Land in New York State

Mary,

Give http://www.homesteadnet.com/ a try. They list homes, lots, farms, etc for sale in the western NY & Finger Lakes region. Good luck!

 

Low Taxes? New York? Keep Dreamin'!

I understand the soil is very good around the Finger Lakes (that's where all the vinyards are), but I doubt that land prices are reasonable.


Brian
Parish, NY

 

We happen to live within an hours drive of the Finger Lakes but are in PA. I believe if you look more towards the New York and PA border you will be surprised that prices will be less. Since this is farm land I believe the soil should be fine but I would check with the local cooperative extension or stop and ask some local farmers that you happen to see while visiting the area. It sure is a pretty area..employment not the greatest..but nice people and I'm sure you will be pleased with your move. I'm sure you have checked out the local papers and the local weekly Pennysavers papers too. Let us know how you make out in your move !!

 

Mary,
I live 90 miles from the city, in the southern tier, and I'd advise you to look south of New York state. Land prices here average $5000 to $10,000 per acre with no services.
In the last year home prices went up 34%. We are getting the people who are being pushed out of downstate counties like Westchester( median home price:$588,000), Rockland ($395,000), Orange (245,000).

My taxes have risen 10% for the last 3 years. We got good news today: taxes will only go up 6% this year.

 

We have land in the southern tier (western NY southern tier). land is about $500 an acre... not to bad.... for this area..

 

I used to live in the finger lakes region. About 1/2 hour east of Ithica along the southern tier expressway. The land was great for farming and pretty reasonable but be careful. It is kind of an economically depressed area.

 

Did you leave a zero off? If not... how big a parcel would one need to purchase to get that price?

 

That sounds about right for the southern tier of western N.Y. You just have to look around. A lot of land can be found in the $750-$1000 range per acre but ther are some good deals out there.

 

nope $500.... We have a couple parcels... one about 60 acre's one about 70.... I am looking to buy the next parcel over (about 10 arce's of open field)... as we have little open field on the smaller parcel and I want to expand that one...

The only hard part is finding it... little land is advertised.. You have to ask around...

another plus for us is many amish families... we get lumber for 17 cents a board foot...

 

Hello Mary,
I live in NE PA about 1 mile from NY state so I think I can talk a little about this. I believe land is relatively inexpensive in the southern tier area near me ( Rte 17 corridor between Binghamton and Hancock) but New York taxes are some of the highest anywhere and you seem to pay a lot and recieve very little for them. Also the soil in the area is extremely poor in general. Very heavy clay for the most part with lots of shale and bluestone rock in huge chunks. If you are just needing pasture and are willing to do the raised bed thing you are OK but MAN if you want to put up a fence you better get a post hole digger on a tractor to do it. There is some good soil in the bottomland of the Susquehanna and the soil up in the finger lake region is a lot better, Cornell is the state Ag college after all, but land up that way is more expensive of course. I would definitely think it is possible to find something affordable but not perfect. There is no perfection.

 

Do you have any pics of it? Is it mostly wooded?

 

i wanted to bump this up for more input from folks. our daughter went to alfred university in alfred new york, southern tier, i believe stuben county. we always liked it up there. we also liked what we saw north of williamsport, pennsylvania, especially tioga county.

for anybody around the pa./new york border in these counties, what has it been like for the past couple of years? we haven't been up there since our daughter finished at alfred, a couple of years ago.

we're getting close to retirement and would like a place more secluded than where we are in southern pa. ten years ago, we were rural, but in the surrounding 5-7 miles there have been several developments, with anywhere from 300-700 new homes and townhomes each.

we are getting to the point where the encroaching developments, and attitudes of suburban wanna-be country folk, the ones who ask you to please get rid of your rooster crowing at 5 in the morning.

anyway, would like to hear from you folks up in tioga and stuben counties. we attend a local conservative mennonite church, so any close proximity to these communities would be a plus.

thanks so much.
debbie

 

We, too, are currently looking for property in the area you suggest. While I have seen some pretty cheap land, after having looked at alot of it in NYS personally lately, i can say cheap land is generally cheap for a reason. Overall, however, I would say you could get land for about $1000-$2000/acre, although much is $2500-3000. Developed properties are fairly reasonable if you want to be out far. We would have no trouble finding a property to suit our needs and budget if I did not have to be tied to having cable or DSL internet for my job.

