What would it take to sell your property and start over ? I doubt this applies to those who live at their ponds, this question is mainly for remote property owners. If you could double your acreage, would you be willing to start all over ? I received an offer that has me looking to upgrade...would you take the chance of recreating your dream pond ? Just exactly how much do you think a 3 acre "lake" adds to the value of your property, would you believe $70,000 ?

You would not have to line up a whole bunch of planets for that to be realistic. Heck, location, location, and location would be the only 3 necessary planetary triplets required to get there.
I have always kept my eye on other options for our project. I am a firm believer that everything is for sale. I laid out the entry drive and some other logistics to allow for 3 - 4 prime, estate vacation building sites on a 5 acre pond. Never say never. Show me da money.
My parents did this a number of times. They would buy a small acreage piece of nothing, cobble together (with their own hands) a little vacation home package that they were sure would be their retirement home....then sell it. My Dad says there are 2 basic elements to remember if I follow in his shoes. Make sure you are near a good hospital and you better be where ya wanna be in the end by the time you hit 60. I still have a few more years to maneuver.

If I had plenty of land, no.
If I didn't have plenty of land, yes.
Definition of plenty is by each person.

I would want to have the new piece of land/pond already identified and locked down before I sold my current place.

Then I'd have to get my fish guy in with his truck and get serious about catching a heck of a lot of my better fish out of the current pond for transport to their new home.

I wouldn't fish my existing pond dry so as to keep it attractive to another person who wants a great fishing pond.

You have to be able to wait for a buyer who values your pond, not just the land (unless they are going to develop your land).

BTW, Lance, I love the last line in your signature bar. That says it all.

Eastland it depends. How much acerage will you pick up and will the new land be as good and closer to home? It varies from place to place but a 5 acre pond can cost 70 thousand to build and stock. I would not be against starting over but only if the new place was better and bigger. However if I recall you have family history there that would be hard to give up.

Doubling the acerage would get a serious consideration from me. Everything I own has a price.

Gator

I would, but only if I could sell for enough money to dig a bigger pond on a larger piece of land.

Every thing is for sale, trust me I know

ewest, I guess this is one of those "good" struggles. I have owned my place for 10 years, and there are a lot of memories there. After I bought it, it took me another 5 years to finally complete my pond without having to finance it. I have selected 4 potential new sites if I decide to sell, now I need to do my homework on watershed & soil. The best opportunity would expand my acreage from 50 acres to 130, adding about an hour to my drive time. It has an existing pond (see pic), I would have about 10K left over for bulldozer renovation.

Eastland, where is your current location? The new place looks awful arid, I'd worry about annual rainfall. My drive from home to farm is 100 miles. In my case the drive makes all the difference in the world. I could also sell and upgrade but I'm afraid the drive would wear me out.

Eastland, as I recall, your current drive is already brutal.

Adding another hour would be too over the top for me.

Eastland - Our place is for sale for $1,500,000 (if you are interested in fly-in type experience in Minnesota). The price includes a helicopter (engine needs repair, no props)

Ah yes, reminds of Clear & Present Danger.

"We don't rent the Huey anymore, but it's for sale."

"How much?"

"Two Million Dollars."

"My pilot would need to take it for a test ride."

"No problem...you just have to leave a deposit."

"How much is the deposit."

"Two Million dollars."

Eastland:

I'm not your intended audience, since I live at my pond. Home is also only 3 miles from my parents and 5 miles from work. I will be happy if I get to spend the rest of my life here ...

... BUT, I have a price for the place, a ridiculously high threshold that is what it would take to get me out of here. It has to be enough for my wife and I to buy 3 to 5 times as much land in a more economically challenged part of Ohio, where taxes are less. It has to have hunting acreage and pond sites; if there are any ponds on them that would be a plus. The big kicker is we'd have to get enough for our place to let me quit working for the man and spend the rest of my life farming, building, fishing, and hunting on my own place.

I may go into town once a week to go to Walmart.

electricity on site, plus column.

where is the old place/new place?

Gator

Theo Gallus - We would be happy to live the rest of our lives at our place too.

