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Hey everybody,
I've been looking for a large piece of land and it seems a bit difficult to come by. I need about 20 acres (starting a horse rescue) that is either flat or gently rolling. I would prefer the small hills. Need access to electrical and water. I haven't been able to find anything for sale hardly and what I did find was around 250k. Is that normal? In general, what is unimproved land running? I was hoping it would be around 3k/acre or that I could find someone that wanted to donate for a tax writeoff. Any suggestions or insight?
"flat or gently rolling" comes at a premium in Western North Carolina. You didn't say where you've looked, but you might want to expand your search into the western Piedmont counties.
We have a neighbor who wants $200 for about 35 acres, mostly pasture: fenced, cross-fenced, with water, and with access to both a public road and a private road. (So electricity would be no problem, if it isn't connected already.) What it's actually worth, though, is what someone will pay for it. I also don't know if flat land would cost more or less. I'm sure it will be a lot more than $3,000/acre, and "unimproved" may also mean it's going to be full of trees, brush (lots of blackberries, wild rose, poison ivy), and plants toxic to horses. Clearing and fencing will be a major expense.
You don't need a house on it? That adds a little to the cost, but probably also will give you more choices.
Is there a particular reason you choose WNC? Land isn't cheap here and when you want a lot of it you will pay a premium. I had friends from wnc who have a horse farm. They ended up moving from Leicester to the Asheboro area because of land prices. They doubled their land for less than half the price. One option to look into: I don't know what the prices are but the rutherfordton area is known for horse country and is still close to the mountains.
I didn't know W. NC has "Wild roses"..cooool! Yes from experiece "Horsey People" look at land much differently from regular buyers. If you have to clear, seed, fence, etc... it gets quite costly. I love when someone says...bring your horses! Less than 2 ac..... maybe barb wire or needs clearing and seeding..............sooooooooo not horse ready. *rolling eyes* You can't hardly find land here in Fl. for 3k an acre (cleared or uncleared)... I am sure it is much higher in NC.
Any usable land in the mountains starts at 7k an acre and goes up according to location and just how usable it really is. Anything suitable for horses will start around 10k an acre. This is in the Buncombe and Madison County regions. 3k an acre will get you the side of a mountain. Sorry, but that's just how it is. Land is slow to sell but they don't make more of it so sellers are keeping their prices up although still not as high as 5 years ago, thankfully.
OP- Yes, the price is normal. The hubbs and I are looking at land right now, and are trying to get the most flat land for our money so that we can have livestock and crops. Flat land for an affordable price is more rare than a unicorn. There's plenty of land out there...straight up mountainsides!
You didn't mention your financial situation, but to buy empty land, you're going to need to put a hefty chunk down. What we did was to find several acres with a fixer-upper house. Because of the condition of the house, the entire property is being offered at a reduced price (our research indicated that if the land had been empty, it might have gone for up to $60,000 more). Because the land isn't empty, we're going to be able to finance with little or nothing down. We're going to fix the house up and live in it, but you wouldn't have to.
Some of the places around Asheville that are more prone to having flat land are Leicester, Alexander, Flat Creek, Swannanoa, and parts of Fairview. Plenty of mountainsides there, too, but prospects are a tiny bit better.
the mountains are not flat or gently rolling. Best chance would be to look in the piedmont or maybe foothills. Have you looked into horse rescue in central FL. There is real need and the terrain is flat and rolling. Or TN.
Not so sure there are the numbers for which rescue is needed in WNC or that what there is in WNC couldn't be transported to the piedmont.
Not so sure there are the numbers for which rescue is needed in WNC or that what there is in WNC couldn't be transported to the piedmont.
If OP can come up with the money, there are always enough horses.
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