Land ownership helps rural economic development: Can we Land a Hand?

Land has always been involved in what we now call, rural economic development.

Those who owned no land in rural communities were almost always poor. The larger the landholding, the more prosperous the owner was likely to be.

The desire for land and its resources motivated European settlement to the New World, and the expected benefits of land ownership lay behind America’s westward expansion.

Cheap land was the stimulus that drove American settlement and economic growth for 250 years. Communities grew in step with the degree of diffused ownership.

As our economy shifted from farming to manufacturing to services, new growth engines came into play. But in rural areas, land ownership continues to be a ladder for individual betterment. And to the extent that it’s “spread around,” in Barack Obama’s words, communities benefit.

In the 40 years that I’ve watched public efforts to promote rural economic development, I’ve never seen much focus on encouraging land ownership by lower-income individuals. The preferred strategies invested in public infrastructure (highways, water and sewerage systems, communications) and public intellectual capacity (planners, agencies), and provided public capital (loans, tax breaks, buildings, subsidies and labor training). Read more »

Rethinking stocks: Put land in a real-estate IRA for retirement

I’m sure there are three people in America who figured the stock market just right this year and are swimming in money like Donald’s Uncle Scrooge. I am not among them. And neither are millions of others who didn’t duck out. Read more »

5 Benefits to the Recipients of Florida Conservation Easements

A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a government agency or qualified conservation organization that restricts specific uses or development on the land. This is a landowner’s way to protect the land for now and in the future. One of the significant benefits of a conservation easement is the protection of wildlife habitats, natural lands, and resources for generations to come.

The seller of a conservation easement is a landowner who desired to restrict development or land use through this option, but still holds on to ownership of the land.

The buyer or recipient of a conservation easement is typically a government conservation program or a private conservation organization. While the landowner seller has specific benefits that make a conservation easement desirable, the buyer or recipient too reaps benefits from this type of transaction. Read more »

What’s an easement? Part II

Four types of easements are not agreed to: easement by necessity, easement by implication, easement by prescription and easement by condemnation.

1. An easement by necessity prevents certain properties from being landlocked, that is, cut off from a public road. If I were to sell 50 acres at the back of my 100-acre tract and provided no access easement to the buyer, he could get a court to grant him an access easement for a road over me by necessity so that he could reach his 50 acres. The buyer in this example should be aware that the court may not award him the location for a right of way that he wants. Easement by necessity may also be used to gain access to a water source in certain circumstances.

To gain an easement by necessity, the landlocked party must prove that his parcel was once part of the parcel that he wants to cross. In Virginia, at least, property can be landlocked if this cannot be proved in court. Read more »

What’s an easement? Part I

Easements are commonly found in real estate. In general terms, an easement is an arrangement whereby a non-owner of a property has the legal right either to use that property or limit its use in some specified, special way.

The non-owner who holds the easement can be another parcel of land, public agency, utility, individual, business entity or a non-profit organization like a land trust.

A positive or affirmative easement would allow me to use a stream on my neighbor’s property for watering my livestock at a certain spot. A negative or restrictive easement held by my neighbor would prevent me from erecting a line of wind turbines that would ruin his view.

Easements are legally binding agreements, but they may or may not be recorded. Read more »