Dear PoPville – Buying land from a neighbor?

Photo by PoPville flickr user fromcaliw/love

“Dear PoPville,

Have a question, but its a multi-parter. 1) Is it possible to buy land from a neighbor if he has a lot, and I have a little (if he’s willing)? 2) We live in Capitol Hill, so not sure if the historical neighborhood designation matters? 3) If possible, how do you value land in something like this, is it simply the value of the current lot/ square feet * the actual for sale part? 4) How do you approach your neighbor about something like this? “Hey I got a great business opportunity for you?”

In our case we would like to buy about 375 sq feet from our neighbor. His lot is probably around 1500-1600 sq feet(estimate), sans house. He does not have access to the alley. (Doing the math as I suggested, the cost per land is about 350 dollars per sq feet-(going by the tax assessment for our lot)- That would put the price of the land at about 130,000…which is insane. If that is the case then this is a moot point. We want to offer the neighbor 12,000-15,000. Too much, too little?”