Hi everyone,
Thinking out loud:
We live in our forever home in a HCOL area that we love. Yesterday I was perusing land listings near me and there are some cheap ones (e.g. the cost some people might spend on a kitchen remodel or a fancy car), mostly half acre... Granted, I know all the pitfalls of land that may have zoning problems, be on steep slopes, be prone to natural disasters (fire/slides/quake), near high crime/traffic/toxic stuff/other bad location, and would avoid all that. However there is a part of our urban area that is as yet ungentrified and a bit wild.
Husband is a great carpenter and we are very hands-on homeowners. OTOH I have other creative goals in life that potentially cost money, so I worry this is parental programming since my parents are great at real estate, land ownership and custom creative building. Already I've been different from them in that we've stayed in our same house for 25 years while they moved us around constantly while flipping houses when we grew up. One cool thing I've thought would be nice is to buy land that was not far away, so you could literally bike, hike or train to your land instead of, like everyone I know who moves to the suburbs or countryside, have to constantly drive long distances.
Taxes are relatively high, so anything built on land would eventually be costly, I assume.
What would I want it for? Options:
--Build custom house
--Build tiny off-grid house
--Creative structure such as studio
--Land conservation
--Awesome garden
--Mini ranch
--Investment
Terrible idea or something to pursue? Is this kind of thing best done through listings, or are a lot of deals like this more off-the-books/word of mouth directly with owners who wish to subdivide?