Thoughts on buying land
 

Any members on here from South or Central American countries? Its a goal of mine to own a small farm some day, and in the last few years, ive been working towards that goal. Now, Im not trying to buy now, or even in the next year, but it has occurred to me that theres plenty of undeveloped, fertile land, for probably a lot less than in the USA.

In the meantime, I'm probably going to buying 5 acres or so in the north florida region by august of 2013, provided the world doesnt end, and just add the payments to my "rent" money every month. funny thing is, i live in south florida right now. to rent a piece of crap efficiency in a horrible, crowded spot of town (@ $800), is about the same price as a the 5 acre lots ive been looking at ($250-$350/month), plus average rent/utilities in gainesville ($400-$500/month).

Im moving back to gainesville in august to work in a warehouse, driving a fork lift for about $12/hr, with a guaranteed 40hrs/wk, and often an additional 10-20 hours of OT at time and a half ($18/hr). Im finishing up college this summer, and ive been paying my way through an AA degree for the last 6 years with part time jobs that dont pay shit. I grew up in the gainesville area, and ive been in south florida for the past 4 years. I hated it the entire time ive been here, and every time I think im starting to appreciate it, something happens to make me hate it more than ever before. So a return to normalcy, if you will, is going to be quite nice. Plus, most of my closest friends and family live in the area.

So there's a lot of benefits to moving back, but what i dont want to happen is falling back into old routines of simple living and easy spending. I want to take advantage of that increase in wages, by investing it into something sound, like real estate. I figure, 5 acres, once cleared, is a pretty decent size to plant pine trees, so that by the time the land is paid off, the pines are matured and can be used first, to provide lumber for a small house i can build on the property, and secondly, sell the surplus to lumber yards or something along those lines.

The only stitch in my plan is consistency. I ask myself, "Self, can you really stand to be living in the same area you grew up in 15 years from now?" I'll be 40 years old by then. But, provided I resist any temptation to start a family, something ive never wanted for myself, nor do i ever want for myself, at 40 years old, I'll outright own my land. If I'm not working at the same warehouse, by then I should be working at a golf course or some sports facility, as a grounds keeper (Im going to school for Turf Management).

I dont know, Im rambling. Maybe I should be posting this as a blog somewhere. I dont know. I guess the reason I felt compelled to post here is because of the international gathering that these forums host, and mostly intelligent posters, that I'd like to get feedback from. Anyone else out there aspiring to own land/farm/ranch/etc? Or is this a forum full of in-debt renters?

I think you'd get a better response here.

think the same
i don't want to start a family
more focused of letting go
the simple life

a farm would be fun
thought alot in alternatives way, green world
so 'everyone' has a benefit from

live day by day
and i know people like to work together for a better future
there is soo much invested in it
people worked hard
for those things are clear and simple

you are doing good
and thinking long term

sometimes you don't have to take it too seriously
family and friends will be always there

and you can make new friends and get to know other family's

stay in love

i do but will answer tomorrow
hang in there

Sign, sign everywhere a sign....

No offence, but I'm not a fan of landowners. I see them as selfish, arrogant bastards who suffer a god complex.

if you're joking, thats hilarious. if not, then i need to work on how i present my opinions through writing. I did mention the part about my reason for posting here has to do with seeking opinions of intelligent posters, yes?

Thanks.

remeber they where selling islands some time ago
around 100 million $ then

if i want to buy things i would make moves
for the maintainance to produce art


need some egoism, for my dreams
this ofcourse have not to weight on people who need to have a sleep place/ living place

don't know for myself

ultra modern
who is going to help me with that
wait for new materials to be found from space

to far dreaming or ???
who knows what the future
will bring

time to forget this future dreaming

and need to move on
with what i got at the moment

i think the price of land depends on different factors
don't know who really is specialized in these things

FUCKIT, i have a bourbon hangover, which isn't nice at all.

i am renter but im not in debt. i prefer to rent because i don't know where i'll be living next year and buying a place ties you up.

having said that, i have access through my wife to some family land and we have a cabin there, which we are slowly building as a getaway place. we actually lived in it for like a year. living in the sticks was a bitch, but we survived. camping is nice, but if your camping trip goes on forever you'll discover some hard facts, such as: nature is fucking boring and horrible, people are more interesting than trees, and cows shit a lot. i'm a city person and i like it that way.

if you wanna be smart with your money read up on personal finance before coming up with a cockamamie land scheme (i love those 2 words paired, "cockamamie" and "scheme." cliché, i know).

if you don't wanna get tangled up in worksheets and money-tracking software and shit like that i suggest reading elizabeth warren's "all your worth" which is a very simple method for increasing your net worth while having fun.

i've studied a lot of personal finance books in the past 2 or 3 years and hers is by far the best system for the general public, unless you're looking into "early retirement extreme" such as this: http://earlyretirementextreme.com/ <- that is a good place to start if you wanna live off the land etc. the reason is cuz he sets you up to quit work in 5 years. but it requires a certain ascetic temperament to do it, which i totally lack.

anyway the first thing you need to do is amass a good emergency fund, 6 or 12 months of living expenses in your bank account, so that if you run out of a job or something you don't end up eating cat food. even with inflation being higher than the savings interest rate, which means your money is shrinking every day, it's best to have savings than not to have them.

to read more about the use and building of emergency funds and living on cash you can read dave ramsey's "total money makeover," which is a very annoying book full of religious propaganda but actually has some great ideas about the horrible suckiness of debt, how to live on cash, and other good shit. so read *with a fat fucking fistful of salt* but read it anyway.

anyway after you have your 1-year emergency fund or whatever the easiest thing to do is open a roth IRA and start putting money in it and if you have more than $5K/yr to invest you can look at another investment vehicle, depending on your job, etc.

