Purchasing land out of state

[Stephen V.]

Hi all! I currently own a SFH in the greater San Diego area and am interested in purchasing land in the greater Grand Rapids, MI area (agricultural zoning). The San Diego residence is my primary residence and I'm planning to build a home in the Grand Rapids, MI area on about 80 acres that will eventually be our retirement home. We're looking at properties below $500k in MI and we have about $100k in equity in our San Diego home. My goal is to purchase the land without selling my current home in San Diego and I'm trying to find the best way to finance it. I'm also curious about any perks and pitfalls I might not be aware of with owning a secondary residence. Thank you for your time!

[Jay Hinrichs]

@Stephen V.  well let me tell you as one who grew up in the land business and that's all my dad did for 20 years is create land contracts.. if you wanted to pay principal down he would have sent a limo for you !!!.. Not sure your aversion to a land contract its one of the absolute best ways to buy property hands down.. maybe you just don't understand it.

But with a 30 to 40 year horizon you sure you don't want to buy something up in the Pac Nor west.

you buy a 80 with 15 year old timber on it. and in 40 years you have 1 million or more in standing timber plus the land.