Is anyone else buying land?

[BettyR]

Quote:
Hi Squeaky,

I sure hope that's the case, I would really hate to think that the poor guy was stuck here because of something bad that happened to him.

Quote:
I’ve thought of that and I do feel bad about it but I can’t see any way of finding out unless I dig up the old septic tank. Then there’s the possibility that I could go to all the trouble and expense of digging it up and find that there is nothing in there.

Although I do think it’s strange that the dogs keep trying to dig it up yet they’ve never been diggers before and they never dig anywhere else in the yard, just that one spot.

I’m also a little hesitant to dig it up because I’m afraid of what I might find, it’s a lot easier to just suppose that a body might be there and still be able to laugh at myself and convince myself that I’m being a silly goose than it would be to know for sure that it’s really there.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
I live in Potosi, about halfway between Abilene and Tuscola. It's pretty arid here, lots of mesquite and cactus and not much else. The jobs are in the city and once you get out towards places like Hawley and Tuscola you are right at a 30 minute drive to work in the city, which is about the limit for most people. When they say 5 acres, picture a square piece of land alongside the highway with not much else, no trees, probably been grubbed of mesquite, with the cactus starting to grow back, needing some serious landscaping, and the wind just howling through there 4 months out of the year.

But, other than that, homes and property within the Abilene area are fairly reaonable anyway. The market here didn't have the big runup that most areas saw in the years before the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Two years ago, we bought a 2400 sq ft, seven year old, transitional ranch home on a half acre in a subdivision outside of town. It was a custom built house and has fantastic cabinetry and fixtures, has a large concrete circular drive to the front door, plus a 6' privacy fence around the quarter acre out back. We paid $170K, but I think this home in most other markets would have been in the mid $200s or higher at the time.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Me too. I just closed on this property in Wisconsin last week. It's 5 acres with a 7 year old ranch home. The house is about 1800 square ft with a full, partially finished, basement. 2.5 car attached garage, plus above ground swimming pool with large deck out back. The house alone appraised for $250K. In addition there is an older barn and silo. Barn needs shingles and siding, but is solid. There is also a large steel pole barn with a 2500 hen organic layer operation. It has automatic waterers and feeders, egg collection belts, and egg cooler room. They have an agreement with Organic Valley for a pay price of $1.87 a dozen this year and produce about 60,000 dozen eggs a year.

The fellow was asking $340K originally and had dropped the price to $330K about the time I saw the ad. I talked him down to $305K, but since I can't retire from the Air Force for another year, I leased it back to him at a very low cost for the next year.

Expensive, but this is quintessential Southwest Wisconsin farm land. Picture red barns and happy dairy cows grazing on lush pastures nestled amongst the Mississippi River bluffs a few miles from the river. Also, it's only a 15 minute drive to the city.

Typically the farms for sale in the area are so far out in the county that unless you are a full time farmer it's too far to drive into the city for most people. If the farms are below $150K they usually include a very run down old farmhouse and outbuildings on a few acres or they have a nice home and large acreage for $500K and more. The ones in between are hard to find. When I saw this with the poultry operation a few miles from where I grew up I couldn't resist.

 

[speckledhen]

I love the place, Mac. My small house on 5.37 acres is worth about $250K or so, or was a few months ago, who knows now? Anyway, I couldnt afford to buy it myself right now. We're selling 3.15 acres of our land to pay off the small mortgage on the house and the 2.22 acres. That's not as much as I want to keep, but to be mortgage-free is worth it, I guess.

 

[holliewould]

Quote:
Me too. I just closed on this property in Wisconsin last week. It's 5 acres with a 7 year old ranch home. The house is about 1800 square ft with a full, partially finished, basement. 2.5 car attached garage, plus above ground swimming pool with large deck out back. The house alone appraised for $250K. In addition there is an older barn and silo. Barn needs shingles and siding, but is solid. There is also a large steel pole barn with a 2500 hen organic layer operation. It has automatic waterers and feeders, egg collection belts, and egg cooler room. They have an agreement with Organic Valley for a pay price of $1.87 a dozen this year and produce about 60,000 dozen eggs a year.

The fellow was asking $340K originally and had dropped the price to $330K about the time I saw the ad. I talked him down to $305K, but since I can't retire from the Air Force for another year, I leased it back to him at a very low cost for the next year.

Expensive, but this is quintessential Southwest Wisconsin farm land. Picture red barns and happy dairy cows grazing on lush pastures nestled amongst the Mississippi River bluffs a few miles from the river. Also, it's only a 15 minute drive to the city.

Typically the farms for sale in the area are so far out in the county that unless you are a full time farmer it's too far to drive into the city for most people. If the farms are below $150K they usually include a very run down old farmhouse and outbuildings on a few acres or they have a nice home and large acreage for $500K and more. The ones in between are hard to find. When I saw this with the poultry operation a few miles from where I grew up I couldn't resist.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/mgmccarty/W546.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g215/mgmccarty/Picture030.jpg

Very nice land you got. Not too big and not too small. Love the areal pics too.

It's like a turnkey piece of land. So do you plan on taking over the poultry operation when you retire?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
Absolutely worth it. Right now we we are just working on making ourselves debt free other than the mortgage in Wisconsin. Our home in Abilene has appreciated a little so when we sell this place next spring we should have everything but the mortgage in Wisconsin paid off, to include a 26' motorhome and three vehicles between us and the two boys. Along with an old '70 Plymouth 'Cuda that I bought when i was a young airman it should be quite a caravan to Wisconsin...

 

[d.k]

* My DH might be willing to take the 'Cuda off your hands. We had a restored '66 when we got married. Had an accident when some stoners ran a light. Insurance offered us $328.OO for the totaled 'Cuda. Hurt worse than the accident. We also had a '66 T-Bird that was stolen from us. . . . . by a cop!!!!!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
You betcha, I probably wouldn't have been too interested except for the poultry operation. My wife retired from the Air Force seven years ago and I can retire next year. Between our pensions, other benefits we get from the VA, and egg money we really won't need to work, but then I'm only 38. After 20 years in the Air Force and multiple deployments over the past several years, I'm ready for a break. I'll see if I can keep busy with the eggs and a pick your own berry operation I'm contemplating, but expect to go back to work or go to school full time under the GI Bill, eventually.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

d.k :

* My DH might be willing to take the 'Cuda off your hands. We had a restored '66 when we got married. Had an accident when some stoners ran a light. Insurance offered us $328.OO for the totaled 'Cuda. Hurt worse than the accident. We also had a '66 T-Bird that was stolen from us. . . . . by a cop!!!!!

I'm kind of attached to it... Although now it's definitely worth a lot more than the $3500 I gave some kid one afternoon 20 years ago.​

 

[65browneyes]

Quote:
Cheap in Arizona??? Not that I've seen. A residential LOT in a POA is listed at $89,900. A friend sold her 6 acres in Very Small Town-Rural Nowhereville 3 years ago for $350,000. We're in central Arizona.

I'd love to know where the cheap land is. I might take some of it myself.




ETA, the 6 acres in Nowhereville included a couple ancient single-wide mobiles and 20 something years of junk.