THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT OWNING LAND | What They Don't Tell You 

🎙 Subscribe to The Keep It Tiny Podcast for audio exclusives: 🍎 Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/keep-it-tiny-podcast/id1676652138 🎸 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1ULI0lsspDgt3YIRkDGv4G?si=34a8ea2a0364437f

I owned 50 acres in Michigan and had trespassers, poachers, snowmobilers. I went to the county sheriff and he took the time to explain to me that I had an old seasonal road through the north end of the property. Technically they were not trespassing. The sheriff directed me to the county road commission. They walked me through filing a petition of abandonment. They scheduled a public hearing. We had a public meeting, no one showed but me. Petition granted. The sheriff now told me to post it and he would enforce it. He did and the problems ended. I now have a 40 acre farm in southern Ohio, zero problems.

Neighbors who don't want you as a neighbor is also overlooked. It's an unfortunate dilemma which is hardly spoken about.

Owing a land doesn't suck. I disagree with that mindset although I'm not big on buying lands. I put in 10k into various assets late last year and flipped into six figures within a few months and still going. I’ve always been an advocate of investing because it has been rather rewarding. I hope to attain financial freedom soon. One more thing, keep up the good work brother.

All four of my neighbors hate me and I continue to live happily 😎

So true! People greatly underestimate what you can do on 3 to 5 acres. We raised a horse, goats, chickens, geese, and ducks plus fruit trees and a massive garden on 7 acres and we didn’t even use all of it. Anything you don’t use goes wild super fast too so a small acreage is where it is at!

My thoughts, I have 25 acres in GA, 3.5-acre pond. 1. One day all the work will be done, and I can enjoy the place. Answer, "Work never Ends!" 2. Never buy land unless you have a water source. 3. Never buy land that shares a pond. NEVER FREAKING EVER!!!!!!!!!!!! Will thank me later. 4. You will buy commercial grade equipment; big box stuff does not last. 5. Buy a tractor with a bucket, best advice I can give you. Bush Hog and Rotor tiller will do most of the work. 6. Understand, nature is always growing toward sunlight, constant cleaning roadways around property. 7. You will go from Hero to Zero when you tell someone that they cannot Hunt or Fish on your property, do not get it started. 8. ENJOY WHAT YOU HAVE WORKED SO HARD FOR, I ENJOY EVERYDAY WHEN I MADE THE DECISION TO LEAVE THE ATL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!!

However, it's important to note that real estate investing also comes with risks, such as property market fluctuations, maintenance expenses, tenant turnover, and potential vacancies. Successful real estate investing requires careful research, due diligence, and an understanding of local market conditions. Investors should always assess their risk tolerance and financial goals before making any investment decisions.

The distinction between just pure 'acres' and 'useable acres' is spot on. Didn't think of it like that!

I intentionally looked for alot of land with only a few usable acres so no one can build near me. No neighbors are great neighbors for me.

Sometimes the "unusable acres are fine if they serve as a buffer zone to isolate you from neighbors on your usable acres. Need to remember also that the more nice acres possibly the more maintenance and upkeep to keep it that way. Also taxes, unusable land will be a lot cheaper than all prime building acres so not only will the purchase price be lower but so will the property taxes! But also being a person that enjoys being in the mountains you realize that most plots are land are going to have non usable acres and I prefer basically all wooded property as that keeps the nosy neighbors if any more at bay. One of those out of sight out of mind mentalities. The big positive is to find a piece of property that has a year round flowing creek and/or natural springs on the property . May add a bit to the cost but having good water is worth the added cost.

Owning a lot of land can bring a lot of headaches. My uncle bought 50 acres of land and was constantly catching people on his land hunting or on snowmobiles. The people with the snowmobiles even cut his fence down so they could get to the local bar faster. He was constantly calling the police, but they did nothing. My uncle finally sold the property.

‘’Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets ... any sound investment will eventually pay off."