"investing" in land speculation is not an easy thing. first of all land isn't liquid, which means it's not easy to cash out in an emergency, like if you get in a motorcycle accident and need your spine replaced. or a less tragic scenario: you wanna start your turf-management business and need capital but it takes 2 years to sell your land and collect your money. second, unless you have knowledge and expertise of real estate trends you might buy some piece of shit toxic dump right under a powerplant chimney. and then who will you sell to? so don't get into a business you don't know. if on the other hand you have expertise raising hogs by all means go at it and turn profit into bacon. but don't be a dolt and get in a business you know nothing about, that's how fuckers end up with nothing. it's better to invest in a business you know, like your own profession.

anyway, you still need a place to stash extra money and grow your net worth. prolly the easiest investment to manage would be an index fund. it's what warren buffett recommends. http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/...edge-fund-bet/ you can maybe look at low-cost vanguard index funds for that.

but anyway start by building up your savings, else all is blah blah blah.

best wishes. now i need some fucking sleep.

for some kinda reason
i think i'm never going to be rich
and i'm not in the mood to get rich when i'm 60 years
no way

i know this envy of humans
it's unbelievably terrible

you know when you want to drink a glass of water is almost a crime
even if there is an ocean to drink

get sick of it
and that is not my idea of enjoying life

just don't want to get insain from money
it should help me forward
not stress my life or others peoples lifes

that is the finacial part how i think about it
yeah it's needed when you want to buy land

what i'm talking about is things from the old world

there are now retirement homes
for the oldworld
they should be thankfull
everyone grows old
it's the most normal thing

retirementhomes was the investments of the last years

can calculate and alternate on that for house prices
and then see what happens to land prices
can be really good for people who want to buy land

and so everyone is happy
and everyone can move on

is this not a good idea?

old people live cheaper in retirement homes
and landprices are affordable for everyone

that is what i think
if people do nothing

then so is it
when their childeren grow up and think
how stipud is this all

yeah it's stupid because no one did anything

ok
i can say
i have give an idea to help

wow. thank you, mr. poopyhead, for hijacking the thread by staging a conversation with yourself.

what is now the problem?

buying land
house markets

did anyone else talked here about anything?

things that are connected
that is what i think

well if i'm wrong
then i'm just a poophead

hijacking the thread?

i guess no one will talk here about land prices, house prices ect


what is the problem now

talking on the internet?

get's the shit from you

just shut the fuck up for once, or at least confine your drivel to a single post, yeah? many thanks o cosmic brother lol.

cosmic brother
that is wishfull thinking

gonna shut now from this thread
because i feel
many people just want to see me fall on my face

so there is a happening to talk about
o
there comes the silence

and here all these years i thought there was no god

I'm building an Earthship in the outback so that I can laugh as you all burn.

True.story.

There's always a chance that gastthreezero will save the world, but I'm not sure why he'd want to; it's a massive shithouse.

Jesus, gast, what the hell you going on about.

They always so quote somebody cos they'll have said it better so I'll leave it to Tony Soprano
"Buy real estate. God's not making any more of it"

You might not be money minded, but honestly if you can afford to do it then do.

I've seen and read quite a bit of science fiction, and I'm also quite handy and capable with the use of tools and building/repairing things.

Just sayin'...if you are lookin for help, I'll volunteer my services in anyway possible. I'll gladly trade owning land for a spot in space. Even if it mean the inevitable hull breech that will surely doom us all. Assuming the ship even makes it out of atmo.

I also did a tour last year of the Kennedy Space Center. So I clearly have extensive experience in this sort of thing.

Space Farmer.

It took me a second to realize what/who was going on here. The similarity is uncanny, creepy, and hilarious. Baffling.

Not science fiction. Self_sustainable housing.

I sincerely recommend the documentary "Garbage Warrior".

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/earthship

www.Earthship.com/

In fact, we have a friend currently serving an intership in Taos at our suggestion. You might also consider it.

You will rarely find this user_name so serious.

The spaceship? I'm stealing that.

Sorry for the delayed response, Ive been studying for finals and working. Not that its relevant, but I made decent money, and although I doubt I got the A I needed on my chemistry final in order to get a C in the class, I do feel like the final was the easiest test we took all semester.

Now, with respect to your response:

I know enough about economics to know that I really dont know much. I will surely read into the resources you have provided me, and I greatly appreciate the thought and effort you put forth. I look forward to being able to ask you more about these things once ive done my own research. Thanks again.

