WNC LAND COMPANY

1.   What does WNC stand for?

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The W, N and C in Western North Carolina.

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2.   What is the one thing that you have most shared with clients and customers?

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Work with a very experienced land specialist.  Whether you work with me or with someone else, if you are selling or buying land or a farm or a retreat or another mountain property, you should work with an experienced, skilled, veteran land specialist.

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3.   What is the one thing that you have shared second most with clients and customers?

 

Be extremely careful buying property with friends or family.  I can't overemphasize this. 

Treat it strictly like a business arrangement and put everything in writing.  Buying property with other people has harmed or ruined a lot of relationships.

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4.  What is the difference between a REALTOR® and a broker?

 

The REALTOR® term denotes that someone belongs to a national and local trade organization and perhaps is a member of a Multiple Listing Service. REALTORS® typically share access to listings, agree to abide by a Code of Ethics and in general agree to work by the same set of rules in a cooperative manner.

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In North Carolina, the term broker denotes that someone has obtained a state license that enables them to operate as a broker or a provisional broker. All REALTORS® are brokers (or provisional brokers), but not all brokers are REALTORS®.

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You might ask if that difference affects the land business.

 

Per Article 11 of the REALTORS® Code of Ethics, "land brokerage" is one of "the specific real estate disciplines" that requires REALTORS® to "provide specialized professional services."  The second half of that article reads as follows:

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"REALTORS® shall not undertake to provide specialized professional services concerning a type of property or service that is outside their field of competence unless they engage the assistance of one who is competent on such types of property or service, or unless the facts are fully disclosed to the client. Any persons engaged to provide such assistance shall be so identified to the client and their contribution to the assignment should be set forth. (Amended 1/10)"

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6.   You mention both clients and customers.  What is the difference?

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Read under the "Agency and You" menu tab and please ask me about this one in person if you still have any questions.  For example, a land buyer may like working personally with listing agents because listing agents should know the most about the property.  If this buyer does not have a verbal or written buyer agency agreement with me or with anyone else, and if no one else is a procuring cause for this buyer with this land, then the buyer could be unrepresented and purchase the land as a customer, with me only representing the seller.

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7.   How much does land cost in Asheville or in the mountains around Asheville?

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This is a great question. Unfortunately, there is no short answer and the answer has gotten even more more difficult and elusive in the last two decades and even much more so in the last few years of market conditions.

 

People often think that I am being evasive when I say that there are literally dozens or scores of factors that affect the price of mountain land, farms and retreats.

 

If another broker tells you that mountain land is going for a certain amount per acre, then I would suggest that you run, not just walk away, but run from that broker.

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Let me try to explain why. I'll briefly elaborate on why saying, "Mountain land goes for so much per acre." is dangerous and incompetent baloney.  One cannot generalize about a single price for mountain land because all of the following factors and more might affect that price.  I'll do this less than comprehensive list under some headings, lumping some groups of factors that affect land prices together.

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A. ACCESS: 

 

Is the access...

---   paved, gravel, dirt, ruts,

---   steep, level, winding, north-facing,

---   four-wheel drive only, four-wheel drive in winter, two-wheel drive year round access,

---   non-existent so a road is needed (and what would road building costs be?), bridge needed, ---   state road, county road,

---   private road with recorded road maintenance agreement and healthy HOA, private road with recorded road maintenance agreement but no apparent activity or HOA, no road maintenance agreement,

---   informal shared maintenance, shared driveway,

---   deeded right of way of the appropriate width for what you want to do,

---   railroad siding, navigable river (affects your property rights), interstate interchange frontage,  etc.?

---   Are you or the seller going to have to file a lawsuit to "force" a "cart way" access?

---   What are your drive time parameters to hospital, to town, to recreation or to work?

 

B.  AGRICULTURAL USE: 

 

Is the land...

---   bottom land, tractor land, pasture, old tobacco land,

---   wooded with young saplings and trees, wooded with harvestable timber, wooded but just timbered, clear cut and planted in grass or seedlings, clear cut but with slash and stumps and tops everywhere and an erosion mess,

---   in control of its own watersheds, not in control of its own watershed,

---   part or all flood plain of some sort? (Most bottom land in the mountains is, by definition, flood plain.)

---   full of permaculture crops, existing orchard, existing organic in practice, existing "certified" organic, some permanent organic bushes or perennials, rich soil,

---   Is there an existing "You Pick It" operation, or is it suitable for one?

---   full of conventional, high till, high chemical row crops, questionable or dead soil,

---   Does it have improvements such as interior roads, livestock barns, tobacco drying barns, a residence, wells, usable springs, stock watering ponds or systems, aquaculture ponds, fencing or cross-fencing of the right type, rings, paddocks?

---   Are there existing aquaculture crops or other crops that need to be considered in negotiations?

---   Is it suitable for agri-tourism or agri-education?

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C.  COMMERCIAL USE

 

Is there...

---   income from a ground lease or buildings or activities on the property?

---   What type of tenant is the renter, a Class A international S&P 500 type in good shape, or a struggling local about to tragically lose their business?

---   Does it have the proper zoning, access, all other commercial suitabilities, the full range of needed utilities?

---   Are there commercial neighbors that have complementary businesses or are there competitive businesses as neighbors?

---   What about traffic flow numbers and medians?

 

D.  BEAUTY, VIEWS and AESTHETICS: 

 

All parcels vary tremendously in...

---   natural beauty in terms of the prettiness of the trees, the water, the rapids, the sound of the water (or of the interstate or the trucks), the aromas of roses, apple orchards, fresh mowed hay, or steers etc., that are on the land itself or that can be seen or heard or smelled from the land.