Used to know a guy who was a builder. When he sensed hostility from nosy neighbors, he would tell them that he's building a halfway house or a youth detention center. He's had more than one client call him and tell him to stop telling people that.😂

I remember in 2007 when I was working in real estate seeing people buy homes new from builders with the intention of selling before close of escrow to a new buyer for profit. The crash was so brutal and fast that I remember seeing a lot of these units foreclosed on with the builder plastic still on the carpet.

We have 20 acres of land in upstate NY and keep about 3 acres around the house cut for our living area. The rest is our nature preserve and I love walking around on it. The only problem is our neighbors and their kids love it as well. So this brings up the issue of liability meaning our lawyer said to put up no trespassing signs making it clear people are on private property. If we allow someone to go on the land that comes with being liable if they get hurt. It's much better to not allow people on it because if they then get injured it's on them. There are 200 hundred foot cliffs so this is a very real concern.

I get that you don't want chatty neighbors but man... having simple friendships with your neighbors can be a blessing in many ways.

I agree completely on keeping neighbors relationships neighborly. In my experience chit-chatty neighbor will soon start asking for favors and sticking too much of their noses into my bizwax.

Do we really own the land if it can be taken away so easily? Also, you're regulated with what you can build or do with "your" land. It's unfortunate.

Also, consider that you might be able to afford the property taxes at the time you buy the land, but the taxing authority can come by and reappraise the property after you've done improvements or after the land is rezoned. This happened to me and my neighbors in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina when they raised my property taxes 1,000%. No, this is not a misprint. My wife lost her job due to the hurricane when the business she worked for was destroyed, so we were struggling at the time as it was before they raised our taxes by an insane amount causing us to lose our modest rural home on only 1/2 acre of land. They came by after our homes were repaired from the storm damage, after we had to take out a second mortgage to make our home livable again and presented my entire neighborhood with virtually unpayable bills, given our circumstances. They were either ignorant of our plight, didn't care, or I believe, maliciously intended to steal our homes. Remember you don't really own your home, but are just renting it from the state, if they can come by and not just double or triple your taxes, but increase them by a factor of 10, like they did us. This taught me to never own land again. I now live in a 24 yr old RV mostly on BLM and Forest Service land virtually for free and pay no real estate taxes whatsoever, having had the government practically steal the home that my dad built with his own hands. You live and learn.

Thanks for putting out this type of stuff, people never share this side of the coin.

I love my land and here is what I paid for 40 acres in Navajo county $16,000, completely fenced $22,000, well drilled $12,600. That’s where we are as of September 2023.

Good info, it just varies state to state. I'm from from Louisiana and my grandparents still live on 60 acres. During the covid lumber shortage they sold 10 acres of trees and made a little over $150k. My wife's cousin sold his trucking company and bought 126 acres in la. There's a pond to fish and a section we hunt deer so "usable" is going to be relative. Goats and cows are great investments for upkeep as well. Country living is very different. I live on 8 acres now in texas and I pay less in taxes then i did on less than 1/4 acres in Dallas- fort worth which was thousands of dollars a year.

The issue is that either the renter or the owner must in some way pay insurance and property taxes if they want a "permanent roof" with utilities like electricity, gas and water. Because of this, many people-at least in California, where I currently reside-are living in tents. No taxes, rent, mortgages, or insurance. The number of people who tell me they live in their car that I meet amazes me. Its crazy out here!

I love commercial land. The highest return with lowest risk is to do long term unsubordinated ground leases. Your network is absolutely your networth. For instance there was 6 acres of commercial ground that had been on the market for years without being sold because of lack of sanitary sewers. The land was purchased for $115k and in no time the landowner received an LOI from a developer for a ground lease for $9k/month plus annual bumps for 100 years. The project was a $30,000,000 apartment complex. A TIF district was established with the county that offset the increase in property taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements i.e. the property taxes went from $2,000 a year to $300k per year and that difference of $298k per year gets applied to paying for the sewer line plus other onsight infrastructure expenses. There needed to be a large enough project to offset the cost of infrastructure improvements. The county gets hundreds of new residents paying income taxes and millions of dollars of additional money floating through the local economy and once the sewer line is paid for the county recaptures the increase in property tax. Everyone wins. Forget glamp camps this is where the money in land is. On this deal the land owner gets more than 100% return on the land every year with no risk and no management. Also, the land owner could cashout refi the land for 7 figures with only a $115k investment. Do just one of these kinds of deals a year and your multi generationally set.

