Got to love developments in rural areas

[MoMower]

On top of a housing boom we have mega wear houses being built. They sit empty. Even ones filled are laying off people. They get a huge tax break to build it and then walk away. Lehigh and Northampton counties used to be relatively rural. Now it’s all big trucks and new exits leading to huge empty buildings.

We must be close. I have no issues with warehouses in general, but they are choosing to put them in some outright ridiculous places here. Miles and miles of 2 lane road, to get to the interstate.

 

[bdhsfz6]

My philosophy has always been this: If you can afford it, having control of the land around you is key for your privacy, security and peace of mind. Unfortunately, this can be difficult in urban areas. It's for this reason I moved to a fairly rural area that isn't too far from police, fire and medical services.

I started with 6 acres and bought the surrounding land as it became available. My 25 acre spread now consists of seven, 3 to four acre lots with my home comfortably in the center.

As is the case in many rural areas, development is encroaching on the countryside. There are two, 30 and 28 acre parcels up for development which border my property to the South and West. Both have poor public access. There are two developers trying to buy 3 of my lots to gain access to my private road. I quoted them an astronomical price which so far, they declined. I made counter offers on both parcels but the price was too high.

Right now, it's a waiting game. I'm comfortable with the situation as it is and can wait forever if necessary. I'm hoping the developers will eventually cave, sell me the land at a reasonable price and move on.

It's nice to be in the driver seat once in awhile instead of being run over all the time.

 

[RjCorazza]

I bought a 3.5 acre lot that borders my existing lot on two sides shortly after moving here 24 years ago. Unfortunately one additional 2 acre lot, which would have been nice to own, was quickly developed before I could afford it. Buying up small building lots gets expensive real quick.
At least building in my immediate area is pretty much done for around a mile or so. Most recently (4) 25 acre lots were sold off about 1/2 mile away, with totally different road access than where I live. I believe one guy bought it all for the space.

 

[kenmbz]

6 acre lot behind me sold for 535,000. So a little too rich for me to buy out.
This will be only one house though when the new neighbor builds it starting next month.

only one lot left open, across the street and it is owned by a developer and comes with a new house when it's sold for about $4million, but it has 21 acres. Wonder why it hasn't sold

 

[orezok]

Years ago we lived in Joshua Tree near the National Park. It used to be a very nice rural area until the LA crowd found it. Now that whole area has become the fastest appreciating area of CA. One small town further north has appreciated 84% in the last couple of years. Yes, it was a low cost housing area but no more.

We bought our JT house for $186K (2100 SF) and sold it for $325K. It recently sold for $750K and is now a Airbnb. The 2 day cost for 2 people with fees and cleaning is $1300!

What is worse is that there are only 3000 dwellings in JT and over 800 are now Airbnb. The local restaurants and merchants are suffering because employees cannot find housing at an affordable cost and have to leave the area to survive. A number of small businesses closed due to staffing problems.

The bigger problem is that the LA crowd thinks that the desert is just a playground and reasonable rules don’t apply to them. The county receives many many complaints. The county sez that they are going to increase compliance which is non existent. The real issue is that the revenue from the Transient Occupancy Tax is so high that the county officials who live in the city of San Bernardino could care less what happens a 100miles away in the desert. They want the $$$$.

That is one reason we moved further out and bought 26 acres. We still have Airbnb’s on three sides but they are at least 1000’ away. The forth side was an Airbnb but was just sold to a Major League baseball player. Will it be a second home or another Airbnb? Who knows.

Incidentally that property sold for $100K about 8 years ago and just resold for $650!

We have enough buffer so i think we will be OK.

 

[MossRoad]

We picked up 20 acres for $30K




In 1989.

Right after that, land prices went nuts and never stopped.

 

[orezok]

We picked up 20 acres for $30K




In 1989.

Right after that, land prices went nuts and never stopped.

Same thing here. We bought our 26 acres for $35K in 2004 and built our home. Current appraisals indicate that our 2500 SF house and 1500SF shop are now worth $1M. Crazy!

But at our age, it’s our final home so it doesn’t matter.

 

[newbury]

Well my township assessing department claims they have the right to inspect your property every 5 years and do a reassessment. However my understanding is that this is just a basic inspection to see if their records are correct for your property (IE, did you build a new shed, porch, addition, etc) and not a re-evaluation of market value. And you do not have to allow them to enter your house (I feel like I need a gate on my driveway, too).

So if you haven't built any taxable stuff, then you stay at 3%/year.

Fairfax county, Va has been flying for tax compliance since the 1980's. But they only catch what they see from the air.

You would be pretty darn upset if you built an expensive, beautiful home and then a neighbor was piling junk cars against the property line 100 feet from your front door.

The problem often is that the neighbor may have been doing that for years. Just because one can "build an expensive, beautiful home" shouldn't make their neighbor have to change.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

That's why we are no longer planning to retire in the mountains and keeping the city house... Mtn house planned out for wheel chairs but may never see one.

Up on Long Island, our fire department's motto was; We never lost a foundation. The one time that they did save a house from a fire, they left the electric meter in and the basement had an electrical fire that finished off the rest of the house (in the middle of the night).

I have a buddy who used to be the Fire Marshal in town. FD response at my place is maybe 20 minutes, and much of the year there is no water available but what they bring with them. He told me to keep my fire insurance paid up, because by the time the FD gets here the house would be fully involved. If I want to save the house, he told me to install a residential fire sprinkler system.

 

[Jstpssng]

If I want to save the house, he told me to install a residential fire sprinkler system.

I was thinking about that once, but it seems I also would have to isolate the pump circuit from the main electrical panel. Still, they wouldn't be a bad idea and don't add a lot to the overall cost if you're building a new house.