How to Find Potential Teardown Properties in Land Portal
A teardown property is an existing home that may have more potential value if the current structure is removed and the property is redeveloped with a new build. These opportunities can sometimes be found in areas where older, smaller homes sit near newer, higher value properties.
With Land Portal, you can use property data, map tools, and advanced filters to narrow down these areas and build a targeted list of properties to research further.
In this article, we'll walk through one strategy for finding potential teardown properties using Land Portal.
Step by Step Walkthrough
- Login to Land Portal
Login to your Land Portal account and open the Map.
Before building your list, it can help to identify an area where newer or higher priced homes are already selling.
- Find an Area With Higher Priced Home Sales
Start by searching the area you want to research.
For this example, we'll use Fulton County, Georgia.
Set the property status to Sold, then enter a sold price range that represents higher value homes in the market you're researching.
Note: Some tools and filters are only available on certain plans. See Plans & Pricing for what’s included in your subscription.
In the video example, we use a price range of $500,000 to $800,000.
Apply the filters and review the results on the map. The goal is to identify areas where higher priced homes are selling. These areas can give you a starting point for looking for smaller, older properties that may have redevelopment potential.
Once you've identified an area you want to target, clear the search so you can begin building your property list.
- Draw Your Target Search Area
Instead of searching the entire county, use the Polygon Tool to create a custom boundary around the area you identified. Learn more about using the Polygon Tool here.
Your boundary doesn't have to be perfect. The purpose is to focus your property search on the specific part of the market you want to research.
Once the area is drawn, the property filters you apply will return matching properties within that boundary.
- Filter for Residential Properties
Next, filter the properties by Residential Properties.
For this strategy, we recommend scrolling down to Land Use and selecting ONLY Residential and Single Family, Residential.
Remove other residential property types that don't fit the type of property you're trying to find, such as townhomes.
Apply the filter to update your results.
- Narrow the List by Living Area
Now you can begin narrowing the list to smaller homes.
Open Advanced Filters at the top of the Filtered Search window and find the Living Area (sqft) filter.
In this example, set the maximum living area to 1,500 square feet.
The goal is to identify smaller homes within an area where larger, higher value homes are already selling.
The 1,500 square foot maximum is only an example. You can adjust this number based on the market and types of properties you're targeting.
- Filter by Year Built
Next, use the Year Built filter to focus on older homes.
In this example, set the maximum year built to 1975.
This removes newer construction from the results and helps narrow the list toward older properties that may be worth investigating as potential teardown candidates.
The appropriate year will depend on the market you're researching.
- Exclude Active and Sold Listings
You can narrow the list further by excluding properties that are currently active listings or have sold.
Select Exclude Active Listings and Exclude Sold Listings to further refine your results.
This helps remove properties that may already have another buyer, seller, or investor involved and leaves you with a more targeted list to research.
- Review Potential Teardown Properties on the Map
Once your filters are applied, switch to List View and begin reviewing individual properties and their surroundings.
Look for patterns such as a smaller, older home surrounded by newer or larger homes.
When you see newer construction appearing around an older, smaller property, that property may be worth researching further as a potential teardown.
You can continue refining the search area and filters as you learn more about the neighborhood.
Finding Potential Teardowns With Land Portal
There isn't one filter that determines whether a property is a good teardown opportunity.
Instead, Land Portal allows you to combine location, sales data, property characteristics, and advanced filters to find properties that match the criteria you're looking for.
The square footage, year built, and price ranges used in this walkthrough are examples rather than universal rules. Every market is different, and a property identified through these filters should still be researched further before making an investment decision.
By starting with areas where newer, higher value homes are selling and then searching for smaller, older homes nearby, you can quickly narrow thousands of properties into a much more targeted list of potential opportunities.
Ready to try it yourself? Login to Land Portal and use Map Search and Advanced Filters to start building your own targeted property list.