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Buying land just for the sake of buying land?

Ive been thinking of doing the same, buying some land in KY, TN or SC or NC.

Holding me back is that I can't rent it and pay back what I put into it. I really rather have a tax writeoff rental property.
Been thinking of buying a house with some land and renting it back to my daughter in SC. That is more likely situation for
me, then I can write off travel to visit her as it would be for "maintenance of the rental". I probably should have done this already, but I didn't
want to buy a stupid condo or shitbox with no real land. Problem is land around her has gone up like crazy and big lots are bought by developers.

The other drawbacks of raw land is that I won't be there year round and dont want to have issues with trespassers if I put a cabin or something on it.
I know I can talk to the neighbors about stuff like that but still it can me an issue. I don't want some Methhead a**h***s ruining my shxt.

I think if you look at urban centers in the south and go 45 min to an hour down the highway, in the future, I think it will go up in value for sure.
 
Mark from MA said:
Ive been thinking of doing the same, buying some land in KY, TN or SC or NC.

Holding me back is that I can't rent it and pay back what I put into it. I really rather have a tax writeoff rental property.
Been thinking of buying a house with some land and renting it back to my daughter in SC. That is more likely situation for
me, then I can write off travel to visit her as it would be for "maintenance of the rental". I probably should have done this already, but I didn't
want to buy a stupid condo or shitbox with no real land. Problem is land around her has gone up like crazy and big lots are bought by developers.

The other drawbacks of raw land is that I won't be there year round and dont want to have issues with trespassers if I put a cabin or something on it.
I know I can talk to the neighbors about stuff like that but still it can me an issue. I don't want some Methhead a**h***s ruining my shxt.

I think if you look at urban centers in the south and go 45 min to an hour down the highway, in the future, I think it will go up in value for sure.
Click to expand...

Think twice about buying a property in SC and not living in it, there are property tax implications if you are not claiming it as your primary residence. Even if you move to SC and have a house and decide to buy another property, say a beach house in SC, you must claim one property as your primary and the other will be taxed at a much higher rate, like about 3 times the rate if it were your primary.
 
GomerPile said:
My personal experience.

I bought the lot I am currently on because I wanted to be nearish to work and away from people. I searched for like 4 years and my place came up and the location was a good fit for me. I built a small house on the place and I have no mortgage. I have about $80K invested in the place and the valuation was $160 when I went to get a HELOC.

A couple years ago I bought a place near Pittsburg NH for $20K. It has somewhat of a road to get to it. The "road" doubles as ATV and snowmobile trail. it has good cell reception, line of sight to the WISP that operates up there. There are lots of animals to shoot if I were into that. It has a million-dollar view that is all grown in and when I bought it there was an old shack with racoons living in it. I just took delivery of a sawmill capable of cutting 26 inch logs. I will be harvesting logs at my MA place and using the lumber for a camp on the NH place. I will also restore the view and install some off grid power on the site. A camp next door with NO view just sold for $55K. I'm thinking that the camp I build will be worth $75-100K when I'm done using it.

Guess my thinking on land is to improve it in ways that don't cost very much. Tearing down old shed is free. Cutting down trees is the cost of gas and chainsaw chains. Camp built using basically free wood, etc etc.
Click to expand...
Its interesting that even Pittsburg is seeing appreciation.

To those who don't know, Pittsburg is 2 hours 20 minutes north of CONWAY, NH. So its WAAAAYYY up there. Not a place that boston people go for the weekend.
clampett said:
I have some land in central NH. Eversource is the power company in my area. Do you think Eversource charges and fees will be similar to NHEC?
Click to expand...
Gomer,

I just checked on Eversources web page. They want to visit before they give a price.

New Construction FAQs | NH Builders & Contractors | Eversource

www.eversource.com www.eversource.com

My wife and I looked at a mind boggling 119 acre piece last year. It was within our budget. It had views for 100 miles north and west, all the way into VT. Just gorgeous.

It would have been 60k to complete the driveway and $120k for electricity. Which put it outside our range.

My R/E agent reminded me that you always need to consider the "developed" price for a given piece of land.
 
dcmdon said:
Its interesting that even Pittsburg is seeing appreciation.

