How did you determine the amount of Acreage you own & Are you happy??

[phffft]

Like others money was the deciding factor. But in the end we are happy with what we got. Looked at a 100 acre parcel. Beautiful. But to expensive.
Looked at a 40 acres parcel and could actually afford that.
When surveyed it actually turned out to be a tad over 42 acres. So now we have a "back 40". I like the sound of that.

 

[Paddy]

When I was 21, I used some of my school and rent money and put a down payment on 10 ac with a baloon payment. Weeks later, moved out of the rental and built a 12x15' shack. Lived without water and ele for 3 years. Later built a saw mill and a 3500 sq ft timber frame home from my forest.

At 28, I grab the 10 ac for sale next door, price had doubled! At 35 I received a nice family gift of 1.5 ac lake front. At 39 I bought the lot next door to the lake pc.

At 46, Selling the house and 20 ac and getting ready to build on the lake property. Though the 3 ac sounds small, we are at the end of a 1 mi private road. The summer is the only time we see other folks, mostly people fishing from boats. We have a nest of Bald Eagles that each year have two off spring, too cool! I work out of the house so when I say " I got some one on the other line", it might be a bass!

happy with my 3 ac

 

[THS]

It's funny that this post should come up. My wife and I just looked at a property tonight. We currently have 10.5 acres. Originally in '97 we had options to buy the whole 80 acres, but we didn't think we could afford it. We whittled them down to 10.5, and my wife's brother bought the other 69.5 acres to hunt on. Dumbest thing I ever did. He bought it in 97 for around $80k if I recall, then sold it again in 2001 for $211,000. Plus there's $80k in timber on that land that will be ready in 2010-2012. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I still kick myself. But then again, taxes on my current property are over $5k now, with only the 10.5 acres. The new neighbor is paying almost $1800/year in taxes on land he never intends on building on. Crazy. But he's a millionaire, so it probably doesn't bother him.

So we were riding around a year or so ago, saw some property that my doctor owns. My wife says, if they ever sold that land, she'd buy it in a heartbeat. Its 60 acres of pasture and trees. I happened to look online last night, recognized the name of the road. It's the doctors property up for sale. We called our sister in law (realtor), she gave us the tour. The house is falling to pieces. Not salvageable in my mind. But the sister in law kept saying "a little paint, a little carpeting..."

All we wanted to do was buy the place, fix it up a little bit, sell the old farmhouse and outbuildings, and build a new house on the other end of the property. I could still have probably 50 acres if I split it up properly.

I had to laugh when I walked in. I could visually see the floor was sagging towards the middle of the room. And each room upstairs had sagging walls and ceilings. A door to one of the nicer rooms had been modified with a healthy cut out of the top of the door just to make it shut. It was trapezoidal looking. But hey, at least it shuts.

I'm not sure I could sell the smaller parcel quickly enough to build my new house before interest rates go out of this world. I'm currently at 4.75% and only have about 11 years before it's paid off. I'll probably never see rates that low again.

But boy, 50 acres sure would be nice!!!! 60 would be even nicer!!!

 

[MarkV]

For us it had to do more with privacy and location than the number of acres. We ended up with a very private 32 acres with a 5 acre pond and we can’t see the neighbors summer or winter. If you want privacy and also want livestock I think it takes more land. I looked at some 100 acre tracts that were open pasture that were not private enough for me. There is just something special about going skinny dipping in your own pond without showing the neighbors more than they can stand.

MarkV

 

[3RRL]

For us it had to do more with privacy and location than the number of acres. We ended up with a very private 32 acres with a 5 acre pond and we can’t see the neighbors summer or winter. If you want privacy and also want livestock I think it takes more land. I looked at some 100 acre tracts that were open pasture that were not private enough for me. There is just something special about going skinny dipping in your own pond without showing the neighbors more than they can stand.

MarkV

I think Mark hit it on the head for us. Privacy and location were key ingredients to our choice. We have a piece of property in Dunsmuir. CA that is pretty rural but it is far away and hard to get to. Winter is much more severe up there than in the foothills of the majestic Sequios where we bought. There were several parcels available when we bought, ranging from 17 to 32 acres. We decided on the 27 acre parcel for it's diversified terain and privacy. This parcel also boasted a perfect "bluff" to build our home and there is a small meadow on the plateau and a 360° scenic view from it.

 

[John47]

Here in Missouri, same for Arkansas, no state mandated planning permits! In the country, outside city limits, 5 plus acres, build what you want, no permits, no inspections. Land is still relatively cheap, land taxes low, depending where you are of course.
It's still possible to get land at, or under $2000 an acre on large acreage here in the Ozarks!

 

[Adron]

John....Quiet! We are getting enough "furriners" without advertising. Why there is a a couple from Kalifornee lookin at the property just next place over.

 

[THS]

My neighbor up the road is trying to sell 50+ acres for $11,000/acre. I don't know if he's had any bites on it yet. He's on his second realtor, first one didn't sell it quick enough I guess.

I found out that the property that I went to look at the other night has had the building rights purchased by the county/state. It's a program that the previous owner signed up for and now all subsequent owners will never be able to do anything with the property. Can't even cut a tree down without getting prior approval. The previous owner got her money and then turned around and sold the property for a pretty decent chunk of change.

I was emailed a list of properties around my area for sale, one was $6600/acre with a pond and 34+ acres, one was $9000/acre for 36+ acres. Both sites have electricity. But STILL......

 

[aesanders]

My criteria was for animals we currently have or will have. I figure you need 1 acre per cow or horse. Our 6 acres will handle about 4-5 animals after you take out the land aound the house and tree's etc. Wife has 2 horses currently and probabaly will have another shortly. So I needed a property of at least 3 acres of pasture grund. Have a little extra on the property, but that is fine for now.

 

[InlineDieselFan]

John, nad Adron,

Mosquitos, snakes or not, $2,000 and acre is CHEAP!

You keep this price thing up you may get a few web feet northwesterners there, and I seldom admit this but I am a native Kalifornian.

I spent a week on the Lake of the Ozarks as a kid visiting my stepdads relatives. Good fishing, pretty and lots of mosquitos, and a few Copperheads.

steve