Factors to consider about owning and living on rural land: 1) annual land taxes, 2) tax adjustments for "improvements" (buildings, well, driveway, septic system...), 3) local ordinances/restrictions on land use (know before you buy), 4) quality of public road/road maintenance to access the land during winter and spring thaw, 5) type of/location of nearest firefighting station and impact of this on insurance rates, 6) location of/quality of nearest public schools and impact of this on property values, 7) cost of buying or hiring machinery to plow private driveways, mow pastures, trim brush away from fence lines and private roads, 8) cost of getting skilled trades people to come to the property to do repairs and installations and 9) your level of skills and physical fitness to do much of the property maintenance work yourself. Living in the more isolated rural areas means you plan well for the occasional shopping trip to the nearest town, maintain a deep pantry and a well-stocked freezer because of infrequent shopping trips, do most of your meal cooking because there is no pizza delivery or nearby drive-thru, you cope with frequent power outages because fallen trees take down power lines in rural areas when there are storms, you may have to cope with spotty cell phone coverage (you may have to drive to a high spot to make a connection), you may have to drive into the nearest town to pick up your mail and you will pay more for groceries and vehicle fuel because you live at the end of the supply line. If your rural land is near farm fields, dairy farms, etc. expect dust from plowing and hay harvesting, machinery noise during planting and harvest season, livestock noise and odors and occasional over-spray of pesticide and herbicide chemicals -- don't complain if these businesses were there first (know before you buy). Do your best to be polite to and get along with your neighbors because they all know each other, you are the outsider, and they can make your adjustment to the rural lifestyle either very difficult or easy depending upon whether you have offended one of them or one of their relatives. Forget about having anonymity or much privacy in a thinly populated rural area -- your neighbors will be curious about you, and they will share information about you with each other. If you have a temper control problem or "un-neighborly" outlook, think twice before relocating to a rural area. Be aware that rural communities tend to be politically conservative and many residents are weekly church-goers. Make sure you can fit in with people who may have a very different outlook from you on politics and religion -- keep your opinions on these topics to yourself because rural people have long-memories about offensive behavior and can hold grudges.

More land is always better, if you have enough land you won't even know you have neighbors. We have 40 acres in rural Oklahoma, no city/town, no police, no code enforcement but, unfortunately no fire department either. We rely on the Forestry Dept for fires but, they are stretched thin. It is expensive to put in infrastructure, we spent $60k on water, septic, electric and dirt work before we ever started building our home. Taxes are so much cheaper where we live. We applied for an agriculture exemption because we grow hay and raise animals and our taxes this year were $17. It is challenging starting from scratch with raw land but, you would have to tie me up and force me at gun point to get me back to the city. No regrets!!

I agree that the best neighbors are the ones who leave you alone. HOWEVER I have had some pretty good neighbors and they can be extremely valuable in watching your place when you are away, even feeding your cat depending on how well you know them etc etc. I always make sure my neighbors know that they can ask me for help If they need it and I give them my number. I have never had a "bad". Neighbor actually.

I've owned land since 2005 and even at a young age I knew I wanted land that I could maintain myself at any age. More land is definitely not better..

