Over the years, I’ve heard from many of my readers who yearn to live in the hinterboonies. But they often say that they feel “stuck”, living where they are. One of the biggest impediments seems to be the cost of land, in their desired locale. Let’s face it: If you buy land in an area with a fairly mild climate, plentiful water, and fertile top soil, then odds are that it will have a fairly high “per acre” price. There is plenty of affordable desert scrub land on the market, for as little at $1,000 per acre. But good land now ranges from $5,000 to $25,000 per acre. (And even more, for particularly desirable “view” parcels, or for small lots, with utilities.)
This might seem daunting, but fear not. In my 20+ years of consulting, I’ve learned some key strategies for finding quality rural land at a reasonable price. But note that most of these take plenty of research, patience, and persistence. Here they are:
1.) Search for tax delinquencies. Back in the old days, this necessitated making a trip to the Assessor’s Office, at your county courthouse. But many of those public records are now available online. The ideal property to look for is a property with an out-of-state owner but that has not been listed for sale for more than three years. Getting a call from a would-be-buyer just a few days after receiving a tax delinquency notice is perfect timing.
2.) Watch for foreclosures. I noticed that in April, 2020, the folks at Lifewire published a fairly comprehensive list of foreclosure search/watch web sites: The Best Free Foreclosure Search Sites. This well-researched set of links is broke down into categories, such as: A.) Bank REOs, Government-Owned, and General Foreclosure, B.) REO, and Distressed Property Listings, and C.) Real Estate Agents, Brokers, and Property Services.
3.) Make a friend of a banker. Perhaps the best small investment you’ll ever make is buying a lunch or two, for a local banker. Do some phoning around and find out which bank in your area carries the most rural mortgages, and then ask who handles the foreclosures. This is the guy (or gal) that you want to take out to lunch and a chat. (If that individual is of the opposite sex, then make sure that your spouse joins you, for the luncheon appointment.) There is a huge advantage in getting to know each other, and letting that banker know that you are both earnest and qualified, and the type of property that you are looking for.
4. ) Watch for auctions. You will of course need to do your due diligence, but sometimes properties sell at auction far below the prevailing market price. Needless to say, never buy a piece of land sight unseen.
5.) Consider buying “tear-downs”. A lot of rural properties get overlooked by other buyers because they have standing houses on them that are substandard or totally dilapidated. But you need to just step back, squint, and ask: “Now what would this look like, without that collapsed single-wide there?” Often, such properties sell for less than nearby ‘bare land’ parcels, of similar size. Yet, consider that in many cases these properties already have an established power line, a phone line, an established spring or well, water lines, fencing (or at least surveyed property lines), some usable outbuildings, roads, cleared fields, fruit and nut trees, developed garden topsoil, and a septic system — and most or all of those can be re-used. (Hence saving you many thousands of dollars in property development costs.) Just be sure to factor in your eventual costs of demolishing and hauling away the material any unsalvageable dilapidated structures.Continue reading“Strategies for Buying Rural Land”
