What I struggle with is what is a "fair rate" for land? You want to be fair, but you don't want to give it away if that makes sense.
I'm going to miss this home. Only home I've ever owned. It has served us very well over the years raising two boys as well as having my father live with us for 4 years before he died. Reality is though my wife is right using common sense. The home has 3 levels and is way to big for just the two of us, and I'll probably have to have my shoulder replaced next year and I really can't keep up with the trees out back with the chainsaw anymore.
Only hope is that it would serve a growing family well like it served us.
For a fair price of land, one has to look at comparable land that has sold recently. An agent can do this on MLS or you should be able to find the information in the county tax/deed office. My wife and I have gone around and around on this over the years were I think the land is worth more than she thinks.
Why? She is looking at MLS data and I am looking at other real estate websites. I think she is starting to believe my "valuations" when land near us sold and she found the sale price at the country.
The hard part is what is truly comparable. One really has to look at the details. A five acre lot along a rural highway is not worth the same amount as five acres in a subdivision in my opinion. Course, if the subdivision has a restrictive HOA with Condo Commandos running the HOA... A lot just a few miles further away from a town or city where people work will be less than a lot that is closer. A lot near where a major development is gong to be done, could go up or down in value, depending on the details of the new development. The details matter.
We have been looking to sell and go elsewhere. One thing I do is get on Google Earth and "drive" around the possible new residence. Then I search websites to find out about the new area. Reddit is pretty good as are local news stations. We were looking very closely at downtown Savannah Georgia. Our first couple of passes into investigating housing and the area were positive. One of the positives is the small local parks that are spread through out down town. However, as I started digging, people where talking about drug dealing, crime, and harassment from people hanging out in the parks. So what was a positive turned into a blocking negative. Worse, law enforcement could not, or would not, do anything about the situation. For this reason, and a few more, we took Savannah off the list. Just read that a woman was severely burned when a savage tossed acid on her when she walked through one of the parks. It was a random attack by the savage on this innocent woman.
Your chainsaw comment really hit home. We have had more trees get blow down and block access over the last 12-18 months than we have had in decades. Unreal. I was cleaning up a tree one day and the thought hit me as to how much longer could I run the chainsaw? Nothing wrong with me, and I think I can run the chainsaw better now than I could decades ago, but at some point, that might not be true, and then what do we do? The idea of moving has been for other reasons but taking care of the place was/is a concern. It was a realization that one day I might night be able to clear a downed tree....
Having said that, we like our house and land soo much, and the idea of moving is interesting, but we can't find a better place to live. One day we just might have to hire a landscaping company and keep them on speed dial, boy that is an obsolete term now
, if a tree needs to be cleared.
