Buying US property from O/S?

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crinkles

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With real estate becoming a bourgeoisie part time down under, I was wondering about buying rural land in the USA. If anyone has some pointers on the legalities and practicality of it, it'd be great to hear from you. for instance, http://www.unitedcountry.com/FarmRanchAg/Idaho/Arco Idaho-25030-00525.htm is some rural land i found in a 5 minute google.

I'd really like a rural allotment of 10 acres plus - and i probably won't build on it for some time ( 10 years plus).
 
I have no ideas on the legalities, but it seems house prices have plunged down hard, but land prices for the most part have been stable... I know that sounds like a oxymoron statement, but in my are it seems to be a fact.

Now as to purchasing land in the USA this is the best place in the world to live bar none.. I guess that sounds a bit conceded... however I do believe the United States is still the best place in the world to live.. we have our problems like everyone else.. many come from Washington.. or just politics/gov in general... in which turn reflects a one way mirror to the country, and citizens itself..

Just be careful on deals to good to be true, many times they will clear cut an area, and the land will be washed away.. you can fix this, and you can get good deals at times like this.. but other times it would cost more than the land value if in original state... as well some areas are in say a place with a plant with horrible smell..

Just some pointers.. It would really all depend on what you want to do with the land.. as they say location, location... and location
 
An accountant that I knwo well invested a significant amount of his employer's money (with approval) in US Bricks and Mortar back around 2007 ish.

Didn't do very well.


crinkles, if you think the Aussie dollar is about to "correct", then you might see something here...if you think the dollar will keep on rising, then you could be betting on a loser.

Dunno how you would insure something like that 'though.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
An accountant that I knwo well invested a significant amount of his employer's money (with approval) in US Bricks and Mortar back around 2007 ish.

Didn't do very well.


crinkles, if you think the Aussie dollar is about to "correct", then you might see something here...if you think the dollar will keep on rising, then you could be betting on a loser.

Dunno how you would insure something like that 'though.

I may be reading it wrong, but I don't think he's looking at this as an investment strategy.
 
Originally Posted By: rclint
but other times it would cost more than the land value if in original state... as well some areas are in say a place with a plant with horrible smell..

Just some pointers.. It would really all depend on what you want to do with the land.. as they say location, location... and location


Funny, when I read where you are from I had to laugh. Those paper mills stink! You definitely have to check a place out. I have a whole lot of swampland for sale BTW...
grin.gif
 
As far as property investments go, Arco, ID is a unique place. It has the distinction of having been the first community in the world to be powered by nuclear-generated electricity... It was also the location of the US Army's SL-1 reactor accident which terminated the Army's nuclear power exploration for good. Arco is still home to the Idaho National Laboratory, formerly the National Reactor Testing Center. Presumably rebranded to help out with real estate values, haha.
 
Originally Posted By: 07Wolfie
As far as property investments go, Arco, ID is a unique place. It has the distinction of having been the first community in the world to be powered by nuclear-generated electricity... It was also the location of the US Army's SL-1 reactor accident which terminated the Army's nuclear power exploration for good. Arco is still home to the Idaho National Laboratory, formerly the National Reactor Testing Center. Presumably rebranded to help out with real estate values, haha.


HA! no wonder it's so cheap! any fallout or contamination issues?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: chubbs1
Originally Posted By: rclint
but other times it would cost more than the land value if in original state... as well some areas are in say a place with a plant with horrible smell..

Just some pointers.. It would really all depend on what you want to do with the land.. as they say location, location... and location


Funny, when I read where you are from I had to laugh. Those paper mills stink! You definitely have to check a place out. I have a whole lot of swampland for sale BTW...
grin.gif



Not only the wood mills which do stink for sure, but as well chicken houses, and chicken dressing plants, and then they have plants that make dog food from the remnants which I assume they cook for hours upon hours not a pleasant smell.. and it lingers for miles, and miles. Other things that come to mind are power plants that run on huge engines/turbines which is horrible sound bang then they coast of course the most efficient way for this is no muffler or a spout so to speak. Contaminated land, and some land purchases have stipulations on just what you can do on your land... road noise, access to the road, and "smelting" plants where they make castings all these locations would effect you for miles.. and as the crow flies in the real world 10-15 miles can be long way. Not to mention your neighbors which can be far worse than all of te above combined.

I'm just suggestion you check the property out well, an numerous times during a month, and at times during the day/night,
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: crinkles
Originally Posted By: 07Wolfie
As far as property investments go, Arco, ID is a unique place. It has the distinction of having been the first community in the world to be powered by nuclear-generated electricity... It was also the location of the US Army's SL-1 reactor accident which terminated the Army's nuclear power exploration for good. Arco is still home to the Idaho National Laboratory, formerly the National Reactor Testing Center. Presumably rebranded to help out with real estate values, haha.


