that she intends to sell it right now.
I read where the Chi-Coms are buying property near military installations.

 

[SMSgt]

Avon Park is less of an installation, more of a range with a couple small facilities and an airstrip. My inclination would be to say NO to any offer without knowing the going actual going prices. For instance, I paid $9000 for my lot on a canal in St. Lucie County, more drainage ditch than canal. That was a high price 30 years ago. Other non-"waterfront" lots a block or so away were readily available for $2000. Now the one remaining lot across the street is asking $165,000. Of course these are residential lots (80x125), not rural lots out in the more remote countryside, but it gives you an idea of how real estate has gone nuts here. But if one cares to sell swampland, it may as well be to the Chinese.

Of course, Polk County is Sheriff Grady Judd territory, highly "respected" for his daily podium boasting of his crime-fighting skills as sheriff. He loves his podium times, and due to the high crime rate of criminals and deputies alike, he gets plenty of podium time. Seems some of his "boys" like to keep him busy.

 

[oink]

Concerning Polk County Florida property, this is written by my wife, a long time Florida Realtor, 39 years in the business.

Concerning those letters, don't accept any of them until you have someone do a comparable report on your MIL and FIL's acreage. They are low ballers trying to get a steal of a deal and turn around and sell it for far more money. They are undercutting their price big time. I don't service Polk County but can recommend a great agent there if you need one. If you want to know the approximate value, I can send you comps derived from the public tax rolls which would include Realtor sales and sales not through a Realtor. I'd just need the address, and the owner names.

Concerning your last comment, in Florida Under SB 264, citizens of Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria are prohibited from buying property within 10 miles of any “military installation or critical infrastructure facility” in Florida.

For Chinese citizens without the permanent right to live in the US, green card or work visa, specifically, the law goes a step further, barring the group from purchasing any property in the state.

Hope that helps and let me know if I can help you. Just PM my husband your info.

 

[Alk8944]

Two things you can possibly do:

Contact a realtor in the area of the property

Check the Polk County Assessors web site and see what the figure is the property is assessed at: Property Search

You can search by property owner name, address or parcel ID number. These should be available from your MIL.

 

[Bald1]

Concerning Polk County Florida property, this is written by my wife, a long time Florida Realtor, 39 years in the business.

Concerning those letters, don't accept any of them until you have someone do a comparable report on your MIL and FIL's acreage. They are low ballers trying to get a steal of a deal and turn around and sell it for far more money. They are undercutting their price big time. I don't service Polk County but can recommend a great agent there if you need one. If you want to know the approximate value, I can send you comps derived from the public tax rolls which would include Realtor sales and sales not through a Realtor. I'd just need the address, and the owner names.

Concerning your last comment, in Florida Under SB 264, citizens of Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria are prohibited from buying property within 10 miles of any “military installation or critical infrastructure facility” in Florida.

For Chinese citizens without the permanent right to live in the US, green card or work visa, specifically, the law goes a step further, barring the group from purchasing any property in the state.

Hope that helps and let me know if I can help you. Just PM my husband your info.

Absolutely this^^^^^^^ not sure why it’s even a question. When it’s time to sell have a realtor inspect and price accordingly.

 

[LVSteve]

My MIL and late FIL bought a 3+ acre parcel of land in Polk County back in the 60s. It’s undeveloped, and I don’t think she’s ever even seen it.

In today's world it might be advisable for the OP or his MIL to check that no one has moved onto the land just because it is there.

 

[tlawler]

My MIL and late FIL bought a 3+ acre parcel of land in Polk County back in the 60s. It’s undeveloped, and I don’t think she’s ever even seen it.
It is near the Avon Park Air Force range.
She has been receiving offers occasionally through the mail to buy her property.
Offers started at $3K and are now up to about $10K.
Just wondering if that sounds reasonable?
Not that she intends to sell it right now.
I read where the Chi-Coms are buying property near military installations.

My wife and I bought a 3 acre parcel in Frostproof, which is about 10 miles Northwest of the Avon Park range. We paid $65,000 about 18 months ago. It’s in a rural subdivision with unimproved roads and has electrical, but no water or sewer.

It would depend on whether the lot has roads and utilities available. Some of the property in that area doesn’t even have roads planned yet and cannot be built on. It’s a beautiful and rural area, high and dry, as it’s located along the Florida Ridge.

We’ve cleared our lot and getting ready to break ground for our retirement home, so we will be going up there quite a bit in the coming months. I could take a run by your place and get some pictures if you’d like. I’d definitely hang onto it and consider it for retirement…we could be neighbors…Lol. It’s got two things we like…Grady Judd justice and NO hurricanes!

 

[Rule3]

No one here can tell you what it's worth. It's a large area, could be in a swamp.
I have some waterfront property there I can sell you.