I walk to and from work every day of the year no matter how horrible our weather may be. 100 feet one way.

Sunil sure must watch a lot of movies! :p

"ditto" Theo

My place all ready has all of the features on Theo's wish list including being close to Walmart, except I'm still working for the man. If someone comes along and makes and offer that frees me from the man it's theirs. I miss mesquite trees and would love to move back home some day.

Eastland I was born in Breckenridge and raised just north of there in Throckmorton county.
Land that once sold for 350$ and acre 5 years ago now sales for 1200$ to 2500$ and acre. It's not ponds driving up the price it's Deer Hunting.
Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Brettski,

I agree with your Dad's approach, but would add one more requirement...be within 1-2 hours of a major airport. With commercial air availability and the internet, the world is at your doorstep.

if the price was right :rolleyes:

who wants to help me move my rocks?

i reckon i'll be here a while

Gator, your comment about the "plus column" was brought up by my Pop and others as well. I'm going to weigh the positive and negative side by putting everything in ledger form before making my decision...after all, time is on my side. There's enough city boy in me to know my property needs will remain recreational. My wildlife/pond goals weigh the same, a decent drive to seclusion is mandatory from DFW. Moving from Eastland County to somewhere near Coleman would be a 40 minute addition to my 183 mile trip...It's not as bad as it sounds, my trips out generally last 3 days. I sure like the thought of seeing more deer in a 5 limit County...now, if I can only couple that with an agricultural sized well ! and a cabin, and a draw that a bulldozer could close and double the size of my current pond...is this the "dreaming" thread ?

On the first place we seem to take what we can get and do the best we can. Next time around, we understand more about what we really want and what it takes to get it.

It's not dreaming, unless you now have enough experience to dream.

My dreams do need detail.

The drive would go in the minus column, IMO. A 5 deer county a plus...lots to think about.

Land within 2 hours of DFW has been going nuts up until recently.

good luck on the decision.

Gator

DIED, If you move to Texas, I will loan you a few of mine, I have more than enough!

I have done it all three ways, sold first and bought later, bought first and sold later and had them happen at the same time. You haven't lived until you have had two house payments in a down turning market.
I gotta go with ML, the airport is a big deal, I am 8 hours by train from mine. Brettski's dad has been there and done that it sounds like, age is an important factor. Working for a living is also a big factor, cheaper to live in South Dakota or South Carolina but, the pay scale is lower also.
Eastland's work probably dictates where he can live so were I he, I would sell, then work out the rest, life is an adventure and selling and building anew is certainly an adventure. And as DD1 says, "it is not about the fish...

I know that it took almost two years to find my pond which is very unique compared to most.

You have to consider the "bird in hand" creedo.

Eastland, I have looked at a lot of places in Coleman county. Just be carefull, there are places in Coleman county where it is hard to find any water. But, I also have the same problem at Zephyr, south of Brownwood.

How tied to your job are you?

I quite a $70,000 a year job with union benifits and pension 5 years ago to live in the country and be my own boss. I don't make near what I used to, but I have more cash then I ever did. My expenses living in the city were very high, but now I'm debt free and I'm off more days than I work.

I would never, ever want to commute. You ony have one life, make is a good one. Driving to and from work isn't part of good livin.

I'd think your land will just continue to increase in value. You know what you have, you're happy with it and you are under no preasure to leave. If you can relocate your job to an area you'd rather be, then it makes sense. If not, wait until you retire and then you'll get allot more money for your land and you can live anyplace you like.

Eddie

Eastland, had a friend that moved to Burkett area and bought 200 acres. He decided on a home "site" and drilled 3 water wells in which 2 GPM was the best. Now has Rural water(at a small fortune) but some deer and a new pond site(2 acre). At times I have wished for a few more acres, but do not intend to move again. Home at Last!

I'd like to have more land but it's probably not going to happen. Don't want to risk selling my place for a profit and maybe not being able to find a good replacement. It took my wife & I several years to find land that met all the criteria on our punchlist ... larger than X number of acres, has a creek, either has a pond or location for a pond, more than 50% wooded, able to be hunted, good home building spot, etc.