To those who don't know, Pittsburg is 2 hours 20 minutes north of CONWAY, NH. So its WAAAAYYY up there. Not a place that boston people go for the weekend.

Gomer,

I just checked on Eversources web page. They want to visit before they give a price.

New Construction FAQs | NH Builders & Contractors | Eversource

www.eversource.com www.eversource.com

My wife and I looked at a mind boggling 119 acre piece last year. It was within our budget. It had views for 100 miles north and west, all the way into VT. Just gorgeous.

It would have been 60k to complete the driveway and $120k for electricity. Which put it outside our range.

My R/E agent reminded me that you always need to consider the "developed" price for a given piece of land.
Click to expand...
A lot of the appreciation in the north country is because of the new ATV trail system. I think there are folks who go up and rent an atv only to discover that its a pretty cool place to vacation. No crowds, small town, cell service, lakes, moose, cool places to eat, etc. Much different vibe than the lakes region.

For the OHRV crowd historically there was only snowmobile season. Now with good atv trails you have another 20 week season that is not so affected by the weather. If there is no snow there is no season for sleds. For atv's a bit of rain is the best time to ride because it keeps the dust down.

Once the atv trail system matures I think we will discover that the north country can generate more steady tourist revenue than any other place in NH. You get 14+ weeks of snow season, 20 weeks of ATV season, 8 weeks of hunting (not sure), and then leaf peeping season. That does not leave much downtime.
 
i have a small lot of land, 12 acres in the mountains of southern colorado. i bought it in 1976 for crazy cheap money and was going to put a vermont log style home on it to retire to. never did that. [crying] when i lived in colorado i was 40 minutes away and went to see if it was still there one time. looked the same as it did 25 years prior and the view was still spectacular. so in the end, i bought land just because. taxes are minscule, 55 bucks/year so i just keep it and write the tax off.

oddly, in the last few years, i'm getting letters from real estate developers offering to buy it from me. and these offers are steadily getting larger sooo...... a little investigation is in order, maybe a visit even to see what's going on.
 
Mark from MA said:
The other drawbacks of raw land is that I won't be there year round and dont want to have issues with trespassers if I put a cabin or something on it.
I know I can talk to the neighbors about stuff like that but still it can me an issue. I don't want some Methhead a**h***s ruining my shxt.
Click to expand...
yep that is a problem.
one thing that helps....if you have a fairly long driveway, so the house can not be seen from the road, and you put up a stout metal gate at the end of the driveway (the types the forest service uses to close down their dirt roads).

having neighbors helps some, but only if they are nearby. like you have a bunch of neighbors on 10 acre plots, they can pretty much notice if something is going bad. If they are too far away to not hear or see anything....not gonna help.

Helps if you only have a garage to lock up.....a full house i would be worrying about someone stripping out the copper wire for scrap, or copper piping if it is an older house.
 
GomerPile said:
A lot of the appreciation in the north country is because of the new ATV trail system. I think there are folks who go up and rent an atv only to discover that its a pretty cool place to vacation. No crowds, small town, cell service, lakes, moose, cool places to eat, etc. Much different vibe than the lakes region.

For the OHRV crowd historically there was only snowmobile season. Now with good atv trails you have another 20 week season that is not so affected by the weather. If there is no snow there is no season for sleds. For atv's a bit of rain is the best time to ride because it keeps the dust down.

Once the atv trail system matures I think we will discover that the north country can generate more steady tourist revenue than any other place in NH. You get 14+ weeks of snow season, 20 weeks of ATV season, 8 weeks of hunting (not sure), and then leaf peeping season. That does not leave much downtime.
Click to expand...
Unless or until like massachusetts, liberals decide the trails dig up the woods too much. And virtually ban them.
 
GomerPile said:
A lot of the appreciation in the north country is because of the new ATV trail system. I think there are folks who go up and rent an atv only to discover that its a pretty cool place to vacation. No crowds, small town, cell service, lakes, moose, cool places to eat, etc. Much different vibe than the lakes region.

