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[–]yetanotherone_sigh[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Cost of land: $39,000. Appraisal value: $62,000.

The people who had this land were hippies who wanted to have a commune and live off grid. They wanted the property to be a nature preserve with edible landscaping. There are two gardens on the property, but they are heavily overgrown now.

I got it really cheap because they were several years behind on their property taxes and they were close to losing the property. The total cost of the land was $34K. The back taxes and closing costs counted up the other $5K. I had a 20% down payment. I went to my credit union only to find out that banks do not often give loans on "bare dirt". So I got a signature loan for the rest of it. Unfortunately they tend to have a high percentage rate, but what are you gonna do?

That was 2.5 years ago. 2.5 years to go before it's paid off. $600 a month is worth it. I smile every month when I make that payment. I am at the point now in the loan when most of the interest is paid off and you can see the principal shrinking down pretty fast, over $400 a month.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

So that's about $5k per acre. That's pretty good.

Most important question: What are your yearly taxes for the 8 acres? I've seen taxes range from $1800/yr to $60/yr for land that size.

[–]yetanotherone_sigh[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It's $600 a year at the newly assessed value of $62K. I think that's more than fair.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yeah that's not bad. You know in texas it's not legally required to have your land re-assessed by the gov't after sale so you can often pay the old tax rate, as many do, so it's possible to find land in texas that has taxes of $60/year without any exemptions. Then also there is land that has forestry exemptions, if you grow a forestry business the taxes on that land are only $5/acre per year, but that does come with restrictions about how much of your land has to remain forested

[–]yetanotherone_sigh[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I bought this land to basically be able to camp in (the state campgrounds are really crowded and noisy) and we ended up building cabins and eventually I will live there full time. But it's my intention to leave most of it wild except for some trails and a footbridge across the creek. The only thing I will do is maybe clear 1/2 acre for gardens. The taxes are not burdensome. It wouldn't really qualify anyway; this land has been clear cut once (old growth Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar) in the 1930s, then it was replanted probably in the 1950s, and it was clear cut once again maybe 20 years ago. The timber that is standing now was not replanted Douglas Fir. They didn't replant it and it basically grew up with scrub brush. The overwhelmingly fast growth of Vine Maple caused it to take over and I basically have a thick forest of young Vine Maple with very few other trees mixed in. They are maybe 50-60 feet tall. Anyway, it probably wouldn't qualify for tax credits because it's not original and I'm not a forestry business. But it doesn't matter anyway. I'll never sell it or cut them down. I wanted to own a slice of forest with no people in it.