Do you own lots of land ( > 2 acres)? If so, what are the biggest downsides?

[KentState]

I have an acre with a lot of landscaping and it's very time consuming. I'm taking steps like thinning out flower beds, putting down mulch beds along the border of the yard and adding more pavers or crushed rock paths. Also removed a lot of trees that dropped branches and looked suspect. I would think with a lot that's mostly grass you could get a nice riding mower and be able to go over it at least in an hour.

 

[PricklyPete]

We had a bunch of acres when I lived in CT as a kid...and it was very little work as we only maintained a very small amount around the house...the rest was woods. I LOVED it as a child.

I have lived on small city plots as an adult and do not find the small amount of landscaping that I do very enjoyable. There are so many outdoor activities I would rather be doing. That being said, my long term goal is to buy a 40+ acre property up in Steamboat Springs at some point. It will be managed in a similar way that my parents house was in CT.

 

[nakedfrog]

damn nakedfrog you blew my mind with these dome houses, now I gotta find out how much it'll cost to build this in SoCal.

https://naturalspacesdomes.com/domes_for_sale.htm#California

I've been pretty intrigued with them since the first time I visited one, not far from Austin TX.

 

[Ns1]

Quick update - currently looking for 5-10 acres about 25 miles away from the city center.

I have strong concerns over brush fires in the area but that seems to be the hidden cost of acreage around these parts.

 

[Mandres]

As someone else mentioned, make sure you check on the property taxes. Different states have different rules and tax rates so I can't give specific advice. But don't let yourself be surprised by a massive tax bill.

 

[highland145]

As someone else mentioned, make sure you check on the property taxes. Different states have different rules and tax rates so I can't give specific advice. But don't let yourself be surprised by a massive tax bill.

Haven't followed the thread but ours is stupid low for raw land if you declare it agricultural. I paid $28 for 8ac last year.

 

[zinfamous]

Have 7.3ac property. 6ac of just grass. 3.5hrs to cut with a 72" mower on the tractor, 3hrs of edging and trimming. In full growing season, has to be done every 7 days or it gets too tall. You try to split it up so you don't have to do it all in one day, but then 4 days later you say 'I gotta cut the f'ing grass again?' So then you just do it all in one day and it's 100F and 5000% humidity and you say, never again.

or, like, don't plant crappy grass that grows like that. Let the birds take over and decide what needs to be planted. Sounds like a lot of wasted human hours for nothing.

 

[zinfamous]

Haven't followed the thread but ours is stupid low for raw land if you declare it agricultural. I paid $28 for 8ac last year.

yup yup. My great uncle owned metric buttloads of land throughout Raleigh for several decades. He was an old, should-have been-long retired dentist that never retired, and lived out in the woods. Grew up thinking he was a farmer, because he had two herds of cattle on his land and some horses running around.

Turns out, his accountant told him to put the cows in one of his "pastures" so that it could be considered ag. The horses...well, someone just gave them to him for some reason and he let them run around and go wild. He once listed them as free in the classifieds. Someone showed up, uncle told them that the horses are theirs, if they can catch them.

 

[zinfamous]

my thoughts are they aren't making any more land. if you have the opportunity and the funds I say go for it. 7 acres isn't that much. It might take a yr or 3 to get it under control and maintainable, but it wouldn't be of much concern to me. I have my house on an 8.3 acre piece. we farm 6.5-7 of it now and I maintain about 1.3 acres of grass.
if and when we are done farming the remainder and I had to maintain, I would simply plant native prairie grass with some trees. It will require 2, maybe 3 mows a yr for the first couple yrs, but you could always hire that out if you don't think you could handle it. I have neighbors with 3 acres the only maintain .5-1 acre of it.

goats

 

[nakedfrog]

Turns out, his accountant told him to put the cows in one of his "pastures" so that it could be considered ag. The horses...well, someone just gave them to him for some reason and he let them run around and go wild. He once listed them as free in the classifieds. Someone showed up, uncle told them that the horses are theirs, if they can catch them.

Sounds like potential for good, free entertainment.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Quick update - currently looking for 5-10 acres about 25 miles away from the city center.

I have strong concerns over brush fires in the area but that seems to be the hidden cost of acreage around these parts.

goats

I've been trying to champion the idea of goats to my significant other for about 5 years now. We had (have) a property in SC we were living in on a little less than an acre, I worked it out to be enough to feed like three or four goats if I had fenced it off for 'em. If I got a property big enough I might seriously reconsider my IT career and just go into goat herding, or I guess sheep now since I'm further north.

 

[highland145]

@[DHT]Osiris Looks like there's an opening.

http://likethedew.com/2009/09/07/remembering-the-goat-man/#.WRXme8a1s2w

 

[Ns1]

Goats don't eat foxtails so they're useless to me.

 

[Scarpozzi]

You could get some goats and let them manage the vegetation.....added bonus is you'd have goats milk and cheese you could sell... (if you're a fan)

A friend of mine raises cattle on his land and his family slaughters one or two per year for money and to stock their freezer.

The biggest downside to livestock is managing them if you travel....and upfront cost of acquiring them....and vet bills, etc... Otherwise, just pick a part of the land to mow and maintain...let the rest grow up....get some 2" limestone and make roads where you need them (fairly cheap to have a truck dump aggregate where you want it)

 

[Ns1]

Update: our facility is moving out onto 2 acres in BFE zoned heavy agriculture. We're going all in O_O

pray for me ATOT.

 

[zinfamous]

good luck to you NS1. I do hope it does not burn down.

