A good friend and his wife checked out a camp just down the road from me. Their experience really brought home how out of touch I am with house prices.
Here’s some background. The camp is located in a very rural area. It has year round road access and grid power. That’s about it. The lot is only 0.2 acre. There’s only so much you can do with a fifth of an acre.
The building itself was a tear down. There was no fixing it. The foundation had collapsed and only some hastily erected timbers kept it from falling down. The old heating oil tank was sitting on the ground next to the house. The “new” tank had never been connected. Heat and cooking was provided by 20 lb propane tanks in the living room. The walls were falling apart. There was no fixing the problems.
Then I found out they were asking $110,000. Now there are some places where that wouldn’t even cause someone to blink. However, out here in the woods it looks more than a little excessive. Apparently it’s not out of line for the area right now. In that case my weedy and rocky archery range is is worth north of $200,000 -judging by the half acre it sits on.
When you hold onto property for a long time it’s easy to loose touch on what land is going for. I’m still in shock.
-Sixbears
Beyond the mobility of money going from selling your NYC or Boston place and buying a "Cheap" (to you) remote working home and the decay of the dollar, it's not surprising.
ReplyDeleteThat they can tear it down and replace is its value. Previous structure "Rights".
Pity the not so mobile locals lose even more of their ability to buy a home and the taxes, even on landlords climb to meet the "New Valuations".
Thus, rent prices go up, harming low income locals even more.
Always go to town meetings to keep an eye on your councilmen. Don't get surprised by a "New Assessment" charge for whatever. Our town has virtual meeting and online input.
My lovey wife and I have shown up at meetings and asked embarrassing questions.
DeleteWhile the lot is too small to build on with the new zoning it is grandfathered under the old laws. Good catch there.