I wish to buy vacant building lots for investment purposes. These
investment lots should have the following characteristics:
-In the Southern US, no further west than Texas, and no further north
than North Carolina
-They should be in a developing subdivision along with many other vacant lots
- They should be located in an area that will be in high demand either
because of high expected population growth or desirable features such
as a lake or coastal or golf community, or some other factor.
-Shopping, medical facilities, and a major airport should be no more
than an hour away
Basically I am looking for subdivisions and opportunities with high
potential for appreciation. For example Cape Coral Fl, or Palm bay,
Fl. However I do NOT want areas that have already seen huge
appreciation and may have peaked (such as Cape Coral or Palm bay). I
want areas that are poised to take off within a year or 2.
-Expectation of price appreciation should be backed up by solid
reasons and links to MLS listings for the areas.
Lots that are less than 15K per acre are more desirable, whether they
be less than an acre or more. These will be more affordable to a wider
audience. Unless they are waterfront, in which case they can be more
(but must still be a good relative value)
If builders are building in the area, that is a plus.
Areas attractive for retirement, second homes, or experiencing high growth are best
What I would like is a ranked list of 20 such areas, backed up by
reasons for expected appreciation. Again, I dont want areas that have
already been widely discovered and priced up already. I want the areas
that will be "next" for savvy investors and I want to know WHY. |
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
27 Sep 2005 13:28 PDT
Hello, amber35!
A question I answered a short time ago might give you a place to
start. Have a look through, and see if it answers some of your
questions or helps you to narrow down some towns or cities of
interest. I realize the answer does not pinpoint specific subdivisions
and housing prices, but your question is so broad that you might be
able to focus in on some locales that you prefer in order to make
researching an answer a bit easier. Let me know what you think after
you have taken a look at the following:
http://www.answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=558579
Thanks - umiat
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
27 Sep 2005 14:09 PDT
One further suggestion. You have asked for a "ranked list of 20 such
areas, backed up by reasons for expected appreciation." I doubt that
even a professional real estate investor would lay themselves on the
line by suggesting rankings. Some suggested areas of potential might
be a possibility, but you are asking for a tremendous amount of
research for the price offered. To compile a list of even ten such
investment areas, with subdivisions, with varying acreages, would take
days and days of research. As one who has been involved in a fair
amount of real estate investment, I can honestly say that in-depth
online research followed by actual visits and conversations with
realtors and builders is crucial to outlining areas for investment.
That takes a lot of work for one location, let alone twenty!
Do you have any thoughts on whether you might want to change your
question parameters to make obtaining an answer more realistic?
|
Clarification of Question by
amber35-ga
on
27 Sep 2005 14:58 PDT
Umiat,
Actually I had already read your first post to the previous question,
and that is what gave me the idea to post my own question and try the
Google answer service. As far as the amount of research involved, I
agree with you that before investing money, one must visit the areas,
talk to realtors, etc.. The purpose of my question is to get ideas as
to which areas might be worth visiting and learning more about. I dont
expect a huge formal report. I just want ideas and the broad reasons
for those ideas.
Rankings would be somewhat subjective of course.
I am hoping that someone with more online research expertise than I
can identify some key indicators that would drive future appreciation,
then using those target some areas.
Perhaps you can propose a way to narrow the question and still end up
with useful info. I am open to suggestions.
Thanks
PS Pls forgive me if I am out of touch for a couple of days, I will be
traveling looking at different areas!
|
Clarification of Question by
amber35-ga
on
27 Sep 2005 15:14 PDT
PS:
Some indicators might be major builders buying up land, increase in
issuance of building permits, increase in subdivision applications,
surveyors/engineers seeing increased business, as well as major
retailers looking for land (Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc..). If
research has already been done by major companies, perhaps that is
available on their websites and can be used.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
27 Sep 2005 16:13 PDT
Actually, I prefer to go about researching areas in a very different
way. I tend to use relevant search terms to find new areas that are
picking up (for various reasons)in locations that interest me.
However, I guess it depends on whether you are looking for land for
relocation for yourself, or simply looking to invest in a lot(s) and
resell them when the appreciation is adequate.
Here are two examples of interesting locations and potential
investment opportunities I came across in a quick search:
Marble, North Carolina
=======================
"On a hillside at the remote western tip of North Carolina, real
estate agent Joey Reid is showing off the next big thing in this
area's booming market for vacation and retirement homes.
"Black Rock Falls will be the first upscale vacation development in
this town where modest vacation homes now sell for $160,000 to
$250,000, a four hour-plus drive from Charlotte, N.C.
"Atlantans priced out of the hot northern Georgia mountains and
Floridians disillusioned by that state's rampant growth are behind the
boom in Marble and nearby Murphy, N.C."
Read "Push for Second Homes Transforms Once Remote Areas - Buyers'
Plans for Retirement, Vacations Drive Market Boom," By Tim Whitmire.
Associated Press. August 13, 2005.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/12/AR2005081200733.html
BRUNSWICK COUNTY, N.C. (southern coast)
----------------------
"Quiet area explodes with housing growth," By Jenny Burns. March 2005.
http://www.villageofwoodsong.com/pdfs/Sun%20News%20article%20Mar%2013%202005.pdf
Brunswick County Guide
http://brunswickcountyguide.com/
Does research like this interest you, along with some links to the MLS
and Chamber of Commerce, etc? Simply narrowing down some promising
locations will be a task in itself. From there, if any developments
pique your interest, you can explore them further.