All that said, however, properties everywhere in NYS are becoming pretty expensive for anything with land to it. Just 2 days ago, we were out in Seneca and Schuyler counties looking at properties. Absolutely beautiful area with lots of amish but prices are just outrageous for what is being offered. One place we looked at was 27 acres with a large modern home with beautiful views in Schuyler county for $180K. Well, after the real estate agent build up we got there and it was on the side of a hill (the northern slope no less!) and the entire 27 acres was sloping directly north very steeply The water had horrible sulphur problem, also.

As far as taxes go, yup, they are absolutely outrageous in NYS. Generally, the properties we have seen (anywhere from 8-20+ acres with homes) taxes have been anywhere from $3000 to as high as $8000 depending on the district and county you are in. When we first starting looking at properties, DH asked if the first digit was a typo or something! :shrug:

 

I live in Chenango County which is one of the poorest in the state. My taxes are really low compared to everyone else that ever posts on this board. I'm not sure if it is because we are in Chenango County or because we are off the grid. But I'm not going to ask anyone.

What I did was to look for properties that nobody else wanted. Our house was a hunting camp, no electric, no phone, no running water, on a dirt road in the state land. So we got it pretty cheap with owner financing too.

My girlfriend recently bought a house (big two story one with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms) on 5 acres, with a real nice pond on a dirt road for $70,000. She did have to put a new furnace in it. It had also been used for hunting camp for many, many years. Most of her neighbors are hunting camps, as are mine.

This is an area of farmland, the dirt is good and very good for gardens and livestock. I have lived in several different states in my life, traveled the whole country in a over the road truck. But no place was prettier than the green mountains and thick trees of PA & NY. Even now, I go out to my backyard and it is so green, it almost hurts your eyes. In the whole time we have lived in this house (7 years now), even in times of drought for other parts of the state, we haven't had one. We use a handdug well for water and have never had it low or muddy.

I have discovered you can look for years for the "perfect" homestead, or you can buy what you can afford or find, and make that the "perfect" homestead for you and your family.

Here is a link for our local pennysaver, which has many ads from realtors:Norwich Pennysaver.

katlupe

 

I have sixteen acres of hardwoods that I'd sell for a whole lot less than that. I'm always amazed at how high land is in every state, and equally surprised how good the land in western NY is and cheaper than everywhere else. Don't listen to people from other states who tell you how expensive NY is. They all think that NY is NYC. It's like people who think the whole state of Texas is like Houston or Dallas. Check out Stueben County, Chemung County, Allaghany, Chatauqua, etc. Most land in those counties are probably $1000 per acre and less. I can't believe that Tioga Cty Pa land is $3000 an acre. I started hunting there around 1975.

 

Debbie,
Better hurry up and get it! Prices are going up since we bought our place over 5 yrs ago. We paid $40K for 2 acres and a farmhouse and $3K/acre for another 23+ acres last fall. Aren't too many of those deals left. We have noticed prices going up. Larry Connolly in Liberty is a great realtor to work with. He helped us get our place. (570)324-3000. www.connollyrealestate.com Ours is a great community where everyone knows and helps everyone out. Lots of farms and hunting ground too.
There is a conservative mennonite church outside of Liberty near Navoo. We go a non-conservative mennonite church in Morris. (I'm talking from Tioga Co. PA here)
I definitely would choose PA over NY as taxes and welfare are killing NYS.
~Annette

 

This is a good site for the area you wanted.

www.wstarmls.com/public/search/advanced/shell-psearch1.asp

 

Hi!

I live in the heart of the Fingerlakes region and while it is absolutely beautiful(with soil to die for), its very expensive! There are much better deals elsewhere. If not for the land being in the family for so long I don't think we'd be able to afford it. Our area is still very rural, but many areas are quickly being developed. If you absolutely love the area though, do some research because I'm sure there are some deals somewhere. Good luck on your search!