We bought a piece of vacant waterfront land 2 years ago, with hopes of building a cottage. The land was a bit flawed (for our needs) but we went through with it (stupidly)....
The main flaws are that it is too cleared, so it is full sun, which is not good for us and our pale, blond kids. It is on a private road, which is not maintained/plowed in the winter, and the waterfront isnt very good and essp not great for kids. We tried to make it work but we couldn't. People that visit it say it is not as horrible as we say it is, even pleasant. It has some positive attributes but it is not for everyone.
One day, while driving home from another disastrous camping weekend at our land, we spotted a wonderful little cottage for sale. It was exactly what we wanted to build, on a better part of the river, on a maintained road, for less than we could have built. We jumped at it, got it for an amazing price and have not regretted it at all. Actually, it has turned out better than I had hoped.
So, here we are with 1 house, 1 cottage, 1 piece of vacant land, 3 kids, 1 salary....and no money left over. We don't need the money right now (we have paid off about 1/3 of it) and the profit will go into a TSFA earmarked for a new car in the next 3-4 years, when ours dies.
We have had the land up for sale for about a year and no bites at all. To be honest, I don't even think anyone has gone to see it. We bought it for 53500$ +HST = 60400. We had it listed at 69999 and just lowered it to 64900. (We will not have to charge HST).
I know in my head that we should lower the price a bit more and just get rid of it, but I cant bring myself to lose more money on this stupid piece of land. Our real estate agent says that losing money is not the end of the world, because you can claim it against your taxes. And I know that people on this forum have lost a lot more money. I think I am reluctant because it admitting defeat. It means we made a mistake.
There are others for sale for about the same price. The guy we bought from severed his land into 5 lots, and they are all for sale between 60000 to 70000. But none of them are moving. Actually, not much is moving in that area, but that is another story...
So, what should we do? lower price and sell and invest money for a few years? Keep our price and wait for it to sell......