Here's one for the more rural spots: road agreements. If the access to your parcel is not a public road, and someone else also accesses their property from the same " country lane", you will have tp enter into an agreement about maintenance of said lane - likely requiring an attorney's services 💵

A thumbs up and a comment for the mature, realistic, and absolutely correct issues of worrying about your neighbors, that you knocked on the door with a smile and explained the reality of being financially connected at the hip, and that you don’t want to bring down each other’s property, values, and so on and so forth. Impressive sir, we all need to be this kind neighbor!

Sir, good for you and your exercising knowledge and thus making a wise decision. The benefit of buying land or acreage versus a small lot is you can usually subdivide your property if you need a little money. Example, my cousin bought 40 acres of heavily wooded land on the Clinch River in East Tennessee. He paid $40,000 for it 20 years ago. He sold timber off the highest ridge on the land. The timber brought him $40,000, and you could not tell any trees were missing. About 10 years ago, he decided to have his property surveyed and subdivided. He found out he actually had 76 acres. He decided to sell 10 five acre lots on the south side of his property where he sold the timber. He sold all 10 lots to a developer for $150,000, and he still had 26 acres left with the river front property. Today, his remaining 26 acres has a value of about $250,000, but he is not selling. He is giving it to his grandson.

Note to "self" Hilarious!!! _ I just purchased 5 acres in a small Alabama town - they relish in telling you what you (can't) do on YOUR LAND - smh - thank you for sharing

Great advice! My wife wanted lots of acreage. Having lived in the country I have an inkling of what upkeep is required. I asked her if she was going to maintain it, because I sure as hell wasn't planning to spend all my time off work, well, working. She demurred.

Sounds like you’re speaking from experience, great tips! I’ve been planning a land purchase for some time

Super informative. Thank you for sharing!

This was an amazing video. Some I knew, a lot of it, I did not think about. Thank you.

Taxes, you can get taxes included in escrow if you took a loan on it. The land on the mountain is usable. Fence around it and plant berry bushes, wild onions and forage for mushrooms. Grow your own vegetables and plant fruit trees, two of each, at least to get cross pollination.

Keeping it real I love it! My mom lives on 3 acers in northern AZ and I can tell you it is a LOT of work.

Great info. Things to consider. Thank you!

Good job on your video. You summed up the experience accurately and well.

Also check zoning. Some require frame built homes and others have no restriction so you can put a mobile home or even a container home or just an RV, which is needed if you are going to live there and build a home a little at a time.

Great info as always! Appreciate your content!

Great information! Thank you. You sound like a perfect neighbor

Thanks for the information! 🙌🏽

ugh you're right, taxes..

First tip is legendary, thanks man

Very insightful! Thank you.

Thanks, this is valuable information for newbies.💯

ditto on the too much land is not always a good thing especially when it comes to squatters. you need to have eyes on your land at all times,

Solid video. I will say that your situation is very different than mine. I purchased 35 acres and the only thing I have in common with your situation seems to be the taxes. After 5 years of owning the property, I have paid very little into taxes and upkeep but the value has jumped 600%. I think it varies drastically where you buy land. We have open grazing so the cows keep my vegetation down.

So informative! Thanks!

Wow. This is POWERFUL information. Thanks for sharing!

The building process ROCKS bro!! Come On!!!!

Owning a lot of land can be very profitable if you own the resources both above and below the ground. Timber is worth a lot of money if it’s the right kind of tree and finding gold, copper or other minerals can also be extremely profitable (can be).

So true! We've encountered several of the concerns mentioned! You have to be ready for EVERYTHING! lol

I like your honesty here. There are some good aspects what to look out for.

A property becomes an asset once it starts paying you. I'm in year 7 and almost ready to build a rental... Maybe next year. Stuff takes time and money. On my second riding mower, almost completely fenced... Temporary can be a LOT longer than one plans for.

My grandpa has 320 acres and it’s hard to keep up with the property when no one’s there 24/7 and a 55 year old tractor.

Excellent advice brother.

Thank you for saying this!

