Rural Land Investment

Can’t imagine buying rural land that I wouldn’t use for hunting, fishing, etc. One problem is that when you want to sell it can be harder to move than residential property. Or at least that is my impression.

This thread is interesting. I inherited 75 acres of rural land. Not being used for anything currently but some friends hunt it. It’s 40 miles outside a major city so I was thinking of holding it to see how the price increases. There is also a small town 10 miles away that is building houses like crazy the last 2 years.

It seems from the current replies I would be better selling now and investing than waiting. Most recent appraisal I got was only $4000 an acre. Thoughts?

I handle most of the land sales in our brokerage, mostly because realtors in general hate dealing with land. Commissions are low and they don’t understand it.

I don’t need the money and like it.

Important things to consider, access, flood plain, topography.

If it’s got all 3, it’s worth looking at to hold in the south, I can’t really speak to other areas of the country as the dynamics are different.

Find a crazy realtor like me to do a lot of your legwork for you to find a good option. Once you have the timber cut the first time, you’ll have to spend a fair bit cleaning up their mess, but once you have you can replant for future timber harvesting, set up for hunting, subdivide it, etc.

It’s a 10-20 year plan minimum if you ask me, but a good long term one. They aren’t making any more.

True Rural land outside of urban sprawl boundaries have a very slow appreciation rate. Not much "investment" opportunity unless you use it for timber or recreation. There is always the oddball situation where a wealthy neighbor wants to buy your adjoining land for a high price or some industrial facility being built near you to shoot values up, other than that values/prices ride boringly steady.

Best bet for appreciation is to stay within 30-50 miles of major urban areas and wait 10 years until the suburbs make their way to you. Subdivide and sell.