Why Vacant Land?

The demand for land will continue to be strong in the next few years especially compared to other forms of real estate. In fact, the major media is reporting a strong, positive message in recent articles about land:

www.landflip.com – the premier land website, recently conducted a poll asking “When are you likely to purchase land?” 73% responded said they plan to purchase land in the next 12 months!

USA Today – According to a poll commissioned for the National Association of Realtors, 60% of Baby Boomers want to retire to a small town. The article concludes that Boomers have “an almost insatiable desire for real estate….they see real estate as a way to build and protect a nest egg.”

Why vacant land? “For a lot of people, it’s a dream to have a second home, but they really can’t afford it, so, they buy a lot.” Many Boomers are buying land with hopes and dreams to one day move on the property. Read more »

Appraising a property with no comps

My wife and I live in a county with 2,500 full-time residents. We have a lot of cattle, sheep and trees. The county seat is a town of about 200.

Melissa is one of two lawyers in the county. This is one of our county’s major cools.

She recently bought a 90-year-old house to use as her office. It’s a simple two-story, two-over-two design with an enclosed back porch. She paid a little over $90,000 and put $50,000 into the conversion. Many of the renovations were specifically done to accommodate her clients and her law practice–extending the porch and making it handicap-accessible was about $10,000 alone. She moved the kitchen from one of the two large rooms downstairs back into one of the two small rooms in the enclosed porch. It’s a serviceable kitchen for an office, but too tight and unwieldy for a residence. The former kitchen/dining room area is now the legal secretary’s office. All of the wiring was replaced, made computer capable. All of the phone system was replaced to handle office lines and Internet service. Parking area, lighting, security measures, shelves, painting, floor refinishing, plumbing etc.–most of the money went for office-related purposes, not aesthetics. Had she bought it for a residence, no money would have been needed. Read more »