That’s a good point, Eliduc.

Actually, the financial risks involved for an individual seller are about the same as those of the largest realty corporation, because it’s the buyer who determines the amount of risk. Undoubtedly, the professionals have some advantages: they have employees hired to do clean-up and they write thoughtful contracts.

But individuals can also produce thoughtful contracts to protect themselves, and the individual has one advantage that the larger investors do not: he or she has only one property to keep an eye on so they’re able to nip problems in the bud.

In my experience, just about the only damage buyers are likely to do is in scattering trash, abandoning dead cars, or cutting timber from the property. In my experience, I’ve seen dozens (maybe hundreds) of defaulted buyers who’ve left behind some form of trash, which I define as anything that didn’t grow there. Cleaning up someone else’s junk is moderately disgusting and it doesn’t do much to improve your love of your fellow man, but it doesn’t cost all that much in the grand scheme of things, even if you hire someone.

I’ve seen only one example of timber theft by a buyer (as opposed to theft by the neighbors). If you’ve financed using the documents I’ve recommended, stealing timber is grand larceny.

I suspect though, that there’s something about my answer that doesn’t quite square with your case. I’m having a hard time imagining how someone can do $12,000 worth of damage to a tract of land. Is it Big Sur oceanfront? Did the buyer strip mine it? Or did they do damage to a home that was on the property? If so, yes, I certainly recommend against financing any property with a home on it.

And about that twelve grand, how did you determine the $12,000 drop? Whenever I sell a property “in short order”, I always ask myself if I priced it high enough. I’ve developed the opinion that the overall price of a property isn’t really all that important to a buyer.

Thanks for your comment.

Neil