Land purchase.......... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Plantman · #1 12-22-2003, 08:27 PM

Anyone have any suggestions where I could get some nice land for cheap$$$?

For reference sake, a freind puchased 4 acres in the hills of Northern Georgia with a 3 bedroom cabin for about 115,000

I won't be leaving Miami anytime soon, but have been pondering buying some vacant,wooded land for the future.

I would ideally like the Southeast, but am open to suggestions.

I get brochures form all over the place and it is really hard to narrow down unless you actually go and check it out.

Kind of like buying a car on ebay.....

Thanks for any input........

#2 12-22-2003, 09:08 PM

Shop shop shop, find a realtor in that area to help you out. You can also check realtor.com for listings. A newspaper in the area may also be online and you can check the classifieds.

MikeTangas · #3 12-22-2003, 09:27 PM

Nothing like having a first class realtor keeping an eye out for something in the area that interests you. A couple years ago we were visiting in Wisconsin, got the urge to buy some wooded acreage. Had hopes set on a nice forty, problem was the land companies were snapping up every forty or larger as soon as they hit the market. The land companies strategy was to snap it up then split it up into a bunch of fives and quadruple their money. Our realtor called us the morning that one of the paper companies broke up a very large tract into fifteen acre parcels, he pointed us in the direction of the land and wwe spent a few hours stomping around. One week and $45K later we had a 15 acre hunk of woods.

engatwork · #4 12-23-2003, 07:27 AM

There is some land adjacent to my land in south Ga (adjacent to Interstate 16, 90 miles from Savannah and 80 miles from Macon) that is coming up for auction. The tract sizes are as follows:
1-100 acres, 2-203 acres and 3-45 acre tracts. Let me know if you want the phone number of the Bank that is auctioning it off. Seems the fella borrowed $ against it and was not able to pay back the loan.

TX76513 · #5 12-23-2003, 08:14 AM

With the inevitable of moving here from TX to MS, I have been looking at the realestate and land fairly heavy. Take a look at this link
LAND

I have found both land, home and especially taxes to be incredibily affordable. Looking at a $235K home now that the taxes for a year are 1/8 of my current casa in TX.

Ken300D · #6 12-23-2003, 11:08 AM

More and more localities are relying on heavily increased real estate taxation to fund their spending.

Consider this too. Maybe you don't really want land that you don't have a constructive use for - the taxes might drain any investment value away.

And for certain you don't want to speculate/invest in some place that has any kind of common-use (homeowner's association) fee. Those can go up sharply too - and when there is some kind of special project there is naturally a "special" assessment (shakedown) of all owners.

Hmmm. Do I seem bitter?

Ken300D

G-Benz · #7 12-23-2003, 02:14 PM

Around these parts, you will see fairly sizeable plots of unused land (in the municipality) dotted with a few head of livestock. The land owners dodge the tax issue by keeping livestock on the land, so it's taxed as "agricultural".

Real common ploy over here...

G-Benz · #8 12-23-2003, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken300D
And for certain you don't want to speculate/invest in some place that has any kind of common-use (homeowner's association) fee. Those can go up sharply too - and when there is some kind of special project there is naturally a "special" assessment (shakedown) of all owners.

Hmmm. Do I seem bitter?

Ken300D

Yep. And our HOA just voted in a 170% increase in dues for 2004 to cover expenses for the common areas...which, in our neighborhood is a large portion with respect to the few number of homeowners...and NO golf course!

Lebenz · #9 12-23-2003, 02:52 PM

This has been mostly stated but.....Investigate the areas where you might want to buy. Find local real estate thug web sites to help your investigation. When you find something, go to the county where the property is located. Many county govs have web sites. Look up the owner of the property. BTW, this is a nice way to find out the tax related stuff, too. Call or send a letter and make an offer directly.

Also, look at FSBO sites. See the local news papers (on line, if possible)

The fewer barriers you put between yourself and the seller the less overhead you’ll pay. All the owner can do is say no, if they don't want to deal directly. In that case, if you want the place, and/or don’t want to deal directly, pick the real estate thug of your choice. When we bought, I contacted the seller’s broker directly. I told them that the only reason I contacted them rather than a 3rd party was to cut their commission in half, and discount my costs accordingly. The thug had 0 problem with my request.....

As a last note, consider whether you want a lot of property. Property taxes are based on $$ per sq foot, but just because something has a lot of property doesn’t mean it’s value will increase any faster than a comparable place with less property. With a lot of property, you end up being a cash cow for the county.

Rick Miley · #10 12-23-2003, 03:43 PM

Plantman - take a look around Ocala and Wildwood. Land is relatively inexpensive and it would be an easy drive for you. Right up the Florida Turnpike.