Additional opportunities for cleared, buildable land w/ perc test

[Ben A Snyder]

My fiance and I purchased a 10-acre piece of land north of Richmond, VA roughly a year ago (February 2018). We bought the land to start a Christmas Tree farm and planted 3,000 Christmas trees last spring. We'll plant roughly another 1,500 this spring as well. With that said our trees will not be sell-able for roughly 8 years and I'd like to figure out additional ways to generate income off of the property. Keep in mind we'll be getting a well drilled this year as well as electric run to a pole barn we'll be building for the business. We've considered several different options which I've listed below:

1. Building a small A-frame home to rent or AirBnB
2. Build a small residential home (<1,000 sq.ft) & rent out
3. Build a moderate residential home (1,500-2,500 sq. ft.) & rent out

Recently in talking to a friend of mine that has been in real estate for about 7 years now, he suggested building a moderate residential home to increase the overall value of the property in the event we ever wanted to sell or upgrade to another location.  I'm just not sure of my options and wanted to hear some feedback given its somewhat of a unique situation. 

Thank you,

-Ben

[Scott Meyers]

Hey Ben!

I do indeed have some knowledge & experience with Self Storage Developments & Conversions. 

First you have to determine if it's feasible to do so, and if so it should be lucrative.  The former though is all about the demographics - population of people living in a 1, 3, & 5-mile radius, is there money (aka median income), plus others, & typically ends in a Market Supply Index.  

And you'll also need to get with your local municipality for zoning issues, as well as look at the environmental impact, geo-tech surveys, etc. 

Please note that Developing a Self Storage Facility from the ground up can certainly be financially rewarding. Even though it is fairly simple & straightforward, it is NOT easy. There are A LOT of moving parts. 

Please feel free to PM me and I'll give you some quick insight as to a high-level approach (as in the 30,000 foot view) to what you realistically need to do to determine if it's feasible and how to do some financial forecasting on the "back of a napkin" to see if it makes sense to move forward.

Good luck!