How to Profit From the Greatest Land Rush in U.S. History!

At precisely twelve noon on September 16, 1893 a cannon’s boom unleashed the largest land rush America ever saw. Carried by all sorts of transportation - horses, wagons, trains, bicycles or on foot - an estimated 100,000 raced to claim plots of land in an area of land in northern Oklahoma Territory. There had been a number of previous land rushes in the Territory - but this was the big one.

Many would be disappointed. There were only 42,000 parcels of land available - far too few to satisfy the hopes of all those who raced for land that day. Additionally, many of the “Boomers” - those who had waited for the cannon’s boom before rushing into the land claim - found that a number of the choice plots had already been claimed by “Sooners” who had snuck into the land claim area before the race began. The impact of the land rush was immediate, transforming the land almost overnight.

Over 100 years later, we are in the midst of a second rush for land. When it is over it will go down as the greatest land rush in United States history far eclipsing the Oklahoma land rush of the 1890’s.

How will it be different? Baby Boomers, investors and institutional investment firms are preparing to buy over one-half of the useable land in the U.S. in the next ten years. Are you aware there is approximately 1.6 billion acres (Yes, billions – with a big B!) that can be bought and sold? The potential is for millions and millions of land deals in the next few years. Read more »

Here’s the scoop: There was a fourth debate

Senators McCain and Obama came to Blue Grass this week for a fourth debate, because they recognized that my vote might decide the 2008 election.

We sat at my kitchen table. They came dressed for farm work, both in new bib overalls and ironed flannel shirts.

Me: Senator Obama, say some good things about Senator McCain.

Obama: Well, let’s be clear. For a man his age and considering the dreadful things he’s been through over many decades, like skin cancer and five years of torture, yes, for a man his age, I think he’s doing okay. I hope I’m as chipper at 72.

Me: Senator McCain, same question about Senator Obama.

McCain: That one gives a great speech, which he learned how to do at those Ivy League schools that Bill Ayers and other terrorists might have attended while they were making bombs. I dropped bombs on Hanoi, but I sure didn’t make them in my college dormitory room. Senator Obama has yet to deny that he associated with all the terrorists, socialists and Woodstockists that he could have associated with back then. America doesn’t know the real Barack Obama, and neither do I. Read more »

Sellers! Help your buyers

I looked at a small wooded tract a couple of weeks ago.

Before visiting, I asked the seller if he had a deed that he could send me so that I could run the calls through a deed-mapper program to check the acreage. He said that he did, but that he would not provide it. “Go get it at the courthouse,” he said. The courthouse was a five-hour drive away. I asked for the deed book and page number, so that I could phone in a request. “Look it up,” he said.

Most questions were met with stonewalls and an I’m-too-busy-to-be-bothered attitude.

What advantage could this seller have thought he might be achieving by acting this way? Beats me.

I’m reading an excellent book on negotiating by Steve Cohen, Negotiating Skills for Managers, McGraw-Hill, 2002, $14.95. Steve runs The Negotiation Skills Company outside of Boston, which provides professional negotiators and assistance. www.negotiationskills.com.

Sellers will help themselves in negotiations by being civil, helpful and honest.

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 »

Making a living in the country: You’re here, now what?

People who live in the country are either “been-heres” or “come-heres.” Both choose to live here—and often it’s a hard choice.

The story of America’s countryside since the 1930s is for the born-heres to go to the city for jobs and a different life. Beginning in the l960s, the counter story has been for come-heres to leave the city for a different life out here.

While it’s cheaper to live in the country, newcomers find that lifestyle living takes money, and it’s hard to find the same job income in a rural economy. Here, then, are some ways that come-heres find cash.

Don’t look for it. The best way to fund a country lifestyle is don’t work for it. Moving to the country with sufficient income to live how you want voids the question of how to earn it. I highly recommend this approach.

Live off your mailbox. Some retirees patch together monthly pension checks to live pretty well in small towns and rural areas. Pension income, of course, is determined by the individual’s career, job and pay. Do not plan on Social Security acting as a Golden Parachute. Read more »

Anyone For tea…..?

