what are y'all paying per acre where you live? Land is expensive!

[CompShooter]

Here in the Pocono Mountains I bought 3 acres in 2005 for $68000. They were asking $89000. Nowadays, my relatives say they can't find 3 acres for under $120000.

Ever since 9/11 everyone and their brother has been migrating to the Poconos from NJ and NY to buy a vacation home. Although I am surrounded by woods I feel as though this place is growing way too fast for me.

Hopefully when I decide to retire I can sell my place for enough money to buy a cabin in the middle of no where.

 

[rexcramer]

I paid $3500/acre for 18.5 acres in mid-Michigan last March. I got a decent deal, not a great one, because the owners were divorcing and it is in the flood plain of the Flint River.

Fully wooded and a nice creek in the back, it has not flooded in 40 years so I am not too worried but I am building nice and high anyways. I had to go through a couple more hoops to get some permits, but I saved at least $25000 compared to other lots in the township.

Once I get settled I will be looking for some property up north for a hunting camp and for logging every 5 years or so.

 

[npaden]

You can still find decent land under $1,000 per acre around here. I just bought 160 acres in Febuary 2007 for $850 an acre and am really happy with it. It is right at 100 miles from my house with 105 acres of native pasture and 55 acres under cultivation.

Depending on where you are looking you can still find decent land for under $500 an acre in several parts of the west. The key is to be a couple hundred miles from the nearest large town and forget about being in the mountains or in "prime" hunting areas. Of course even at $500 an acre when you are looking at a 2,000 acre place you need to have one of those million dollar bills.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

It varies from one extreme to the other here. I went to a land auction 2 weeks back. .8 to 1.2 acre tracts of unimproved land with "city utilities" but out in unincorperated county area sold for $42,000 down to $38,500. That seems to be about average. In the "high rent district" just to the east of me, an acre sells for around $100,000. Just south of here, unimproved acreage sells near $25,000 in 1 to 10 acre tracts. Bigger acreage sells slighlty less per acre.

In the 1970, I bought 188 acres of rocky, hilly ground that I called a farm. Paid $59,500 back then. (and was told I got took to the cleaners) An industrial park built next to me. They wanted more land to expand. 2 years ago, I caved in and sold my place for 1.2 mil. Took that and bought 45 acres and a much nicer home in a much nicer area. Already entertaining offers quite a bit more than what we paid. If I'd only known way back then....

 

[madpogue]

Location, location, location. Here, price/acre is inversely proportional to distance from Madison. Forget Dane County, unless you're really in clover; minimum is probably $30,000/acre. Our house is on a 5000-ish sq. ft. lot, which translates to about half a million per acre (gulp!). Even in the counties immediately bordering, it's probably $10,000-ish / acre. We had to go about 2.5 hrs out to find affordable land. It was a hair over $2000/acre when we bought in 2005. Now they're asking $2700-3000 or more, but then again, land isn't selling; it's a bit of a buyer's market. The guy who sold us our land, and still owns immediately south of us, is selling out; he's been asking $2750/acre, but it's been on the market for almost a year.

 

[R_Walter]

Like many of you, I'm a charter member of the "Should Have Bought It Then" club.

As I've gotten older, I've managed to make better and better investments, both in real estate as well as other investments. This probably correlates with more disposable/investable income which is also a partial function of appreciation of my existing investments.

What I always tell young twenty-somethings just starting off is to make the sacrifice now and invest. Don't buy the brand new trucks/cars. Drive something older/cheaper. Don't buy more house than you really need even though many try to justify it by arguing that it will appreciate over time. That may be. But, by buying a smaller residence and investing the difference, you'll be better off financially. Makes more economic sense EVERY time. I could go on indefinitely, but, you get point I'm sure.

 

[teeravis1]

By the sounds of it I shouldn't complain, but I will anyway....Up here in the U.P. of Michigan 2 years ago I bought 18 acres for $35,000, approx. $2000 per acre. However at that time I was ticked off because I couldn't find it for a $1000 per acre.

 

[mike194]

I live in northeastern South Dakota last summer i bought 16 acres 2 miles out of town for $28,000 so $1750 an acre. and i thought that was crazy compared to some pasture land around that is 500 - 600 an acre. The only drawback to living in south dakota in the last picture

 

[Colin Giersberg]

Here in the Pocono Mountains I bought 3 acres in 2005 for $68000. They were asking $89000. Nowadays, my relatives say they can't find 3 acres for under $120000.

Ever since 9/11 everyone and their brother has been migrating to the Poconos from NJ and NY to buy a vacation home. Although I am surrounded by woods I feel as though this place is growing way too fast for me.

Hopefully when I decide to retire I can sell my place for enough money to buy a cabin in the middle of no where.

The way good land is disappearing, your middle of nowhere when you retire will be in the middle of downtown.

I live in Limestone County, Alabama, near Moloss I do believe, and there are twenty one new sub-divisions that have gone in, with the oldest being less than 5 years old. More are coming. These are all within a 5 mile radius of our house.

We bought 35+ acres last year for $3000 an acre, within sight of the Elk River, west of Athens.

 

[D7E]

Bought 900 acres here near winnipeg manitoba in 1996 , Some of the better land ,Heavy black "gumbo clay with some more loamy for $465 per acre .
Last year we expanded and bought 3 extra peices of 485 acres all between $525-600 per acre and rented 2 peices of 160 acres at $15-27 per acre , Good land growing sunflowers,soybeans and oils/cereals.