40 Acre of Developable Land in Dalton Georgia - Looking for ideas

40 Acre of Developable Land in Dalton Georgia - Looking for ideas

Member since 2019 · 6 posts · 3 votes

Hey fellow investors! My family has a farm in Dalton Georgia that's been in the family for about 100 yrs. I am a small-time real estate investor in Richmond VA area and others in my family have no experience in development or building. Most of the family have moved or passed away and only 2 older relatives still live nearby in GA. We're trying to figure out a plan for this property and looking for ideas or buyers or partners.

This land is great because:

- There's a lot of road frontage along two roads as it connects in a corner. 

- Topography is nice as it all slopes up to a hill in the center. 

- County water could be available, but lots would also likely perk for well and septic based on the family lots that existed around this one. 

- Land is long-since paid for, so creative financing is an option with the right plan in place. 

Challenges that we already know about are:

- Since my great grandfather passed in 1995 the land has not been farmed and has since grown up so it is wooded but not with pretty trees and would likely need to be cleared. 

- Economics in Dalton GA have been depressed for some time. It's not a growing area in GA. 

- One acre was carved off on one of the road frontages for an aunt's home. She's willing to sell as well and move, but that does break the road frontage on one spot. 

- The property was listed for about a year with a broker at $10K/acre, but really had no action. The listing will not be renewed. 

I'd love to hear your brainstorming on options. Thanks team!

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  • Rental Property Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2016 · 279 posts · 133 votes
    7y

    @Joshua Bufford

    Hey Joshua. I don't know about GA but here in Va, south of Richmond, large parcels of farmland sell in the 2500-3000/acre range. Did your realtor say 10k/acre is market for that region? Seems mighty high for overgrown farmland but could be market there.

    Have our thought about subdividing the land yourself and selling lots? Your pool of buyers will widen if you can do this.

    Is there any timber value on the property?

  • Architect · Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2018 · 843 posts · 907 votes
    7y

    My very first thought...you or your family at least, have grossly over estimated the worth of that property. $400k for 40 ac, in the middle of no were, in a depressed area that likely will see no big growth in any foreseeable future is way over priced. Thats the reason you got no traction when you listed it. Now I dont know the area and i dont know exactly where your property is located at. But just a simple Zillow search I would put your property more in the $3-5k/ac range. Maybe a little bit more if its actually in a decent location but not anywhere near $10k. 

    The fact that it is now over grown will also hurt your value. If its not a healthy mature forest it wont add value. Not saying you have to clear the whole thing but it cant all be over grown either. 

    You could possibly subdivide the lot but I dont know your zoning and odds are, from the description of your location, I would guess the minimum lot size would be 10 or 20 ac. Thats would be without doing special planned development, assuming your county/city has that option. Even then it would probably only get you down to maybe 3-5 ac lots. (These numbers are me guessing, just to be clear) But those kinds of developments take a lot of up front cash and the willingness to have long hold times. Are there many people looking for large acreage home site in that area? How many would you have to sell before you break even or even start making a profit? 

    To me, if your family is no longer in the area you are left really with two options. One is to adjust your sell price and try putting it on the market again. The other would be to just keep it in the family and use it as a vacation spot or possibly lease it out to a local farmer who could start farming it again. 

  • Palmetto, GA · Member since 2016 · 27 posts · 11 votes
    7y

    I've done a deal in NW Ga similar to what you've described and am interested in partnering with you on this property.... I won't do deals "sight unseen" but will make the 2-hour trip to the property if you contact me... I can't figure out how to respond through BiggerPockets.

  • Real Estate Broker · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2017 · 229 posts · 145 votes
    7y

    I think you're best strategy is to pool together myself and a few other investors into a hunting lease.  Don't worry, we'll take good care of the place ; ]

  • Urbana, OH · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 8 votes
    7y

    Dalton, GA?  Just open another carpet manufacturing business.

