Obviously land prices fluctuate across the country, so I will approach this a little differently. Tell me the ~ going rate for land in your area (if you know), and how much OVER would you be willing to pay if you could afford it. Is land something you would be willing to make a large investment on? I'll start (and partially the reason I'm asking). Land prices here have skyrocketed since the natural gas "boom" in the area. From watching real estate for the past year, I would say the average going rate is ~8K/acre. Prices are driving this almost borderline unaffordable for people like me to buy a sizable chunk of land. I can't foresee myself spending much more than about $5K/acre, so I wait (I don't have enough saved anyways). Hoping that land prices may go down, but it's a bit disheartening. However, I'm looking at it like this - I have a great house, with a nice piece of small property (2 acres), and I have 90 acres to hunt along with another 1200 of mediocre hunting. It certainly could be worse, but I would like to have some land to call my own as well. So yeah, a little bored tonight:D
One of the keys to the land grab is not buying from an expensing Realtor who has purchased a large chunk of land and has broken it up. Unless you can work the deal with them that buys up most of the land and they do not have to split it up and do major promotion. I have followed some of the prices for bare land and you can still pick some up for about 1K an acre. Upstate NY and upstate PA. Which of course is still too much for a sizable chunk being middle income.
Yep, I've found plenty of land in the northern tier of the state for significantly less than 8Kacre, but I would prefer to live on the land I buy, and to do that, it needs to be in central Lycoming county. Jim, yep, it's insane. Not all land is at this rate, some less, some more, but that's about average. That's what a natural gas play coming to the area will do I suppose.
Matt - @ $8k an acre your looking in the wrong spots. You need to talk to family friends, family, coworkers, etc, not a real estate listing. Find land that isn't on the market yet. Keep saving and when it's closer to that time, look at patches of land you like and knock on some doors. Dan's dad just picked up a patch that way a couple of years ago for a steal. That's where your going to find your deal. My 26 acres was roughly $1500 an acre. It's ridge top meadow that you can see for miles from. It wasn't listed yet, and I got it from a family friend. In comparison 500 yards away the 6 acre patch at the end of the road which will never perc test (flood plain), is nowhere near a power line, and has no public road to access.........is listed at $6k an acre with a local real estate agent. No one has looked at it in over a year. We offered them $3k an acre (only because I want to lock it up and eliminate possibility of having to provide right of way) and when they get hungry I'm sure my phone will ring.
210 acres bordering our farm sold for $4000 an acre a few weekends ago. That is about on par for top quality hunting land around here.
I live in southern Somerset county PA and we just purchased 10 wooded acres a little over a year ago, just when the natural gas craze was heating up. They had it listed through a realtor for $45,000! So we went to the realtor and offered $20,000. He said there was no way because they just turned down an offer for $35,000 not that long ago, but he was legally obligated to submit our offer. They countered with $22,500 and we jumped on it. Apparently they were getting tired of sitting on it, it was on the market for over a year. We are in the process of getting it perked right now. It's funny, a lady that works at our bank wanted to buy this land but said there was no way she would pay $45,000 for it, but didn't put a bid on it. We knew what we could afford, and if they turned it down, oh well, just keep looking. My wife's mom and dad purchased 45 acres a little farther up the mountain about 3 months after we got ours. They paid around $65,000 for that I think. It was part of a larger farm that the owners were trying to sell as one, but my father-in-law convinced him to break it up. Persistence pays off.
It's funny here, land is listed at anywhere from $2K per acre to 5K per acre. A place not too far from here is being listed at $594K for 180 acres, but it does have a nice house on it. A relative of the seller says they'll sell for $330K. 85 acres is in CRP until 2011 paying $79.33 per acre. Another place with a small home on it and 230 acres they listed for $1.3M. The best thing to do is keep your eyes open and make an offer when you see something you like close to the price you want to pay. The worst thing they can say is...."NO".
I know what you have been up against Matt. I was wanting the same things in the same area as you and I settled. I got lucky to have sole access to 61 acres next door. Like Mike said, it can't hurt to offer. They are only gonna say no. Also, like RJ said, leave a number, make sure they know the offer is standing and maybe circumstances lead to them needing that money. People can only think about guaranteed money for so long and it does something to them. Keep at it, you want this bad enough, it's coming.
Like you area Matt, my area has just recently had a natural gas boom (more millionaires were created in this area last year than any other region other than North Dakota), so land prices have went through the roof. Before the boom, most land was going for 3k-5k, but now it's jumped to 5k-8k per acre. But to answer you other question, YES, I would definitely purchase land as a major investment. Land rarely decreases in value. When I make my first million after I open my bar and my specialized sporting goods store, I'm going to buy about 3,000 acres. Hopefully....
Probably, There is a 230 acre tree farm with 2 houses, barns and a store on it about 2 miles down the road, 1.3 million. This property is PRIME though, and if i was rich id buy it in a heartbeat. Could you imagine 230 acres of exclusive land in medina county? DAMN!
RJ, I know every single land owner for the most part for about a 5 mile radius of here, or I can find out in short order. Land is a family item passed down in these parts, so most of the time, it's a no go in terms of knocking on doors (they [the owners] already have a plan to sell or gift their land to relatives). I was telling Ben and Rob I have my foot in the door as far as it can go on a sizable chunk of land right near my parents 90 acres, but it's a frustrating situation (don't want to push too much, and the owners change their mind a lot). I suppose I can do nothing but continue to keep looking and knocking on doors, because you never know if you don't try I suppose. This time last year we toured 17 acres not more than a mile from where we live now. Great view, owner is retaining gas rights, only about 3 acres is buildable, the rest is STEEP timbered ground. They want 140K. Needless to say it's been for sale going on three years now. Hooker, I assume you're talking about the haynesville shale? One can only hope some millionaires are made up here. I'm part owner in land that has already had a well drilled:D I'm not holding my breath, though.
Why not look a bit further from home? Seriously, your in a higher income area down there close to Williamsport. Come check out Bradford County. I bet you find some better bargains if you look hard, and it's really not that far from you.
I suppose if I don't plan on living there, that would be alright. I've found really good deals on land in Clearfield county and in Lock Have/Loganton area. I have a great job in Jersey Shore, my wife works about 7 miles from here, so unless I want to commute 65+ minutes or try to get a job in Canton (btw, my sister teaches there...no thanks:D), I would have to be buying recreational offsite land up there. Beautiful country up there, though.
Yeppers, one of the best things that has ever happened to this area. While the rest of the country is supposedly struggling, the economy here is booming.
