Starting Points

My wife and I have been fortunate to have ownership in two raw land parcels that we have inherited.  The vision we have is to convert the value in these two pieces of land into a real estate investment legacy for our children and future generations.

As with everything it is complicated.  Family is complicated.  The first parcel is 100 acres that is part of the old family farm.  We live on it (we have our own lot) as does several of my wife's brothers and sisters.  It's a long story but there is a lot of family conflict over our inheriting this 100 acres and not having to share it with the rest of the family.  Things are so toxic we are to the point of selling to get away.

The second parcel is also complicated.  Because it is co-owned by the same family members we are feuding with on the 100 acres.  This parcel is much larger, 280 acres.  Because of our market, developers are not knocking down the door trying to buy this land.  So the question with this parcel is how to get out of the partnership and take that value and invest it elsewhere on our own.

I know it's cliche but the book that started the journey to this point is "Rich Dad, Poor Dad".  When I look at these parcels of land, I see untapped opportunity.  I see non-performing assets.  Actually, by Rich Dad's definition, they are liabilities since we get no cash flow from them.  As we've thought about what would be possible, we see this huge opportunity to convert these liabilities to assets.  

The legacy part of the vision comes from understanding how the world works and how it is changing.  My son has also read Rich Dad and gets it.  If he gets a j.o.b. in the future it would be because he has passion around doing the thing not because he needs the money.  So how do we take these assets and build a legacy that allows our children, and future generations to benefit from our blessings?

So this is the journey we are on.  Converting the value in the raw land into a real estate empire. All while dealing with some toxic family situations that constrain our ability to just do what we want.  Stay tuned and feel free to give advice along the way.