Stories of how you came about your property

[Granthol]

An investment company had big plans of a 5+ acre per lot elite neighborhood right before the big real estate bust. They did all of the subdividing and just got started when that bust exploded. The developer lost the land to the bank who finally, after years took sealed bids on a BUNCH of lots all at one time. The problem was they didn’t advertise it well. A neighbor told me about it, I found a nice 13 acre lot and put in a very reasonable bid and won it. I paid about $5000 an acre. I found out later it was the only lot that sold under $7000 an acre. Gotta love a deal once in a while.

Sometimes it’s just good to be lucky.

 

[jeremymdacosta]

The wife and I live in Raleigh, NC and were in Asheville, NC with the kids looking at mountain properties to purchase for hunting and putting a cabin on. The properties they're were beautiful but expensive. I had been on land sale websites all month. Towards the end of the trip I received a land sale email for a bunch of properties 1.5 hours closer to home but still in the mountains. We called and spoke to the salesman who sent pictures. They were beautiful. The sale happened the following Saturday. 150 people showed up. It was a stressful event because nobody knew what to expect. They signed everyone a salesperson and provided a plot map with prices. After an hour everyone was allowed to drive to the property they were interested in to take a quick look. After 30 minutes they allowed people to "claim" the lot they wanted to purchase. There were some quarrels but we got the 10 acre property we wanted for 5k/acre. That company had a bank already lined up for approvals on land loans. We had to put 20% down.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Family came from England in the 1860's, wanted to go to Ohio to meet up with a group of the family who came a year earlier. As they were heading for Ohio they saw winter coming so stopped here along the Ohio river and started clearing trees and setting up for the winter. After winter, they moved up onto the ridge a little further from the river edge and started clearing to farm on the ridge. My family farmed this ridge from the 1860's to the 1980's, but had been selling off chunks and pieces.

We are the last of the family living on the last little 15 acre chunk of the land that our English ancestors cleared. I will die owning this land. Hopefully one of my kids can take it on and keep it in the family, if not.... I am the end of the string.

 

[oosik]

Folks are finally beginning to realize - God is not going to make any more land. What is here is all that there will ever be. Prices are simply going out of sight.

True story - prior to moving down on the property here the county assumed my 80 acres was land locked. My 80 IS one mile west of the county road. My father purchased a one mile by 30 foot wide easement twelve years AFTER purchasing this 80 acres. The county records deeds and easements by year and does not marry them up.

So - the county was a tad bit surprised when they saw that I was having a driveway constructed to my property. No permits were ever needed - they just didn't know that the easement even existed.

When all the dust had settled and they were able to review my situation - the property taxes went from $15 per year to $2400 per year. Don't you just love them...............

 

[thepumpguysc]

My story is a simple one..
I'm a "water baby".. I HAVE TO BE AROUND WATER for some reason.. I'm just drawn to it.
I guess the Zodiac sign has "something" to do w/ it??
I would visit the "local" campgrounds on the weekends.. EVERY weekend..{1hr drive} to camp & fish & swim..
I was riding around 1 day & found a camper for sale on a permanent lot for 5K & bought it..
NO MORE packing the truck up w/ everyday needs or a tent.. just show up, unlock the door & let the party start..
I stayed up there on the weekends for the next 10 years.. THEN..
one day I was riding around & spotted a house .7 miles from the camp ground.. I went & talked to the folks & found out the wife had the BIG C & had to travel to the hospital darn near every day & the drive was to much for them..
I asked how much they would "actually" take for the property.. The old man said it was on the market for 70 but "DONT TELL THE REALATOR U TALKED TO ME".. We'll take 60..
I contacted the realtor & made a "lowball offer" at 60.. The realtor called me EVERYTHING BUT a white man.!!!
2 days later she called back & apologized & said "they took my offer".. Well DUH.. {I cut that realtor outta 10k commission}
I moved in the following month & have been here ever since>> 26 years The place is surrounded on 2 sides by a canal that leads to the BIG WATER.. & I can walk out my door & throw a rock & hit the water.. I feel at peace here..

 

[D2Cat]

thepumpguysc, you didn't cut the realtor outta 10K commission, you cut the realtor out of the commission on 10K. Big difference. Sounds like a nice deal and a nice place though.

 

[03 shaker]

Amazing stories everyone. Really appreciate all this.

Oosik, I'm very glad i've worked for a surveyor and have a little knowledge about easements and deeds. It's definitely something that can change the value of a place dramatically. Or in your case, the value assessed by the county.

 

[joecoin]

My maternal grandmother bought a 20 acre farm in 1943. She turned 3 acres of it into a garden (flowers, bushes, trees, not agriculture) and leased the rest to a farmer. I grew up 10 miles down thee road and had the pleasure of mowing and raking. A lot.

Her daughter (my aunt) had a lot of money. She and her husband bought an adjacent 20 acres in the 1960's.

When grandma died, my dad and his 2 siblings inherited the property. One sibling was bought out. The other 2 (my dad and his sister) fought and fought over who was going to do what work and who was going to pay for what. They also jointly purchased an additional adjoining 35 acres in 1985. On that 35 was a poorly constructed house, which my wife and I rented from them. We have lived there for 33 years.

My rich aunt built a beautiful cedar sided cabin on some of the land she owned outright in 1994. Two years ago my wife and I were able to purchase that property (19.5 acres). It sits on a cliff above a river. Can't see the neighbors. It is about 1000 feet from the house we rent. We live in the first house during the winter, jokingly call the new to us house our "summer home".

Here's a pic:

 

[joecoin]

duplicate post

 

[JasperFrank]

We originally wanted to live in town and buy an existing house. But all those houses were too expensive and messed up by the previous owners. Looked at 200+ properties in town. Then gave up. So we just bought raw land, just outside the city, to build our own house on. The real estate agent we were working with didn't even see it listed, I saw the property and spent the night on the property - essentially trespassing, and then bought it, cash, that put me ahead of the three other people that were interested that had to work though bank financing. I bought it for 60K. Rent one big *** bulldozer for three days, spendy but worth it as an experience in life, take out all the trees and stumps and anything else in the way. Its fun, and you will never forget this sense of power. Move to a burn pile. Set fire. Done. Don't worry about it: No one else does.

I looked at non-raw land properties for 2 years before settling on a 20 ac, raw land, just outside the Urban Growth Boundary. You always want to be just outside the Urban Growth Boundary. Taxes are less, the land is cheaper: Less rules. If and when you get annexed in an expansion of the boundary, your property goes 4X in value from restricted Ag to residential. This is how it works. I'm not an advocate of this, but this is how it works: And raw land, means you need to buy and own a tractor. My tractor has paid for its self many times over in what I would have paid in rentals. I could not have done this with out an owned tractor, and my finances.