For the OHRV crowd historically there was only snowmobile season. Now with good atv trails you have another 20 week season that is not so affected by the weather. If there is no snow there is no season for sleds. For atv's a bit of rain is the best time to ride because it keeps the dust down.

Once the atv trail system matures I think we will discover that the north country can generate more steady tourist revenue than any other place in NH. You get 14+ weeks of snow season, 20 weeks of ATV season, 8 weeks of hunting (not sure), and then leaf peeping season. That does not leave much downtime.
Click to expand...
Don't forget bird hunting. I go grouse and woodcock hunting up in Pittsburg.

Where we bought its not about ATVs. We are within 20 minutes of Cannon, Waterville, and Loon. I can go a bit north and hike a 4000 footer. I can go a bit south and hang with a friend who has a house on Squam, who I'm hoping will let me keep a boat on his bulkhead at some point. All within 2 hrs of Boston, which is where we would get medical care if anything serious came up.
 
massgun said:
Think twice about buying a property in SC and not living in it, there are property tax implications if you are not claiming it as your primary residence. Even if you move to SC and have a house and decide to buy another property, say a beach house in SC, you must claim one property as your primary and the other will be taxed at a much higher rate, like about 3 times the rate if it were your primary.
Click to expand...
Its double if you don't live there. But I did forget about that. If I rent it its a write off which I need right now, because I have no mortgage. In any event it will still be thousands cheaper than any property in this shithole state, even at double.
 
boiler_eng said:
I would say that random land and farmland are two very different things.

If someone let me in on a large farm deal I would be all for it, but buying up small sections bit by bit has got to be very expensive. You can buy 2000 acres for a lot less per acre than you can buy 20 acres if the quality of land is equal.
Click to expand...
Billy is not buying that land to resell it to your sons and daughters so they can build a nice little cabin someday, that's for sure. Control the food, control the people.
 
massgun said:
Think twice about buying a property in SC and not living in it, there are property tax implications if you are not claiming it as your primary residence. Even if you move to SC and have a house and decide to buy another property, say a beach house in SC, you must claim one property as your primary and the other will be taxed at a much higher rate, like about 3 times the rate if it were your primary.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the way I purchased in SC, we purchased it as a 2nd home. So they wouldn't allow me to declare it as my primary residence at first. I had to come down and then fill out paperwork to get the lower tax rate. I almost forgot all about the paperwork.
 
I’m glad I bought raw land. 25 acres in central Ma. It’s got very fine timber at 2k trees an acre, high agroforestry potential, 1300ft of paved/maintained road frontage, borders a few hundred acres of untouched DCR and WMA land, has existing cart paths, 4 buildable lots, and will be placed in Ch.61 with taxes costing about $41 per year. You’d be surprised how much more power you have over your land (legally speaking) when you put it in current use. I can selectively cut this forest for revenue. Stump prices will be going up. Have you seen the piece of lumber recently? I have future plans for building on it and for my daughters to possibly build on it too. Comparable lots are now costing 50-150% more just since the end of 2020. Get it perc’d. Know that you will find a good water source on it. Study maps, viewers, property abutters, any kind of brownfield events, etc. If you find the right land, have the vision for it, and do your due diligence, you will do very well if not for the very basic reason of soothing your soul with what nature has to offer. It’s. It’s nice to be able to rip off some rifle rounds on your land and on your own time. This is just another investment in your basket. Have a variable basket of investments.

Btw I’m amazed at the amount of vacant land owned in Ma by out of staters in the thousands and thousands of acres. Using the Ma property tax viewer is a great tool. Maybe other states have such a software available? I was hoping the Boy Scouts would sell off some parcels after the diddlers caused trouble for that organization lol. I needed to be close to work in Boston so this option in Ma suited me best.
 