One of the many paths down which I have (happily) been lead astray recently, is doing some work as a Land Specialist for a company called Northern Acres; www.NorthernAcres.com. These guys are world class, in fact, I’d taken one of the principals out to breakfast on a couple of occasions over the past few years, just to pick his brains about the land business. Seeing as I’m from the UK originally, I’ve taken it upon myself to see if we can find some conduits for UK buyers to purchase mountain top property from us, over here in New Hampshire and Maine.This has been an interesting project so far, with lots of stimulating conversation about the Old Country and all the ways we can hook up with enthusiastic land buyers from across the pond. What I wanted to share with you guys is a great resource I came across and for those of you wanting to get a foothold with foreign investors, it ought to be very much appreciated. www.nubricks.com is a blog-based site designed to educate folks and promote foreign property investments to UK buyers. If you take a look at what it has to offer, you’ll find some great insights and connections with numerous companies who want to promote investment property in other countries, the United States being one of them. This country still remains a tremendous value to foreign investors, both because of the favorable exchange rates and because of the drop in values over here recently, plus we’re percieved as one of the places that are safer in terms of concerns about being ripped off by developers (yes, really).

Why not mosey on over to Nubricks and check ‘em out……

Richard Dale-Mesaros

Land Specialist

Richard@NorthernAcres.com

Floodplain buyout: Maybe it’s time to stop rebuilding

My heart — that mean-spirited little pump I keep around for “Casablanca” and odd emotional assignments — hurts for the Midwest folks who have been wiped out by flooding, once again.

Three to four million acres were under water. About 2 million acres will not be planted. Twenty-four lives have been lost; property in the billions has been damaged or destroyed.

The full economic impact will come into focus several years from now when all the damage, lost wages and lost sales are tallied against the money coming in from disaster aid and dollars spent rebuilding.

In 1993, Midwest flood damage came to $23 billion. It’s tough getting kicked in the teeth again and again.

My little valley below Snowy Mountain has cleaned up after three 100-year floods during the last 25 years. In the upper Potomac River watershed, we, too, have lost lives and homes. Read more »

Stocks vs. land: Which is the better investment?

Many more Americans own corporate stock than rural land. Why do we invest in stock, which is risky, rather than land, which is not?

Based on a statistically valid opinion survey that I conducted with the reflection on my computer screen, I offer six reasons.

First, stocks are easy to buy and sell. Second, they’re easy to follow up and down. Third, each company provides information, the quality of which, it may be said, varies.

Fourth, the numbers and ratios associated with companies and stock lend a certainty to forecasts that gives investors confidence in their crystal balls. Quantitative analysis can always be confirmed by the guy on the next barstool who says he plays the market. Fifth, much investing wisdom is free for the listening, such as Buy and Hold. All such wisdom is true, except when it isn’t. Finally, some ordinary people occasionally win, just like in Vegas. Read more »

Real Estate: Let us now appraise appraisers and appraisals

Appraisers are being punched up in the courts and the press for not always providing honest real-estate valuations.

What’s going on? What exactly do appraisers do?

An appraiser forms an opinion of a property’s current Fair Market Value (FMV) by judging its attributes in relation to recent selling prices of nearby comparable properties. Adjustments are made for differences between the target and the “comps” to arrive at a dollar valuation for the target.

Appraisers get into the buy-sell process during escrow, after the buyer and seller have agreed on price and terms. If the buyer wants a mortgage from an institutional lender, he should have a financing contingency in his contract that allows him to back out of the deal if acceptable financing cannot be arranged. Read more »

High fossil-fuel prices will impact country real estate

What would you do if the price of gasoline—now at more than $3 per gallon—were to rise to $10? Or more? Gripe, that’s for sure. Blame somebody.

Some of us would march to Washington—on foot, of course–demanding lower prices, threatening legislators with bone-dry dipsticks as we clutch dead sparkplugs in our cold hands.

And a few of us would start running our cars on old French-fry oil or the collected fumes of Willie Nelson’s organic cigars.

Whether it’s $5 or $10, gasoline prices will rise over time.

Petroleum reserves are finite, and the world may be at or near the point of peak production. We will pump less oil in the future, and new supplies are more expensive to extract. Global output grew by less than one half of one percent in 2006.

While supply is weakening, global demand continues to rise. The risks and question marks about oil-producing countries are now tacking on more than $30 to every barrel of $100 oil. Read more »