So Where's the Cheapest Land Now?

Hill side may be trying to chase people away, but there are still some bargains out there in the southern Appalachains, even if they are not as cheap as they once were. Look towards the foothills, the land is far cheaper than the more senic high mountains, and usually pretty fertile. Distances to work are always a consideration, but it takes me 40 min to get across town, 40 min in the country will get me pretty far. Of course land is always cheaper in large tracts, I have seen land at $1000 per acre for 300+ acre tracts not too long ago, there are probably still some deals out there like that. I just paid around 7,000/acre for 3 acres, there is certainly still land to be had, that is why people are swarming to NC. Probably like HillSide, I don't want any more people than what we already have, but it is inevitable, so I would rather have farmers than developers.

Twenty five years ago I bought the first thirty five acres with the house, barn, fenced, 40k, then 5 acres for 4k then fifty more for 43k then four years ago 19 acres along the creek for 38k.
Now in the past two months we have had five people come to the house and ask would you be interested in selling some land. The current price they are offering is 3k per acre.
There are no jobs that pay anything you have to commuite to Huntsville 60 miles each way.
Part of what is happening around here is people moving away from the coast. The wife said they have four new quilt guild members from the coast in the past few months.
So cheap land around here is is gone.
Besides we have all the people we need.

Rural Kansas seems to be the place for cheap land and homes. Obviously no JOBS to be had. Being retired though, this may well be a good deal for us. But having 3 children, we would have to prepare for them to leave to find work. That is the conundrum.

Cheers

Bob

Price of RAW LAND is often dependent upon the local employment situation and the nearness of large urban centers.

The price of "Improvements" is directly dependent upon "current replacement costs" in that locale.

"Booms" and "Busts" in the real estate market are generally "aberations" that are "short-lived". It balances itself, for the most part. There are always exceptions (GOOD buys and Not-so-good buys). The "market" is very efficient. It becomes less efficient when there are few buyers or perhaps few sellers.

just my 2 pesos worth,
Junkmanme

There are 320 acres of really good land out in the middle of nowhere in NW SD for $160K. If you want to run kekkid, no one is anywhere close to see you.

We bought a 1/3 acre lot just north of Reno in "99, paid $50K, for it, now, one right down the street is advertised for $104K. Fourteen years ago, the same lot could be had for $5K. Inflation? No, just millions of Californians running for their lives.

This could be considered reasonable
Collective farm near to Moscow - You can get anything on ebay now!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Collective-farm-...QQcmdZViewItem

There has to be a thriving economy to support high land prices. Personally I doubt prices will go down, but the value of the dollar sure will. Thus the effective price of the land will go down. I dont know why but seems lot of people think they are getting ahead by adding bunch of zeros to the end of prices and wages. /Some do get ahead temporarily, but then either wages or prices catch up and strike a balance once again.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Hotel - 500 m2, any build. 3200 ga of land. 100 km to Moscow.

Wow 3200 ga of land. Who would have thunk.... By way what is a "ga"?

__________________
"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Ah, yes, Siberia, the New Old West!

Go west long enough and you will end up in this neighborhood.

I guess it all comes down to what one is going to do with the land. Steve is right. Everybody here is right, truth be told. However, that land in SD sounds good, and Kansas might be my next home. Northern Maine is pretty rocky, though. Right now, grass-fed cattle is going for more than corn-fed and that could make a difference in decisions.

In the end, ain't nothing easy. I'm not going to find gold in Illinois. The land with oil has already been drilled and mapped. We're not mining coal anymore and I don't know how to make moonshine, but if I could, I'd need to find a market that's just too much risky, illegal work.

Ideally, a nice chunk of land with huge deer and decent soil could be a money maker. What bothers me is there's nothing left in my home area that I could afford anymore.

I've been to Siberia, to Novosibirsk, thrice.

Uhmmmm....... let's just say 'no way, no how'.

$300/acre for woodlot acreage with paved road access, phone and power on the property line.

$900/acres for woodlot acreage with riverfrontage and paved road access, phone and power on the property line.

Low humidity, zone 5A.

I would buy an air conditioner and go to SC. You can buy flat land with a long growing season for cheap (recently 66 acres, fronting 2 paved roads w/power & county water, suitable for tree farming sold for $42K). Locate near the NC border and cross over to find work. Taxes are low for ag land and there are a lot of vacant homes also.

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Agmantoo
If they can do it,
you know you can!

WOW

Go through a realtor and guaranteed you are paying at least two times the going rate.

ET1,

If you understand the fee structure for realtor based transactions, your comment doesn't hold water. True, I think selling by owner is the preferable way to go, but using a realtor should not add more than 7% to the total transaction price. Maybe you are speaking to the basis of the actual value of the property and are suggesting that using a realtor increases that amount. Might be true since it is in their best interest to get the price higher (mostly to the benefit of the seller). But... if people (buyers) are paying that amount.. doesn't that become the 'going rate'?

Robert

IF - you are retired' IF you don't mind 250-300 inches of snow each winter; IF you don't intend to connect to the local electric line, phone line or was year round access via a county maintained road - there is wooded acreage for sale in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for $1000 an acre and sometimes a bit less. That's were we're heading. Prices nearby for something more accessible, with electric, phone, etc. vary but $2000 to $5000 an acre is common.

On Thursday of this week, Feb.15th of this year, I'll be closing on 2 acres with 824sq.ft. house and 400sq.ft. shop with repairable outbuildings in southeastern NC(less than 30mi from the coast) for the sum of $55,000($60,000 financed and $75,000 appraised).
Yes, there is affordable and already liveable land available. Look a lot, talk to everyone(a cab driver hooked us up with his wife's family estate), and take the time to find what you want and can afford. When you find it, jump.

Doug

BTW- You can expect a thread once we get past the 'hell week'.

Doug

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