TheLandJournal.com

Ask most long-time residents of rural Alabama their opinion of what land is selling for these days and you will probably get a long-winded answer about how local folks can’t buy land in Alabama now. I believe it’s a simple demand/supply relationship that causes this. The overwhelming majority of buyers of rural Alabama properties are absentee or are retirees from surrounding metropolitan areas and the State of Florida. These buyers have disposable income and an eye for investing in rural areas. These buyers also tend to be very mobile in their real estate investments, in that they do not care where their investment is so much as the lifestyle benefits it affords them. Rural Alabama attracts a large portion of this buyer pool because, in large part, Alabama land is still comparatively undervalued when you look at other states and areas of the country these buyers are willing to consider.

Many buyers are looking for medium to long-range real estate investments with the idea that their piece of rural heaven could be their home site at some point. Many more buyers are looking for investment properties that can be used recreationally as well. Most of these buyers seek timberland or pasture/timberland tracts where wildlife can be managed alongside growing timber. These buyers are keenly aware of the rise in the intrinsic (dirt) value as well.

All of this works together to change the nature of land use, and thus the value of land in rural Alabama. Alabama has long been an agrarian state with most of the state’s income from timber, cattle, and poultry. Today’s land buyers have only nominal interest in farming as a business. Most are seeking a lifestyle that includes what I call “hobby farming”, hunting, and other outdoor activities. These buyers are simply willing to pay more for this lifestyle than Alabama’s long-time residents are. It’s my opinion that Alabama’s rural residents take the beauty and uniqueness of Alabama’s outdoors for granted.

Many of the “outsiders” are now very aware of what Alabama has to offer…and the relative cost savings to achieve owning a recreational investment in Alabama versus a comparable property in Georgia, North Carolina, or Florida. The Internet and the consumer desire for information are key elements in this new awareness. Long gone are the days of the timber or land trader buying an Alabama property and cutting enough timber to pay for the land. Today’s intrinsic values far out pace timber values in most areas of Alabama, a stark contrast from just a decade ago. Every broker’s advertisement for land for sale will say something about hunting, fishing, or another outdoor activity these days—because the market demands it.

Robert is a Land Agent with AlaLandCo, an Alabama rural real estate company that specializes in Land and Farm Marketing. He has been active in the Alabama rural real estate market for over 8 years. Robert is a life-long resident of East Central Alabama, cattle farme,r and outdoor enthusiast. To see what Robert currently has for sale visit http://www.RobertKing.net.