Pros and Cons of owning large acreage.

   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #1  

crown

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May 9, 2001
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530
Location
Winchester, VA
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Kubota B-7500
I may have an opprotunity to purchase a 60.65 acre building lot in a rural subdivision. I currently own a 6.5 acre lot that I was planning on building on soon, a large custom home builder purchased the entire 34 lot subdivision consisting of home sites ranging form 5 to 20 acres with the one 60.65 acre site. He would like my lot and has expressed a willingness to swap the large lot is only that big because it does not perk well and 4 lots had to be combined to get a good perc. I currently live on 6 acres and very much enjoy the country life. My question how much work is involved in maintaining such a peice of property, I know nothing about livestock (cows, horses, etc) but they are allowed in the developement alpacas too. There is a small spring that runs through the property it looks as though I could build the house close to it or build a driveway over it and build further back. The land is a rolling pasture very few tress, and a small pond. I think I could get a neighbor friend of mine to cut the bulk of it in hay. This is a huge peice of land for me but I really like it /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gifI just don't want to get in over my head. My better half really likes the smaller lot much better, but concedes that the house is her major contention and if I really wanted the large peice she would give her blessings, you get the picture I don't want to hear "I told you so" /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Please give me your thoughts especially those of you have in excess of 50 acres.

Thanks in advance..
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #2  
I wouldn't want to be in a position where the property taxes are going to drive me out. A larger lot is nice, but the town might just consider all that land valuable and put a large assessment onto it. Unless you have a ton of money, I wouldn't even consider the swap. If it is such a great deal, why doesn't the developer put a house on it and sell it? He realizes the problems with huge lots... high taxes that limit the available buyers. I have 15 acres according to my land survey, and the town has my lot as 12 acres from the old description, on the tax rolls. If they knew about the other 3 acres of swamp land, it would be taxed as all the rest of the land. That would increase my assessment by about $30,000 and they tax that at $25.00 per thousand dollars of value. This would increase my tax bill by $750!! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #3  
Look into the zoning possibilities. Here, it is possible to have one acre set aside for your home and anything over 15 acres zoned as a classified wildlife habitat. You only pay $1.00 taxes on the wildlife part. A great deal for anyone with 15+ acres in a residential area.

There are also classified forests, highly errodable soil, wet land, etc... designations that can be used to lower your taxes. It is always worth looking into. Property rarely goes down in value. Our 20 acres doubled in value in 5 years.

As for maintaining it, what do you mean? Are you going to mow 60 acres like a lawn. Just maintain the part that you like and let the rest go back to nature. There is little to maintain, as ma nature is a very good caretaker.

Watch out for neighborhood covenants, restrictions, etc... those can bite you in the rear end.
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #4  
I considered several lots with similiar properties when we were out looking. One was a 40 acre parcel surrounded by 2 acre homesites. All the 2 acre homesites viewed the 40 acres as "theirs" and used it for recreation/dirtbiking/snowmobiling etc., etc., etc. Trying to change that mindset would be difficult, and immediately pit neighbor-against-neighbor.
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #5  
Make sure that the builder hasn't subdivided the 60 acres into lots with the town. He can still sell it as one lot. But the town will tax you as ? house lots. The taxes will kill you that way.
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #6  
Unless you have plenty of free time and are willing to do a lot of work starting up even a small farm from scratch is a daunting task. Take my word for it, I have been at it for twenty years and still have a ways to go. If I had it to do all over again I would wait and buy an existing farm in a good ag area and move in physical operating condition. More money yes but way less headaches. With everything there you can enjoy some actual farming and the country lifestyle right from the getgo. Larger the farm the more work and more taxes but also more versatile and fun in my opinion and the best setting there is to raise a large clan. All depends on how serious you want to get.
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #7  
I agree with what Moss Road said. The first thing you should do, if you haven't already done it, is to look at the property tax structure in that area. What kinds of exemptions may be available, and what do you have to do to qualify. Every state is different, but most have such things as ag, greenbelt, forestry, etc.

After you discover what the possibilities and requirements are, you can figure out what you would have to do with that property to qualify, and how much it might cost you in time and money versus what the savings would be.

Usually, the County Assessor's office is a good place to start. If they don't know the answers, they can tell you who does.

SnowRidge
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #8  
Crown,

Oh man, like I am so excited for you, I cannot type. ARE YOU KIDDING.... do it. Land in VA is approaching the outrageous. Go for it. You can explore setting aside, or subdividing later for protection against easements and taxes.
Time is one thing on your side, because you will have it, the lot, and others will want it.
You will be creative in your financial plans, everyone is. Man, land is one thing you just cannot get enough of.

I gotta go calm down.....
-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #9  
I believe in buying as much land as you can afford. Buying good land will outperform most other investments. As far as the work goes to me there is nothing better than working the land.
 
   / Pros and Cons of owning large acreage. #10  
If you can afford the extra land and the yearly taxes go for it! The enjoyment of the extra land will outweigh the cons. Start planting trees now.
 
 
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