Land

Whether you are a first time purchaser seeking recreational property or an experienced developer wanting to replenish your land inventory, our Brokerage team is here to help. CompuVal®, our proprietary information technology platform, is built on top of a geographic information system (GIS) so we have instant access to information on every parcel and land ownership in the Maritimes. Newfoundland and Labrador march to a different drummer and our access to information is limited by the province’s less comprehensive on-line system but we have also compiled our own land database. We represent purchasers and vendors seeking to purchase or sell land anywhere in Atlantic Canada, though our principal focus is Nova Scotia.

Clarity and transparency are key to the relationship with our client. We have prepared Question and Answer (Q & A) packages for purchasers, vendors, landlords and tenants to frankly but concisely address those sensitive issues that frequently pre-define the client/broker contractual relationship. And since good fences good neighbours make, we have prepared Purchaser/Tenant Representation and Listing Agreements that are straight forward: unambiguous yet well documented they define, in plain English, our obligations to you, our client.


 

Land Solution Services

Our Brokerage Division provides you with the full spectrum of land services: Purchaser, Vendor, Landlord and Tenant Representation. Our transaction expertise encompasses resource and recreational property such as woodlots, farmland, islands, waterfront land, to urban land suitable for residential sub-division, apartment, office, industrial, retail or other types of commercial development. We deal with single parcels of land … or undertake land assemblies. We can draw on the resources of our Planning Division to address complex zoning issues, conduct regulatory reviews, development analysis … even prepare the documentation for planning approvals.

Our clients cover the gamut: private purchasers and vendors interested in a single property, local, regional, national and international developers and investors. Their requirements may be diverse but our single objective is to provide a solution that best solves their real estate problem.

Purchaser Representation

If you wish to purchase land, Purchaser Representation is a sound strategy to adopt particularly if you are a developer, since most development properties are not listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Services® or even with real estate brokers. A comprehensive knowledge of the properties, their physical characteristics, ownership and state of the market is key, as is a relationship with the land owner. If you are seeking resource or recreational property such as forest, farmland, islands, water frontage, a good source are the Multiple Listing Services®. We are one of the few commercial brokers with access to these services and are able to search them in all four of the Atlantic Provinces. Irrespective of the type of land you require, we act on your behalf to locate properties that meet your purchase criteria, advise you on their market value and negotiate the acquisition on the most advantageous terms to you. Since we are the purchaser’s agent we are legally and morally obligated to act in your best interest: however our broker’s fee is usually recovered from the vendor.

Vendor Representation

Vendor representation occurs when the vendor retains us to sell their property. In order to get the most advantageous terms for the vendor we (1) reduce the risk of the transaction to the purchaser to the greatest degree possible by detailing the physical and legal (zoning and planning) attributes of the land in a Master Sales Prospectus, (2) price the property appropriately by using our proprietary information technology platform, CompuVal®, (3) expose the property to the largest number of qualified, potential purchasers. If the land is resource or recreational property such as forest, farmland, islands, waterfrontage, the Multiple Listing Services® are a good advertising platform. We are one of the few commercial brokers with access to the MLS®. If the land comprises development property we expose the property to our inventory of qualified, potential purchasers using CompuVal's® Prospect Sales Database and a co-broker network. We have carefully structured our sales commission so that it is “broker neutral”; we get the same fee whether we sell the property with the aid of another broker or directly ourselves. Since we have no incentive to “double end” the commission our objective is directly aligned with that of the vendor … to get the property sold! Our Brokerage staff are the product of our own seven year real estate training program which includes negotiation as a defined skill set.

Research

CompuVal® our leading edge information technology platform acquires and combines land sales from multiple sources and then processes and analyses them to provide us with a picture of land values throughout the Atlantic Region. In addition we belong to organised real estate in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and thus have access to most of the Multiple Listing Services® in Atlantic Canada.

Valuation

Our Valuation Division provides seven types of reports each tailored to the requirements of vendors, purchasers and mortgagees who need to establish the property’s market value for disposal, acquisition or financing purposes. The reports span the spectrum from a preliminary opinion of value to be utilised in broad decision making, to a formal “court ready" document suitable for legal proceedings.

Planning

Our Planning Division provides advice on zoning and planning issues that are particularly germane with respect to land purchased for development. They undertake Regulatory Reviews to identify the development options available, Development Analysis to compare development scenarios or evaluate the proposed project, and Development Approval to shepherd it through the required planning processes including liaising with stakeholders by conducting public meetings.

Counselling

Our Counselling Division provides Feasibility Studies to developers to (1) test whether a proposed development is financially feasible; (2) determine which one of several mutually exclusive developments is the optimal project; (3) identify the type and size of development that will maximise the return on investment.