It's one thing to not be able to afford more land, but we are also too close to Nashville and most acreage is sold in 5 acre or smaller plots. 10 years ago in this area land was practically being given away, but the developers are coming out this way and now everything is getting very expensive. If you want more than 5 acres you generally have to pay top price at an auction for multiple parcels. Every now and then a very hilly piece of ground or something that can't be divided comes up for sale. We could go another 30 miles farther out and get a large farm cheap. But it would be too far from my work to live on, and we want to build a house on our land and live on it. My wife is 29 and I'm in my early 30's and we have 4 young children. My wife is a homemaker and we want her and the kids to be able to enjoy the land every day. I grew up on a big farm in Kentucky and want the kids to enjoy all the things I did and have all the same unforgettable experiences and life lessons. We can go to Dad & Mom's farm any time we want, but it will really be special for the kids to live on our land.

The good thing is that due to the lay of the land it's unlikely that the land on either side or behind us will get developed. I may also eventually be able to buy part or all of the farm on one side of us. There is danger of the farm across the road being eventually developed. A couple developers were eyeing the farm across the road recently, and one of the neighbors bought the farm basically so it couldn't be developed.

Eric

OK Guys, I have been thinking about all the free advice and have decided upon my plan. First, one major factor involved : I must remain in the DFW Metroplex to achieve my retirement goals. I doubt any combination of my current Home and Acreage will exist when I finally buy and settle upon my "Retirement Property".

With that said, I'm in no hurry to make an immediate move, but there are incentives if the price is right. I'm in negotiations with several realtor's about commissions (a topic I don't recall reading about here). I'm going to set an asking price that will allow me to double my acreage (no taxation), and still leave enough gain after taxes to build a cabin (like the 20K models at Home Depot), buy a small tractor, and have bulldozing funds for a future pond.

If my price isn't met, I'm as happy as I was before, if it is, I'm starting over !

This board and everyone here helped me through my first pond building experience, thanks for all the advice and different ideas, it's appreciated.

Good logical decision based on the facts at hand with your goals in mind.
Re: commissions, in my experience there is room; a couple of things to keep in mind, trimming commissions some times trims incentive. If your property's asking price is based on recent sales, the commission was a part of those prices, and the realtor should take into consideration. If the "standard" is 6%, 5 is usually within reach. One other thing, there is a second time to deal with the commission, when you and the buyer are nearly at an agreement, you may be able to get a third of the difference each from the buyer and agent. Commissions are tax deductible. The market will soon let you know if you are on track. While a pond may add cash to the sales price it will also limit the number of buyers. Many sides to your coin, but with your attitude "If my price isn't met, I'm as happy as I was before, it it is, I'm starting over!" it will all workout in your favor, good luck. Coincidence, a guy just left on his way to talk to his wife about making an offer on my pond. Weird, probably nothing, but the timing was weird.

Eastland,

Sounds like you have a good plan and are in a strong position. It's a win-win for you either way. One thing to remember is the value of your land is increasing all the time. The more they build in the DFW area, the more people are willing to spend.

Every year, or even every six months, you need to raise your asking price. Keep it at the uppper limits of what it might get and keep it there. Also be sure to pull the listing for a month or so and then relist it. New listing generate allot of interest, while old listings tend to make people think your desperate, way overpriced or there is something wrong with the place.

I once had a car for sale at a very reasonable price just to move it. I wanted a quick sale and didn't care about what I got for it above my minimum price. I listed it just above that amount and figured it would sell in days. I didn't get a single call on it at that low price. I relisted it for $2,000 more and sold it within a week with all sorts of phone calls and people coming out to look at it. The lesson I learned is that I scared off buyers who thought it was too cheap and I was hiding something.

Out of state buyers are famous for paying way too much for a property. I've seen homes sell that they never even looked at in person. Just saw the internet add and then bought the home. I've personally sold two homes to out of state buyers who paid top dollar for them.

If you're gonna get an agent, be sure he advertises in California. People there are the worse about coming out here and overpaying for land and homes!!!!

Good luck,
Eddie

californication