Considering maintaining the land and all of the equipment you will also need to maintain in order to take care of things is definitely spot-on. I own 3 acres for the first time and it is an everyday event taken care of the place

I have 10 archers . You don’t have to develop all your land . Take 3 archers develop it . Leave the other part off for hunting or fishing . Or hell if you like nature . Taxes are rough sometimes , but if you own animals like cows , pig , ect . You get a major tax break . If you’re older you get a major tax break . To loss your land to tax you have to be way behind a lot . It’s not that scary lol . Property insurance is a big deal too , but it’s like every six months . Maybe it’s where you live dude everything so high . Cause it ain’t that serious . I’ve owned my stuff for 4 years now . I’m not stressed by taxes .as for neighbors if you own big enough property you won’t notice them at all lol . That’s more a subdivision area .

Great information!👍

I really enjoyed this video. You're right! The things that aren't talked about when buying land. Thanks!

Yeah I bought five acres, and it was raw without anything, completely off grid. I’m in year seven and it’s been so hard, but also it’s coming together and very rewarding. I started one zone at a time and overtime I’ve planted 180 trees and tons of bamboo on 3.5 acres of the five so far. In the future I plan to expand to finish planting the whole thing.

The point about quality of acreage over quantity of acreage was very insightful! So true. Why pay for 10 acres, when 2 acres might do the job. I had over 3 acres once…but only about 0.3 acres (or less) of it was even remotely usable unless I wanted to sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into a retaining wall!!!! Trust me….that kind of stuff is WAY more important than you think it’s going to be!

Your advise on leaving your neighbors "the hell alone" is good advise. A large part of why they own land is probably because they want to be left alone.

Great video a lot of good points I'll definitely look into a lot of stuff when I get some land

Some good points in this, thanks. I recently bought my first piece of property that's 43.25 acres small. It is all raw, wild and wonderful! There are some 'unusable' areas [marshy lowland] but I found that to be a pro not a con. Effectively there is 1 way onto the land and 1 way off it. Makes for a very secluded area. Additionally my closest 'neighbor' is 3 miles bird distance and 5 miles driving on very rough trails and roads [4x4 only!] so I have seclusion AND privacy which was a condition of my purchase. As mentioned in this vid, clearing and building is much more labor intensive than I expected. I've come across several costs that I did not foresee nor plan for and I'm using muscles I forgot I had! I think that's natural for any new endeavor. As for your addressing people who 'for some reason' don't want you there, I think you talked through that with more grace, style and class than your neighbors deserve! Stay safe!

Great advice for sure

So glad I found this! It is my dream to own land in a mountain/river countryside.

Great advice bro!!!

That first 6 acres but four are a steep hillside…it all depends on your creativity. In either Organic Gardening or Mother Earth News years ago they tell of a guy that bought a rocky hillside and they said he was nuts. He raised Rocky Mountain sheep and made a fortune.

Great video! We bought 4 acres a few years ago with a new home built on it. Our county discriminates between buildable and unbuildable land so we aren't assessed much tax for about an acre of our land. It's scrub woods on a slope with an intermittent stream. Most of our land value is where the house was built. Financial value anyway. We love the sloped, scrub woods with stream as it gives us some privacy with pretty views. Now regarding neighbors --- we were total creeps too. But here's the thing. You can't find all of the bad ones. A year after we bought our 4 acre home a new family bought the 10 year old home adjacent to us. The property line is closer to their house on the other side of our stream. So they have kids and we do not and guess what -- they started to trespass on our property. We ultimately found that they had some buried drain pipes on our land and we had to get them relocated to their side but now they harass us with their new attack dog that patrols the property line and barks at us making our 4 acres not private or peaceful at all. And they complain about us to the county and the county comes out and we get pressure to please the neighbors even though we're not in violation of anything (vegetation in our wild landscape area). We've bought 500 feet of fencing, put up signs, planted trees and I spend hours each week just in this little area alone trying to forestall an adverse possession claim because undeveloped land is easy to steal under adverse possession laws unless you are a very vigilant and diligent land owner. I highly recommend a good survey of any acreage you buy and install fencing and where it is difficult to put a fence, posted signs with cellular cams. Research the county GIS maps and any aerial photo records the county maintains for the tax commissioner. Those photos and GIS imagery can show historical info about your land that may show past use or hidden use. Ensure the survey has all encroachments identified and I would ask the neighboring lot owners if they have any claims on the land you are about to buy and video record the conversation or try to get them to to sign a release. If you buy and find an undocumented structure or improvement, I would destroy it immediately. It could be the basis if an adverse possession claim or prescriptive easement. Call the sheriff on anyone you catch on your land if they don't immediately comply in a friendly manner -- and apologize. Apology is key because without it, they'll be back. Adverse possession and prescriptive easement is your biggest threat as an acreage land owner.