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djbradles said:
I’m glad I bought raw land. 25 acres in central Ma. It’s got very fine timber at 2k trees an acre, high agroforestry potential, 1300ft of paved/maintained road frontage, borders a few hundred acres of untouched DCR and WMA land, has existing cart paths, 4 buildable lots, and will be placed in Ch.61 with taxes costing about $41 per year. You’d be surprised how much more power you have over your land (legally speaking) when you put it in current use. I can selectively cut this forest for revenue. Stump prices will be going up. Have you seen the piece of lumber recently? I have future plans for building on it and for my daughters to possible build on it too. Comparable lots are now costing 50-150% more just since the end of 2020. Get it perc’d. Know that you will find a good water source on it. Study maps, viewers, property abutters, any kind of brownfield events, etc. If you find the right land, have the vision for it, and do your due diligence, you will do very well if not for the very basic reason of soothing your soul with what nature has to offer. It’s. It’s nice to be able to rip off some rifle rounds on your land and on your own time. This is just another investment in your basket. Have a variable basket of investments.

Btw I’m amazed at the amount of vacant land owned in Ma by out of staters in the thousands and thousands of acres. Using the Ma property tax viewer is a great tool. Maybe other states have such a software available? I was hoping the Boy Scouts would sell off some parcels after the diddlers causes trouble for that organization lol. I needed to be close to work in Boston so this option in Ma suited me best.
Click to expand...
The newer rules of 61, A, B, are a pretty good deal if you swing the timing right on first refusal/tax year/just remove it from the program.
Problem for the last few years is lack of value on low grade stuff AKA chips and finding somebody to do it for no out of pocket expense.
Sure if you supplement the costs they can bang out 30 acres but years back you got paid.
 
Asaltweapon said:
The newer rules of 61, A, B, are a pretty good deal if you swing the timing right on first refusal/tax year/just remove it from the program.
Problem for the last few years is lack of value on low grade stuff AKA chips and finding somebody to do it for no out of pocket expense.
Sure if you supplement the costs they can bang out 30 acres but years back you got paid.
Click to expand...
That’s my exact plan. You can only timber once every 20 years at a bare minimum. Forget oak. It depends on how selective the first cut is and whether you have enough standing quality veneer, saw, and chip left lol. The landing site can be my homesite leaving me only stumps to finish up. Cut in a lot one time anytime in the ten years without penalty. Let the 10 year plan expire afterwards. Cut out lots for family and then renew it again with existing acreage (over 10 and if the program maintains existing regs). My forest is very dense and needs some timbering anyways. I could leave it as is with passive management and still not pay any taxes for 10 years straight. I consider $40 a year to be basically tax free.

ETA: there are also several cost sharing programs with the DCR and FDA to help with management plans, treatments, disease mitigation, etc.
 
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My grandfather did this. 1/2 acre plots all around Florida that were a pain to get rid of. We still have 20 acres in La Pine Oregon. I think it was Army Corp of Engineering land (he worked for them) that was logged around 1960 and then sold off. It abuts BLM land, but it's almost impossible to build on, so it's only worth less then $50k. I hoping it gets re-zoned in the next couple of years.

There's not point in owning just to own. Either you think it's a good investment or it's something you can use for something.
 
djbradles said:
I’m glad I bought raw land. 25 acres in central Ma. It’s got very fine timber at 2k trees an acre, high agroforestry potential, ... I can selectively cut this forest for revenue. Stump prices will be going up.
Click to expand...
520h8d.jpg

@MGnoob
 
djbradles said:
Btw I’m amazed at the amount of vacant land owned in Ma by out of staters in the thousands and thousands of acres. Using the Ma property tax viewer is a great tool. Maybe other states have such a software available? I was hoping the Boy Scouts would sell off some parcels after the diddlers caused trouble for that organization lol. I needed to be close to work in Boston so this option in Ma suited me best.
Click to expand...

Not that I've looked at all 50, but every state I have looked at has some form of online GIS information available. What's in that database has varied from state to state, but it's a good place to start.

Example: Maine Office of GIS
 
robjax said:
technology pretty much eliminates the need for utilities. As long as you can drill for water, put in solar or wind or both you can be totally off the grid.

Satellite tv and internet services not the only issue is how far the store is for you to buy your milk/booze.
Click to expand...
My town would not issue a occupancy permit unless I was on National Grid. Nor was it a easy process for solar with their permits and baby turtle studies.

I had a diesel generator, and propane house generator.

The state of massachusetts is a joke and if it wasn't for family id be gone .
 

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