What do you think?
|
Clarification of Question by
amber35-ga
on
28 Sep 2005 17:42 PDT
Umiat,
Yes.. this is OK. I like NC. Maybe Tennessee would be good as well.
Also.. may I ask you if you know a feasible method for locating large
older subdivisions with a substantial # of vacant lots that may have
many owners that are delinquent in either taxes or owners association
dues? I just ran across something like this where a bunch of lots were
picked up by someone else for just a few hundred dollars each in a
pretty lakefront subdivision developed about 30 years ago, which was
dead until very recently. The POA had taken possession and sold them
off in a package deal...very cheap.
Thanks-
|
Clarification of Question by
amber35-ga
on
28 Sep 2005 19:04 PDT
Umiat-
PS: The research shd (naturally) be fresh.. preferably no more than a
month or two old.
Thanks
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
29 Sep 2005 11:14 PDT
Hello, amber35,
Thanks for getting back to me. Basically, I want to be sure that you
are fine with the initial approach suggested in my clarification with
the two "example" references. This approach does NOT go into
subdivision lot prices, new industry movement, economics, etc, which
would be an extremely extensive project. To be honest, I think it
would be a hard task in itself to pin down lot prices close to $15,000
in a desirable investment location. I was unable to locate lot prices
for the Black Rock Falls development mentioned above, but the
surrounding lots in the area were much higher. I would have to leave
it to you to investigate lot prices and call realtors.
Basically, the best I feel I can offer for a question like this is to
locate some recent articles in your geographic region of interest that
highlight new development opportunities that you might want to
investigate. Another approach for you is to look at land (not
necessarily in subdivisions) that lies on the outskirts of booming
areas that you can buy at a lower price and sell later. Again, I could
supply some locations, but you would need to do the deep
investigation.
How does this sound?
As for the second question involving picking up lots in a subdivision
due to delinquent taxes.....Do you remember where you heard about
that? I do not know of any method for finding these offers off-hand,
but I wonder if a developer/builder took them over?
Again, please let me know if my suggested approach to providing an
answer to your question is reasonable.
umiat
|
Clarification of Question by
amber35-ga
on
29 Sep 2005 14:17 PDT
Hi Umiat,
I think that if you give me several counties and preferably towns, I
can call realtors in that area and locate subdivisions that way.
Basically an area, and a short explanation of why you think its "up
and coming" as opposed to areas that are widely known to be "hot"
already.
As previously mentioned, another way to approach it might be to
research where large builders are "land banking", as well as where the
walmarts and home depots and other chains are scouting out land. I
dont mind following their research.. if we can get it!
If you think this is asking to be too specific, then I will
understand.. lets leave it at that.
Thanks-
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
29 Sep 2005 15:00 PDT
Thanks, amber. I will be working on an answer but I have to go out of
town for a few days. I will complete an answer for you by early next
week, if that's okay.
|
Clarification of Question by
amber35-ga
on
29 Sep 2005 16:03 PDT
Umiat,
OK, sounds good.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
umiat-ga
on
02 Oct 2005 20:11 PDT
Amber,
After several hours of research and a lot of thought, I am going to
pass on your question. There are so many factors involved in land
investment and speculation about future "booms" that even researching
areas in one state, let alone the string of states from NC to Texas,
would require far too many hours than the highest price allowed by
Google Answers. While I could provide you with names of towns or
counties that are likely to grow, I have no guarantee that the land
prices would be anything near your price range. To be honest, many of
the areas I have researched already far exceed your price parameters
or $15,000 or slightly more.
The best rule of thumb I can give you is to understand that the towns
around economically viable cities almost always provide good
investments as residents and businesses "spill over" to less-congested
areas. One strategy for you is to decide on a few locations of
interest, and then draw a series of concentric circles until you find
outlying towns with affordable building lots. You can then do more
in-depth research on each town to determine their characteristics, or
call a realtor to get a "feel" for the more desirable communities.
I do want to stress that big box realtors like Walmart and Home Depot
usually move in after a customer base has been established. They are
not "early indicators" of a future boom, as a rule.
I will leave you with a few more articles of interest:
"As Williamson fills up, is Rutherford the next hot market?," by Brian
Forrester. Nashville Business Journal. May 2005
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2005/05/16/focus1.html
"Developing Donna," by Matt Whittaker. The Monito. Sept. 30, 2005
http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=9432&Section=Business
From "Ties to the Land at Risk," By Jerry Hirsch, LATimes. 9/26/2005
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cheese26sep26,0,834706.story?coll=la-home-business
I have spent the last three days in three small cities in one of the
western states, trying to determine the best opportunities for some
land investments of our own. After looking, and looking, and
analyzing, and talking, and going back and forth about current prices
and future growth, etc, (not to mention driving over 1500 miles in the
process!!!) I realized that attempting to answer your question in the
manner which you desire would simply not be viable.
Perhaps another researcher will be able to help you in a more
efficient manner than I feel I would be able to do.
Sincerely,
umiat
|
Clarification of Question by
amber35-ga
on
03 Oct 2005 12:40 PDT
Umiat,
Appreciate your honesty. At the least you have given me food for thought!
|