Great points and you’ve definitely included things I haven’t considered.

Cool info put across well.

I love you. you're a generous human. thank you taking the time to put this video together. you're helping me work through whether or not i'm up for the role of glamping host. be well always 💗

Wow!!!! This was a nugget. I just want 3 acres and didn't think about none of the information you shared with the exception of maintenance. Thank you so much. Blessings and Love ❤️🙏🏾💯

Thanks! Good info for newbies thinking this is easy.

Thanks you’re insightful information sir.

I want to do this, but man as a disabled person this feel like a pipe dream. Just going to keep learning.

I'm from Brooklyn, I didn't even know raw land could be purchased in ny. I'm definitely interested.

Well said. The expense of clearing land can be overwhelming. Upkeep & tax & raw land costs & building headaches, thumbs up. Nice at the 3 acre size. You've earned my subscription.

Great topic for a video and great advice. Thanks!

Well, these are realistic things to consider. It's part of the process. Get mentally ready and roll up your sleeves

I’m going to look at my first land in July. I’ve been checking out a lot of 1/4 acre ocean and lake front properties up to 20 acre plots. Seems I’ve been having much better luck with my searches on smaller land. Larger land seems cheaper but as you said most times has more unusable land. No close neighbours, atm anyways. But I’m looking at building some cottages do the Airbnb(travel) rentals for the busy months and I was thinking doing some kind of short term rentals at discounted price if they give me details on what needs fixing, what can be worked on etc during winter months since this will be in Canada.

Great stuff, I like this.

You always manage to put out such high quality videos, it's impressive. Keep it up

You got a "Thumbs Up" from me for mentioning to watch out for the neighbors. OMG, that is 100% true, especially the nosy elderly ones. They think that they own the neighborhood.

Thank you for this video 💯👏🏾🎯

Thanks for the tips!

In Canada, Canadians who think they have the right to own land, actually do not. Canadians have no rights to own land. They can own a home or house or whatever it is, dwelling etc, but the land underneath that house does not belong to them, it belongs to the crown, a foreign elite family in England. Americans should take that into consideration, that their supposed free neighbors to the north have the same rights. Owning land is the best thing, the strive for true freedom. Only Americans have that right as well as other rights. Land makes you free.

I can only imagine why they didn't want you as a neighbor🤦🏾‍♂️🙄

I purchased, for $100.00, an older riding lawn mower to get around my land. I purchased a used Kubota medium size tractor, for $3500.00, with a mower. I do the mowing of 2.5 by myself. After a while, I took time to hire civil engineering firm to develop. The man is spot on about managing everything going on. I am interviewing general contractors. No matter who is the general contractor, I know I must meet the general contractor no less than once a week. Add to the trip. Takes me 1.25 hour each way. The drive gets old, quickly. Also, his tip on waving neighbors has been my strategy for life. One conversation AFTER you close, then wave or blow the horn as you pass by, now and then.

Great work. Got to give the hard truths.

Thank goodness in my part of AZ there isn't grass...lol not much upkeep 😊

Dude we know why….Dude was racist af!

Great video, full of facts

Yes ..the best neighbours are the one you don't know anything about. 😂😂😂