HA! no wonder it's so cheap! any fallout or contamination issues?



Nah. It would be blocked off to the public if there were. After pitcher OK, Love Canal NY, of course 3-mile island, and da 'byl, they aren't going to take any chances with unsafe/contaminated areas, be it with chemicals, or radiation.
 
Originally Posted By: crinkles
With real estate becoming a bourgeoisie part time down under, I was wondering about buying rural land in the USA. If anyone has some pointers on the legalities and practicality of it, it'd be great to hear from you. for instance, http://www.unitedcountry.com/FarmRanchAg/Idaho/Arco Idaho-25030-00525.htm is some rural land i found in a 5 minute google.

I'd really like a rural allotment of 10 acres plus - and i probably won't build on it for some time ( 10 years plus).

Canada seems to be even cheaper for land in some cases. There are many parcels near me at ~$1000/acre but no mountain views...
We got our place for $600/acre in 2001.
backyard.jpg

But it all depends what you are looking for I guess.
 
Old industrial places, if you own it for a minute, you can be liable for the old pollution on it. A lot of property management places do "phase one environmental assesments" before they buy. IE don't live the american dream of having your own gas station without research.

Property taxes vary widely. There's the usual scam of a cheap plot of land where you have to buy any cabin/house from the land developer at an inflated price. There are restrictive covenants, home owner associations who'll mess with what you want to do. You can't drain swamps/wetlands. Disclosure is pretty good though; the town tax office has lots of maps etc online. US school funding is by property tax, and the locals get a percentage off with "homestead exemption" so you'd get mildly screwed there.

If you like wide open spaces you can often buy the "square" in the middle of four roads, walled in by acre house lots on the roads, with one small access point, and lots of swap/undevelopable land in the middle, and a small spot you can build your shanty. These are popular with rednecks who like to wander around and shoot stuff. You can generally have and shoot all the long guns you want as long as you're 100-300 yards from other houses.
 
Crinkles,

If you intend to occupy the property at a future time, sanitation is crucial: if there is no sewer service available at a property, it has to be capable of supporting a septic system or lagoon. Without this, you cannot legally occupy a property, at least in my state.

Electricity can be run almost anywhere, water is important, but most places will support a well if rural water is unavailable, but sanitation is a deal stopper. Rural properties with real sewer service are rare, and valued accordingly.

Property values are reasonable in most areas of my state, and there are no restrictions on foreign ownership AFAIK. The northwest corner has Wal Mart HQ and has become borderline cosmopolitan/international because of that. There are mountains in the north (Boston and Ozark), mountains in the south (Oauchita), an interim river valley, and vast flood plains and the Big Woods in the east. Climate is likely similar to your own.

Texas is also nice; that's about the only place I would live besides here, but I have no knowledge of their laws regarding foreign ownership of real property.
 
I've been purchasing land myself over the past couple years. I bought a 5 acre tract, a 10 acre track and a small 1 acre all for great prices. Just be sure to research the areas, review all deeds and restrictions - do your homework and look around.

I like land investment because they aren't making anymore land...
 
Originally Posted By: expat
Indylan, Do you have a pic taken in Winter?
whistle.gif


I don't have many pics of our place in winter for some reason, but here's a silly video I made which gives you an idea at least.

Also back OT, property taxes here are pretty low and based on property value. Our total municipal tax rate is about 1.5% of property value, so our small house on 100 acres costs us ~$2400/year.
 
Perhaps you can take a trip here and deduct the costs as part of your investment costs. I don't know what your tax laws are, but if you are buying as an investment, perhaps any trips to research and close the deal are deductions in your tax system.

I've always thought writers had a great deal because they can likely deduct trips to places they write about as research for their latest book or what not.

So a trip to the US may be partially funded by the tax savings realized in writing off the trip as an investment expense.
 
thanks for the replys - eljefino - you are right on contamination - i know a little bit of phase 1 enviros through osmosis at work and how ugly th ings can get.

wife did mention - why not canada? - sounds good except i don't know how i'd handle the cold as i've never really been that cold.

i really do want to do a 2 week road trip this year but will need to do some convincing of my other half.
 
I don't know a lot about real estate, but I do know there is a lot of basically prestine land through out western America. Texas has ranch land as does several other western states. Some of it is not too expensive. The problem is it may be over a 100 miles away from a major city although there maybe small towns closer.

I don't think there is as much investment land opportunities as there were. I am not sure if you wanted to buy a few acres and build a homestead or what. But there is definitely property to be bought and now is probably a good time for buying.
 
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