On Looking for Country Acreage

My wife and I wanted to invest in a larger parcel of land; somewhere between 40 and 100 acres. We both still have no idea exactly of how much an acre really is, but our goal was space. Cost was also obviously an issue. I was very surprised at how two towns next door to each other could have such very different real estate values. I mean, this is the country and land is land, right? The simple answer is no.

In our current town, anything larger than 10 acres is difficult to find and surprisingly costly. We are very close (less than half a mile) to the next town and what a difference that makes in real estate values. This difference seems to have to do with perception. The first perception is the school district. Nuff said here. The second has to do with the proximity to grocery stores and urban centers. On our property half a mile away from our current home and in the next town (with the same driving time to shopping, etc), we paid much less per acre (and got much more land) than we could have in our current town. It really pays to do your research and compare land based on cost per acre of land (both listed and sold).

As I said above, my criteria for buying land was fairly specific. Most land in Maine has been harvested for timber at one time or another. I didn’t mind so much if the land had been cut. I was looking for land that had not been cut recently. The land we purchased was last harvested approximately 10-12 years ago. We purchased it from a logger who dabbles more now in real estate than logging. He was going to do some harvesting but we were able to get to him before that happened. As it is, there is not much standing on our property currently that can be harvested for marketable timber. There is, however, lots of potential with what is there as small tree stock for the future. Of course, when you are talking about trees, the future is much more than a few years away.

I was also looking for land that was of mixed habitat. Ideally, it would have some open space, preferably some field, and mostly forest. I was looking for diversity of tree species; both softwoods and hardwoods. Wood is a renewable resource harvested here in Maine; both for lumber and for a winter heat source. We are intending to build and creating a home heated by wood which is "home-grown" is appealing. It would certainly save on home heating oil purchases. We may also build a barn and other outbuildings after construction of our home. Having a source of timber that can be locally milled also makes sense to me.

I wanted land that was predominantly higher and dry although I don’t mind some wetland or swamp as these areas are important for aquifer recharge and animal habitat. As all of us in the country are dependent on wells for our drinking water, these areas are vitally important. I was also hoping there would be an area close to our house site that might be excavatable for a small pond for irrigation, fire suppression and again wildlife habitat.

Land that had multiple places to build on would allow options. I always like having at least one backup plan for anything I do. Having extra land that can be sold for house lots is a nice option to have if emergency cash is needed, especially if those lots are at the other end of your property and far away from your house. As the population density increases, land will become more valuable. Buildable land is always a good investment.

As we’d like to build a home with passive solar gain in mind, a south facing hillside would be nice. I also wanted land where there would be minimal habitat destruction around our house site during construction.

All of this sounds like a lot but we were very lucky to find a parcel of land within a half mile of where we live with all the above attributes.

There were concessions; there always are. Once we build we will be moving our kids to a different school district and all of us to a different county. The folks in our “new” school district have just voted to build a new high school. By the time our kids are old enough to go, they will be attending a recently built high school. As I said above, our travel time to go shopping or out to dinner will not vary. Our taxes should go down dramatically. I’m sure there will be other surprises but, right now, the trade-offs seem to be worth it.