Oh, builders are still buying to build because they NEED to keep building - the problem I have seen is that many sellers are overestimating what their property is worth to a builder. You do not say if your property is a conforming lot for the zoning - I'll assume it is.

Keep in mind that a developer has to 1) Purchase your property 2) Spend required money to obtain approvals, variances if necessary, plans and site improvements 3) Cost of materials & labor 4) Profit - this is their livelihood.

As a rule of thumb, when a builder buys your property, he has got to be able to SELL the finished product for conservatively three times what they paid you for the place. In "the old days" the cost of acquisition of the land was about 25% of the finished product - now it is about 33%. An example - if you want $380,000 for the property, the builder needs to be able to sell the finished home for $1,140,000. Is that feasible for your neighborhood? I worked in Brielle for 16 years - but without knowing the exact location, I couldn't tell you offhand. If those numbers don't work - builders will probably not be interested.

I work primarily with builders - if you are interested in having a professional opinion - honestly, we do know what we are doing - I'd be happy to see your place and let you know if a builder is your likely buyer. Builders are very much still buying. Not the ones who got burned in the frenzy to build spec homes in the last few years, but the solid ones still are! Susan@SusanMcLaughlin.com

My friend.. Your on Trulia.com asking for a buyer but would not want to deal with a Realtor?! That's hilarious. Realtors make their living from doing exaclty what your requesting. I'm a new construction specialist.. I only work with investors and developers. E-mail me at dmiranda@kw.com with the details of your property. All offers would be subject to approvals of course. Thanks!

Hi,

Just yesterday I had a seller in Monmouth County tell me that he had quite a few discussions with builders recently and that no builders were buying anything. Certainly, they are not rushing to the forefront to make purchases, but I did have a builder put an offer on a listing of mine recently. It sold to another bidder at an amount higher than the builder offered.

I pulled some data on Brielle that might be helpful for you. Here’s a brief recap of what I found. Because properties listed as single family residence (SFR) are sometimes sold as land value, so I looked at both land listings and SFR.

Currently there are 3 active land listings in Brielle, with offering prices ranging from 379K to 574.9K. There are none under contract or closed since the beginning of this year.

Upon reviewing the SFR listings, the lowest current price offering is 439.9K, with a total of 7 properties in the 400's. A few of the current offerings are vacant; others remark “present all offers.” I then reviewed SFR properties currently under contract, and found that 2 had offering prices under 400K.

Since January, 2007, 3 properties have sold at price points below 400K. Two of the properties were described as “move in condition” while the other was simply described as a starter home. All 3 were conforming lots; one seemed to be similar in size to yours.

Your location may affect your price point. Properties east of Highway 71 sometimes bump up a slight notch.

I know that you said that you would prefer to not have to bother with Realtors. I certainly don’t want to be a bother, but perhaps I can be a positive contributor to your goal. Please feel free to reach out to me if I can further elaborate on any of the properties or statistics quoted above. I don’t know of many builders who are aggressively searching for properties right now. Your highest and best price, as well as quickest market time might be achieved through a broad based Realtor marketing and outreach effort.

I had one buyer who had been looking for your type of property. The recent week of media news may have cooled his enthusiasm, but perhaps he could still be a viable buyer.

Regards,
Deborah Madey - Broker
Peninsula Realty Group, Inc.
Deborah@PeninsulaFirst.com

There are several good local builders: MGM is right out of Manasquan, but I think they only build high end homes--on the river in Brielle and in Spring Lake, too. Poss Abilities is also a Manasquan builder who has done several homes in the Glimmer Glass sectiion. There is National Home Builders out of Spring Lake, too. Honestly, at that price you should have no trouble selling it on your own. With the market conditions as they are, not too many builders are purchasing property, but your price is right. If you would like to contact me offline, I can give you additional information on actual sales in your neighborhood so you know what the market is doing in Brielle and give you some pointers on selling yourself. I have a local buyer who has been looking pretty heavily into the foreclosure market who might be interested, also. You can get my contact info off my website listed below. Good luck!

In addition you may want to contact several local Realtors to get a referral on local builders and what experience they have had with the builder.

You might also want to contact your city planning office and find out what local builders are most active. That would also be a good alternative to the phone book. (Another excellent idea!)

There are builders listed in your phone directory. Go down the list and see if you have any takers! Try to appeal both to builders and investors. You never know what you will get!