 

[piasabird]

Find out if there are taxes. Maybe if you keep some livestock like horses or cows or chickens, it might be farmland and the taxes may be different. Make sure you know about the taxes before you buy. Unless you plan on farming, or have enough money for taxes, I would consider not going there. Then what about things like the Internet? is it available? You could build a second house and rent it out or something.

 

[piasabird]

I saw a plot of land similar in size and they planted christmas trees.

 

[Muse]

If you're gonna have horses, fenced areas take out a lot of the work. The horses will handle it. Of course, then you have horses. All the money of boat, 25% of the fun, and horse people are insane.

Interesting. I used to work on the docks, taking care of other people's boats, usually boats that were for sale in a big marina. That view of the world of boating served to disillusion me about aquatic life and I gave up my dreams of sailing around the world, etc.

As a kid, I aspired to have a horse. Of course, nobody I knew had a horse, I was in the middle of a giant city. Horse people are insane? Interesting idea. My dental hygienist a while back was mad crazy for riding and owned a horse that was kept for her out in the sticks. Horseback riding is a wonderful thing, but owning horses is about a lot more than saddling and riding them!

People profess to loving their horses. They talk about how intelligent they are, how they have personalities. I've never experienced that side of horses. I used to ride, had a job riding horses, but I didn't feel like I had relationships with them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Saw a plot of land of 100 acres for like 20k in my area. There's another one of 8 acres with a 300' radio tower for around 60k. I have to stop looking at land, I will end up buying something I don't need. lol.

 

[zinfamous]

Saw a plot of land of 100 acres for like 20k in my area. There's another one of 8 acres with a 300' radio tower for around 60k. I have to stop looking at land, I will end up buying something I don't need. lol.

who says you don't need it? Does the 100 acre lot of nearby easements or any level space where you can build? does it have a pond or stream anywhere on it? unless it's completely uninhabitable or unusable for recreation, $20k seems cheap, especially if you don't have a requirement to develop within a certain time frame.

 

[lxskllr]

who says you don't need it? Does the 100 acre lot of nearby easements or any level space where you can build? does it have a pond or stream anywhere on it? unless it's completely uninhabitable or unusable for recreation, $20k seems cheap, especially if you don't have a requirement to develop within a certain time frame.

Depending on the property taxes, $20k(That's like $500 freedom dollars, right?) it's an impulse buy. I'd get it just so I could sit in the middle, and not see anyone else.

 

[Red Squirrel]

who says you don't need it? Does the 100 acre lot of nearby easements or any level space where you can build? does it have a pond or stream anywhere on it? unless it's completely uninhabitable or unusable for recreation, $20k seems cheap, especially if you don't have a requirement to develop within a certain time frame.

Yeah did not look at it much, it mentioned it was near a lake and had a stream, so it does have potential. At that price, I have a feeling it may have restrictions of sorts though. I might actually inquire for kicks. It's in an unorganized township which I think basically is a nice way of saying "small goverment". aka probably low taxes and barely no bylaws which would be a bonus.

At that price, would not be surprised if bank would just let me roll that into my existing mortgage lol.

In all reality I don't even know what I'd do with that much land haha. Could rent trap lines on it and make money. Hmmmm. There's probably a catch to owning lots of land like that though like weird liability stuff. If a plane crashes in it, or a hunter wanders on and gets hurt etc I'm probably liable. Though in a secluded area like that I imagine that risk is very low. Stick no trespassing signs all around and that probably covers my butt.

I see land like that pop up often enough anyway, so when I'm in a position where I actually have the money to build something I may actually consider it more seriously.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah did not look at it much, it mentioned it was near a lake and had a stream, so it does have potential. At that price, I have a feeling it may have restrictions of sorts though. I might actually inquire for kicks. It's in an unorganized township which I think basically is a nice way of saying "small goverment". aka probably low taxes and barely no bylaws which would be a bonus.

At that price, would not be surprised if bank would just let me roll that into my existing mortgage lol.

In all reality I don't even know what I'd do with that much land haha. Could rent trap lines on it and make money. Hmmmm. There's probably a catch to owning lots of land like that though like weird liability stuff. If a plane crashes in it, or a hunter wanders on and gets hurt etc I'm probably liable. Though in a secluded area like that I imagine that risk is very low. Stick no trespassing signs all around and that probably covers my butt.

I see land like that pop up often enough anyway, so when I'm in a position where I actually have the money to build something I may actually consider it more seriously.

doesn't matter. like lxskllr said, it's basically throw away money. Hold onto it for decades until some asshole shows up and offers you millions.

What are building costs around there? I imagine you could put a decent cabin or even a fair-sized 2-3 bedroom structure on there for ~ 200k US Freedom dollars, no?

or make a rustic camp with a central community building and rent it out to various nutter groups.

 

[Red Squirrel]

doesn't matter. like lxskllr said, it's basically throw away money. Hold onto it for decades until some asshole shows up and offers you millions.

What are building costs around there? I imagine you could put a decent cabin or even a fair-sized 2-3 bedroom structure on there for ~ 200k US Freedom dollars, no?

or make a rustic camp with a central community building and rent it out to various nutter groups.

Yeah crossed my mind actually, even if I don't do anything with it, it is a potential investment. Though I could build some small cottages and rent them out. Not sure what cost of building would be compared to anywhere else, or how hard it would even be to get lumber delivered there as I don't have a truck.

I can't seem to find that particular one I saw but more here:

http://www.recreationland.net/recre...ario/Hunting_Land_and_Large_Acreage_For_Sale/

It's really tempting. But realistically think I'll wait till I get to a point where I can dedicate lot of time. Ex: retirement. My long term dream is to own land like that but lake front, and just live on it.