Project 88

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

> 88K$ for 8.xx acres is expensive???> Try Schaumburg IL!  WE could not
> even get ONE acre for that price -- try about 2* that for 1 acre!

No, I wrote we got a good deal on the land at $88K.  The running rate
around here is about $35,000/acre for land adjoining Champaign-Urbana
on out to about 15 miles from the city limits.

For Chicago, I realize $35K would be incredibly cheap, but for a podunk
town like this place (population about 100,000), the running rate seems
high -- it's equivalent to what I would pay per acre on the outskirts
of Fort Worth Texas, which is a somewhat larger city.

Most of the land to the south and west of Champaign and Savoy is owned 
by a doctor here in town who makes Ebeneezer Scrooge look like a really
benevolent guy.  The remainder of the land is owned by two or three
other developers.  The property we agreed to purchase is owned by an
out of town investor -- his capital gain from the sale will be something
like $65,000 even though we talked the price down by nearly half.  I
have no idea when he purchased the property.

Champaign-Urbana is a really bizarre town.  The average adult per
capita income is around $22,000/year, which I'm told is considered
low.  Compare Dallas TX, which has an average salary of $35,000.  But
then you look at the real estate listings, and the homes around here
sell for $120,000 and up -- and the houses really aren't that great.
My wife and I looked at a house selling for over $300,000 a couple of
weeks ago (just for kicks -- we ain't that rich) -- and the building
had very cheap construction:  cheap paint, flawed masonry work, you
could even see the drywall tape in spots!

Richard Masoner