Some buddies of mine were all chatting land & a lot still reference the prices or “steals” of 1990’s & early 2000’s. Like any stock that went up like crazy “shoulda bought more!”
& I disagreed to a large extent that some of them lost their window to buy and find “good deals”....,
One thing that’s important to remember .... interest rates on land were 6-8% in that time frame. Compared with a lot lower now.
& that 6-8% is coming out of the 80’s crash that had double digit interest rates!!! So- if ur rate & then payment on land is 2-3% higher - that’s a HUGE deal!!! Made it much harder to buy! Plus commodities, crp, rental rates & ROI was also much lower during that time.
compared to other investments - land has not actually ballooned up to an “insane level”. Think of a stock u could have bought that was $5 and now it’s “$200” & some folks still think it’s a sensible buy... land did nothing like that.....
Let’s use the “7 year double your $ investment” for example.... “a good investment that doubles in value every 7 years” - that would be a very solid 10% increase each year. Very solid. With that model or rate....
Let’s say u bought rec land or combo hunting land in 2000 at $1,000 per acre....
2007: $2000 per acre value (at a 10% increase).
2014: $4,000 per acre value (at a 10% yearly increase)
2021: $8,000 per acre (at a 10% yearly increase)
*if u bought land for $1k per acre in 2000... most that land is not worth any bit close to $8k. Most of THAT land would be $3500-4500 now.
Can do same for high end tillable for
2000: it was about $3k an acre for extremely high end tillable. What happens if it went up 10% per year??
2007: $6k per acre on 10% return
2014: $12k per acre on 10% return.
2021: $24k per acre on a 10% return.
Is high end farm land selling for $24k? CLEARLY NO! Maybe $9-13k depending on where. So, a far lower increase in value vs other “great investments”. Bottom line on that, IMO - I personally feel like tillable or combo land at current rates is reasonably good investment. If it goes bananas a lot more- maybe not - unless inflation pushes past any price peaks. It’s not over priced and it’s not over valued like many other investments IMO... based on the last 21 years of results in growth.
2 wild cards...... interest rates locked in @ record lows now- that would be attractive to buy land. Inflation- locking in land now - if we have a major rise in inflation- sure like to see my $ in income/commodity producing assets. Im repeating self a bit but 2 important considerations.
2nd repeated bottom line, IMO- income type land or mixed with income, bought “reasonably priced” & locked in at lower rates is still a great opportunity. U didn’t “miss out” 20 years ago.
interesting times ahead!!!! Still wouldn’t want my $ to be in record high stock market built on a good bit of funny $ but that’s just me.
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