  • Investor · Sugar Hill, GA · Member since 2014 · 168 posts · 97 votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Joshua Bufford:

    Hey fellow investors! My family has a farm in Dalton Georgia that's been in the family for about 100 yrs. I am a small-time real estate investor in Richmond VA area and others in my family have no experience in development or building. Most of the family have moved or passed away and only 2 older relatives still live nearby in GA. We're trying to figure out a plan for this property and looking for ideas or buyers or partners.

    This land is great because:

    - There's a lot of road frontage along two roads as it connects in a corner. 

    - Topography is nice as it all slopes up to a hill in the center. 

    - County water could be available, but lots would also likely perk for well and septic based on the family lots that existed around this one. 

    - Land is long-since paid for, so creative financing is an option with the right plan in place. 

    Challenges that we already know about are:

    - Since my great grandfather passed in 1995 the land has not been farmed and has since grown up so it is wooded but not with pretty trees and would likely need to be cleared. 

    - Economics in Dalton GA have been depressed for some time. It's not a growing area in GA. 

    - One acre was carved off on one of the road frontages for an aunt's home. She's willing to sell as well and move, but that does break the road frontage on one spot. 

    - The property was listed for about a year with a broker at $10K/acre, but really had no action. The listing will not be renewed. 

    I'd love to hear your brainstorming on options. Thanks team!

     I am in Georgia and i am looking for acreage in north west GA for a development idea of mine. I don't know if it would work in Dalton but could look into it if you could provide me more info. Would you send me a private message should you want to talk about this? Regards

    Ed

  • Property Manager · Richmond, VA · Member since 2018 · 204 posts · 297 votes
    7y

    @Joshua Bufford Definitely reach out to a successful commercial agent or someone who specializes in land there.  A few phone calls should land you the right person.  Look to see who has a bunch of listings in the area.  They would know better than most of us from all over the nation as to what its potential is.  Good luck!

  • Member since 2019 · 6 posts · 3 votes
    7y

    @Nicholas L. I wish that’s what we could do. Some friends and I are looking for a good hunting lease in central Virginia right now. If I were a little closer, I’d be all over it with you! Used to be great grouse, quail and dove hunting there when I was a kid. Happy hunting!

  • Member since 2019 · 6 posts · 3 votes
    7y

    @Stephen Glover Thanks for the suggestion. I think the guy my mom and aunt originally hired had good intentions but maybe this was out of his wheelhouse. 

  • Member since 2019 · 6 posts · 3 votes
    7y

    @Will C.

    @Will C.@Nik Moushon

    Gents, thank you for your input. The listing price is surely high, we all agree about that. There was one similar property that was under contract at the time that this was listed and I believe the broker was optimistically hoping to fetch a similar price (the other one closed at $8k/acre). Mom and my Aunt got anchored on that price and it's taken some work to move them off of that initial anchoring. 

    I think the more realistic price is more in the range of $4K per acre and it may be that we just relist with another broker in that price range, assuming I can get all of the heirs to sign off on it. 

    As for subdividing, we've considered that as well, although that would effectively orphan a bit of the land. The two road frontages are nice and there are a number of homesites that could be placed there, but a bunch of the land is then buried in the back.  

  • Mike WilliamsPro Member
    Real Estate Broker · Dalton, GA · Member since 2010 · 244 posts · 35 votes
    7y

    Hey Joshua, I'm an agent and investor here in Dalton, would love to look at the property and give you some ideas - let's chat? The market in Dalton has been coming back strong for a few years now. It was really rough in the collapse but pretty solid today. I think 10K/acre might be a little too strong for farm land that isn't producing a crop, unless there are some factors not mentioned above. I've recently put under contract a small 4 acre tract for $10K/acre for a builder, but it was all road frontage and he is going to put 5 homes on it, so as long as the perk test comes back solid that would be a sale we could point to...happy to help in any way that I can, give me a shout.

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