Recently I wrote a post on some of the main things to consider when purchasing land, such as the importance of walking the land during different weather conditions, ordering a land survey, and having a reputable firm conduct a title search.
That begged the question of where should I buy land.
So I created a spreadsheet of top 42 metros in the US by population. The idea is to look for something on the outskirts of a larger city, as I wouldn’t want to be totally isolated for hundreds of miles. This also virtually guarantees I’ll be within a few hours drive of a major airport and fire stations.
The factors I’m considering are:
Elevation
This essentially rules out the great state of Florida for me as I would like a minimum elevation of 75m (246 feet). If that arbitrary number seems high it probably is. The scientists at the NOAA predict that the sea level along the US coastline will rise on average just 10-12 inches (0.25-0.30 meters) in the next 30 years (2020-2050). However, if these experts are as good as the people predicting my weather reports one week out, then I think I’ll go with my gut.
Temperature
I would like low temperatures during winter above freezing, as it’ll make it easier to grow crops. Also, for comfort.
Rain days and precipitation
Rain is good. More the better. This will allow me to fill my water stores more frequently and water crops when needed.
Places like Bend, OR have high number of rain days but low rainfall levels. I’ve never been to Bend, but that’s a combination I don’t fancy. It’s sprinkles lightly for over 1/3 of the days of the year.
Average income, average home price, and home price multiple to income
These are used to calculate the multiple of home price to income. I could simply use average home price to get an idea of whether land is cheaper or more expensive, but the multiple tells me whether homes are affordable or not. Not sure if that matters at the end of the day.
Property tax
This is levied every year. Consider that in Texas property tax is 1.80% (plus whatever the city charges). Over 10 years you will pay at least 18% of the appraised value of your home to the state!
Compare that with Tennessee where annual property tax is 0.74%. Over 10 years you’ll pay just 7.4% (plus city tax). The average annual property tax is about 1%.
Highest state income tax
Residents of Texas, Washington, Tennessee, Nevada, Wyoming and Florida don’t pay state income tax.
If you’re in the top bracket in California, you would pay 13.3% to the state in addition to the federal rate!
Not only that, but many states apply state income tax to capital gains. That means in California, even if you qualify for the lower long term federal income tax rate on capital gains, you can pay a top marginal tax rate of 37.1% on that gain.
International airport within 100 miles
Self explanatory. I prefer to be able to travel easily when I choose to. This also ensures that there’ll be Costco, Walmart, fire stations within a proximity.
Violent crime and property crime
These annual numbers are per 100,000 residents. Madison, WI and St. Louis, MO have similar population numbers, but St. Louis has 1,857 violent crimes per 100k residents, more than 400% more than Madison!
I’d rather not get jacked.
Natural disasters and calamities
I’m not too concerned about earthquakes, unless I purchase a property abutting a mountain. In the recent 7.5 richter scale earthquake in Taiwan, boulders the size of small homes careened off mountainsides and crushed cars. But overall the damage was mostly confined to concrete buildings that weren’t up to code. In the US, I would rather be in a wooden home than a concrete tower during a big shaker.
I’m more concerned about tornadoes and fires, both of which completely devastate large swaths of land and can be difficult to escape.
The Shortlist
Sorting by minimum elevation eliminated 11 candidates: New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Miami, Houston, Memphis and Alexandria.
Many crops won’t tolerate freezing temperatures for long, so I’m going to go ahead and rule out low temperatures during winter below 32°F. That further rules out: Fargo, Minneapolis, Madison, Omaha, Denver, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Indianapolis, Bend, Columbus, SLC, Boise, Boston, Reno, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, Louisville and OKC.
I’m going to go ahead and remove Fresno from the list because it has CA’s top state tax rate of 13.3%. The other CA cities were removed earlier.
I’ll also remove Phoenix, Tucson and Las Vegas because of their low number of days of rain.
The 9 semi-finalists on the shortlist are:
North Carolina
Raleigh, Charlotte
Texas
Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, San Antonio
Tennessee
Nashville
Georgia
Atlanta
Deep dive into those locations in the next episode! Bookmark and link to us.
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