 

[YeshuaIsa53]

Show me, as they say.

 

[pharmer]

“The Doc,” my good friend has a recently deceased friend who owns “ the Ranch” (an undeveloped 10 acre plot in Polk county, just off I4. There is a utility pole on it, yet no one can establish a value. Florida is “peculiar” regarding real estate value. “Location, location, location is what r/e schools teach. Other factors affect that. Joe

 

[Jon651]

My MIL and late FIL bought a 3+ acre parcel of land in Polk County back in the 60s. It’s undeveloped, and I don’t think she’s ever even seen it.
It is near the Avon Park Air Force range.
She has been receiving offers occasionally through the mail to buy her property.
Offers started at $3K and are now up to about $10K.
Just wondering if that sounds reasonable?
Not that she intends to sell it right now.
I read where the Chi-Coms are buying property near military installations.

I'm certain this is the same everywhere else, but as a long-time resident of Central Florida I can say that one of the most frequent (if not THE most frequent) attempted scams both by mail and phone are the companies who cold-call to see if you want to sell your house or property. I routinely get 1-2 phone calls and many more pieces of mail per week wanting to know if I am willing to sell my house or my vacant property. It might be a quick and easy way out for someone who is underwater on their mortgage, but I know the value of what I own and their low-ball offers are equal parts amusing and insulting!

 

[Jon651]

In today's world it might be advisable for the OP or his MIL to check that no one has moved onto the land just because it is there.

I'm unsure if this applies to vacant land like it does to fixed structures, but Florida recently enacted laws that pretty much strip away all "squatters rights". In the past it used to be a six-month civil action in order to rid yourself of unwanted squatters, but now all you have to do if file an affidavit with the local law enforcement agency and you can have them removed the next day.

I think it would be a wise idea to keep track if there is any suspicious activity involving the title to the land, as title fraud is becoming a serious issue. Several Florida counties offer a notification service through their property appraisers, tax assessors or zoning offices that will alert you if any changes or claims are made to your property's title. For the OP, if Polk County offers a notification service like this then I would definitely take advantage of it.

 

[Denverd0n]

What your in-laws absolutely DO NOT want to do is accept any offer they get in the mail, without contacting a legitimate realtor in Polk County and determining the real value of the land. Offers they get in the mail are almost CERTAINLY going to be low-low-low-ball!

People have been getting scammed on Florida property offers for more than 100 years. Don't let your in-laws be yet another in a long line of victims!

 

[pantannojack]

My residence on 5 acres woods where the "kooks" live went up from 125g to 460g's in just 20 years. Land is where it's at. A house is just a box to keep your George Karlin descriptions in.

 

[mckenney99]

I get texts from these scum almost weekly. They do seem to come in waves and with my phone, I don't have the ability to block text numbers. I have quit being civil or polite with them in my responses. My responses tend to be, shall we say rather profane. At least I feel better. I get at least 2 or 3 letters or cards via USPS each week also.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

Pull it up in Google Earth and see what's around there . Here lately Pokem County is taking off , you see a lot of action and company's moving in . I remember when that was the sticks , you had to have a truck and a rifle rack in order to live there . But that was before/right after the rat moved in .

 

[SMSgt]

Two things you can possibly do:

Contact a realtor in the area of the property

Check the Polk County Assessors web site and see what the figure is the property is assessed at: Property Search

You can search by property owner name, address or parcel ID number. These should be available from your MIL.

Here, at least, the county tax assessor's office has little to no bearing on "market price." All the tax assessor's office will show is what it last sold for, and what the property is assessed for tax purposes. The minute a lot that sold for $9000 in the '90s is sold for $165,000 in the 2020s, the assessment jumps likewise, but the assessed value remains far below the market price.

 

[ACORN]

Thanks for all the replies.
Like I said she has no intention of selling it right now.
I did pull it up on a while ago but I don’t remember how I found it.
I’ve never used Google Earth so I don’t know how it works, plus I am on my cell phone and not sure how well that would work if at all.
The county’s map shows it to be landlocked but again I’m not sure if it would show a dirt road adjacent.

 

[Golddollar]

Another web site that can show the property is called showmystreet.com. Just pull it up and type in the address for the property. It helped me with the HOA when I was preparing to have my generator installed. It might have been what convinced the HOA to rescind its initial requirement that I would have to put a screen around the generator.

 

[SMSgt]

Thanks for all the replies.
Like I said she has no intention of selling it right now.
I did pull it up on a while ago but I don’t remember how I found it.
I’ve never used Google Earth so I don’t know how it works, plus I am on my cell phone and not sure how well that would work if at all.
The county’s map shows it to be landlocked but again I’m not sure if it would show a dirt road adjacent.

Hopefully your deed has an access easement if no road goes directly to it.