With that said, my philosophy on investing is pretty simple. Can I touch/see/trade my investment physically? Musical instruments, vehicles, land, precious stones/metals, food, even comic book collections. Being that our money is based upon speculation doesnt sit well with me. The value of artwork fluctuates based upon interpretation and speculation and opinion, money should not (though I would be in complete favor of an art-based currency...pay for you groceries with doodles or jingles, your mortgage with a masterpiece, etc). In short adult life, ive seen nothing but economic turmoil across all levels of income, from the unemployed to multi-million, even billion dollar business owners. I'm not here to debate the politics, only assert my view that the way the US government, from Congress to the Federal Reserve, has handled our economy in the last decade, isnt just shameful, its an abolishment of our Constitution and idea of "free market." All to protect the power of the ultra rich to continue making money and centralizing power. I don't care about what their agenda or goal is, I just know that I dont want to contribute to it, as I know I will not benefit from any of it. The working man, the common class, its a stepping stone in an endless fight for money grabbing and power trip of the elite. I dont want to contribute to corruption. Even if its a bank, making fractions of cents off a month of my interests gained from my savings accounts, I am morally and ethically appalled by what I have seen in the last 10 years.

When I look at the state of things, I see Rome falling.

I'm trying to decide whether to live a low-profile, off-the-grid life in my homeland, or try to find somewhere else where I stand a fighting chance of living a life of peace and freedom.

Hope that makes sense. Im sleep deprived, scatter-brained and overly-caffeinated. And as you may have surmised, I have a lot of strong feelings and impressions, many of which are negative, of the "American Dream"/establishment. And much of these finance books, I feel are merely an illusion. Or a pyramid scheme. They work for some people, but many get in over their heads.

If I had sold everything I own, and emptied my savings, and at the end of the day had enough to buy 5 acres of land somewhere, out right, in cash, I feel like I still have something. I could still find a job, and start rebuilding my finances. I could still hunt and fish and farm. I can still build a fire. It would be rough livin for awhile, but I guess what im saying is, in the event of losing everything, the last thing you want to lose is your land. And your gun

ah i see where you're coming from. cool. i have similar reservations but i'm not totally mistrustful. the way i see it, the USA will cease to exist before the coca-cola corporation does. so i'm not afraid of the stock market. but i see your point about tangible wealth over "paper" assets. it's a perfectly valid approach.

i myself have looked into cattle as an investment, because that's something i could buy, and have the space to do it, but the cows need babysitting and hard work and the returns are iffy--cattle prices are also subject to market fluctuations. it's not set-it-and-forget-it like owning a piece of coca-cola (coca-cola is just an example. you might, like steve shelley, much prefer pepsi... or apple or google or exxon or whatever). which is why if you're going to invest in tangible assets i recommend doing something you know or do well-- if coins, become a coin expert, if art, you need to be an art expert, because those who don't know are the ones enriching those who know. if trees, then learn about fucking trees (you might know already, but just saying). if you can take care of those trees until they are ready for sale then maybe it's a great idea. but if you are planning to go away and come back in 10 years you might find them destroyed by some weird moth plague or some such shit.

anyway, regardless of how you invest in your future, it's always good to have cash handy, because in an emergency it's all people will take. there is the argument that money will be worthless and you should stock gold. i think gold is overpriced and will go down but so be it, at least gold you can exchange for goods or services-- though the value of it is as arbitrary as anything else. if you're looking for the only valid currency in case of zombie apocalypse, my tought is bullets. because if rome falls and the barbarians invade and the law ceases to apply your land title won't be worth shit. so, in a paranoid scenario, only bullets make sense.

however, i think this is more overblown than Y2K. just because you came of age during a financial crisis it doesn't mean it will always be like that. but everyone sees things differently so i get your point of view.

anyway, regarding personal budgets and an approach to your everyday income--elizabeth warren (i recommended here book but not linked-- it's here though) is one awesome lady who actually opposes much of the current wall street bullshit-- you should really check her out, she's running for senator, bla bla, but yeah, she's legit, not a huckster. you might want to end up saving and investing in different ways but her approach to daily PF is great and really easy to implement. and you'll see how having cash prevents you from getting into debt which is what fucks up most people, much more than zombies. dave ramsey is even more hardcore about cash vs. debt, and he's pretty paranoid about the end of the social safety net, the fucking jesus freak.(he actually used to be a real estate speculator and lost everything, btw).

anyway as far as building a solid future you might want to consider that if you're good at what you do then running your own business might be the way to make it happen, as opposed to, say, keeping stashes of comic books. check out this book to see how a lot of people make it happen with simple "blue collar" businesses, no need to be a lawyer or doctor with a ton of student debt--businesses like diesel engine rental can make you a shitload of money. of course if the world ends there might be no golf courses or comic book readers or diesel fuel left. so, again, bullets.

oh and finally check out this article for pure envy:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...hWT_story.html

how's that for a fucking dream job? (might need registration or something but it's a great story)

anyway best wishes with finals. catch up with sleep and we chat another day if the world hasn't ended by then.