---   Views have a special vocabulary of their own and it is certainly not a universal language where all parties mean the same thing when they use a certain adjective. Long range views are down the valley to some people but they are 50 mile views to other people. Short range, medium range, pleasant, spectacular, panoramic, unbelievable, unblockable, are just a few of the adjectives and terms that are used. You may hear "airplane views" and "million dollar views."  In short, view terminology is highly subjective. 

And make sure you distinguish "views of the mountains" from "views from the mountains."

While appraisers may not always or ever be able to put a price on views, views nonetheless can have an enormous impact on if someone wants a property, what someone will pay for a property and on the intensity of their desire to have the property.

---   Note that you "usually" cannot get both significant water and views unless you buy an awful lot of land. Water is usually down low in a valley and views are usually high from the ridge tops and are frequently accessed by winding roads.

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E.  NEIGHBORS: 

 

Is your neighbor...

---   a concrete plant or a pretty, organic farm; a busy interstate or a nature preserve; or a pretty yard with a well-kept mobile home or is it a rundown mobile home?

---   Please note that we have an amazing degree of architectural diversity when you get out of the city into limited zoning or no zoning situations, and that we even have an amazing degree of architectural diversity in Asheville, in other towns and even in heavily zoned areas.

---   Does the neighbor actually or potentially create environmental or enjoyability issues?

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F.  RESTRICTIONS:

 

Is the parcel...

---   affected by zoning, ridge laws, slope laws, watershed laws, environmental requirements, Parkway view shed restrictions, private covenants and restrictions, pending legislation or regulation or an HOA?

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G.  TOPOGRAPHY / COMPOSITION OF TERRAIN: 

 

What is...

---   the amount of level or near level land in the parcel, if any?

---   the proportion of level land to sloping land, to rolling, gentle or steep land? In the mountains, a grade of a few per cent is often called level.

---   There may be useful land on a parcel but it may not be accessible without a $300,000 road where the parcel only costs $190,000. There is very much land in the area with slopes of 50% to 70% and higher.

---   It is very easy for a gentle 8 acre parcel to have far more usable land and more building sites than a 40 acre, steep mountain parcel.

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H.  UTILITIES:  

 

What is...

---   already in place?... is the question to ask first. And then ask about what is available or "might be" available.

---   Are there any utilities at all? ... any utility rights of way at all?

---   Is there city water, private water system, well, shared well (with or without written, recorded maintenance and management agreement,) spring, shared spring,

---   electric, special phase electricity, cable, fiber optics, T1, phone, natural gas,

---   municipal sewer, private sewer, septic,

---   garbage or recycle pickup?

---   Is there cell coverage at the property and where you need it on the property, and if so, from which providers?

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I.  WATER:  

 

Is there...

---   the rare lake frontage? If so it is probably not on a big reservoir like a Lake Lanier.

---   River, stream and creek frontage are more common but owning both sides of same is extremely rare and of great value to some buyers.

---   If there is a large pond or a small lake on the property, is it rainfall fed, or spring fed or creek fed? Do you control the watershed?

---   Are there spring branches?

---   Are there incredible gushing springs?  ...year round springs?  ...seasonal springs?

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J.  PARCEL SIZE:  

 

A one acre interstate corner...

---   may go (or may have gone in the past) for seven or eight figures per acre whereas a five acre interstate corner may drop the price down well into six or seven figures per acre.

---   640 acres located 1 1/2 hours out up a long, rough, winding, dry weather only, four-wheel drive road may go for low four figures per acre but you may not be able to buy a single, usable, accessible by paved road, acre near it, for less than $40,000 per acre.

---   Generally, the more acres, the less the price per acre is. There are exceptions to this such as when an entire several thousand acre watershed (which you control) and cove with "both sides of the river frontage" or "both sides of the trout stream frontage" goes on the market, which may actually drive up the cost per acre because of its exceptional rarity.

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K.  FINANCING:  

 

The availability of seller financing when no bank financing is available may tend to lead a buyer to drive up a parcel's price.

---   The lack of availability of any financing whatsoever, even with 50% or 75% down payment, may tend to drive a parcel's price down.

---   If banks are in tightening mode the availability of reasonable land financing may be rare at any rate.

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L.  LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION:  

 

If the property...

---   is two minutes from Asheville's white table cloth restaurants and cultural attractions, then that is a very different proposition from a property that is 1 1/2 winding hours out or from a property that is "down the hill" in Marion or Old Fort and which is not as cool in the summer.

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So in conclusion, the broker that says that land goes for a certain amount per acre is making an extraordinary error and an incredible oversimplification of a very complex issue. The price of all types of land in the mountains really is affected by literally dozens or scores of issues. That's why I suggest that you, not just walk, away from any broker who gives you such simplistic garbage for an answer.

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Please note that the above is not at all exhaustive and could be much more elaborate and detailed.  It is just to give you the idea that pricing mountain land is complex.

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Whether you work with me or with someone else, if you are selling or buying land or a farm or a retreat or another mountain property, you should work with an experienced, veteran, land specialist, one who knows those "not apparent at first glance" factors that affect price, marketing viability and desirability.

 

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8.   Are you the same guy who used to have the "landguy" website in the 1990's? 

 

Yes.

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9.   Are you the same guy who was called "the land doctor" on your home page in the 2000's?

 

Yes.

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10.   And why were you called "the land doctor"?

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I have a doctorate or Ph.D. in what was once almost universally called Land Economics, but which is now known as Agricultural Economics. Also, I have decades of extensive experience in working with all types of land. And in addition, "Doc" or "Doctor" was a nickname given to me when I was 18 and it stuck. (Thank you, Joe Wilson.)  That was long before I became a Ph.D. economist and long before I got into real estate but it followed me.

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11.   Have you worked with many preppers, survivalists or retreatists?

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Yes, and I have been doing so since the 1990's.  I am very comfortable in that space.

 

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